One day during one of my retreat trips to Erie, PA, I decided to take a walk along the monastery property and wound up on a deck overlooking Lake Erie. It’s such a pleasant place to sit with your thoughts. On this particular day, it was quite windy and the water was a bit choppy. I enjoyed sitting there watching the waves crashing and feeling the resultant mist sprinkle across my face. At one point, I noticed the sea gulls in their struggle to fly against the wind and thought to myself: “it would be so much easier if you turned around and flew WITH the wind” – then I chuckled- another lesson to be learned there, right?
After a few minutes, I changed my focus. This time I noticed the beautiful white, fluffy clouds – pure white. They showed no sign of struggle with the wind whose strength was apparent to me and the sea gulls. If you looked at the clouds for a split second, they didn’t even seem to be moving. However, if you focused on them for much longer you could notice their slow, steady movement.
Two things came to mind as I witnessed the clouds and the gulls – one as I sat there that day and the other several months after, as I contemplated my experience. The first thing that came to mind was my conversation with Fr. George on purity (see my post entitled Coming to a Place of Purity). I watched the clouds move slowly and steadily, all in the same direction. As I followed their path, I realized further down to my right that they were floating into one another – they were becoming ONE. Then it hit me – that’s what we are meant to become – ONE. Furthermore, our journey to oneness must be similar to the journey of the clouds – pure, slow and steady.
The second thing that came to mind was the contradiction between the two subjects in the same environment. The clouds showed no sign of struggle while the sea gulls looked like they were going nowhere fast. To me the clouds were the image of grace, humility and peace while the sea gulls were the image of over-confidence and struggle. What was the difference? The clouds seemed to be going with the flow, while the sea gulls were relying on their own abilities and going against the “flow”, if you will.
Think about your own struggles. Are they a result of your inability to go with the flow? I realize that life feels like a struggle when things don’t go my way. The times I feel struggle are the times I forget who’s in charge. At these times I regroup, change focus and remind myself that God is in charge and that He has a different plan for me. In Romans 8:28 we read: God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Let’s trust in that! For me, when I trust in God’s plan, absolutely nothing in life seems like a struggle.
This coming year, let’s vow to be like the clouds: working toward purity of self, accepting all circumstances in life with much grace and humility and remaining in peace. God bless you!
Making Christianity relevant again. Isn’t that what all Christians want? Yesterday’s first reading at mass was from the Book of Numbers 6: 22-27. It reads: The Lord said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
At the time, the Israelites were a “stiff-necked” people. Regardless, God had a plan to turn their attention back to Him and to bless them. Today, we are surrounded by many whom we can liken to the Israelites of Moses’ day. This passage should make us hopeful that positive changes are possible. It should also help us realize our priestly role in society. We too, like Aaron, can invoke God’s name upon His people today and He will bless them. Isn’t that encouraging?
I think of all the people in need of prayer, searching for peace. I carry their names in my heart. Now, with great hope and humility I pray this prayer, simple yet profound, confident that God will bless them and give them peace.
I often recommend Richard Rohr’s books and his website Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org). I subscribe to his daily meditations and would highly recommend them, if you’re not already subscribed. Each year he chooses a theme and his meditations for the year coincide with that theme. This year’s theme is “rebuilding from the bottom up.” To follow (in italics) is yesterday’s meditation. I hope it inspires you to subscribe to cac.org. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Making Christianity Relevant again
What will make a difference to the future is awakening to a faith that fully communicates God’s love—a love that transforms how we believe, what we do, and who we are in the world. —Diana Butler Bass [1]
Our religion is not working well. Another year has ended—a new year begins—in which suffering, fear, violence, injustice, greed, and meaninglessness still abound. This is not even close to the reign of God that Jesus taught. And we must be frank: in their behavior and impact upon the world, Christians are not much different than other people. The majority of Christians are not highly transformed people, but tend to reflect their own culture more than they operate as any kind of leaven within it. I speak especially of American Christians, because I am one. But if you are from another country, look at the Christians where you live and see if the same is true there. Let’s be honest: religion has probably never had such a bad name. Christianity is now seen as “irrelevant” by many and often as part of the problem more than any kind of solution. Some of us are almost embarrassed to say we are Christian because of the negative images that word conjures in others’ minds. Young people especially are turned off by how judgmental, exclusionary, impractical, and ineffective Christian culture seems to be. The church seems hostile toward most science (the objective outer world) and thus unable to talk about its inner dimensions with any authority. As we saw in the recent U.S. election, Christians overall showed little prophetic or compassionate presence. Most Christians have not been taught how to plug into the “mind of Christ;” thus they often reflect the common mind of power, greed, and war instead. The dualistic mind reads reality in simple binaries—good and bad, right and wrong—and thinks itself smart because it chooses one side. This is getting us nowhere. Throughout the history of Christianity, it would seem Jesus’ teaching has had little impact, except among people who surrendered to great love and great suffering. Could this be the real core of the Gospel? Such people experience God rather than merely having disconnected ideas about God. We need the mind of mystics now to offer any kind of alternative—contemplative or nondual—consciousness. We need practice-based religion that teaches us how to connect with the Infinite in ways that actually change us from our finite perspectives. We must rediscover what St. Francis called the “marrow of the Gospel.” It’s time to rebuild from the bottom up. If the foundation is not solid and sure, everything we try to build on top of it is weak and ineffective. Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that so much is tumbling down around us. It’s time to begin again. This will be our new Daily Meditation theme: rebuilding from the bottom up.
Auspiciously, this year is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s important attempts at reform. In the year 1205, Jesus spoke to Francis through the San Damiano cross: “Francis, rebuild my church, for you see it is falling into ruin.” If Jesus himself says the church is falling into ruin, I guess we can admit it also without being accused of being negative or unbelieving. Maybe we have to admit it for anything new and good to happen. Through these daily reflections I will delve into the meaning of Christianity’s powerful “first principles,” or essential elements, in this order: God as Trinity, the Cosmic Christ, the life and teaching of Jesus, and other teachings of Incarnational and Mystical Christianity. Even if you aren’t Christian, I hope you will find universal principles here that you can apply to your own spiritual journey. – Richard Rohr, January 1, 2017 cac.org
Let’s all tune in to see how we can start rebuilding Christianity from the bottom up. Let’s pledge to make our contribution this year. Let’s make Christianity relevant again. God bless you!
