Journaling Archives - Page 25 of 68

The Would Be Followers of Jesus – Luke 9:57-62

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him: “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said “Follow me.” But he replied “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him “Let the dead bury their dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said “I will say farewell to my family at home.” To him Jesus said “No one who set a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In this passage Jesus warns his disciples that the road ahead is not going to be easy. Even He did not have a place to rest his head. He admonishes the followers who want to handle their business first before proclaiming the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, he says they’re not fit for the Kingdom of God. Those are strong words!

The term “would be followers” implies that a desire to follow is present but the action is lacking. Sound familiar? It does to me. When I read this passage, I immediately thought of all the times I get the sudden desire to pray or meditate. Unfortunately I give in to the pressures of daily life and fail to ACT on the desire.

What upsets me most about myself is the fact that I KNOW where the sudden desire to pray comes from. It is actually the Holy Spirit prompting me from within. It’s His calling out to me. When I ignore that prompting, I ignore God’s calling. In that moment I’ve lost the opportunity for God to reveal Himself to me. When I think of all the lost opportunities…………………I’m disappointed.

Sometimes I’m on a roll and consistent with my practices. At other times I’m being pulled away by thoughts, activities and responsibilities. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt the desire to contemplate or write in recent months but ignored it because I have other things on my mind. How horrible is that? Ignoring the Spirit even though I know how fruitful His action and presence will be. Today I refused to be sidetracked and Lord knows how many distractions there were. It was interesting for me to witness the distraction and then get myself back on track when I realized THAT was exactly the topic of this post. A lesson in perseverance for sure!

I have read many books on the practice of contemplation. Contemplation is just sitting in God’s presence and surrendering to His action and presence.. The beauty and benefits of simply sitting and allowing God’s presence to envelope us described in these books makes me DESIRE to contemplate more often than I actually do. It’s what I believe Jesus is getting at in this Gospel.

I would venture to say that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, moves within each one of us as He moved through the Samaritan town on His way to Jerusalem. In those days the Samaritans didn’t welcome Him because they were more focused on His destination (Jerusalem) and not His journey. At times we refuse to welcome Him as well. Maybe because we hope to create the perfect environment and perfect life for ourselves before we can bask in His presence. It’s quite possible that, like the Samaritans, we get so caught up in the destination (where we want to be spiritually, emotionally, financially) that we ignore the journey, the in-between, the lessons and our relationships (with others and ESPECIALLY with Jesus).

The truth is our chores will never be done. Our lives will always be busy. We will never be perfect. Once we realize this, we can listen more intently to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We can be true followers of Jesus. In that way we give Him somewhere to rest His head – our souls! God Bless You!

The Confessions of St. Augustine – therein lies our hope. Here was a man whose younger years were spent on dissipation and sin. Many a time he disregarded the promptings of the Holy Spirit. One of the lines attributed to him went something like this: “Lord make me chaste, but not yet.” Despite all of this and thanks to many many years of motherly love and prayer, St. Augustine experienced a conversion and became a pillar of the Catholic faith. Today, on his feast day, I want to share some words from his autobiography, Confessions. Ponder his words, savor the description of his experience. It’s something we should all aspire to – growth and deeper union with God!

Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance into the inmost depth of my soul. I was able to do so because you were my helper. On entering into myself I saw, as it were, the eye of the soul, what was beyond the eye of the soul, beyond my spirit: Your immutable light. It was not the ordinary light perceptible to all flesh, nor was it merely something of greater magnitude but still essentially akin, shining more clearly and diffusing itself everywhere by its intensity. No, it was something entirely distinct, something altogether different from all these things; and it did not rest above my mind as oil on the surface of water, nor was it above me as heaven is above earth. This light was above me because it made me; I was below it because I was created by it. He who has come to know the truth knows this light.

O eternal truth, true love and beloved eternity. You are my God. To you do I sigh day and night. When I first came to know you, you drew me to yourself so that I might see that there were things for me to see, but that I myself was not yet ready to see them. Meanwhile you overcame the weakness of my vision, sending forth most strongly the beams of your light, and I trembled at once with love and dread. I learned that I was in a region unlike yours and far distant from you, and I thought I heard your voice from on high: “I am the food of grown men, grow then, and you will feed on me. Nor will you change me into yourself like bodily food, but you will be changed into me.”

I sought a way to gain the strength which I needed to enjoy you. But I did not find it until I embraced the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who is above all, God blessed for ever. He was calling me and saying: I am the way of truth, I am the life. He was offering the food which I lacked the strength to take, the food he had mingled with our flesh. For the Word became flesh, that your wisdom, by which you created all things might provide milk for us children.

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they have not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

Such deep, beautiful, inspiring words! I recently read something which described a “spectrum” of spirituality. It described fundamentalism and mysticism as opposite ends of the spectrum. Fundamentalism is defined as a religious movement characterized by a strict belief in the literal interpretation of religious text. Mysticism is defined as a doctrine of an immediate spiritual intuition of truths believed to transcend ordinary understanding, or of a direct, intimate union of the soul with God through contemplation or ecstasy. There’s no question that what St. Augustine is describing here is a mystical experience.