Meditating to Heal

In these modern times, do we really understand

the significance of the cross that bore the body of Jesus.

 

Many of us have lost what the cross means in our modern daily lives. But this does not have to be the case. The early Christians believed and taught that God, by becoming human, not only approved of our world, but said yes to all humans and their reasons for living. In other words, He approved of our acting on our own behalf. Unfortunately, I think that we have all lost this basic belief. We no longer understand the ramifications of this approval.

We have become so inured to our way of life that we have forgotten that God is the basis of why we are alive; we no longer accept the affinity systems to recognize the actual inner experience of God. We have to return to the concept of experiencing a mystical (spiritual) relationship with God through Jesus, the Christ. This is what the cross represents in my life. Without this inner experience, I cannot follow the ethical example of Jesus.

The vision of Jesus on the cross is the reminder to me that his sacrifice is a vital reason for my believing in the concept of the messiah, or in our words, Christ. Jesus, the human, is Christ, the God, without which I am unable to accept the true purpose of why I live. Ministers of all religions teach us that Christ is everywhere. Jesus, himself, said that God is within us. Therefore, Christ is within us. We can revel in the beauty of this reality.

 

Many people make a lot of noise about honor; but, what exactly is honor? I am presently reading a book about the journey through the nine circles of Hell by Odysseus and Diomedes; their version of honor was to kill a man if he insulted you. I don’t think that works for us today.

When I was a young boy, growing up in Newark, NJ, Honor meant fighting for your rights, fighting when someone did something to slight you. The phrase turn the other cheek was not honorable; as a matter of fact, it was considered cowardly to turn and walk away from a fight. Life was measured in how many honorable moments you had.

I have a different idea of honor today; I still measure life by doing honorable deeds, but none of them involve violence. To me, violence in the dishonorable way to react. If someone were to make a fortune by cheating others our of their share is also not honorable; to me this is just greed. It may make this person rich and powerful, but we can see that honor has nothing to do with it. Honor is not and cannot be measured in gold, jewelry, or money.

Life is measured honor. God honors us with our human frailty and our families. Being responsible is honorable. Our friends give us honor; we do not ask for it. They honor us just by being our friends. Honor is community. Even if the world throws our lives into a tornado of spinning terrors, our community strength is a gift from God with which we can accomplish a better world. Personally, I ask for God’s help and blessing every day.

God is pleased when He is fully immersed in our limited, loving, and broken human community. We give God honor and love when we build our mutual communities that exclude nobody. We just have to have the patience to earn this, to earn this by listening for His word. I believe that if people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d be a lot more honorable. And happy.

Our lives are truly mysteries; but they are mysteries of our own making. A mystery cannot be explained; we can explain our lives. We are so caught-up in our daily insignificant problems that we forget what life truly means. We mistrust our instincts because we are assured by others that they know better than we do.

But they don’t. we are not alone in this universe; we are here together, and we belong to each other. We heard a sermon from the pulpit this Sunday on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. They lesson is that we must care for each other. As children of God, we are one people, not separated by color, or language, or religion.

We pray to God and feel that He never answers. Maybe we should thank God for creating all of us; thank him for the beautiful life He has blessed us with. Jesus taught that we should love one another; this means to love the unloved. When are Good Christian tells me that someone does not belong to God, I know that this person is not has he proclaims. Everyone belongs to God; we are all God’s people.

My prayer for the day is that we may all find the Love of God so we can live a better, happier, more blessed life and thus remove the mysteries we are so concerned with.

We do not abide alone

in our subliminal society

disallowing derision and hatred

We rise to be dutiful

to other’s needs

We denounce evil and

accept others as good news

We accept gifts from God

and praise others

as they do God’s work

We do not praise ourselves

we live not alone

we share with all

with people

with butterflies

with hummingbirds

We live

in the newborn rabbit hutch

with the cockroach and rhinoceros

We live in a world of good

We live in the world of God

 

 A  Simple Prayer of Mission

 Our mission is the one given to us by God. Our mission is to fulfill his command to cherish Him and His creation. We should not ask what the world needs; we should ask what makes us alive, what makes us excited to act. The world now needs people who are excited to come alive in God’s name. He is our stronghold, and therefore, He is our inspiration.

Heavenly Father, our very lives are blessed by your presence; in You we live, we move, we love, we act. Grant us the continued Grace of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Psalmist writes, let us kneel before God for we are the people of his pasture. God’s Grace is given freely; we cannot learn this or be taught this; it is an eternal gift to all of us. Our mission is to share this. When we look to God we are in awe of His majesty. We are in awe of the strength he gives us.

Our mission is to spread this awe, this majesty, to whomever we meet. Not a gift from us, it is the gift from God, given because we are His children, all of us. We are His sheep, living in His pasture. Let us be assured that He looks upon us with the happiness and satisfaction that He offers. Dear God, we love that you love us; let us walk in the light following in the footsteps of Jesus.

 

Gracious God,

our human weakness

makes us worthy.

We lift up our souls;

we long to offer peace and love

to all Your worthy children.

Your word brings us peace.

We seek to help those in need,

as are your wishes.

Allow us to teach others

the path You have shown us.

As the Samaritan did, we bring

Your light to those in need.

Gracious God, Your nearness

to us is our blessing.

 

The best way to have courage when suffering is to pray and then forgive. Dedicate your life as an offering of thanksgiving. We are on this earth for such a brief time without really knowing why, we can lead a fulfilled life by existing for each other. Shared suffering builds courage.

Give ourselves over to something good; begin a new ministries to lift others from their problems, help them succeed, and rejoice in the gifts we share. Work and pray for all men to live by the will of God, no matter what name He is called. Open our hearts to relieve our suffering; God’s kingdom is within us, but we can only leave space for it; only God can ease our discomfort.

Ask God’s angels to watch over us at night; joining us in what we have done and what still needs doing. Ask for God’s help for us to rejoice in His Grace.

Prophets

 Have you ever met a prophet?

I’ll bet you have but have not known it. Prophets are not only in the Bible. A prophet is neither a fortune teller nor a foreteller; a prophet is a person reflecting God’s will. Many prophets are not attached to an organized religion, as it was even 3500 years ago. Prophets follow God’s will, not a religion’s tenets.

Not being a foreteller, a prophet will not and cannot tell us what the future will be; not being a fortune teller, he cannot tell us if we will win the lottery. What a prophet can do is interpret what society does and whether the actions of society are according to God’s will.

Prophets are not political; in the Old Testament, prophets often warned the leaders of possible impending misfortune when the leader was not following the will of God. The diaspora occurred due to the weakness of the Israelites; some interpreting it as a punishment from God for disobeying.

Jesus was himself referred to as a false prophet by the leaders of his time. The Pharisees and Sadducees were too isolated due to their interpretations of Jewish law, thus calling Jesus, who brought God’s word to the people, a false prophet and demanded he be removed. Jesus is truly a Prophet of God, the Son of God, whom even Islam recognizes as a great prophet.

So, I ask the question again, have you ever met a prophet? I cannot think of one that I have met, but I have read several in history, such as Julien of Norwich or St. John of the Cross, who have inspired me greatly in my thinking and my writing. Personally, I use the Bible as a source for most of my writing, although this was inspired by a message from Richard Rohr.

I just want to make us think today!

You are Loved

 Open yourself to others and find that they love you as you are. Don’t hide behind our false images. It is the true inner you that is loved by God and is loved by others. Love others and they will love you. Love is not asking someone to love you. Love is loving as God loves.

Love opens us to others, allows our weaknesses to show, and is a silent gift from others. Open yourself as Jesus did. Take inspiration from His example. Speak of love and be rewarded. If we are more willing to see the beauty around us, love it, and accept it as God’s gift, our rewards are transformations of our lives and the lives of others. Do not fear this; bring peace and love to our world by offering this simple effort.

Money cannot bring love; only love can bring love. We cannot live alone with love, because love demands the contributions and presence of others. When we love we join others; we welcome the presence of Jesus and God.

There is something mystical about love. It is both humble and bold; obedience to love is a self-forgetting obedience that brings us more spiritual wealth than we can imagine. When we think about our first love, we remember how thrilled we were; and, when we were loved back, we sere ecstatic, overwhelmed by how special we felt. This is what God and Jesus are telling us, every day. The more love we let enter our life, the more special, the more fulfilled we feel.

You are loved. Seek the love of others and realize all the love that God gives freely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Words

 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Our words allow people to see inside us to our very souls. When we pray, “Lord, open my lips to honor your name,” we must remember that words of anger come from the insecurity we have deep within us. By asking the God to put loving words in our mouth, we dedicate ourselves to love all people, as God loves us.

Immediately after the crucifixion, before Saul was changed by God, the disciples scattered. Their scattering was not to escape punishment, but to spread the good news that Jesus brought to the world. Their words truly glorified Jesus and God. God kept them safe, as they proclaimed the grace of God, glorifying Jesus in His holy name.

As we speak words of love, God’s Love, we also speak in praise of God, and we also are protected from all evil. Angry words do not belong coming from our lips; they are not the words God puts into our mouths. Jesus was crucified because of his words; the leaders of Israel could not accept anyone who challenged their authority. Yet, Jesus told the truth, God Truth. They asked Him, “are you the Son of God?” Jesus’s response was “You say I am.” No denial; no pleading for mercy. Jesus understood that His mission was to bring truth to the world.

We need to do the same. We need to counter all of the hatred that is spewed out by news and politicians and let God guide our way, let God guide our words in the way of eternal Peace.

Blessed God, almighty God, guide our very beings in the way of peace and love for all humanity.