Spiritual Sisters
Spiritual Healing Serene Salad
Spiritual Voices Creativity Bakery
Praise
Life is Difficult
Transcend life through the secret contact of God in obscure love
January 01, 2006
"Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters." --M. Scott Peck
Never expected to see the day I could read something like this quote from M. Scott Peck and actually understand what he was saying. Even more startling to the old me is that the new me agrees with him. Accepting the "stuff" we have to get through and looking for the hidden adventures to be found within the "stuff" lets one view troubles from the sidelines instead of groveling in the mud. If I have no control over anything, then I have no weapons with which to fight; I can give up the battle and just watch how it all comes down. If I have relinquished all active participation to God, I know He will orchestrate the situation according to His will and His weapons are the most powerful existing. I have learned He is not at all concerned about my pride or my ego or making me look good. I have also learned that in the final analysis, His outcome will be far greater, with much wider-reaching implications, than anything I might have hoped to achieve.
When the Father is in charge, there's no risk involved. His way is the right way.
“This then is what it means to seek God perfectly: to withdraw from illusion and pleasure, from worldly anxieties and desires, from the works that God does not want, from a glory that is only human display; to keep my mind free from confusion in order that my liberty may be always at the disposal of His will; to entertain silence in my heart and listen for the voice of God; to cultivate an intellectual freedom from the images of created things in order to receive the secret contact of God in obscure love; to love all men as myself...” --From New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972. Pages 45-46.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Musings We all want a best friend--that someone with whom we are comfortable sharing the details of our lives; someone who is there for us in the best of times and in the worst of times. My question is, "does that someone have to be human or can it be spirit?" Human friends enter our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Should we have more than one with whom we share a lifetime, we have been the exception. Friends who are there for a reason or a season can depart with some degree of anguish resulting for either one or both. We have all been through this and would just as soon not go through it again. Strange, isn't it, that we are left feeling adrift and alone when there is a spiritual friend who has been patiently waiting to embrace us? C.S. Lewis says, "We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it." How very tragic that the one who cherishes our friendship is held at a distance and how tragic that we miss out on so much love because we cannot look past the physical world and embrace the supernatural. How can we be certain God wants to be our special friend? Does God really want to be involved in the minute details of our everyday lives? There are three places in the Bible where the same explanation occurs and it definitely is saying He wants to be completely involved in our lives: ~Matthew 10:30 ~Luke 21:18 ~Luke 12:7
Someone with whom we can share
God, are you there, way out there.....somewhere
January 04, 2006
He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail--even numbering the hairs on your head!
Even so, every detail of your body and soul--even the hairs of your head!-is in my care; nothing of you will be lost.
And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail--even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.
Meditations "Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God." --Oswald Chambers "Graces are the free gifts of help bestowed by God upon each one of us, in order that we may be assisted to achieve our final end and purpose, namely, unitive knowledge of divine reality. Such helps are very seldom so extraordinary that we are immediately aware of their true nature as Godsends. In the overwhelming majority of cases they are so inconspicuously woven into the texture of common life that we do not know that they are graces, unless and until we respond to them as we ought, and so receive the material, moral or spiritual benefits which they were meant to bring us. If we do not respond to these ordinary graces as we ought, we shall receive no benefit and remain unaware of their nature or even of their very existence. Grace is always sufficient, provided we are ready to co-operate with it. If we fail to do our share, but rather choose to rely on self-will and self-direction, we shall not only get no help from the graces bestowed upon us; we shall actually make it impossible for further graces to be given. When used with an obstinate consistency, self-will creates a private universe walled off impenetrably from the light of spiritual reality; and within these private universes the self-willed go their way, unhelped and unillumined, from accident to random accident, or from calculated evil to calculated evil. It is of such that St. Francis de Sales is speaking when he says, "God did not deprive thee of the operation of his love, but thou didst deprive His love of thy co-operation. God would never have rejected thee, if thou hadst not rejected Him." "To be clearly and constantly aware of the divine guidance is given only to those who are already far advanced in the life of the spirit. In its earlier stages we have to work, not by the direct perception of God's successive graces, but by faith in their existence. We have to accept as a working hypothesis that the events of our lives are not merely fortuitous, but deliberate tests of intelligence and character, specially devised occasions (if properly used) for spiritual advance. Acting upon this working hypothesis, we shall treat no occurrence as intrinsically unimportant. We shall never make a response that is inconsiderate, or a mere automatic expression of our self-will, but always give ourselves time, before acting or speaking, to consider what course of behaviour would seem to be most in accord with the will of God, most charitable, most conducive to the achievement of our final end. When such becomes our habitual response to events, we shall discover, from the nature of their effects, that some at least of those occurrences were divine graces in the disguise sometimes of trivialities, sometimes of inconveniences or even of pains and trials. But if we fail to act upon the working hypothesis that grace exists, grace will in effect be non-existent so far as we are concerned. We shall prove by a life of accident at the best, or, at the worst, of downright evil, that God does not help human beings, unless they first permit themselves to be helped." --Aldous Huxley Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled . . . —John 14:27
Meditations We are all on a journey. It is a journey that is filled with many events. A journey filled with joy and sorrow, fun and pain. It is a journey on which we embark filled with wide-eyed innocence, great ambitions and lofty goals. It is a journey that can very slowly wear us down as we face the realities of life. How we handle these realities is the true test. It decides whether we will be beaten, just get by, or will realize our full potential.
If we search for the answers to the “why” questions that continually arise, we turn to philosophy. There are many philosophies in this world and most of them promote love, kindness, forgiveness, patience, endurance, long suffering, and determination. Most of the philosophies suggest forms of meditation, inner-searching, and patient examination of external and internal issues. What one philosophy may not cover adequately will be well developed in another.
How do we know which is the right one? Do we listen to others? If we do, how can we be sure they know what they are talking about?
Do we turn to our own experiences and attempt to extrapolate from what we are feeling? Unless everyone is feeling the same thing, how can we trust our instincts to be accurate?
If we study the literature from various philosophies and compile what seems accurate to us, is this a good foundation upon which to rest our beliefs? Does this become our own personal “it-just-feels-right” religion?
How can we move from a be-good/do-good life to a life filled with power? A life which has a real edge?
If we could always be in control of the universal environment, we could be guaranteed a life filled with power. Unfortunately, we are not in control. We have moments when we are sure we are in control, but they are infrequent. They are much too infrequent. So how do we harness this thing called power and be confident that we have it in our own arsenal?
When we are small children, we have confidence that Mommy and Daddy can fix anything. When we are adults we still need that confidence that someone greater than ourselves is there to fix things. How do we find that Powerful Person?
We search the religions and the philosophies of the world. We search for a living God. Only a living God who is here and now can give us this kind of edge we so greatly desire. How do we know this God is living? We continue to search the religions and the philosophies for clues and guidelines that will point to whether a god lived in the past. If history shows he is now dead and buried, this god becomes easy to eliminate. If the god is an idol created by man, then he cannot truly be a god at all.
As we search we will find the Bible. The Bible claims to be the word of a living God. How can we be sure he is living? There are many ways to be sure He is living. Reading the Bible gives many clues. Knowing what is in the Bible and listening with our spirits will bring us clues that coincide and affirm each other. Seriously listening to the messages that are delivered to us as we talk with this God, and following the instructions He gives, will give us additional clues that confirm what we read in the Bible. They are concrete clues. They take the shape of events in our lives where everything just seems to work out in our favor---like playing a ballgame where the refs are always on your side. Another clue is facing certain disaster and suddenly being extracted from the logical conclusion.
This living God makes one demand. He does not demand that we do good deeds and live impeccable lives. He does insist that we believe his son was sacrificed in our place to make it possible for us to have his power working within our lives. Once we make this commitment, He will then be with us at all times. He will not make us do what He wants us to do. He will allow us to accept or refuse His counsel. His power may not be obvious in our lives if we refuse His counsel. That does not mean it has been taken from us, it just means He is waiting for us to be in a position where we are ready to make use of it.
If we are less than totally committed in our search, we are likely to be disappointed. We may miss the mark altogether, or we may not have adequate understanding to allow us to correctly interpret events and signs. If we are totally committed, in the depths of our hearts, to finding this higher power, a God who is just as desirous of developing a relationship with us, we can be assured a fuller life with a real edge to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teachings from The Art of Mental Prayer All day long we go about disguised, to a very large extent hiding our real self that others may not see what we are, and this not seldom to such a degree that the disguise becomes more real to us than our actual self. But when we come to pray, our real self, torn by a myriad interests, our interior mental life, crowded with distractions, surges out into that silent sanctuary wherein we seek the peace of God. 'If we find the door shut, why should we be surprised?' We must be convinced that little things are often as dangerous in hindering our walk in the path. For instance there is no occasion for us to hear and see, still less to say, half the things which, if they do not lead to sin, yet disturb the peace and calm of the soul. 'Keep thy tongue from evil' and from that idle speaking to which our Lord refers so sternly, for talkativeness and all that it leads to are most harmful to the spiritual life. It is too often the mark of a shallow spirit; indeed, it would seem that the less a man thinks--and thinking is fast dying out--the more he talks. 'Talking,' said Faber, 'is a loss of power," and it certainly tends to dissipate that sense of the presence of God which is the greatest guard of the soul. Deliberately to choose to be silent at times, to watch and weigh our words when we speak, would accomplish more for many than the pious practices they so much enjoy. Another sphere in which custody of the sense is necessary, especially in view of our prayer, is that of concentration in the spirit of St. Catherine of Genoa's 'One thing only and one thng at a time.' To pray well demands not merely concentration, but concentration which has nothing forced or violent about it. St. Francis de Sales never tires of insisting upon the need of calmness and tranquillity in our approach to God. But to have this at our prayer means that we must strive for it outside of our prayer, and one of the greatest aids to this is to learn to do each thing as it comes, as if it were the only thing we had to do, and having done it, or being compelled to leave it to go on to another duty, to do so in the same spirit. The world of affairs is full of men who are intensely recollected because they are intensely interested in some particular aim or project. They do a thousand things a day, but behind all they do, dominating and influencing all their life, is one supreme thing. They are not always actually thinking of it; they may, indeed, and will at times, be thinking of and doing the common-place things, eating, drinking, playing, that all men do. But always, even if not consciously at the moment, one thing and one alone is supreme and central; for that thing they live; without it, life to them would lose all meaning. They are men of recollection. And recollection in the spiritual life means precisely the same thing; it is the spirit of the man who is possessed with the reality of God as the true end of all human life. We need a conversion to God, not merely from sin; 'seek the Lord and your soul shall live,' 'for if ye truly seek Me with all your heart ye shall surely find Me,' and to find God is to have found that one absorbing interest before which all else is as naught. Bede Frost. English priest, Church of England
Meditations “Discovering the contemplative life is a new self-discovery. One might say it is the flowering of a deeper identity on an entirely different plane from a mere psychological discovery, a paradoxical new identity that is found only in loss of self. To find one’s self by losing one’s self: that is part of ‘contemplation.’ Remember the Gospel, ‘He who would save his life must lose it’? --Thomas Merton, Seeds Saturday is my REAL day with God. I reserve Saturday for extended quiet time and avoid committing myself to anything on Saturday except for Saturday evening worship service--a perfect way to cap a perfect day. Saturday is the day God takes me to school bringing my imperfections before me, helping me grow through this time set aside to be spent in relationship with Him. He takes me in small steps, steps which do not seem to be interconnected until I can look back and realize real change has occurred. For instance, I have always had a problem with pride, and that pride needed constant nourishment. I needed recognition. When I did not get recognition, I suffered. I was certain the whole world had rejected me and had declared me worthless. Life orchestrated a series of humiliations that left pride nothing to work with so it withered away. At the same time my pride was being destroyed, I found myself unintentionally living alone. I was lonely for a while until I learned my supernatural companion was really there for me all the time. God needed me to be physically alone, to be comfortable being physically alone, in order to fulfill my purpose. What makes it such a Special Spirit Moment when I put it all together is that now that I understand "alone does not mean lonely", I am getting the kudos my pride so desperately craved. The difference is, the kudos have nothing to do with pride--or anything I accomplished. It has to do with just being, just being in the now, just being satisfied to be--in Him.
Debra Gil Saga For two years following Debbie’s experience visiting heaven and hell, she moved among her family, friends and acquaintances urgently attempting to convey what she had witnessed on the other side of the Great Divide. Debbie shared her love for Jesus; Debbie shared the wisdom imparted to her through her relationship with Jesus. She was saddened when many of those she loved didn’t seem to fully understand the importance of her message. After Debbie was pre-warned she would be moving across the Great Divide, she joyfully and earnestly made her final pleas to everyone she had the opportunity with whom to speak. Then she hurried home to be with her Jesus. Though it appeared her work was left unfinished, Debbie, herself, is now being allowed to complete from the other side what she had not accomplished while on this earth. Through dreams and visions and recollections of admonishments previously spoken, Debbie has continually visited her family throughout the six weeks since her death. Members of her family are finding it difficult to continue their old ways of living because they are acutely aware of Debbie’s presence and constantly reminded of her words. As Debbie’s mother continues to pray that she will see all of her family in Heaven, Debbie is steadily harvesting the seeds which were sown while she was on earth. Her mother is rejoicing with the angels as she watches more and more of her family being gathered for the reunion with Debbie…. …across the Great Divide. Debra A. Gil, age 47
Praise "You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you." -- George Lucas, film director I have found something I love enough to take these risks. It is the life of obedience through blind faith. Each time that I have responded to a supernatural impulse by obeying without analyzing the risks or knowing the outcome, I have gained physically as well as spiritually. Each time the end results have been positive, I have grown surer of my steps: "If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal." --Romans 4:14, The Message I had grown comfortable with my life in South Florida when in the spring of 2003 I had a vision of a house with tall trees and hurting people inside. There followed sufficient confirmations I was to return to Indiana to cause me to apply for a job transfer. After giving away most of my stuff, the dog and I headed north. I had no idea where I was to get the money to buy this house. I had also learned to relish the freedom allowed by the debt-free lifestyle God recommends. To remain debt-free and buy a large house seemed a laughably impossible situation. It was January 2005, nearly two years later, when the money came into my possession through a backwages settlement, the possibility of which I was unaware in 2003. After receiving the money, I went shopping for the house which I was now calling The Living in Simple Faith House but after three sets of negotiations went "goofy", I realized I had to wait for God, backed off and followed guidance to move to the inner city, never having the vision far removed from my mind. It is now 2006 and I have now seen the house but it does not appear to be available. At this point in time I am clueless as to how it all fits into God's scheme of things. So I wait, not knowing how long I will be waiting, but assured that as long as I wait upon Him everything will fall into place. Please, don't ever suggest this old woman has a boring life. "This, of course, is what religion is about: this adherence to God, this confident dependence on that which is unchanging. This is the more abundant life which, in its own particular language and own particular way, it calls us to live. Because it is our part in the one life in the whole universe of spirits, our share in the great drive towards Reality, the tendency of all life to seek God Who made it for Himself and now incites and guides it, we are already adapted to it. Just as a fish is adapted to life in the sea. This view of our situation fills us with a certain awed and humble gladness. It delivers us from all niggling fuss about ourselves, prevents us from feeling self-important about our own little spiritual adventures; and yet makes them worth while as part of one great spiritual adventure." --Evelyn Underhill
Teachings The answer to helplessness is not so very complicated. A person can do something for peace without having to jump into politics. Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If we listen to it and act on it, we are giving a great deal of what the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his or her own goodness and act on it. Do we dare to be ourselves? This is the question that counts. --Pablo Casals As I read the quotes included with these comments, I was waiting, with a huge lump in my throat, for further enlightenment concerning the security of the limb upon which I have now proposed placing myself. When I first began to make lifestyle decisions based on what I was hearing through my spirit, it was usually little things--little things that had to do with me. Each time I moved forward based on what I was hearing spiritually, I would find the next move would be a bit more complicated and would be further reaching in its implications. Those first little moves were in 1996 so I am going into my tenth year of being led by the Holy Spirit. The lifestyle changes are far more complicated now and have much less to do with me and far more to do with being of service to others. Sometimes I mess up by trying to add my own input and then God has to extract me. I admit He is kind in his methods of extraction when He knows my intentions were not self-centered. But when I get it right--Oh, my! it is so impossible to describe the wonderfully awesome knowing--the knowing that I have pleased my creator! When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may not be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, "Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?" You have to "walk in the light" of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the "heavenly vision," do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— ". . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" ( Luke 12:15 ). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching. Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter. --Oswald Chambers
Musings There is such security to be found in this God relationship. Bad things still happen, but they are much less likely to catch us unaware. Outside of occasions where the element of surprise was involved in the lessons to be learned, it has been a long time since I have not been prewarned and prepared prior to going through difficult situations. I used to agonize over the unexpected bill and then feel real pain while scrambling for the money. In more recent times, it seems that I've always gotten a little bit ahead of the budget before the unexpected expense occurs. I am not sure that would work if I was overspending, but as long as I stay in my budget I seem to be okay. Another big aspect of this God relationship is the comfort of knowing I can find help at decision time. Should I go there, should I stay here, should I, should I, should I.... Those decisive moments that determine which direction we will follow are so difficult. We realize this small decision right now will impact our lives going forward and we cannot see into the future to determine the best choice. To be able to ask the Spirit and receive a positive or a negative response makes us secure we have chosen the better option. It frees up to move forward with confidence. The longer we walk in this faith, knowing we have a comforter to support us, the more we feel free to not try to anticipate the future but to live in the now--assuming we will be given direction as to the best course without having to go through the "should I's" anymore. We must always be cognizant of the fact there are responsibilities we must accept. We must be willing to walk in the orderly, common sense rules God has given us through the Bible. We cannot have it our way and expect everything to be made easy for us. We must meet our obligations in order to be rewarded. One other aspect I cannot forget to mention is that the answer from the Spirit so much of the time is simply, "Wait". Like the old family lawyer told me years ago, "More cases are resolved by waiting than by arguing in court." It is also true our blessings are denied by jumping ahead of God. "Not until one determines to restrict his task to the elimination of his egocentricity, and no longer tries to force an increase of courage and vitality, does the process of self-education get started. The distribution of the parts in the task is something like this: The light is obscured; it is not my problem to light the light (for it is already burning), but my problem is to clear away the obstacles that are obstructing the light. I cannot create light, but I can remove the shade. If a man wished to light the light himself, he would be more vain than ever. If he would wait until the light penetrated the shade by itself, he would be more timid than ever; he would be trying to escape his responsibilities. The objective is the untiring work at the removal of the shade and the unerring confidence in the presence of the light. --Fritz Kunkel, M.D., 1889-1956. American psychiatrist, God Helps Those
Debra Gil Saga When Debbie was 34 she lost one lung and a portion of the other lung leaving her physically weakened. Debbie’s day job as a roofer while playing in a band at night took its toll on her body and she had to change to less strenuous forms of carpentry for the latter years of her life.
When Debbie was 45 she suffered a stroke and was rushed to the hospital with very weak vital signs. In the emergency room her condition continued to deteriorate as her mother fought a mighty spiritual battle knowing her daughter might be dying and Debbie did not know Jesus. When they attempted to escort Maria and Bill to the Chaplain’s waiting room, Maria refused to enter the room further denying the possibility her daughter might be dying. For many years, Maria had been conscientiously praying that all her family would be with her in heaven. She could not allow death to take her daughter, and, claiming the blood of Jesus, she continued to pray with all her might.
As Maria fought for her daughter’s life outside the emergency room, Debbie was losing ground inside the room. The nurses reported Debbie was constantly calling for Jesus to save her as the vital signs weakened further. Inwardly, Debbie was enduring a frightful battle in which she was aware a very large and dark angel had escorted her to hell. Debbie could view her naked body from a distance; she could see that it was being used as a table around which evil people were sitting and blaspheming God as they gambled for her soul. She recognized some of the people as worldly “friends”.
As her spirit struggled to come to the aid of her body, she cried out to Jesus to save her. Immediately, a small opening appeared in the table, allowing her soul to escape. With the escape of her soul another large angel arrived. This angel was brilliant white-white and began to struggle with the dark angel. She felt the dark angel clawing, raking her arms with sharp fingernails using the six arms hidden under the angel’s wings as the white-white angel began to pull her away and upward.
There were feathers everywhere as the two angels fought over her and she came to understand these angels, constantly on the battlefield, were very powerful and were not the pretty, placid angels we humans picture in our literature.
When Debbie emerged from the coma, she kept trying to get feathers out of her mouth. She could feel and taste the feathers further accentuating the seriousness of the battle she had endured. For the remaining two years of her life, the visual of her body as a table, the struggle of the angels, the feathers in her mouth prompted her to continually sing the praises of her savior and to urgently communicate to all that hell is a very real place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rants It was just another Tuesday, but before it was over I had been touched by a friend's dream of impending death, a young woman's suicide attempt, a mother's expulsion from the homeless shelter, a mentally challenged man's surgery resulting in paralysis, a foreign student's aggressive demands for funding, and my dog's list of grievances. My Dog's List of Grievances! Monday had been a toasty warm, sunny day. My grandbaby was visiting so I had forced the dogs to remain outdoors all day--outdoors where they could chase squirrels, check out stray cats and dogs in the alley and bark at passersby. I had noticed them, between their moments of high drama, standing at the door pleading to come inside. When they came in for the night, they were grumpy and quarrelsome. Tuesday was a different kind of day. It was cold with icy rain and snow so I kept the dogs indoors. I noticed them standing at the door, pointing outward, and giving me disparaging glances over their shoulders. No one had it as bad as they! That evening I dozed off thinking about the traumas of the day in contrast to the pettiness of my dogs' attitudes. I am very awake now having dreamed that I chopped the smaller dog into three portions and fed him to three big dogs. I am wondering how many times God has felt like chopping me up and feeding me to the big dogs. When one begins to practice simplicity, the ego is deprived of the very strategy by which it sustains itself. Nothing will deflate the ego more effectively than to be recognized for what it is. It lives by pretension. It dies when the mask is torn away and the stark reality is exposed to the gaze of others. Simplicity also avails in braking the tyranny of things. Ostentation, artificiality, ornamentation, pretentious style, luxury—all require things. One requires few things to be one’s self, one’s age, and one’s moral, intellectual, or spiritual stature. What one is does not depend upon what one has. --Albert E. Day
Teachings Spiritual Maxims, written by Pere Grou in the late 1700's, adds true clarity to this life in relationship with God. I hope everyone will explore the Maxims in depth after looking over this short sample taken from the first part of the book plus all of the eleventh maxim. The entire text is available online through www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/SM.TXT ...the true and profitable knowledge of God...cannot be too deeply studied, and without it none can become holy, for the substance of it is indispensably necessary to salvation. This should be the great object of our reflection and meditation, and of our constant prayer for light. Let no one fancy that he can ever know enough, or enter sufficiently into so rich a subject. It is in every sense inexhaustible. The more we discover in it, the more we see there is yet to be discovered. It is an ever-deepening ocean for the navigator, an unattainable mountain height for the traveller, whose scope of vision increases with every upward step. The knowledge of God grows in us together with our own holiness: both are capable of extending continually, and we must set no bounds to either. Now this knowledge is not merely intellectual knowledge: it goes straight to the heart. It touches it, penetrates it, reforms and ennobles it, enkindling it with a love for all the virtues. Anyone who really knows God cannot fail to possess a lively faith, a firm hope, an ardent love, filial fear, a complete trust in Him in times of trial, and an entire submission to His holy will. He fears no difficulty in avoiding evil, nor in doing good. He complains of no rigour in God's law, but wonders at its mildness, and loves and embraces it in all its fulness. To the precepts he adds the counsels. He contemns earthly things, deeming them unworthy of his attention. He uses the things of this world as though he used them not. He looks not at the things that are seen and are temporal, but presses forward towards those that are eternal. The pleasures of this world do not tempt him, nor its dangers imperil him; neither do its terrors alarm him. His body is on earth, but his soul, in thought and desire, is already in heaven. ELEVENTH MAXIM : A CHILDLIKE SPIRIT Treat God as a child treats his Father It would seem that nothing should be easier or more common for Christians than to look upon God as their Father, and act towards Him with simplicity, confidence and abandonment. It is the very spirit of the New Law, and is what distinguishes it from the Old. One of the fundamental dogmas of our faith is that God the Father has adopted us in His Son Jesus Christ, and raised us up to the supernatural state of His children, whereby we are made heirs, indeed, of God and joint heirs with Christ; an inheritance which gives us a right to heaven as our home and to the eternal possession of God. This title, child of God, presupposes and recalls to our minds the chief objects of our faith, is the foundation of our hope, and the paramount motive of our love. Yet nothing is rarer among Christians than this filial disposition towards God; almost all are more inclined to fear than to love Him. They find it exceedingly difficult to have a complete trust in Him, to the extent of abandoning themselves totally to His divine Providence. What is so little known, and even less practised in the spiritual life and most difficult to human nature, is the casting of all our care upon Him, in the firm faith that nothing can be ordained by His Providence that will not work for our good, unless we ourselves place some obstacle in the way. This all comes from self-love which would persuade us that our interests are only safe so long as we have the control of them in our own hands. We cannot make up our minds to entrust them to God, and, in all that concerns us, to look upon Him as a Father, no matter how much our love is put to the test. We are ready to trust Him when He indulges us, sends us consolations and gives us all we ask. But when, to teach us to love and serve Him for His sake and not for our own, as such a Father deserves to be loved, He withdraws the comforts we have abused, refuses what would harm us, and offers us what is for our good but which we do not want, then we no longer think of Him as a Father but as a harsh task-master. His demands are distasteful to us and we are ready at any moment to quit His service. Even our spiritual director has the greatest difficulty to restrain us when he takes God's part against us. Yet it is nevertheless true that God never shows Himself more truly a Father than in the trials He sends us. His crosses are the most precious favours He could bestow on us in this life, and the heavier the burden He lays upon those who have given themselves to Him, the more is it a proof of the love He bears them. Was not Our Lord the well-beloved Son, in Whom the Father was well pleased? Yet how did He treat Him, from His birth to His last sigh upon the Cross? Was He less His Father when He gave Him up into the hands of wicked men; when to all appearances He forsook Him on the Cross, and suffered Him to die tortured and in shame? Surely not! And it may truly be said that if Calvary was the scene of Christ's love for His Father, it was no less the clearest demonstration of the Father's love for His Son. Judge by the consequences. All the glory and power and blessing which Our Lord possesses as man, He owes to the Cross. Did He not Himself say: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory? I His Father required that temporary proof of obedience at His hands, that He in turn might give Him an eternal proof of the magnificence of His reward. With the example of Our Lord, then, before our eyes, never let us think that God is not acting as our Father when He asks sacrifices of us that are painful to nature; when, having asked and received our consent, He takes us at our word, and exacts the fulfilment of our promise. It is true that the Face He turns to us then may seem severe, and it is His justice rather than His love that we see; but never was He more our Father, never were the marks of His love more apparent to the eyes of faith. Consider also the upbringing of a child. While weak and tender, he is nursed, carried, petted, indulged and soothed. But as he grows older, he is placed under a rule; he is obliged to do things which are unpleasant, and of which he does not as yet see the use. He is broken in to obedience and habituated to control his desires and follow the guidance of reason. When necessary, he is treated severely and chastised. Why? Solely in order to draw out his powers, to make a man of him, and to prepare him for a useful and happy life in the future, according to his state in life. In the same manner does God act towards His children. He intends them for citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. When they begin to give themselves up to Him, He makes the greatest allowances for their weakness. He lavishes sweetness and consolations upon them, in order to win their hearts. He makes all things easy to them. He removes temptations, pleases them and, as it were, makes Himself a child with them. But as they grow stronger and are capable of receiving solid lessons in the interior life, He adopts another plan. He attacks nature, pursues all its defects and vicious propensities, sparing none. He prescribes difficult duties, and requires their fulfilment with extreme severity. The language of grace is no longer tender and persuasive: it is strong, imperious, even threatening; the least resistance is rigourously punished. He proportions the exercises, the trials and temptations that He sends, to their strength and state. The more He has endowed them with powers natural and supernatural, the more He demands of them, until they are moulded to all the virtues, and have passed through all the degrees of holiness. When they have reached that point of perfection to which He desires to bring them, when they have become worthy of Him, then their spiritual education is complete, and He removes them to His kingdom, where He crowns their struggles and their obedience, making them everlastingly partakers of His glory and bliss.
Thus the interior life throughout its whole course is nothing other than an education divine and paternal, inspired and ruled by love. God, on His side, fulfils perfectly the role of a Father, Whose desire is to make us happy. Let us, then, on our part, do all He expects of us as His children. Once again, let us take children as our pattern. What are the feelings that a well-disposed child entertains for his father? In the first place, great simplicity, ingenuousness and candour. A child has no notion of concealing or dissimulating with his father. He opens his heart to him, tells him all he feels, and that is how we should act towards God. In fear, joy or sorrow, we should go to Him with the candour and simplicity of children. He knows better than we do what is passing in us, but He likes us to speak to Him about it. He wants to be our confidant and friend. Do not be afraid, then, to address Him sometimes with loving reproaches: such holy liberty pleases Him; nothing displeases Him more than cold reserve. The next thing noticeable in a child is his trust. Timid and distrustful where others are concerned, in his father he places unbounded confidence. He knows that his father loves him; that he cares for him, toils for him, plans for him, and has no other aim but his happiness. And so he neither cares nor troubles himself about his own welfare, but leaves all to his father, who provides for his wants, even for his innocent pleasures, forestalls his slightest wishes, and reads them in his eyes. He is persuaded that the advice, the lessons, the corrections of his father, the various tasks he imposes, the severity he uses towards him, even what seems to be hurtful, have no other object than his true happiness. He knows this, not by reasoning, but by instinct and experience. If only we had the same confidence in our heavenly Father, Who is worthy of it infinitely more than any earthly father! If only we would make over to His Divine Providence the care of our spiritual interests; confide to His grace far more than to our own efforts our spiritual welfare and perfection. If only we were deeply convinced that God does all things and ordains all things for our good; that His precepts which act as a curb to our passions, the duties that seem so painful, the evils and afflictions He permits, the hidden dispositions by which He disturbs our plans and cuts across our undertakings, the very faults and falls He refuses to prevent in order that we may be humble and mistrust ourselves, are permitted solely with a view to our eternal good--if, I say, we believed these things, how God would be glorified by our trust, and what intimate care, what loving attentions would not our confidence draw down upon us. St. Paul lays it down as an axiom of the spiritual life that all things--without exception -- work together unto good to them that love God. What does loving God mean, save looking upon Him as a Father, speaking to Him, relying upon Him for everything, acting and cooperating with His grace, and, having done on our part all that He expects of us, trusting solely to His love and mercy? O filial trust! What anxiety you would spare Christians who sincerely desire their salvation, and how you would assure it much better than all the sufferings of mind that self-love brings in its train! Leave to your heavenly Father the direction of your inner life, follow quietly the attraction of grace, consult His holy will in all things, oppose it in nothing. For the rest, pay no heed to your foolish questionings, calm your imagination, and despise the vain fears that would weaken your trust in Him. This is the way to heaven, and if you meet with difficulties on the way, they come from you, not from God. Obedience is another characteristic of a child's disposition: an obedience altogether founded on love, not arising from fear as is the servile obedience of slaves, nor dictated by a mercenary self-interest. An obedience which embraces without reserve its Father's will, not considering whether the carrying out of that will is easy or difficult, pleasant or otherwise. An obedience generous, prompt and courageous, neither complaining nor excusing itself, finding its reward in the joy of having done its duty in pleasing a Father it loves and respects. Is it thus that most Christians obey God? I doubt it: and why? It is because for the most part they forget that God is their Father. They look upon Him in quite another light. Some fear damnation more than they desire their salvation. They are moved more by the thought of the pains of hell than by that of the joys of heaven. Fear is at the root of their obedience. They regard God as a harsh master, and a severe judge. Now fear has the power to keep us from evil, but not to lead us to good. It is a curb, not a spur. It is the beginning, but only the beginning, of wisdom. God does not mean us to stop there. From fear we ought to pass on to love; indeed, we are not fearing God when we only fear His chastisements, and we do not obey Him according to His will when we yield only to His warnings. So that this obedience is equally imperfect in its motive. It permits the whole weight of the yoke to be felt, but does not remove from the heart a secret longing to be rid of it. It limits itself to the letter of the law, and, as men naturally interpret the law in their own favour, its obligations are often imperfectly fulfilled Others do, indeed, consider God as their rewarder. They serve Him from a motive of hope, but they care less for Himself than for the good things He promises. They hope, that is, for the possession of God, but less for His sake than for their own happiness. In other words, self is uppermost in their minds and they barely pay attention to anything else. This motive is not bad, since it incites to well doing, but it is not pure enough, and if their obedience has no other stay, it will be weak and hesitating, and often fretful. True faith, which is evidenced by love, has very little influence on their conduct. The present good and evil counts with them as much as the good to come. And that is why they find it so difficult to practise virtue, which consists principally in mistrusting the pleasant things of this world, and accepting the unpleasant. We may indeed fear for them when certain temptations come upon them, which only the love of God can enable them to overcome. It is not in fear, then, nor in self-interest, but in love that we shall find the deep principle of the obedience which is due to God, and nothing will inspire us with that love more than the role of Father which God has deigned to assume for our sakes. When, having meditated on this Name so tender and on the dispositions it presupposes in God in my regard, I consider that from all eternity He has loved me, not merely as His creature but as His child; that He has gone so far as to tell us in the Sacred Word that, even if a mother should forget the child of her womb, yet will He never forget us; when I realize that He has raised us to be His sons by adoption, destined to be associated with His divine Son in His heavenly inheritance and to share in His eternal beatitude; when I consider, above all, the marvellous plan of His paternal love and what it cost the Son to raise me to that divine adoption, and the inestimable graces which accompanied and have followed that amazing gift: what, I say, can I refuse to such a Father, Whose only motive in all He asks of me is the love He bears me, and the good He wills to bestow upon me? What can I see in His law but the loveliest and most just of duties, namely to love Him; for in this consists the whole of His law. How can I regard this as a yoke or a burden? Sweet, indeed, is His yoke and His burden light; and never will I regret having taken them upon me. My endeavour, then, shall be to love this kindest of Fathers in gratitude for His love for me; and to prove my love for Him by an obedience which I shall regard as my greatest joy. So, too, my greatest sorrow would be not to love Him, and to disobey Him in the least thing. Nor will I limit myself to the performance of those things which He commands under pain of His displeasure. I shall study to do what pleases Him. The least sign He gives me shall be a law to me, and I will try to refuse Him nothing, complain of nothing, and submit with joy to all, even to the most painful dispensations of His Providence. For His name of Father always bids me look upon them as marks of His love, and trials of mine. Thus Job felt, when in the depth of his afflictions he cried: If we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? And: Although He should kill me, yet will I trust Him. And again: May this be my comfort, that afflicting me with sorrow, He spare not: nor I contradict the words of the Holy One. So far should a Christian carry his confidence and submission towards such a Father. How weak is human respect when it attacks a heart full of filial love. The attractions and seductions of the world do not interest the true child of God. He neither fears its threats nor its ridicule. He holds up his head and boldly declares his mind, when His Father's honour is at stake. If he hides himself from the sight of men, he does so through humility, never through weakness. He does nothing to draw attention to himself, and cares not whether he is seen or not seen, praised or blamed, esteemed or contemned. To him the world is as though it were not. In company or alone, his eyes are always fixed on his Father, and his concerns are with Him alone. How should he trouble himself about pleasing the world, when he does not wish to please even himself? He dreads nothing so much as having to think of himself; he does all he can to forget himself, and would shrink from diminishing his Father's glory by anything approaching self-complacency. And if by chance he should do so from time to time, he deeply regrets it as a real fault. The delicacy of his love goes further still. Content to please God, he is in no way eager for his love to be recognized. He neglects nothing whereby he may be acceptable in God's sight, but asks for no sign of assurance that he is so. He knows that self-love would rest satisfied with such an assurance, and his love for God would suffer accordingly.
Debra Gil Saga Debbie visited her mother, Maria, and her niece, Heather, in dreams about seven weeks after her death. In Maria’s dream, Debbie was dressed in all white and was standing in her mother’s kitchen with her hands on the shoulders of her troubled cousin. The cousin had resisted Debbie’s efforts to talk about Jesus and had ended their last visit by dismissing Debbie and Debbie’s concerns. Debbie made further attempts at reconciliation with her cousin but had not succeeded prior to the day of her transition to be with her Jesus. Debbie was also concerned for the cousin’s mother, her Aunt Lilly. In the dream she showed Aunt Lilly coming through the front gate of her mother’s home and then fading away. (With the dream so fresh upon her later that day, Maria called Lilly to see if she was doing all right and learned Lilly was on the way to the hospital because her heart was not functioning normally.) Maria is convinced Debbie is warning them to get the cousin and the mother together for reconciliation while there is time. In the same dream, Debbie was voicing concerns about her parents’ safety and was asking her mother to stay away from the house next door, showing Maria in the dream an episode where two men with guns were watching the house next door. As Maria was relating the dream to her granddaughter, Heather, she learned of Heather’s dream concerning the same house. The two women had experienced the dream-visits from Debbie on the same night and in Heather’s dream protection seemed to be arriving to cover the situation next door. Heather saw her family preparing for a fishing trip only to have ominous looking dark clouds gather overhead. As they were examining the clouds to estimate the possibilities of having a successful fishing trip, the clouds began to separate exposing another layer of white, fluffy clouds. As they watched the clouds move across the sky, the clouds seemed to be reshaping into the form of angels. Suddenly, Debbie appeared from among the clouds, dressed all in white, and looking more beautiful than Heather had ever seen her before. Her hair was perfectly feathered, just as Debbie had always tried, but failed, to achieve when she was an earth resident. Debbie was part of a host of angels who were shooting arrows at “the house next door” where Maria had seen men with guns. Heather felt great peacefulness as the arrows gently floated downward toward the house. Debbie moved close to where Heather was standing and handed her one of the arrows—along with a radiant smile—then Debbie and the host of angels moved back into the sky and their forms reverted back into the shape of white, fluffy clouds.
Musings Our world is populated by "experts" of every caliber and kind. There are medical specialists, dietitians, exercise know-it-alls and talk-show hosts. In a hectic, fast-paced world in which time is ever scarce, it's easier to take the expert's word for it than to be skeptical and undertake one's own researches. There's a comfort in believing that something must be so because an important someone has said it's so. When Christ says, "Forgive your enemies," it is not for the sake of the enemy, but for one's own sake that he says so, and because love is more beautiful than hate. In his own entreaty to the young man, "Sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor," it is not of the state of the poor that he is thinking, but of the soul of the young man, the soul that wealth was marring... But while Christ did not say to men, "Live for others," he pointed out that there was no difference at all between the lives of others and one's own life. By this means he gave to man an extended, a Titan personality. Since his coming the history of each separate individual is, or can be made, the history of the world. --Oscar Wilde, De Profundis
Meditation on Grace
Graces are the free gifts of help bestowed by God
January 05, 2006
The Edge
How can we move from a be-good/do-good life to a life with a real edge?
January 06, 2006
Our Actual Self in Prayer
...our disguise can be more real to us than our actual self
January 07, 2006
The Art of Mental Prayer
--in Him
Discovering the contemplative life is a new self-discovery
January 09, 2006
Working Across the Great Divide
The seeds had been sown…
January 10, 2006
November 25, 2005
The More Abundant Life
The confident dependence on that which is unchanging
January 12, 2006
Do we dare to be ourselves?
This is the question that counts
January 15, 2006
The Security Found in a Relationship with God
the unerring confidence in the presence of the light
January 17, 2006
Debbie’s Descent into Hell
Debbie was enduring a frightful battle in which she was aware a very large and dark angel had escorted her to hell.
January 18, 2006
Trauma, Drama and Pettiness
I wonder how many times God has felt like chopping me up and feeding me to the big dogs.
January 21, 2006
Spiritual Maxims
The true and profitable knowledge of God is in every sense inexhaustible. The more we discover in it, the more we see there is yet to be discovered.
January 23, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Debbie Continues to Visit Earth
Occurring the same night, her niece's dream confirms her mother's dream
January 25, 2006
An Act of Our Own
It is tragic how few people ever "possess their souls" before they die
January 27, 2006It is tragic how few people ever "possess their souls" before they die. "Nothing is more rare in any man," says Emerson, "than an act of his own." It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are some one else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
An act of our own: Is our relationship with God marred by our need to rely on others' thoughts instead of going straight to the source? Is our journey to God delayed by a time-consuming preoccupation with self?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Musings Deb and I are among the people who have left the suburbs and moved to the inner city. Neither of us made a conscious decision to make this move, but both of us have had a gigantic attitude change since we've made the move. I arrived here after a commitment to "help" my son by temporarily moving into a duplex he wanted to renovate but had concerns about leaving materials and tools on site unless he had a guard on duty. I first saw the place on a bitter cold January day, the roads were icy and the snow cover was dirty gray from the coal soot deposited by the nearby gas and coke plant. The two houses to my north were abandoned except for a large cat population which had taken up residence in one of the houses. Inside the duplex, my spirits sank even further for it was worse than what I'd seen outside. The smell of urine was overwhelming and I was sick at my stomach desperately wanting to tell Dan I'd changed my mind. Dan saw my expression and he read correctly so we talked and he offered to release me from the promise, but a mom just doesn't break a promise. He reassured me he'd have the smell out of the side which was in better condition prior to my moving in and that he'd not hold me longer than the three months previously agreed upon. I moved in on another icy, snowy day. I met my neighbor as I was moving in--we had too many vehicles there and were partially blocking her space and we needed to do something about it. The young man across the street came to say "hi" and suggested I NOT lock my doors or my car. The next neighbor I met came over to tell me not to mess with her kids. I had never lived in the city and I am not street smart, oh, my! The dog had to be walked twice a day. We would walk the block and then walk through the small roadside park at the end of the block. Gradually snow changed to budding trees and blooming wildflowers. We began to encounter others residing on the block and were so grateful to be greeted by smiling faces and tail-wagging doggies. The youngsters playing basketball in the park were very serious about improving their skills. The dog and I would watch them as they were working at their game and we noticed they were thirsty for sideline coaching. It was enjoyable to listen as older men paused long enough to give the young people instructions. By the time spring had changed to summer, I'd met a lot of the people living here and had discovered for every house under constant police surveillance there were at least two where God's angels were in residence. Most of the houses are around 100 years old so older residents have many stories about the "ghosts" residing in their houses with whom they have long-term, friendly relationships. By the time summer was winding down, the two houses to my north had been renovated and I felt a rush of pride as I saw the improvements on MY street--I had fallen in love! Deb has now joined me. She has also lived in some of the most beautiful parts of the United States and is new to the inner city. The first impact upon my spirit when I came here was how real life in the ghetto can be. I had no idea how plastic the suburbs are since I never really knew my neighbors beyond polite smiles and superficial greetings. Here, in the city amongst all the lying and cheating, I have also encountered real honesty and true goodness. Jesus speaks of the widow who gives her last portion to a stranger. I have found her--and her sisters--living on my street. I now have an additional passion in my life. It is to tell everyone how necessary it is for a few suburbanites in all our cities to return to the inner city--not to preach or teach--but to simply live their lives, openly exhibiting their problem-solving capabilities and the resulting stability in their lives. "Without the power of hope, faith can lose its own nerve and turn back into despair. We are not born with the passion of hope, but it can be acquired...." --Ray S. Anderson
Meditations The computer age has created a new kind of isolationism and I keep reading that it can have a crippling effect upon people. In church, we are encouraged that above all else we are relational creatures. The Ten Commandments start with (1) a loving relationship with God and (2) a loving relationship with our fellow man holding them in the same esteem with which we hold ourselves. As I said above, I keep reading isolationism can have a crippling effect, but I have to ask for a more complete definition before I lose any sleep over quiet time alone. I like people but I am an introvert, and as such, I gain strength and balance through extended quiet times alone with God. It took fifty-four years for me to figure out I had failed to develop adequate balance in my life because I had equated quiet time with unproductive time. One has nothing to do with the other. I will argue that loving relationships can be enhanced through quiet, unstructured and unproductive periods of contemplation and meditation. Furthermore, if the computer is a tool an individual chooses to use for the enrichment of those quiet times, then sobeit. www.biblegateway.com is a most effective tool for Bible search and study. This idea of openness to God, openness to other persons, could be summed up under the word love. We become truly personal by loving God and by loving other humans. By love, I don’t mean merely an emotional feeling, but a fundamental attitude. In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of God Himself in us. We are not truly personal as long as we are turned in on ourselves, isolated from others. We only become personal if we face other persons, and relate to them. --Kallistos Ware, "Ordinary Graces".
© Jane Mullikin used by permission of Project Ripple
There is Beauty in the Inner City
Jesus speaks of the widow who gives her last portion to a stranger. I have found her--and her sisters--living on my street.
January 29, 2006
We are Relational Creatures
We become truly personal by loving God and by loving other humans
January 31, 2006The whole person is a person who is on the one side open to God, and on the other side open to other human persons. It has been said that there is no true person unless there are two entering into communication with one another. The isolated individual is not a real person. A real person is one who lives in and for others. And the more personal relationships we form with others, the more we truly realize ourselves as persons.