World Magazine 12.9.2017...by Marvin Olasky p64
airport shooting.
Trump inauguration.
travel ban
pipeline protest.
midwest tornadoes.
Neil Gorsuch
school shooting.
Comey firing.
obamacare survival.
Solar eclipse
Scharlottesville killing
Antifa violence.
National anthem protests
Concert shooting
Wildfires
Church shooting
Hurricanes harvey, Irma,and Maria.
Books, movies and music CDs that reflect and amplify atheism and anarchy.
I've just been looking at mostly domestic stories in the first draft of WORLD's next issue which will be our Year in Review special - or maybe we should call it the Year of Tears. the international stories are..heart-rending:
Peruvian floods
Coptic church bombings
terrorism and fire in England.
Venezuelan protests.
China crackdown.
Mexican earthquakes
North Korean missiles.
christians should keep track of this bad news for at least 3 reasons.
First, God tells us to mourn with those who mourn and pray for them.
Second, tragedies remind us of our own morality and push us to yearn for heaven:
As Puritan pastor Increase Mather put it, 'Man knows not his time'.
Third, if we discern the ties, we can slightly influence the world through our buying, voting and other actions and we can greatly influence our churches and communities.
how to follow what's going on?
the Washington Post and most television news networks are so anti-Trump all the time that it's hard to know what's fact and what's just friction. I'll watch Fox News over CNN, but Fox fear-selling also increases demands for antacids and high blood pressure medications. WORLD reminds us to be watchful but not anxious, because God is still in charge. through God's grace in keeping our staff members healthy and hardworking, a relatively small number of WORLD reporters and editors create the magazine you read, the website and podcast an increasing number of you access, and our educational tools - newspapers for children and the World Journalism Institute for adults. our daily half-hour podcast is perfect for busy people commuting to work or cleaning house...
p6 the Roy Moore moment
...the reason our Moore quandary is hard:
we do a disservice to God's mercy when we maximize it.
we do a disservice to evangelism when we say or believe winning an election is more important than telling the truth about God's glory and our sinfulness.
my concern is with those who have written to me and said, in essence, None of those considerations matter because what's most important is to have 52 rather than 51 Republican votes in the Senate.
if numerous Alabaman women are lying, they are defaming Moore;
but if they are telling the truth and he refuses to acknowledge any impropriety,
he is defaming them.
if the latter is the case, Alabama Republican face the choice...
'Retain the Senate seat or retain our honor.
if we act toward Roy Moore as feminists acted toward Bill Clinton,
we need to think about the message we're sending to our children;
some are concluding that conservative evangelicals care more bout political power than anything else. (the irony is that seeking political power now is the quickest way to lose it in an upcoming backlash election.
Sunday, December 3, 2017
12.3.2017 THE NEW RULES (we lose something when we look to legal fences for safety) by Andree Seu Peterson
world magazine 12.9.2017 p63
there has been climate change in America.
I came close to changing a stinky diaper the other day.
they caught me in time. on my next volunteer shift at a local Christian ministry,
I was taken aside and told in hushed tones that someone had walked into the room and seen me and reported it.
I am served notice never to change a diaper in that nursery unless another is watching me.
that's a new rule.
I was delivering an item to my father at church where he works on weekdays and where our congregation uses a portion of the building for a community school.
the glass-pained main entrance doors were locked, but I was able to wave down a teacher in the hallway, a woman familiar to me from ages of church attendance.
having let me in, she stayed by my side
even after I told her I knew where I was going
and escorted me to my destination in the building.
it was awkward. it's the new rule.
the woman who assists me in ESL happens to be a veteran kindergarten teacher.
last year was the first year the school had to cancel its spring field trip.
when I asked why, she said there are not enough parents with criminal background checks...
too bad for the kiddos; it's the rule now.
my Peruvian friends who wanted to take our ESL classes are out of luck. Porque?
Porque the only way they could attend is if we had child care and we don't. Porque?
Porque the few people who are game to put out time and money to have their backgrounds inspected
are already plugging hole in other vital ministries.
If there are not 2 babysitters who show up to ind the toddlers of a local ministry I serve one shift a month,
the single sitter may not take the children into the playroom across the hall,
but all parties must crowd together in the project area though it is most inconvenient for conducting business.
weather changes incrementally, below the threshold of our observation.
when you are first aware of a warm day turning chilly, it has already been going on for some time.
when you first sense you are getting uncomfortably warm in a room,
the temperature has been rising without your notice as you were busy with other things.
the Bible predicts increase of evil in the last days and precautions must undoubtedly be taken:
'for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive..
avoid such people'. (II Timothy 3.1,5)
so we 'avoid such people', and to do so, multiply our fences.
but bad men still breach good fences.
and something's gained (maybe),
but something's lost when we look to rules and legal fences for safety.
it may be that reliance on the blunt instrument of one-size-fits-all safety measures
has the unintended effect of making us complacent in the fundamentals we once knew for generations
that there is no substitute for knowing the flock of your
pasture before placing anyone in positions of responsibility.
EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT NOW AND EYES HIS NEIGHBOR WARILY.
and there is something even worse, as stated better than I could myself by a reader of this magazine,
whose 11 year old daughter wanted to help a lifelong family male friend in his first-grade classroom - a room lined with windows on a hallway constantly monitored - but was denied because the child protection policy would not allow it.
the mother wrote,
'It grieves me to see the institutional church training the innocent to think in such sinister terms about herself and training all of us to look at one another as potential predators or potential prey.
I had to explain that to her.
I had to introduce to her the notion of sin where there was no sin.
I had to create in her a skepticism and suspicion that had previously been only purity.'
the climate has changed in America. you feel it subtly in every interaction. and somewhere out there an 11 year old child is WONDERING THINGS about a family friend that NEVER SHOULD HAVE CROSSED HER HOLY MIND.
there has been climate change in America.
I came close to changing a stinky diaper the other day.
they caught me in time. on my next volunteer shift at a local Christian ministry,
I was taken aside and told in hushed tones that someone had walked into the room and seen me and reported it.
I am served notice never to change a diaper in that nursery unless another is watching me.
that's a new rule.
I was delivering an item to my father at church where he works on weekdays and where our congregation uses a portion of the building for a community school.
the glass-pained main entrance doors were locked, but I was able to wave down a teacher in the hallway, a woman familiar to me from ages of church attendance.
having let me in, she stayed by my side
even after I told her I knew where I was going
and escorted me to my destination in the building.
it was awkward. it's the new rule.
the woman who assists me in ESL happens to be a veteran kindergarten teacher.
last year was the first year the school had to cancel its spring field trip.
when I asked why, she said there are not enough parents with criminal background checks...
too bad for the kiddos; it's the rule now.
my Peruvian friends who wanted to take our ESL classes are out of luck. Porque?
Porque the only way they could attend is if we had child care and we don't. Porque?
Porque the few people who are game to put out time and money to have their backgrounds inspected
are already plugging hole in other vital ministries.
If there are not 2 babysitters who show up to ind the toddlers of a local ministry I serve one shift a month,
the single sitter may not take the children into the playroom across the hall,
but all parties must crowd together in the project area though it is most inconvenient for conducting business.
weather changes incrementally, below the threshold of our observation.
when you are first aware of a warm day turning chilly, it has already been going on for some time.
when you first sense you are getting uncomfortably warm in a room,
the temperature has been rising without your notice as you were busy with other things.
the Bible predicts increase of evil in the last days and precautions must undoubtedly be taken:
'for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive..
avoid such people'. (II Timothy 3.1,5)
so we 'avoid such people', and to do so, multiply our fences.
but bad men still breach good fences.
and something's gained (maybe),
but something's lost when we look to rules and legal fences for safety.
it may be that reliance on the blunt instrument of one-size-fits-all safety measures
has the unintended effect of making us complacent in the fundamentals we once knew for generations
that there is no substitute for knowing the flock of your
pasture before placing anyone in positions of responsibility.
EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT NOW AND EYES HIS NEIGHBOR WARILY.
and there is something even worse, as stated better than I could myself by a reader of this magazine,
whose 11 year old daughter wanted to help a lifelong family male friend in his first-grade classroom - a room lined with windows on a hallway constantly monitored - but was denied because the child protection policy would not allow it.
the mother wrote,
'It grieves me to see the institutional church training the innocent to think in such sinister terms about herself and training all of us to look at one another as potential predators or potential prey.
I had to explain that to her.
I had to introduce to her the notion of sin where there was no sin.
I had to create in her a skepticism and suspicion that had previously been only purity.'
the climate has changed in America. you feel it subtly in every interaction. and somewhere out there an 11 year old child is WONDERING THINGS about a family friend that NEVER SHOULD HAVE CROSSED HER HOLY MIND.
Saturday, December 2, 2017
12.2.17 #5 NEW VISION (Girzone)
55 I am amazed at the enthusiasm with which young people endure what for me would be grueling penance when they become interested in competitive sports. athletes train for hours on end day after day to prepare themselves for competition. musicians, also, practice for hours each day to keep in good form. and, particularly in our won day, just ordinary people perform grueling exercises to maintain good physical health.
the spiritual life is no different. we have to keep in shape. while I believe our spiritual lives should be marked by casual ordinariness and not betray anything odd or outlandish, there are some things which are a natural part of spiritual development and they are spiritual exercises. spirituality is being in touch with our inner self, who we are, what we are, how we really think and feel and how we relate to the world around us. most importantly of all, how do all these things connect us with God who is the center of our lives. in the process of growing spiritually, what we are in essence doing is developing a comprehensive vision of life, a vision with God as the ever-present focus, giving clarity to what we see and feel and meaning to our existence. developing this vision is not easy. we can get lost. we can make mistakes which can be harmful. witness the
56 bizarre things people do in the name of religion. how often we see so-called religious people obsessed with religion and feeling they have to become the conscience for everyone around them, becoming nuisances by their incessant pressure on family and even strangers. how many people throughout history were burned at the stake and tortured in the name of religion? in our own day we see only too often the tragedies that take place because of religious fanatics. you can be sure each of those persons began their spiritual journey pretty much as everyone else, but because of some strange quirk took a wrong turn and ended up with ideas that are far from healthy.
to keep our minds healthy we have to be nourished on a healthy diet. and we also have to breathe. that is understood. our nourishment comes from our reading, particularly the Scriptures; our breathing is our prayer life. disciplining unruly desires is also essential. reading opens our minds to the endless possibilities for spiritual growth, depending on where god is leading us and in what direction our energies drive us. we have to remember everyone's spirituality is different. there is no monolithic spiritual model. some may develop an interest in social justice. others may be interested in the role of women in the world. some may choose politics. some may be concerned about the plight of starving people or the homeless. some may be drawn to contemplation. others may be content to just live ordinary lives within their limited circle of friends and neighbors. to a great extent it depends on where God is leading. not that
57 these interests are the whole of the spiritual life. they are not. they are the natural outlet, however, of our inner concerns which are an integral part of our spiritual lives, but they are not the essence of our spirituality. the essence of our spiritual lives is the partnership we have with God, the intimacy we have established with Him. whatever He leads we are prepared to follow.
living this new life in the spirit is not easy. it is not natural for us, so we have to discipline our natural tendencies to adjust to this new and unfamiliar mode of behavior. self discipline is just as important for spiritual development as it is for physical and mental development. just as athletes discipline themselves with endless calisthenics and motivate them selves by reading about their heroes, so spiritual athletes have to discipline unruly tendencies and regularly stimulate themselves to maintain their interest in spiritual development. if this regimen is lacking, interest will eventually wane and they will drift back into their old ways. in the past spiritually minded people read the live of the saints. there was great benefit in that as well as enjoyment. it provided exciting and powerful ideals for people to ponder or imitate. in getting rid of saints, many modern c
Christians deprived themselves and their children of an army of inspiring witnesses to faith and heroic spirituality. i remember as a child i used to spend endless hours reading the lives of the saints, especially the early christian martyrs. i was fascinated by their courage and their attachment to god. it was encouraging to witness the
58 wonderful things God accomplished in the lives of these generous souls willing to sacrifice all to follow Him.
young people today are rarely exposed to this literature. it is difficult for them to find much enjoyment in reading the Scriptures. the language and style is archaic. the stories are sketchy and for most young people very boring. the lives of the saints were a big help in introducing young people to Christ. lacking this there is a vacuum in which young people particularly either starve for ideals to imitate or create their own heroes, which, unfortunately, may be far from saintly. one of the saddest things in our society is that young people have no role models other than sports heroes. we have taken the saint out of their live and now we pay the price. they have no christian heroes to follow.
this developmental phase in our spiritual lives is critical. critical, because at this point we are setting for ourselves the course for the future. decisions we make now will affect the rest of our lives. the keystone of our new lives is freedom. having found our Christ, our Savior, the first gift He gives us is our freedom. freedom to be ourselves, freedom to follow Him, freedom to make our own choices. unfortunately, many people do not feel comfortable with freedom. they must find for themselves a leader, a guru, or a mentor to take over the direction of their spiritual lives who will tell them what to do and how to think. a guide and counselor is understandable, as in sports or music or in any pursuit, but that is not enough. many mistakenly believe they have to be led each step of the way.
59 I am presently reading a book about an organization within the Catholic Church that demands total obedience of its members. they must obtain permission from their leader for everything they do. he lays down for them guidelines even for their change of underwear. they are told they must break contact with their families and not share the work of their organization with any of their family members. when young people are recruited they are ordered not to tell their parents about their joining the society. members are obligated to lay bare the state of their souls to their leader. any new ideas about their spiritual lives they must share with their leader for his approval. he had total control over their souls. this had the ring of the diabolical about it . it is frightening.
such behavior strangles the freedom Jesus won for us. it strips from people their dignity as children of God who should have direct access to their heavenly Father, and gives a human being veto power over the Holy spirit's work in a person's life. it deprives them of the joy of being free to be themselves and enslaves them to their leader's wishes, no matter how apparently lofty their goals. even God does not demand the kind of control over lives that this group demands of its members. such unhealthy societies limit the redemption of Christ, and interfere with the Holy Spirit's work in the members' souls. the overall purpose of the group is to gain power in the Church and in society. to this end they befriend the wealthy, the well educated and the powerful. the poor are not of great interest. the radical
60 departure from the spirit of Jesus is clear, but to assure the maintaining of their goals, they must demand that their followers give up their freedom and follow their leader's wishes.
freedom is essential in the spiritual life if we are to respond to the Holy Spirit , and grow in God's grace. we see this clearly in the lives of the Old Testament prophets. they had a most difficult role to play in God's plan. God had set up a teaching authority in Judaism from Moses through the high priests and the scribes and pharisees. god guided the religious life of His people through them. the prophets were always vulnerable because in times of crises, when the religious leaders failed God, he would choose these men from outside the teaching authority to deliver messages to the people this aroused the jealousy of the priests and the king that God should snub them and choose a nobody to provide guidance for the people as a result, religious leaders persecuted and killed the prophets. so, it is easy to see why the young prophets panicked when God called them. understandably they were reluctant to follow God's prodding because they knew full well what their fate would be. it was precisely these brave persons who are the heroes in the Bible, with many books of the Bible named after them. no one remembers the names of the scribes and Pharisees or what the priests did, other than that they killed the prophets. the prophets were special because they allowed themselves to e free to listen to god and respond to His call.
we see the same phenomenon today. Church leaders
61 are stuck in sterile, worn-out forms and indulge in global politics and international financial dealings, which no doubt is in some way necessary. but God's people are starving with unfilled needs which grow ever more critical with each passing day. and little is done. so, we see God bypassing the teaching authority and speaking through ordinary people like Dorothy Day, or Cesar Chavez, or some of the more sensible and forward-looking theologians who prick the consciences of the shepherds so they will wake up an heed the needs of the flock. history again repeats itself. the prophets are punished or ostracized for listening to God and for delivering His messages to the people. in the past, god could use the prophets for his special work because they were free to listen to what He was telling them and were not enamored with things of the past. they could have chosen not to listen. after all, who were they to tell those consecrated by God what they should teach or how they should act? but the true prophets chose to be open to God's call and to obey his instructions.
prophets are only one example of people who listen to god. each person has a mission just as important if not as dramatic as that of the prophets. we also must have the freedom to follow where God directs if we would accomplish the role He has designed for us.
freedom, however, is not easy to handle. some people panic at the thought of being free. a number of years ago I
was chairman of a human rights commission and was also on an advisory board for the state office for the aging. concerned about the elderly in the prisons
62 who were no longer a threat to society, I set up a committee to work for their release from state prisons. at first, the prison officials could no locate most of the inmates targeted. they had become lost in a sea of paperwork and there was no record of their existence on the computers. when they finally found them, we were shocked to find that the inmates were happy enough remaining lost and did not want to be released. they had found security in their surroundings and were quite content to stay there until they died. they were afraid they could not handle living free outside. there are many people with that same fear of freedom. whether it comes from insecurity or not wanting to take responsibility for their actions, the effect is the same. they are afraid that being free they might fail or be held accountable fro decisions they might make. they would rather be told what to do and not have to make decisions. if someone has a problem lie that, the spiritual life is difficult because of relationship with
God involves making decisions, decisions to alter your understanding of things, to look at God in a different light, to follow where God may want to lead you. for persons like that it may be a help to have a spiritual director, not to have veto power over decisions but to be used as a sounding board for ideas, and as a help in resolving issues that may be complicated or confusing and to offer suggestions for the person to consider. the director should be person of faith who understands the spiritual life, is intelligent and has common sense.
people do not always realize the joy of being free.
63 this is because many have a problem with how to use their freedom. it is the same problem children have. how often they complain, 'Mother, I'm bored'. boredom will always e a problem unless we learn how to use our freedom. it can be a great help if we are good readers. there are volumes of solid spiritual writings for persons at all stages of the spiritual life, some boring, some not only helpful but exciting. we should acquaint ourselves with these books and schedule a few minutes from our busy schedule each day to enjoy them. they can ope up for us vast horizons and present invigorating new challenges for us to consider.
beside reading, prayer is essential. our relationship with God grows from our constant awareness of His presence in our lives .at first it is difficult to think of Him. but as His presence becomes more real, our sense of His nearness blossoms into an intimate communing with Him in a beautiful kind of prayer. it may be a monologue or it may be perceived as a kind of dialogue. in prayer God works on our attitudes. He alters our vision, our understanding of life. over a period of time spent communing with God. we will notice our attitudes changing toward everything. we think differently about God we think differently about material things. we think differently about God. we think differently about material things. we think differently about rich people and poor people. we see God's creation and everything in it as sacred. given the time God will eventually transform our whole life. He does this so subtly we do not even know it. others see it and might on occasion make the remark,
64 'What a beautiful person you have become! and the remarkable thing is that you do not even know what they are talking about, because God has accomplished this so quietly that you were totally unaware of what was happening. this is what St. Paul meant when he wrote, 'I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.
placing ourselves at God's disposal may take a bold leap of trust, but it will probably be the most important decision of our lives. disciplining ourselves and following our spiritual exercises will strengthen us in our new lives and light up the way on our new and bold journeys.
the spiritual life is no different. we have to keep in shape. while I believe our spiritual lives should be marked by casual ordinariness and not betray anything odd or outlandish, there are some things which are a natural part of spiritual development and they are spiritual exercises. spirituality is being in touch with our inner self, who we are, what we are, how we really think and feel and how we relate to the world around us. most importantly of all, how do all these things connect us with God who is the center of our lives. in the process of growing spiritually, what we are in essence doing is developing a comprehensive vision of life, a vision with God as the ever-present focus, giving clarity to what we see and feel and meaning to our existence. developing this vision is not easy. we can get lost. we can make mistakes which can be harmful. witness the
56 bizarre things people do in the name of religion. how often we see so-called religious people obsessed with religion and feeling they have to become the conscience for everyone around them, becoming nuisances by their incessant pressure on family and even strangers. how many people throughout history were burned at the stake and tortured in the name of religion? in our own day we see only too often the tragedies that take place because of religious fanatics. you can be sure each of those persons began their spiritual journey pretty much as everyone else, but because of some strange quirk took a wrong turn and ended up with ideas that are far from healthy.
to keep our minds healthy we have to be nourished on a healthy diet. and we also have to breathe. that is understood. our nourishment comes from our reading, particularly the Scriptures; our breathing is our prayer life. disciplining unruly desires is also essential. reading opens our minds to the endless possibilities for spiritual growth, depending on where god is leading us and in what direction our energies drive us. we have to remember everyone's spirituality is different. there is no monolithic spiritual model. some may develop an interest in social justice. others may be interested in the role of women in the world. some may choose politics. some may be concerned about the plight of starving people or the homeless. some may be drawn to contemplation. others may be content to just live ordinary lives within their limited circle of friends and neighbors. to a great extent it depends on where God is leading. not that
57 these interests are the whole of the spiritual life. they are not. they are the natural outlet, however, of our inner concerns which are an integral part of our spiritual lives, but they are not the essence of our spirituality. the essence of our spiritual lives is the partnership we have with God, the intimacy we have established with Him. whatever He leads we are prepared to follow.
living this new life in the spirit is not easy. it is not natural for us, so we have to discipline our natural tendencies to adjust to this new and unfamiliar mode of behavior. self discipline is just as important for spiritual development as it is for physical and mental development. just as athletes discipline themselves with endless calisthenics and motivate them selves by reading about their heroes, so spiritual athletes have to discipline unruly tendencies and regularly stimulate themselves to maintain their interest in spiritual development. if this regimen is lacking, interest will eventually wane and they will drift back into their old ways. in the past spiritually minded people read the live of the saints. there was great benefit in that as well as enjoyment. it provided exciting and powerful ideals for people to ponder or imitate. in getting rid of saints, many modern c
Christians deprived themselves and their children of an army of inspiring witnesses to faith and heroic spirituality. i remember as a child i used to spend endless hours reading the lives of the saints, especially the early christian martyrs. i was fascinated by their courage and their attachment to god. it was encouraging to witness the
58 wonderful things God accomplished in the lives of these generous souls willing to sacrifice all to follow Him.
young people today are rarely exposed to this literature. it is difficult for them to find much enjoyment in reading the Scriptures. the language and style is archaic. the stories are sketchy and for most young people very boring. the lives of the saints were a big help in introducing young people to Christ. lacking this there is a vacuum in which young people particularly either starve for ideals to imitate or create their own heroes, which, unfortunately, may be far from saintly. one of the saddest things in our society is that young people have no role models other than sports heroes. we have taken the saint out of their live and now we pay the price. they have no christian heroes to follow.
this developmental phase in our spiritual lives is critical. critical, because at this point we are setting for ourselves the course for the future. decisions we make now will affect the rest of our lives. the keystone of our new lives is freedom. having found our Christ, our Savior, the first gift He gives us is our freedom. freedom to be ourselves, freedom to follow Him, freedom to make our own choices. unfortunately, many people do not feel comfortable with freedom. they must find for themselves a leader, a guru, or a mentor to take over the direction of their spiritual lives who will tell them what to do and how to think. a guide and counselor is understandable, as in sports or music or in any pursuit, but that is not enough. many mistakenly believe they have to be led each step of the way.
59 I am presently reading a book about an organization within the Catholic Church that demands total obedience of its members. they must obtain permission from their leader for everything they do. he lays down for them guidelines even for their change of underwear. they are told they must break contact with their families and not share the work of their organization with any of their family members. when young people are recruited they are ordered not to tell their parents about their joining the society. members are obligated to lay bare the state of their souls to their leader. any new ideas about their spiritual lives they must share with their leader for his approval. he had total control over their souls. this had the ring of the diabolical about it . it is frightening.
such behavior strangles the freedom Jesus won for us. it strips from people their dignity as children of God who should have direct access to their heavenly Father, and gives a human being veto power over the Holy spirit's work in a person's life. it deprives them of the joy of being free to be themselves and enslaves them to their leader's wishes, no matter how apparently lofty their goals. even God does not demand the kind of control over lives that this group demands of its members. such unhealthy societies limit the redemption of Christ, and interfere with the Holy Spirit's work in the members' souls. the overall purpose of the group is to gain power in the Church and in society. to this end they befriend the wealthy, the well educated and the powerful. the poor are not of great interest. the radical
60 departure from the spirit of Jesus is clear, but to assure the maintaining of their goals, they must demand that their followers give up their freedom and follow their leader's wishes.
freedom is essential in the spiritual life if we are to respond to the Holy Spirit , and grow in God's grace. we see this clearly in the lives of the Old Testament prophets. they had a most difficult role to play in God's plan. God had set up a teaching authority in Judaism from Moses through the high priests and the scribes and pharisees. god guided the religious life of His people through them. the prophets were always vulnerable because in times of crises, when the religious leaders failed God, he would choose these men from outside the teaching authority to deliver messages to the people this aroused the jealousy of the priests and the king that God should snub them and choose a nobody to provide guidance for the people as a result, religious leaders persecuted and killed the prophets. so, it is easy to see why the young prophets panicked when God called them. understandably they were reluctant to follow God's prodding because they knew full well what their fate would be. it was precisely these brave persons who are the heroes in the Bible, with many books of the Bible named after them. no one remembers the names of the scribes and Pharisees or what the priests did, other than that they killed the prophets. the prophets were special because they allowed themselves to e free to listen to god and respond to His call.
we see the same phenomenon today. Church leaders
61 are stuck in sterile, worn-out forms and indulge in global politics and international financial dealings, which no doubt is in some way necessary. but God's people are starving with unfilled needs which grow ever more critical with each passing day. and little is done. so, we see God bypassing the teaching authority and speaking through ordinary people like Dorothy Day, or Cesar Chavez, or some of the more sensible and forward-looking theologians who prick the consciences of the shepherds so they will wake up an heed the needs of the flock. history again repeats itself. the prophets are punished or ostracized for listening to God and for delivering His messages to the people. in the past, god could use the prophets for his special work because they were free to listen to what He was telling them and were not enamored with things of the past. they could have chosen not to listen. after all, who were they to tell those consecrated by God what they should teach or how they should act? but the true prophets chose to be open to God's call and to obey his instructions.
prophets are only one example of people who listen to god. each person has a mission just as important if not as dramatic as that of the prophets. we also must have the freedom to follow where God directs if we would accomplish the role He has designed for us.
freedom, however, is not easy to handle. some people panic at the thought of being free. a number of years ago I
was chairman of a human rights commission and was also on an advisory board for the state office for the aging. concerned about the elderly in the prisons
62 who were no longer a threat to society, I set up a committee to work for their release from state prisons. at first, the prison officials could no locate most of the inmates targeted. they had become lost in a sea of paperwork and there was no record of their existence on the computers. when they finally found them, we were shocked to find that the inmates were happy enough remaining lost and did not want to be released. they had found security in their surroundings and were quite content to stay there until they died. they were afraid they could not handle living free outside. there are many people with that same fear of freedom. whether it comes from insecurity or not wanting to take responsibility for their actions, the effect is the same. they are afraid that being free they might fail or be held accountable fro decisions they might make. they would rather be told what to do and not have to make decisions. if someone has a problem lie that, the spiritual life is difficult because of relationship with
God involves making decisions, decisions to alter your understanding of things, to look at God in a different light, to follow where God may want to lead you. for persons like that it may be a help to have a spiritual director, not to have veto power over decisions but to be used as a sounding board for ideas, and as a help in resolving issues that may be complicated or confusing and to offer suggestions for the person to consider. the director should be person of faith who understands the spiritual life, is intelligent and has common sense.
people do not always realize the joy of being free.
63 this is because many have a problem with how to use their freedom. it is the same problem children have. how often they complain, 'Mother, I'm bored'. boredom will always e a problem unless we learn how to use our freedom. it can be a great help if we are good readers. there are volumes of solid spiritual writings for persons at all stages of the spiritual life, some boring, some not only helpful but exciting. we should acquaint ourselves with these books and schedule a few minutes from our busy schedule each day to enjoy them. they can ope up for us vast horizons and present invigorating new challenges for us to consider.
beside reading, prayer is essential. our relationship with God grows from our constant awareness of His presence in our lives .at first it is difficult to think of Him. but as His presence becomes more real, our sense of His nearness blossoms into an intimate communing with Him in a beautiful kind of prayer. it may be a monologue or it may be perceived as a kind of dialogue. in prayer God works on our attitudes. He alters our vision, our understanding of life. over a period of time spent communing with God. we will notice our attitudes changing toward everything. we think differently about God we think differently about material things. we think differently about God. we think differently about material things. we think differently about rich people and poor people. we see God's creation and everything in it as sacred. given the time God will eventually transform our whole life. He does this so subtly we do not even know it. others see it and might on occasion make the remark,
64 'What a beautiful person you have become! and the remarkable thing is that you do not even know what they are talking about, because God has accomplished this so quietly that you were totally unaware of what was happening. this is what St. Paul meant when he wrote, 'I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.
placing ourselves at God's disposal may take a bold leap of trust, but it will probably be the most important decision of our lives. disciplining ourselves and following our spiritual exercises will strengthen us in our new lives and light up the way on our new and bold journeys.
Friday, December 1, 2017
#2. NOTHING/EVERYTHING (Girzone)
One day Jesus made a remark, 'the birds of the air have their nests, the foxes have their dens, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. I have thought about that so many times. one the surface it appeared as if Jesus was feeling sorry for Himself, but that mentality was so far removed from His way of thinking that it didn't even make sense. what Jesus seemed to be saying was 'Look at me, I have nothing , not even a place to sleep and I am perfectly happy. the common purse He oddly enough turned over to Judas, even though he knew he could not be trusted to handle money, showed how little value Jesus attached to material things. this attitude of Jesus toward material things is basic to an understanding of His spirituality. He had one robe, no second change of clothes, no purse. He slept very frequently up in the hills where the gospel writers say He would spend the night in prayer. He and his followers apparently depended to a great extent on the generosity of people along the way to care for their material needs, especially for food. 'Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will drink' was an admonition He practiced in His own life. Yet, He showed no objection to those of His followers who were well-to-do. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were by no
20 means poor. Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, was a very wealthy man. Joseph of Arimathea was also a wealthy follower of Jesus. even the rich young man who approached Jesus one day asking Him what he must do to be saved. all Jesus told Him was 'Keep the commandments'. only when the man expressed dissatisfaction with that answer, did Jesus tell him, 'If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor. but Jesus did not demand it. he suggested it because the man indicated he wanted to do something more than just the minimum.
Jesus Himself was 'poor' by choice. he was born 'poor'. He had a manger for a crib. He had the wherewithal to be 'rich'. He chose not to be. His poverty was logical for Him. He knew who He was. Material things could add nothing to His image of Himself. they were to Him just like the dirt in the field; gold merely a type of stone, clothes something made from animal skins or culled from plants that grew in the fields. He needed no material things to enhance His self-image or His reputation in other people's eyes. what he had to offer was infinitely more valuable. freedom of spirit and the joy that flows from that freedom were essential to Jesus. it was this spirit He tried to pass on to those who would follow Him. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven'. He did not say blessed are those in material or financial need, but the poor in spirit. theirs is the freedom and the joy and the peace of the children of god, the kingdom of heaven. this was the condition for finding the joy that Jesus possessed and which He
21 wanted His followers to experience. it was fundamental to Jesus' approach to spirituality. place your trust in your heavenly Father who knows what you need, and do not worry yourself about the things of this world. He will give you what you need.
when I was young, my father, who was a butcher, used to take me and my brothers and sisters to help him in his store. he had a good business with mostly well-to-do customers - judges, lawyers, doctors, government officials, businesspeople. he was a good butcher and would go to the packing houses to pick the cuts of meat his customers preferred. often there were customers waiting for him outside his store when he arrived in the morning, because they knew they would have the best selection of cuts early in the day.
but despite his successful business, he never seemed concerned about material things. in the wintertime, my father wore an old overcoat with the pocket torn out. it never bothered him though my mother was forever trying to fix it. also, he could not wear overshoes because they hurt his feet. he had ulcerated varicose veins that were painful. when there was snow on the ground he would wrap burlap around his shoes. it looked so unfashionable to say the least. I couldn't even get out of the truck with him. 4 or 5 were waiting for him to open the store. when my father got out of the truck, an immaculately dressed judge who was a good friend commented, 'that's quite an outfit you've got there, Peter! My father smiled and replied good-naturedly, 'Yes, Judge, you have to have dignity.
22 I asked my father one day why he dressed like that. he merely answered, 'it is not what you wear that is important. it is what you are inside. real dignity is in the beauty of your soul. I couldn't understand this way back then.
when I had to retire a number of years ago because of my health, I chose not to accept any compensation from the diocese, though I had no income. for the first time in my life i was nearly penniless. I had just enough to survive. I ate food many poor people would turn down. I had no money for clothes. I made my furniture from some boards I bought cheap. I had one plate, a bowl, a couple of glasses and 3 utensils. i knew for the first time in my life what it was to be genuinely 'poor', in the world's sense of the word. but these were the happiest days of my life, even though I had nothing. I had to practice what Jesus taught and what i had preached all my life, 'Look at the birds of the air...' and I learned from experience what my dad tried to teach me, and what Jesus taught so beautifully in His own life. I learned it didn't take much to survive, not to live luxuriously, but to survive. but even with just the bare necessities, I had everything I needed to be happy.
one morning, I was taking a walk and wondering what i would do for supper, since I had no money. walking along the side of the road I thought I saw some money in the ditch. but how would money get into that ditch so far from anyplace? I took a closer look and bent down and sure enough, there, lying in the ditch and neatly folded, was some money, just enough for supper.
23 could almost hear Jesus saying, 'I told you not to worry, I would take care of you. Jesus was right and I could now say that from my own firsthand experience.
a short time later, that all changed. when Joshua became popular, money became a painful burden. trying to use it wisely was not easy.
Jesus' attitude seems to be that freedom from material possessions can be very liberating. having money and being free is also possible but adds complicated responsibilities which can jeopardize that freedom. the important thing is to maintain a detachment from whatever possessions we may have, whether they be great or small and not allow ourselves to become so concerned about them that they become a serious distraction from our own inner growth. 'where your heart is there your treasure lies. however, a person does not have to have great wealth to be attached. a poor person can be even more obsessed with his few possessions than a rich person with his vast wealth.
the freedom and peace Jesus talked about had to do not only with material things but with anything that generated undue anxiety which could disturb our inner well-being. one of the most remarkable things about Jesus' life was his tranquility. when you consider the almost constant turmoil that surrounded Jesus - crowds pressing in on Him and His enemies plotting daily to destroy Him - and see the calmness that pervaded His life, it is remarkable, and proves the value of the detachment that Jesus had from whatever could disturb his inner peace. that detachment Jesus tried to share with
24 His followers so they, too,k could find the same power and inner peace that marked His life.
if there was one thing Jesus held out to His followers it was His promise of peace. 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. He never tired of speaking about the peach that he would give to those who accepted His way of life. this theme threads its way through the whole gospel message. it is a trademark of His spirituality and should be a trait that singles our his disciples, in whatever age they live.
why, then, we might wonder, do Jesus' followers not stand out for their peacefulness? the answer is simple. His disciples through all time are not familiar with the message as Jesus delivered it. we are brought up to follow unquestioningly the practices of our religion, whatever our denomination. but obedience to customs and dictates of religion does not make a follower of Jesus. though many talk about accepting the Lord Jesus and about commitment to Him, frequently that acceptance has little to do with Jesus Himself. it is acceptance of the teacher who has delivered the message and the way of life laid out by the teacher that people follow. it is not the message of Jesus that is being followed, but the guidance and interpretation of the teacher. He or she becomes the way of life. this is not an immediate personal relationship with Jesus.
the one thing that is absolutely necessary if we are to develop a spirituality based on Jesus' life is that we open our hearts to the Person of Jesus Himself and allow Him to come into our lives to befriend us and
25 guide us. He promised, I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you...He who loves Me will be loved by my Father and i will love him and manifest Myself to him. this is the essence of Christian spirituality, the living presence of Jesus in our souls. He is there, not as a dummy, neither hearing nor speaking, but as an active partner in our lives, guiding and comforting us when we need Him. it is this mystical friendship with Jesus that is the core of Christian spirituality and makes Christian spirituality a unique custom-designed journey fashioned after the uniqueness of each individual person.
once we open ourselves to god and show a willingness to follow His grace in our lives, we want to see immediate results. but we are really traveling in a foreign land. Spirituality is a real journey into the unknown. what are the parameters, the rules, the pathways? where do they lead? does everyone follow the same road and become like everyone else on this unusual journey? do you give up your personality and suppress your real self so you can become a new person?
many people feel they have to shed their old selves when they enter the spiritual life and become saintly overnight. it doesn't work that way. we don't grow physically overnight. neither do we grow emotionally or mentally overnight. growth consists of long involved processes. it is the same with the spiritual life. we grow gradually, over a lifetime. just like physical growth cannot be forced, so spiritual growth cannot be forced without doing severe damage, because we then pressure
26 ourselves to do things perfectly before we have developed the underlying strength and charity from which perfection spontaneously flows. each one grows the way God planned for us to grow, depending upon what he had in mind for each of us. Grace builds upon nature, as St. Paul writes. it does not destroy nature.
what is it, then, that God has in mind? perhaps we will never know. nor is it important that we know. what is important is that we leave ourselves open to god each day so He can use us as He sees fit. that's his business. we are merely His creatures, His servants. to be at his disposal is our responsibility. humility has to be a fundamental condition of our relationship with God. but we can be sure that He will use us and His using us will always be exciting and always an adventure. many people are afraid of giving themselves to god and letting God into their lives, because they think all their fun will come to an end and life will become a bore. there is one thing god is not, though, and that is boring. the creative imagination of god is beyond comprehension and the real fun in our lives just begins once we find God and he becomes an active partner in our lives. MY OWN LIFE BECAME A WHIRLWIND WHEN I MADE UP MY MIND THAT I WAS NOT GOING TO FORGE MY OWN WAY THROUGH LIFE BUT INSTEAD WOULD LET GOD GUIDE ME. and
it makes good sense. God didn't create us haphazardly. He made each of us for a purpose and he is determined that we accomplish that purpose. He does, however, need our cooperation and when we give Him our goodwill and open our hearts to Him (which is
27 really all we have to offer), He sets in motion all the machinery we need to fulfill the task He has planned for us. that is always exciting and rewarding, because the gifts and talents he has given us are perfectly adapted to the work He has designed for us. that is the perfect blueprint for success, happiness and fulfillment.
20 means poor. Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, was a very wealthy man. Joseph of Arimathea was also a wealthy follower of Jesus. even the rich young man who approached Jesus one day asking Him what he must do to be saved. all Jesus told Him was 'Keep the commandments'. only when the man expressed dissatisfaction with that answer, did Jesus tell him, 'If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor. but Jesus did not demand it. he suggested it because the man indicated he wanted to do something more than just the minimum.
Jesus Himself was 'poor' by choice. he was born 'poor'. He had a manger for a crib. He had the wherewithal to be 'rich'. He chose not to be. His poverty was logical for Him. He knew who He was. Material things could add nothing to His image of Himself. they were to Him just like the dirt in the field; gold merely a type of stone, clothes something made from animal skins or culled from plants that grew in the fields. He needed no material things to enhance His self-image or His reputation in other people's eyes. what he had to offer was infinitely more valuable. freedom of spirit and the joy that flows from that freedom were essential to Jesus. it was this spirit He tried to pass on to those who would follow Him. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven'. He did not say blessed are those in material or financial need, but the poor in spirit. theirs is the freedom and the joy and the peace of the children of god, the kingdom of heaven. this was the condition for finding the joy that Jesus possessed and which He
21 wanted His followers to experience. it was fundamental to Jesus' approach to spirituality. place your trust in your heavenly Father who knows what you need, and do not worry yourself about the things of this world. He will give you what you need.
when I was young, my father, who was a butcher, used to take me and my brothers and sisters to help him in his store. he had a good business with mostly well-to-do customers - judges, lawyers, doctors, government officials, businesspeople. he was a good butcher and would go to the packing houses to pick the cuts of meat his customers preferred. often there were customers waiting for him outside his store when he arrived in the morning, because they knew they would have the best selection of cuts early in the day.
but despite his successful business, he never seemed concerned about material things. in the wintertime, my father wore an old overcoat with the pocket torn out. it never bothered him though my mother was forever trying to fix it. also, he could not wear overshoes because they hurt his feet. he had ulcerated varicose veins that were painful. when there was snow on the ground he would wrap burlap around his shoes. it looked so unfashionable to say the least. I couldn't even get out of the truck with him. 4 or 5 were waiting for him to open the store. when my father got out of the truck, an immaculately dressed judge who was a good friend commented, 'that's quite an outfit you've got there, Peter! My father smiled and replied good-naturedly, 'Yes, Judge, you have to have dignity.
22 I asked my father one day why he dressed like that. he merely answered, 'it is not what you wear that is important. it is what you are inside. real dignity is in the beauty of your soul. I couldn't understand this way back then.
when I had to retire a number of years ago because of my health, I chose not to accept any compensation from the diocese, though I had no income. for the first time in my life i was nearly penniless. I had just enough to survive. I ate food many poor people would turn down. I had no money for clothes. I made my furniture from some boards I bought cheap. I had one plate, a bowl, a couple of glasses and 3 utensils. i knew for the first time in my life what it was to be genuinely 'poor', in the world's sense of the word. but these were the happiest days of my life, even though I had nothing. I had to practice what Jesus taught and what i had preached all my life, 'Look at the birds of the air...' and I learned from experience what my dad tried to teach me, and what Jesus taught so beautifully in His own life. I learned it didn't take much to survive, not to live luxuriously, but to survive. but even with just the bare necessities, I had everything I needed to be happy.
one morning, I was taking a walk and wondering what i would do for supper, since I had no money. walking along the side of the road I thought I saw some money in the ditch. but how would money get into that ditch so far from anyplace? I took a closer look and bent down and sure enough, there, lying in the ditch and neatly folded, was some money, just enough for supper.
23 could almost hear Jesus saying, 'I told you not to worry, I would take care of you. Jesus was right and I could now say that from my own firsthand experience.
a short time later, that all changed. when Joshua became popular, money became a painful burden. trying to use it wisely was not easy.
Jesus' attitude seems to be that freedom from material possessions can be very liberating. having money and being free is also possible but adds complicated responsibilities which can jeopardize that freedom. the important thing is to maintain a detachment from whatever possessions we may have, whether they be great or small and not allow ourselves to become so concerned about them that they become a serious distraction from our own inner growth. 'where your heart is there your treasure lies. however, a person does not have to have great wealth to be attached. a poor person can be even more obsessed with his few possessions than a rich person with his vast wealth.
the freedom and peace Jesus talked about had to do not only with material things but with anything that generated undue anxiety which could disturb our inner well-being. one of the most remarkable things about Jesus' life was his tranquility. when you consider the almost constant turmoil that surrounded Jesus - crowds pressing in on Him and His enemies plotting daily to destroy Him - and see the calmness that pervaded His life, it is remarkable, and proves the value of the detachment that Jesus had from whatever could disturb his inner peace. that detachment Jesus tried to share with
24 His followers so they, too,k could find the same power and inner peace that marked His life.
if there was one thing Jesus held out to His followers it was His promise of peace. 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. He never tired of speaking about the peach that he would give to those who accepted His way of life. this theme threads its way through the whole gospel message. it is a trademark of His spirituality and should be a trait that singles our his disciples, in whatever age they live.
why, then, we might wonder, do Jesus' followers not stand out for their peacefulness? the answer is simple. His disciples through all time are not familiar with the message as Jesus delivered it. we are brought up to follow unquestioningly the practices of our religion, whatever our denomination. but obedience to customs and dictates of religion does not make a follower of Jesus. though many talk about accepting the Lord Jesus and about commitment to Him, frequently that acceptance has little to do with Jesus Himself. it is acceptance of the teacher who has delivered the message and the way of life laid out by the teacher that people follow. it is not the message of Jesus that is being followed, but the guidance and interpretation of the teacher. He or she becomes the way of life. this is not an immediate personal relationship with Jesus.
the one thing that is absolutely necessary if we are to develop a spirituality based on Jesus' life is that we open our hearts to the Person of Jesus Himself and allow Him to come into our lives to befriend us and
25 guide us. He promised, I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you...He who loves Me will be loved by my Father and i will love him and manifest Myself to him. this is the essence of Christian spirituality, the living presence of Jesus in our souls. He is there, not as a dummy, neither hearing nor speaking, but as an active partner in our lives, guiding and comforting us when we need Him. it is this mystical friendship with Jesus that is the core of Christian spirituality and makes Christian spirituality a unique custom-designed journey fashioned after the uniqueness of each individual person.
once we open ourselves to god and show a willingness to follow His grace in our lives, we want to see immediate results. but we are really traveling in a foreign land. Spirituality is a real journey into the unknown. what are the parameters, the rules, the pathways? where do they lead? does everyone follow the same road and become like everyone else on this unusual journey? do you give up your personality and suppress your real self so you can become a new person?
many people feel they have to shed their old selves when they enter the spiritual life and become saintly overnight. it doesn't work that way. we don't grow physically overnight. neither do we grow emotionally or mentally overnight. growth consists of long involved processes. it is the same with the spiritual life. we grow gradually, over a lifetime. just like physical growth cannot be forced, so spiritual growth cannot be forced without doing severe damage, because we then pressure
26 ourselves to do things perfectly before we have developed the underlying strength and charity from which perfection spontaneously flows. each one grows the way God planned for us to grow, depending upon what he had in mind for each of us. Grace builds upon nature, as St. Paul writes. it does not destroy nature.
what is it, then, that God has in mind? perhaps we will never know. nor is it important that we know. what is important is that we leave ourselves open to god each day so He can use us as He sees fit. that's his business. we are merely His creatures, His servants. to be at his disposal is our responsibility. humility has to be a fundamental condition of our relationship with God. but we can be sure that He will use us and His using us will always be exciting and always an adventure. many people are afraid of giving themselves to god and letting God into their lives, because they think all their fun will come to an end and life will become a bore. there is one thing god is not, though, and that is boring. the creative imagination of god is beyond comprehension and the real fun in our lives just begins once we find God and he becomes an active partner in our lives. MY OWN LIFE BECAME A WHIRLWIND WHEN I MADE UP MY MIND THAT I WAS NOT GOING TO FORGE MY OWN WAY THROUGH LIFE BUT INSTEAD WOULD LET GOD GUIDE ME. and
it makes good sense. God didn't create us haphazardly. He made each of us for a purpose and he is determined that we accomplish that purpose. He does, however, need our cooperation and when we give Him our goodwill and open our hearts to Him (which is
27 really all we have to offer), He sets in motion all the machinery we need to fulfill the task He has planned for us. that is always exciting and rewarding, because the gifts and talents he has given us are perfectly adapted to the work He has designed for us. that is the perfect blueprint for success, happiness and fulfillment.
12.1.2017 #1. ALONE (1994) by Joseph F. Girzone (Author of 'JOSHUA')
note - this and 2. Nothing/Everything, 3. A Friend Forever, 4. God Where Are You?, 5. New Vision, 6. In Due Season, 7. The Only Thing Necessary, 8. Transformed and 9. From Earth to Glory are added, in this version to the end of 'Joshua'.
the first friend I ever had lived next door. I was 2 years old. not long after we first became friends, he moved. I lost my first friend and felt the first pain of loss. he was just a playmate; we merely shared each other's sandboxes, so it did not hurt much. being very affectionate, however, I fell in love easily as a child. when I was 4 years old I fell madly in love with a beautiful girl named Thelma Stewart. I dreamed about her all day long and could not wait until three-thirty when school was out so I could stand at the street corner and watch her walk past with her friends. I don't think she even knew I existed. one day after school she was standing on the corner talking with her friends. then she got on a bus, as her friends all said good-bye. I somehow knew i would never see her again. she never once looked at me or even acknowledged that she noticed me. my heart ached as the bus pulled away. my world crumbled, but I don't think I told anyone. I kept the suffering to myself, just as I would always keep it to myself. pain seemed endless after that. other friends came into my life and just as casually left. it took me a long time to forget thelma. my life as a child was terribly lonely. I was shy and could not talk to people I felt love for, so I wandered in a world of fantasy and
4 dreams. I learned very young that I was alone in a world where everyone seemed a stranger and that you could not hold on to even those you loved. they only too easily slipped away from you. and even more painful, there was no assurance that those I loved, loved me in return. people impressed me as being without feeling. they just laughed and talked and said funny things that made others laugh, but had no real feeling for one another.
I used to think I was odd. as I grew older, though, and saw so much of others' pain, I began to realize that the whole world is fulled with pain. I was not unique in feeling alone on a planet way out in the middle of space. everyone eventually has the same experience in life. friends come and go, passing in and out of your live. strangers establish a friendship when they need you, then when their need is resolved, they drift. if you are sincere in your friendship this is hard to understand. people you love remain for a time, then they too leave when they outgrow their need for you. if at the twilight of your life you have one dear friend who has endured the fickleness of existence and remained in your life you are blessed. but, for the most part, you walk alone, very much alone.
I do not feel this experience of isolation was harmful in any way or had a negative effect on my life. I mention it only as a premise to where it led me psychologically and spiritually. I think it is more or less the lot of being human. all of us, no matter how extroverted we might be, are very much alone, not necessarily lonely, but
5 alone, unable to share with anyone the deepest secrets of our hearts. I did not realize it then, but emotional and psychological pain was to become, perhaps, the most powerful force in molding the course of my life. for some people, pain and hurt breeds bitterness and cynicism. for others it cause them to look deeply into themselves and into life itself in an attempt to understand the meaning beneath seemingly capricious or arbitrary happenings.
I was fortunate as a child to have been introduced to God. my mother said my prayers with me each night, and developed in me a sense of Jesus as a person who cared for me. this took hold. I don't know what path my life would have taken if I had had different experiences during that sensitive time in my life. but having found that God could be a real friend, I could share my secrets with Him. when I made my first Communion, I was filled with the comforting realization that Jesus was now an intimate prat of my life. on my own I went to Mass every morning so I could receive Communion and spend time in church by myself just sitting and thinking of god. He was real to me, not make-believe, but a living presence. I sensed His presence in a way that made me feel as if my soul was floating inside me. it was more than emotion. it was more than just a need for a friend to fill the emptiness of a child's loneliness. His presence touched my being and i knew He was with me. and it affected my life profoundly. when I was hurting, I would talk to Jesus about it, or tell His mother. I sensed Jesus heard me and even though He might not
6 do anything tangible in response, I knew He heard me and I knew He was nearby to give me strength. Jesus did say after all that for those who accept Him, He and His Father would come and live within them.
I think, perhaps, that finding God at such a young age may not have been a common experience, but I am grateful that it happened to me. my awareness and understanding of Jesus had a much longer period of time to expand and mature. I had a chance to evaluate and relate event and life's experiences to my relationship with Him during my childhood, my adolescence and my whole adult life. during my years of theological studies I could filter what i learned in theology through my experiences with Jesus. this made it possible for me to take the cold, finely chiseled theological concepts and transform them into a living expression of the way Jesus thought and envisioned life. though theology was cold and sterile in its intellectual expression, it was for me a vehicle for understanding the mind of God and for developing a precise sense of God and a healthy realization that God could not be defined or limited by human concepts. I also saw from our extensive study of Scriptures that God had a sense of morality that was much more open than the narrow, rigid morality of moral theologians or even the Church itself. that was to affect radically my understanding of people later on when they came to me with very disturbing moral problems. I could always see abundant goodness alongside the very severe moral weaknesses in people and learned to treat them as whole persons and not as sinners, the way Jesus
7 for example, treated the Samaritan woman who was married 5 times and did not even bother to marry the last person. Jesus still saw goodness in her and decided one day to meet with her and choose her to announce the Good News to that Samaritan village. churches do not treat people that way. sinners are very carefully avoided in our churches and are not allowed to take part in the real life of the church. we do not feel comfortable with sinners and we make them feel uncomfortable by not allowing them to perform services and ministries that are open to others whose lives superficially are more in keeping with Church standards.Jesus, on the other hand, was open to people who had glaring defects and saw them in the wholeness of their lives and saw in their lives the goodness that far outshone their weaknesses. he could pick a publican, Levi, with the bad reputation publicans had, to be not just a disciple but an apostle. He Himself got a reputation for going to the homes of excommunicated people for parties, because as the God Shepherd He continually reached out to the bruised and hurting sheep. we, on the contrary, tell the bruised and hurting sheep they cannot approach Jesus because they are not worthy.
that is why a precise understanding of Jesus is so important for us, so we can share His vision of God and His understanding of human nature and frame for ourselves our own relationship with God within the context of the rest of His creation. if Christianity is merely a theological system it will at most produce a highly educated elite devoid of anything resembling the living
8 Christ in their personal lives. we saw this recently in the presidential campaign, when one of the candidates, well educated theologically, was spewing forth the most shockingly un-Christ-like invectives and ridicule against homosexuals and homeless people, showing a lack of sensitivity and compassion that betrayed a poverty of spirituality that shocked most decent people.
unfortunately, so much energy in ecclesiastical institutions is used in validating theological and social positions in relation to other denominations and the secular world that the fundamental purpose of religion, to foster and most spirituality among its members, fades out of focus. thus, we are faced with the masses of Christians wandering the glove trying to find their own way to God, while religious professionals and religious news publishers engage in the much more ego-rewarding task of fighting global issues. the consciences of religious leaders and religious media people can be sensitive to the physical starvation of people around the world, of which they are to be commended, but they seem so often to be totally insensitive to the much more devastating spiritual starvation of people in their neighborhood, for whom they are immediately responsible. rarely do you hear clergy talk about spirituality, or teach their people the ways of prayer and how to develop a deeper intimacy with god. perhaps, they don't know how. perhaps that has never been a priority with many clergy. we teach theology, we explain Scriptures, we enact nice liturgies, we debate public issues, we parade the streets in protest marches. that is good form
9 and intellectual challenging. the world of the spirit, however, is the substance of religion and the pilgrim's path through that world is devoid of expert guides. for this frightfully labyrinthian journey, fraught with so many pitfalls and mine fields, we as clergy rarely provide people with the tools they need to find their way to God.
this struck me very clearly when I was in a country where Buddhism was popular. relaxing in my hotel room one day, I picked up a copy of a book on Buddha. after giving a synopsis of Buddha's life, the book went on to describe his way of life and principles for healthy spiritual living the rest of the book contained a detailed description of how Buddha arrived at his vision of life and how his followers, in imitating him, could find their way to inner peace. we don't to that with Jesus. we have endless books about whether He existed, or whether the Jesus we have learned about is really accurate and historical or mythical. we have endless complicated tracts on fine technical issues, but we don't explore Jesus' way to happiness and peace, or try to understand His feelings about god and creation or how He vies our relationship with God, or His attitude toward human weakness. understanding these thins could help us immensely in our own search for inner peace and a meaning to life. indeed, it is a rare seminary today that teaches anything about Jesus other than in Christology courses, which in several prestigious seminaries I know of are merely offered as electives.
10 I have learned so many things about people's spiritual needs since the Joshua books became popular. having heard so frequently that people's interest in religion had fallen off dramatically, I was shocked at the almost universal response of the public to Joshua. it was not just Catholics and Episcopalians, and Lutherans and Presbyterians, but Baptists, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and not just adults, but children down to 9..Catholic priests wrote letters of thanks, saying Joshua saved their priesthood. Baptist ministers told me after talks, with tears in their eyes, that Joshua healed them of burdens they had carried all their lives and brought them to a new and beautiful understanding of Jesus. Jews wrote and told me they read Joshua and have developed a beautiful relationship with Jesus and wan to follow His way of life privately. the same with people of other religions and even those with no religion. what all this said to me in a powerful way was people may be tired of religion, but they are desperately hungering for a relationship with God that can empower them with a new vision of life and heal wounds t6hat have been festering for a lifetime and renew their zest for living.
people's searching for spirituality is almost epidemic. for the past 20 years or more, Westerners have traveled to the Far East searching for happiness in Eastern religions. conversely, Hindus and Buddhists from the East are searching for a meaning to life here in the West. a group of Hindus contacted me after reading
11 Joshua,asking me if I would be their guru. they told me they found such peace in Joshua they wanted to learn more about Jesus' way of life. they asked if I would guide them in their search for peace and happiness and a deeper relationship with God. this search for a meaning to life and an intimacy with God is not limited to Westerners, it is universal. and that is precisely the reason Jesus came to earth, to teach us the way. 'I am the way, the truth and the life, He said. that is what we have lost sight of, Christianity as the way. what is so troubling about our religion today is that the clergy either don't recognize the people's hunger for spirituality or are unfamiliar themselves with Jesus' way of life and Christianity 's rich tradition of mysticism and asceticism, all well tested through the centuries. this is Christianity and application of Jesus' teachings at its best and we don't teach it to our people at the height of the Protestant Reformation, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, St. Ignatius Loyola and others were delineating the path of interior holiness through mystical union with god in such practical detail that even today their approach to holiness is still taught in theology courses and spiritual retreats. sadly, the masses of the people are not taught this in their churches, so not even knowing that such guidance exists, they look outside Christianity.
parents may teach religion to children. Churches may do the same. but that is not spirituality. that, too, should begin in childhood. children should be taught about god in a simple, loving way so they can learn to
12 trust Him and begin to know Him as a kind and loving Father who made them, not perfectly but with all they need to grow in His love. they could be taught about Jesus and about His life and how He lived and how He loved people. they could be taught about Jesus as the Good Shepherd who cared for the hurting and the troubled sheep, so they can learn to run to Him when they have problems, and when they fall and make mistakes.
Ordinarily, spirituality is not a child's venture. Spiritual growth like growth in any other facet of our lives is a process. it works through phases. the spiritual life is most frequently activated after some personal crisis or tragedy. to force a strong spirituality on children before they are ready is unnatural and can kill a child's interest in religion and even in God. we can introduce a child to God and plant the seed that will in god's good time germinate and grow, but moving in a world of spiritual things is not really what interests young people. in fact it can be harmful to demand too much from them when they are too young to even understand the meaning of the word 'spirituality'. so many of my friends in their excessive zeal to arouse their children's spiritual lives saturated them with religious activities. when the children became adolescents, they couldn't stand religion and went to church only after horrendous fights. the older children stopped going to church altogether.
eventually people come to a realization of their need or God and their need to grow spiritually. real
13 spirituality and spiritual growth, however, has to be distinguished from religious activities and pious exercises. these exercises merely mimic spirituality. unfortunately, many people think that they grow close to God by performing religious practices and doing religious things. that is not spirituality. they may even get a reputation for being pious. Jesus lived for 30 years in Nazareth and you would think the townsfolk He grew up with would have been impressed with His holiness. oddly enough, they were surprised when He began his public mission and began to preach the Good News. 'Where did he get all this from? Isn't this the carpenter's son? obviously, His holiness didn't make a big impression. you might wonder how Jesus could have kept His exquisite spirituality hidden during all those years, so that even His playmates were shocked by His apparent new found interest in religion. what made it possible for Jesus to keep His spiritual life hidden from the eyes of those who lived so close to Him was that His holiness was genuine. it did not depend on showy external practices. 'When you pray, go to your room and lock your door, He advised the apostles, and pray to Your Father in secret and your Father who knows what is secret will hear you'. and on another occasion, He remarked to His disciples that they should not be like the scribes and Pharisees who love to recite long prayers and be seen praying in public. 'Do not do your good deeds to be seen by others. those who do such things already have their reward.
14 remarks like this give a good indication of where Jesus was coming from and the attitudes that guided His own life-style.
the mistake many people make when they start trying to be holy is they multiply religious practices and burden themselves with a host of activities, attending endless religious services, thinking that the more good things they do, the more spiritual they become. spirituality doesn't work that way. the spiritual life is something that grows slowly, imperceptibly, way beneath the surface of our lives. pressuring ourselves to do all kinds of nice things for people and performing a multitude of good works does not make us holy, it can, if we are not careful, make us extremely nervous and pressure us into commitments that can overload our already overburdened lives.
real spirituality begins by finding God, feebly, perhaps, in the beginning, but then more confidently as we travel along the way. at first, we may be driven to Him out of desperation. but that's all right. God uses all kinds of circumstances to lead us to Himself. or we may just feel a need to draw closer to god. whatever the reason, God is calling us to a deeper intimacy with Himself. Jesus teaches us the attitudes we should have when we establish contact with His Father. we must have a childlike trust. this isn't a command, but His attempt to teach us how to establish a healthy relationship with His Father whom He knows so well. 'Why are you all so worried? He said to the crowd one day. 'Look at the birds of the air. they don't sow and they don't reap
15 and they don't gather into barns. your heavenly Father takes car of them. you are worth more than all the flocks of birds and all you do is worry, as if you never had a heavenly Father,. Stop worrying. your heavenly Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.
that is the beginning of spirituality, recognizing the need for God in our lives and placing ourselves in His hands with complete trust, confident of the tenderness of our Father
's love for us. we may have a difficulty with this, because all of us are only too conscious of our many failings and feel we do not have a right to God's kindness toward us. but that is precisely what makes God's love so beautiful. it does not spring from the goodness He sees in us, but from the overflowing goodness of His own love and the compassion He has for us in our weakness and sinfulness. the crowd Jesus addressed on that occasion when He spoke of the birds of the air were just ordinary people, sinners like ourselves, if you want to call them that, although Jesus didn't call them sinners. Jesus called people God's children and 'little flock'. it is touching the tender way Jesus spoke to the crowd that day assuring them of His father's concern, even though He was only too aware of the serious moral defects in their lives. so, when we begin our adventure with God, it is with the assurance that He is open to us and kindly disposed toward us. we do not approach Him as a nuisance. in spite of our past live and frightful weaknesses, he is glad we are turning to Him. like the prodigal father of the prodigal son, He
16 greets us with open arms and is only too ready to share with us His friendship and His boundless mercy. all is forgiven, all is renewed. though our sins be as scarlet, He will cleanse us and make us white as snow, through a baptism if necessary, or through a reawakening of the baptismal life we have already received and a healing reconciliation.
the first friend I ever had lived next door. I was 2 years old. not long after we first became friends, he moved. I lost my first friend and felt the first pain of loss. he was just a playmate; we merely shared each other's sandboxes, so it did not hurt much. being very affectionate, however, I fell in love easily as a child. when I was 4 years old I fell madly in love with a beautiful girl named Thelma Stewart. I dreamed about her all day long and could not wait until three-thirty when school was out so I could stand at the street corner and watch her walk past with her friends. I don't think she even knew I existed. one day after school she was standing on the corner talking with her friends. then she got on a bus, as her friends all said good-bye. I somehow knew i would never see her again. she never once looked at me or even acknowledged that she noticed me. my heart ached as the bus pulled away. my world crumbled, but I don't think I told anyone. I kept the suffering to myself, just as I would always keep it to myself. pain seemed endless after that. other friends came into my life and just as casually left. it took me a long time to forget thelma. my life as a child was terribly lonely. I was shy and could not talk to people I felt love for, so I wandered in a world of fantasy and
4 dreams. I learned very young that I was alone in a world where everyone seemed a stranger and that you could not hold on to even those you loved. they only too easily slipped away from you. and even more painful, there was no assurance that those I loved, loved me in return. people impressed me as being without feeling. they just laughed and talked and said funny things that made others laugh, but had no real feeling for one another.
I used to think I was odd. as I grew older, though, and saw so much of others' pain, I began to realize that the whole world is fulled with pain. I was not unique in feeling alone on a planet way out in the middle of space. everyone eventually has the same experience in life. friends come and go, passing in and out of your live. strangers establish a friendship when they need you, then when their need is resolved, they drift. if you are sincere in your friendship this is hard to understand. people you love remain for a time, then they too leave when they outgrow their need for you. if at the twilight of your life you have one dear friend who has endured the fickleness of existence and remained in your life you are blessed. but, for the most part, you walk alone, very much alone.
I do not feel this experience of isolation was harmful in any way or had a negative effect on my life. I mention it only as a premise to where it led me psychologically and spiritually. I think it is more or less the lot of being human. all of us, no matter how extroverted we might be, are very much alone, not necessarily lonely, but
5 alone, unable to share with anyone the deepest secrets of our hearts. I did not realize it then, but emotional and psychological pain was to become, perhaps, the most powerful force in molding the course of my life. for some people, pain and hurt breeds bitterness and cynicism. for others it cause them to look deeply into themselves and into life itself in an attempt to understand the meaning beneath seemingly capricious or arbitrary happenings.
I was fortunate as a child to have been introduced to God. my mother said my prayers with me each night, and developed in me a sense of Jesus as a person who cared for me. this took hold. I don't know what path my life would have taken if I had had different experiences during that sensitive time in my life. but having found that God could be a real friend, I could share my secrets with Him. when I made my first Communion, I was filled with the comforting realization that Jesus was now an intimate prat of my life. on my own I went to Mass every morning so I could receive Communion and spend time in church by myself just sitting and thinking of god. He was real to me, not make-believe, but a living presence. I sensed His presence in a way that made me feel as if my soul was floating inside me. it was more than emotion. it was more than just a need for a friend to fill the emptiness of a child's loneliness. His presence touched my being and i knew He was with me. and it affected my life profoundly. when I was hurting, I would talk to Jesus about it, or tell His mother. I sensed Jesus heard me and even though He might not
6 do anything tangible in response, I knew He heard me and I knew He was nearby to give me strength. Jesus did say after all that for those who accept Him, He and His Father would come and live within them.
I think, perhaps, that finding God at such a young age may not have been a common experience, but I am grateful that it happened to me. my awareness and understanding of Jesus had a much longer period of time to expand and mature. I had a chance to evaluate and relate event and life's experiences to my relationship with Him during my childhood, my adolescence and my whole adult life. during my years of theological studies I could filter what i learned in theology through my experiences with Jesus. this made it possible for me to take the cold, finely chiseled theological concepts and transform them into a living expression of the way Jesus thought and envisioned life. though theology was cold and sterile in its intellectual expression, it was for me a vehicle for understanding the mind of God and for developing a precise sense of God and a healthy realization that God could not be defined or limited by human concepts. I also saw from our extensive study of Scriptures that God had a sense of morality that was much more open than the narrow, rigid morality of moral theologians or even the Church itself. that was to affect radically my understanding of people later on when they came to me with very disturbing moral problems. I could always see abundant goodness alongside the very severe moral weaknesses in people and learned to treat them as whole persons and not as sinners, the way Jesus
7 for example, treated the Samaritan woman who was married 5 times and did not even bother to marry the last person. Jesus still saw goodness in her and decided one day to meet with her and choose her to announce the Good News to that Samaritan village. churches do not treat people that way. sinners are very carefully avoided in our churches and are not allowed to take part in the real life of the church. we do not feel comfortable with sinners and we make them feel uncomfortable by not allowing them to perform services and ministries that are open to others whose lives superficially are more in keeping with Church standards.Jesus, on the other hand, was open to people who had glaring defects and saw them in the wholeness of their lives and saw in their lives the goodness that far outshone their weaknesses. he could pick a publican, Levi, with the bad reputation publicans had, to be not just a disciple but an apostle. He Himself got a reputation for going to the homes of excommunicated people for parties, because as the God Shepherd He continually reached out to the bruised and hurting sheep. we, on the contrary, tell the bruised and hurting sheep they cannot approach Jesus because they are not worthy.
that is why a precise understanding of Jesus is so important for us, so we can share His vision of God and His understanding of human nature and frame for ourselves our own relationship with God within the context of the rest of His creation. if Christianity is merely a theological system it will at most produce a highly educated elite devoid of anything resembling the living
8 Christ in their personal lives. we saw this recently in the presidential campaign, when one of the candidates, well educated theologically, was spewing forth the most shockingly un-Christ-like invectives and ridicule against homosexuals and homeless people, showing a lack of sensitivity and compassion that betrayed a poverty of spirituality that shocked most decent people.
unfortunately, so much energy in ecclesiastical institutions is used in validating theological and social positions in relation to other denominations and the secular world that the fundamental purpose of religion, to foster and most spirituality among its members, fades out of focus. thus, we are faced with the masses of Christians wandering the glove trying to find their own way to God, while religious professionals and religious news publishers engage in the much more ego-rewarding task of fighting global issues. the consciences of religious leaders and religious media people can be sensitive to the physical starvation of people around the world, of which they are to be commended, but they seem so often to be totally insensitive to the much more devastating spiritual starvation of people in their neighborhood, for whom they are immediately responsible. rarely do you hear clergy talk about spirituality, or teach their people the ways of prayer and how to develop a deeper intimacy with god. perhaps, they don't know how. perhaps that has never been a priority with many clergy. we teach theology, we explain Scriptures, we enact nice liturgies, we debate public issues, we parade the streets in protest marches. that is good form
9 and intellectual challenging. the world of the spirit, however, is the substance of religion and the pilgrim's path through that world is devoid of expert guides. for this frightfully labyrinthian journey, fraught with so many pitfalls and mine fields, we as clergy rarely provide people with the tools they need to find their way to God.
this struck me very clearly when I was in a country where Buddhism was popular. relaxing in my hotel room one day, I picked up a copy of a book on Buddha. after giving a synopsis of Buddha's life, the book went on to describe his way of life and principles for healthy spiritual living the rest of the book contained a detailed description of how Buddha arrived at his vision of life and how his followers, in imitating him, could find their way to inner peace. we don't to that with Jesus. we have endless books about whether He existed, or whether the Jesus we have learned about is really accurate and historical or mythical. we have endless complicated tracts on fine technical issues, but we don't explore Jesus' way to happiness and peace, or try to understand His feelings about god and creation or how He vies our relationship with God, or His attitude toward human weakness. understanding these thins could help us immensely in our own search for inner peace and a meaning to life. indeed, it is a rare seminary today that teaches anything about Jesus other than in Christology courses, which in several prestigious seminaries I know of are merely offered as electives.
10 I have learned so many things about people's spiritual needs since the Joshua books became popular. having heard so frequently that people's interest in religion had fallen off dramatically, I was shocked at the almost universal response of the public to Joshua. it was not just Catholics and Episcopalians, and Lutherans and Presbyterians, but Baptists, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and not just adults, but children down to 9..Catholic priests wrote letters of thanks, saying Joshua saved their priesthood. Baptist ministers told me after talks, with tears in their eyes, that Joshua healed them of burdens they had carried all their lives and brought them to a new and beautiful understanding of Jesus. Jews wrote and told me they read Joshua and have developed a beautiful relationship with Jesus and wan to follow His way of life privately. the same with people of other religions and even those with no religion. what all this said to me in a powerful way was people may be tired of religion, but they are desperately hungering for a relationship with God that can empower them with a new vision of life and heal wounds t6hat have been festering for a lifetime and renew their zest for living.
people's searching for spirituality is almost epidemic. for the past 20 years or more, Westerners have traveled to the Far East searching for happiness in Eastern religions. conversely, Hindus and Buddhists from the East are searching for a meaning to life here in the West. a group of Hindus contacted me after reading
11 Joshua,asking me if I would be their guru. they told me they found such peace in Joshua they wanted to learn more about Jesus' way of life. they asked if I would guide them in their search for peace and happiness and a deeper relationship with God. this search for a meaning to life and an intimacy with God is not limited to Westerners, it is universal. and that is precisely the reason Jesus came to earth, to teach us the way. 'I am the way, the truth and the life, He said. that is what we have lost sight of, Christianity as the way. what is so troubling about our religion today is that the clergy either don't recognize the people's hunger for spirituality or are unfamiliar themselves with Jesus' way of life and Christianity 's rich tradition of mysticism and asceticism, all well tested through the centuries. this is Christianity and application of Jesus' teachings at its best and we don't teach it to our people at the height of the Protestant Reformation, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, St. Ignatius Loyola and others were delineating the path of interior holiness through mystical union with god in such practical detail that even today their approach to holiness is still taught in theology courses and spiritual retreats. sadly, the masses of the people are not taught this in their churches, so not even knowing that such guidance exists, they look outside Christianity.
parents may teach religion to children. Churches may do the same. but that is not spirituality. that, too, should begin in childhood. children should be taught about god in a simple, loving way so they can learn to
12 trust Him and begin to know Him as a kind and loving Father who made them, not perfectly but with all they need to grow in His love. they could be taught about Jesus and about His life and how He lived and how He loved people. they could be taught about Jesus as the Good Shepherd who cared for the hurting and the troubled sheep, so they can learn to run to Him when they have problems, and when they fall and make mistakes.
Ordinarily, spirituality is not a child's venture. Spiritual growth like growth in any other facet of our lives is a process. it works through phases. the spiritual life is most frequently activated after some personal crisis or tragedy. to force a strong spirituality on children before they are ready is unnatural and can kill a child's interest in religion and even in God. we can introduce a child to God and plant the seed that will in god's good time germinate and grow, but moving in a world of spiritual things is not really what interests young people. in fact it can be harmful to demand too much from them when they are too young to even understand the meaning of the word 'spirituality'. so many of my friends in their excessive zeal to arouse their children's spiritual lives saturated them with religious activities. when the children became adolescents, they couldn't stand religion and went to church only after horrendous fights. the older children stopped going to church altogether.
eventually people come to a realization of their need or God and their need to grow spiritually. real
13 spirituality and spiritual growth, however, has to be distinguished from religious activities and pious exercises. these exercises merely mimic spirituality. unfortunately, many people think that they grow close to God by performing religious practices and doing religious things. that is not spirituality. they may even get a reputation for being pious. Jesus lived for 30 years in Nazareth and you would think the townsfolk He grew up with would have been impressed with His holiness. oddly enough, they were surprised when He began his public mission and began to preach the Good News. 'Where did he get all this from? Isn't this the carpenter's son? obviously, His holiness didn't make a big impression. you might wonder how Jesus could have kept His exquisite spirituality hidden during all those years, so that even His playmates were shocked by His apparent new found interest in religion. what made it possible for Jesus to keep His spiritual life hidden from the eyes of those who lived so close to Him was that His holiness was genuine. it did not depend on showy external practices. 'When you pray, go to your room and lock your door, He advised the apostles, and pray to Your Father in secret and your Father who knows what is secret will hear you'. and on another occasion, He remarked to His disciples that they should not be like the scribes and Pharisees who love to recite long prayers and be seen praying in public. 'Do not do your good deeds to be seen by others. those who do such things already have their reward.
14 remarks like this give a good indication of where Jesus was coming from and the attitudes that guided His own life-style.
the mistake many people make when they start trying to be holy is they multiply religious practices and burden themselves with a host of activities, attending endless religious services, thinking that the more good things they do, the more spiritual they become. spirituality doesn't work that way. the spiritual life is something that grows slowly, imperceptibly, way beneath the surface of our lives. pressuring ourselves to do all kinds of nice things for people and performing a multitude of good works does not make us holy, it can, if we are not careful, make us extremely nervous and pressure us into commitments that can overload our already overburdened lives.
real spirituality begins by finding God, feebly, perhaps, in the beginning, but then more confidently as we travel along the way. at first, we may be driven to Him out of desperation. but that's all right. God uses all kinds of circumstances to lead us to Himself. or we may just feel a need to draw closer to god. whatever the reason, God is calling us to a deeper intimacy with Himself. Jesus teaches us the attitudes we should have when we establish contact with His Father. we must have a childlike trust. this isn't a command, but His attempt to teach us how to establish a healthy relationship with His Father whom He knows so well. 'Why are you all so worried? He said to the crowd one day. 'Look at the birds of the air. they don't sow and they don't reap
15 and they don't gather into barns. your heavenly Father takes car of them. you are worth more than all the flocks of birds and all you do is worry, as if you never had a heavenly Father,. Stop worrying. your heavenly Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.
that is the beginning of spirituality, recognizing the need for God in our lives and placing ourselves in His hands with complete trust, confident of the tenderness of our Father
's love for us. we may have a difficulty with this, because all of us are only too conscious of our many failings and feel we do not have a right to God's kindness toward us. but that is precisely what makes God's love so beautiful. it does not spring from the goodness He sees in us, but from the overflowing goodness of His own love and the compassion He has for us in our weakness and sinfulness. the crowd Jesus addressed on that occasion when He spoke of the birds of the air were just ordinary people, sinners like ourselves, if you want to call them that, although Jesus didn't call them sinners. Jesus called people God's children and 'little flock'. it is touching the tender way Jesus spoke to the crowd that day assuring them of His father's concern, even though He was only too aware of the serious moral defects in their lives. so, when we begin our adventure with God, it is with the assurance that He is open to us and kindly disposed toward us. we do not approach Him as a nuisance. in spite of our past live and frightful weaknesses, he is glad we are turning to Him. like the prodigal father of the prodigal son, He
16 greets us with open arms and is only too ready to share with us His friendship and His boundless mercy. all is forgiven, all is renewed. though our sins be as scarlet, He will cleanse us and make us white as snow, through a baptism if necessary, or through a reawakening of the baptismal life we have already received and a healing reconciliation.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
11.2.2017 WORTHY GOALS (discovered on the bulletin board of Kings Kreamery in Lancaster County Country..Pa.
-have a sense of gratitude
compliment others
forgive others
accept responsibility for their failurs (?)
keep a journal
wnat others to succeed
keep a to-Be list
set goals and develop Life plans
continously learn
operate froma transformational ? perspective
keep a to-do projects list
embrace change
exude joy
share info and data
talk about ideas
read everyday
give other people credit for their victories
compliment others
forgive others
accept responsibility for their failurs (?)
keep a journal
wnat others to succeed
keep a to-Be list
set goals and develop Life plans
continously learn
operate froma transformational ? perspective
keep a to-do projects list
embrace change
exude joy
share info and data
talk about ideas
read everyday
give other people credit for their victories
11.2.2017 HEALTHCARE for adults IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT (article from WorldMagazine, 10.14.2017)
...a little background into my perspective. as soon as I started painting, around the turn of the century, the time had come for Samaritan Ministries. this is a group of 'born-again christians' who voluntarily join together to help one another with health care costs. there are several stipulations, if I am remembering correctly...such as, I believe, living a non-alcoholic lifestyle...I think...I was a member for several years during the first decade. my monthly share, when I left in 2007 was $109 for me as a single person. couples paid a bit more and families may have paid somewhere over $200 a month. the way it worked was that every month I would get a letter from Samaritan with the name, address and name of another member who had sent in medical bills that month that needed to be paid. I, and other members had two responsibilities.
First, to pray that the Lord would heal the person whose claim I was joining with others to pay. Second, to send a letter and a check for $109, made out to this person, to this person's address. (having received all that they needed they would then pay all the medical bills they currently owed.)
during the summer of 2007 I hit an car door opened inadvertently in the path of my bike on Main St. in town. unfortunately I was not wearing a helmet. I was medivaced to a hospital 40 miles away where I received a number of helpful medical procedures and convalesced to the point of being able to come home. I then needed some medications, went to a hospital in Philadelphia for a (thank the Lord!) a successful shoulder operation. out of a total of 30 different health providers, only the practice that would have helped with my vertigo from the concussion denied my self-pay privilege. after some prayer, I decided to deny them the privilege of helping me and sought the help of the Lord.
the total cost of everything was just over $70,000.00 which was all paid to the providers within a month of when they provided me with medical help. (my out of pocked expenses were about $100..only because I did not understand how to properly deal with them..if I had I would not have had to pay $1.
after 3 months out of work I found that my $ was, almost to the $1, the same as when the accident happened. My God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.
soon after returning to work, my boss told me he would provide all the basic paint equipment and that he was putting me in my own paint business. I decided to drop out of Samaritan ministries at the end of 2006 and have not had any since.
....that is until May of this year when, yielding to the encouragement of my wife and her financial adviser, I joined Medicare.
I paid $566 ($134 a month...that is in addition to the thousands of dollars I-paid-in-but-now-gone-into -the-deficit ) for the first four months of Medicare (my supposed retirement health care supplier in my time of increasing need...with those I had elected to office to do what they would have done to themselves NEVER PUTTING all that I had paid them out of MY HARD EARNED $ FOR THE LAST 52 YEARS O-U-T T-O I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T so there would be enough of MY $ to pay for MY medical needs in MY old age...not to speak of passing any I did not use in my old age onto worthy causes to meet the needs of the needy who had no one to help them. (I vote for regular, mass impeachment until we each start taking care of ourselves again.) after 4 months of a steady, snarled and nearly incomprehensible barrage of government mailings (how much did the time and money to prepare and send these cost?...and, more indicative, Non-government mailings(!) concerning Medicare, I cast a lot before making out the second check covering September thru November and (OH LORD YOU ARE MERCIFUL!! thank You for hearing my cry, the desire of my heart to PUT MY TRUST IN YOU COMPLETELY FOR ANY 'HEALTH CARE' I MAY EVER BE IN NEED OF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)...the lot said, No (that is, no more being entangled in the government's web. Oh for the joy of committing myself Completely to the Lord and being Ever Ready to Be With Him...as soon as He wants me!)
...anywho..Samaritan Ministries is joined by another similar organization, Medishare, both of which operate under principles of self pay etc. Would That Obamacare Could Be Replaced Permanently With only 2 choices for every American citizen.
just read the following in World Magazine (10.17.2017)...
under Notebook/Medicine, 'Doctor to Doctor'; a discussion on diagnosing and fixing healthcare by Marvin Olasky (go to ddevine@wng.org to share any feedback)
1. from Dr. Robert Berry, Greeneville, Tenn.
eliminating the tax exemption for employer-based health insurance and replacing it with something like a universal tax credit for health savings accounts would make healthcare fairer for all Americans especially the 'forgotten' fold...putting more healthcare dollars into the hands of consumers instead of employers and insurance companies will enable us to choose our own way of sharing risk for catastrophic care while purchasing elective medical car directly from providers we select.
more importantly, PAYING DIRECTLY for everyday medical care DRASTICALLY REDUCES COST. I know this because I have witnessed it firsthand for the last 16.5 years in my own direct-pay primary car medical practice. my fees are one-third to one-half of those charged by insurance-based practices...the third party payment system for non-catastrophic care is a major reason for healthcare's uncontrollable costs.
2. from Dr. Charles Horton, Pittsburgh, pa.
Dr. Berry's argument is most applicable in primary-care fields like internal medicine and pediatrics - who's going to shop around for an ER while having chest pain? but in those primary-care fields, as in ancillary services like lab testing, entrepreneurs are experimenting with charging a cash price lower than insurance 'co-pays'. he's absolutely right that those entrepreneurs are driving costs down...
for this to affect costs in the broader market as much as Dr. Berry hopes, a few more changes need to happen. foremost among them, anti-competitive behavior among hospitals and insurers needs to end: EACH FACILITY SHOULD CHARGE ONE PRICE FOR A GIVEN PROCEDURE regardless of insurance (or lack thereof), PATIENTS SHOULD BE FREE TO CHOOSE ANY FACILITY WITHOUT PENALTY from their insurers and any given insurance product should be for sale to anyone who chooses to buy it.
3. Response from Dr. Berry
Obamacare practically forced both insurance companies and hospitals to consolidate and medical practices to sell themselves to hospitals just to survive, creating a cartel (def - means of regulating output and prices)where hospital practices can get away with charging patientts $502 for a B12 test, when it costs the patient $25 at mine.
perhaps a better and fairer way to do this would be to ALLOW AMERICANS TO DEDUCT FROM THEIR INCOME AND 'LEGITIMATE' HEALTHCARE EXPENSE (which includes out-of-pocket expenses to doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, etc.) instead of starting at 10% of adjusted gross income as the law currently stipulates.
4. Response from Dr. Horton
PRICES SHOULD BE PUBLIC (COMPETITION...WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT) hospitals know what they plan to charge, but most currently keep those pries a secret until they send the bill. President Trump could mandate that all hospitals publish that information online and keep it current. hospitals will likely protest that those numbers are 'proprietary', but in what other business is it considered optional to tel customers what they'll pay? we've already seen the benefit that internet-based price comparison services bring to prescriptions. let's extend that to hospitals.
the should also be ONE PRICE PER SPECIFIC PROCEDURE at each hospital, with no discounts for anyone -including insurers. what this means is not that insurers will pay more, but that self-pay patients will now tget the same effective price as the insurers do.
First, to pray that the Lord would heal the person whose claim I was joining with others to pay. Second, to send a letter and a check for $109, made out to this person, to this person's address. (having received all that they needed they would then pay all the medical bills they currently owed.)
during the summer of 2007 I hit an car door opened inadvertently in the path of my bike on Main St. in town. unfortunately I was not wearing a helmet. I was medivaced to a hospital 40 miles away where I received a number of helpful medical procedures and convalesced to the point of being able to come home. I then needed some medications, went to a hospital in Philadelphia for a (thank the Lord!) a successful shoulder operation. out of a total of 30 different health providers, only the practice that would have helped with my vertigo from the concussion denied my self-pay privilege. after some prayer, I decided to deny them the privilege of helping me and sought the help of the Lord.
the total cost of everything was just over $70,000.00 which was all paid to the providers within a month of when they provided me with medical help. (my out of pocked expenses were about $100..only because I did not understand how to properly deal with them..if I had I would not have had to pay $1.
after 3 months out of work I found that my $ was, almost to the $1, the same as when the accident happened. My God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.
soon after returning to work, my boss told me he would provide all the basic paint equipment and that he was putting me in my own paint business. I decided to drop out of Samaritan ministries at the end of 2006 and have not had any since.
....that is until May of this year when, yielding to the encouragement of my wife and her financial adviser, I joined Medicare.
I paid $566 ($134 a month...that is in addition to the thousands of dollars I-paid-in-but-now-gone-into -the-deficit ) for the first four months of Medicare (my supposed retirement health care supplier in my time of increasing need...with those I had elected to office to do what they would have done to themselves NEVER PUTTING all that I had paid them out of MY HARD EARNED $ FOR THE LAST 52 YEARS O-U-T T-O I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T so there would be enough of MY $ to pay for MY medical needs in MY old age...not to speak of passing any I did not use in my old age onto worthy causes to meet the needs of the needy who had no one to help them. (I vote for regular, mass impeachment until we each start taking care of ourselves again.) after 4 months of a steady, snarled and nearly incomprehensible barrage of government mailings (how much did the time and money to prepare and send these cost?...and, more indicative, Non-government mailings(!) concerning Medicare, I cast a lot before making out the second check covering September thru November and (OH LORD YOU ARE MERCIFUL!! thank You for hearing my cry, the desire of my heart to PUT MY TRUST IN YOU COMPLETELY FOR ANY 'HEALTH CARE' I MAY EVER BE IN NEED OF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)...the lot said, No (that is, no more being entangled in the government's web. Oh for the joy of committing myself Completely to the Lord and being Ever Ready to Be With Him...as soon as He wants me!)
...anywho..Samaritan Ministries is joined by another similar organization, Medishare, both of which operate under principles of self pay etc. Would That Obamacare Could Be Replaced Permanently With only 2 choices for every American citizen.
just read the following in World Magazine (10.17.2017)...
under Notebook/Medicine, 'Doctor to Doctor'; a discussion on diagnosing and fixing healthcare by Marvin Olasky (go to ddevine@wng.org to share any feedback)
1. from Dr. Robert Berry, Greeneville, Tenn.
eliminating the tax exemption for employer-based health insurance and replacing it with something like a universal tax credit for health savings accounts would make healthcare fairer for all Americans especially the 'forgotten' fold...putting more healthcare dollars into the hands of consumers instead of employers and insurance companies will enable us to choose our own way of sharing risk for catastrophic care while purchasing elective medical car directly from providers we select.
more importantly, PAYING DIRECTLY for everyday medical care DRASTICALLY REDUCES COST. I know this because I have witnessed it firsthand for the last 16.5 years in my own direct-pay primary car medical practice. my fees are one-third to one-half of those charged by insurance-based practices...the third party payment system for non-catastrophic care is a major reason for healthcare's uncontrollable costs.
2. from Dr. Charles Horton, Pittsburgh, pa.
Dr. Berry's argument is most applicable in primary-care fields like internal medicine and pediatrics - who's going to shop around for an ER while having chest pain? but in those primary-care fields, as in ancillary services like lab testing, entrepreneurs are experimenting with charging a cash price lower than insurance 'co-pays'. he's absolutely right that those entrepreneurs are driving costs down...
for this to affect costs in the broader market as much as Dr. Berry hopes, a few more changes need to happen. foremost among them, anti-competitive behavior among hospitals and insurers needs to end: EACH FACILITY SHOULD CHARGE ONE PRICE FOR A GIVEN PROCEDURE regardless of insurance (or lack thereof), PATIENTS SHOULD BE FREE TO CHOOSE ANY FACILITY WITHOUT PENALTY from their insurers and any given insurance product should be for sale to anyone who chooses to buy it.
3. Response from Dr. Berry
Obamacare practically forced both insurance companies and hospitals to consolidate and medical practices to sell themselves to hospitals just to survive, creating a cartel (def - means of regulating output and prices)where hospital practices can get away with charging patientts $502 for a B12 test, when it costs the patient $25 at mine.
perhaps a better and fairer way to do this would be to ALLOW AMERICANS TO DEDUCT FROM THEIR INCOME AND 'LEGITIMATE' HEALTHCARE EXPENSE (which includes out-of-pocket expenses to doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, etc.) instead of starting at 10% of adjusted gross income as the law currently stipulates.
4. Response from Dr. Horton
PRICES SHOULD BE PUBLIC (COMPETITION...WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT) hospitals know what they plan to charge, but most currently keep those pries a secret until they send the bill. President Trump could mandate that all hospitals publish that information online and keep it current. hospitals will likely protest that those numbers are 'proprietary', but in what other business is it considered optional to tel customers what they'll pay? we've already seen the benefit that internet-based price comparison services bring to prescriptions. let's extend that to hospitals.
the should also be ONE PRICE PER SPECIFIC PROCEDURE at each hospital, with no discounts for anyone -including insurers. what this means is not that insurers will pay more, but that self-pay patients will now tget the same effective price as the insurers do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)