God is Now

"Nothing that happens to us is the end of possibilities. Every experience is a challenge to find God in a new situation, a new environment. Wherever life brings us, God is there close by. He is always to be found where we happen to be now, not where we would like to be." (Sacred Space)

I enjoy this quotation from the Irish Jesuits. It is a definition of mindfulness. By practising mindfulness one is present 'now'. One seeks to bind ones attention to the moment in which it finds itself. How does 'now' feel? How am i reacting to all that occurs without me and within in this now? Am i aware that God is with me in this moment?

The awe of this thought is at once overwhelming, terrifying, joyous. All i have to do is reach out and touch Him because He is here!

So why don't i reach out all the time? At every moment? Do i forget that His is here? Would i rather He wasn't here because i am ashamed at something i thought, said or did? The Trinity is a promise that we shall never be alone. I just have to say 'yes'.

"only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Mt 7:21) shall enter His Kingdom, Jesus tells us in today's mass reading. Nothing for show, not bowing and muttering for the benefit of others, but actually becoming a better person through and with and in the Trinity. Making a personal effort and sustaining that effort through rain, flood and wind.

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock (Mt 7:24)

Lord, let me hear and act on your wisdom that my house be strong and resilient, that my faith might as a mustard seed sown in good soil that grows to be a great, sheltering tree and that that tree may bear good fruit for all in your name. Amen.

Deo gratias.

The Flavour of My Actions

By their fruits you will know them (Mt 7:16)

All the world is covered with plants, even the lichens in Antarctica. Likewise, all the world has known the influence of mankind for many thousands of years. And each generation, where ever and when ever, has struggled with life: birthing, eating, growing, teaching, healing, dying. And as Jesus reminds us, each man, each individual, is know for the fruits he produces in his lifetime. His fruits are the deeds he does, the seeds he sows. Good acts. Bad acts. We can know the man by the results of his actions.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves (Mt 7:15)

Jesus warns us too, that we can easily be lead astray. For example, the monster of nationalism is such a force, feeding our minds with ideas of superiority, breeding arrogance and chauvinism, throwing fruits of violence and intolerance from generation to generation. What puts us up on a pedestal above our neighbour? A language? A fashion? A skin colour? A diet? A nation, a state, a government and/or a people routinely pretend to be what they are not because the truth is sometimes painful, too ugly to behold. In the unthinking routine, lies become truths, however the fruit remains bitter.

The whole Sermon on the Mount invites us to reflect upon what sort of person i now am and who i can become. Christ's speech calls for meditation, self-revelation, the wisdom to choose a new path, the resolution to follow it together with Christ and the perseverance to maintain the journey through this lifetime.

What tree am i? What fruit do i produce? What kind of man am i? Are my deeds transparent, for all to see and thus worthy of being remembered? Do my fruits feed my brothers: do my actions help others to grow, give shelter, give direction, feed their faith and hope and charity? Am i contributing to a better world in which Love triumphs over hate and compassion triumphs over anger and wisdom triumphs over ignorance? Are the results of my actions sweet or bitter?

I dislike bitter fruit so why would i choose to act in a way that is not helpful? I might seek to cut down a worthless tree, so why would i risk choices that would have me cut down and cast aside by my brothers? Wisdom and God's grace can make a difference: today i can start anew, casting sweeter fruits, growing upright and true, sending down stronger roots, humble, yet valued and trusted. May God know the true flavour of my fruits and accept them as thanks for all that He has given me; may the results of all my actions be fruitful and beneficial to all.

Deo gratias.

Wise Words, Tough Practise

Stop judging, that you may not be judged (Mt 7:1)

remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye (Mt 7:5)

Stop talking. Stop comparing ones Self with another. Jesus calls us to meditate on our own sins: unworthy and hindering habits, deeds, thoughts and words.

Slow down and seek shelter in God's grace, accepting His forgiveness to breath deeply and try on something new in our lives: radical, outrageous, humble and loving, namely, shaking off the dust accumulated on other well trodden byways and taking up the Way taught to us by the Christ.

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few (Mt7:13-14)

How can we learn something new when our cup is already full? How can we be open to new ideas when we slam doors and keep so many others locked? I love the in-flight emergency demonstration that tells us first to use the oxygen mask before we try to help another. Blinded by so many things, how can we hope to see clearly when we feel the need to 'help' another: so too, to when we lash out to hurt or criticise another.

Do to others whatever you would have them do to you (Mt 7:12)

Wise words, indeed, but hard to practise. Let us all make time to be silent, take a good look at ourselves and try to remove our own splinters for the good of ourselves, our church and all mankind.

Deo gratias.

A Light to the Nations

Everything will be alright in the end. So if it's not alright, then it's not yet the end. (from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 2012)

Call it Hindu optimism or the Resurrection, but i agree. Before that end arrives, when all is well, happy and joyful, we still have time to do the right thing. We have time to change our way, take another direction, adjust our pace and take another attitude to those things that might be holding us back and foiling that proper ending. God is the end and all roads lead to Him, however some roads may be faster than others.

I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (Is 49:6)

The end is salvation. Illumination. Everlasting peace back in the bosom of our God. This road, the Way taught by the Christ, is straight and narrow. All ways demand a challenging road filled with Self-sacrifice. The wide and easy highway travelled but the great bulge of humanity is not fastest way: all that is holy suggests otherwise.

And yet we are all called. St. John the Baptist is that voice in the wilderness, calling us to that wilderness, calling us down off the wide and easy way to join him on the true path, free of greed and selfishness, free of hate and anger, free of isolation and separation. He asks us to join him and be baptised in the spirit of the Lord.

Once this wisdom is touched, our lives can never be the same again.

Our life is never the same as it was a moment ago. We build a new reality in each moment only to see it turn to dust as it passes; the future presenting new opportunities to grow, but not in fear, not in anxiety, rather hope and joy and compassion.

How shall we live our life? Will we accept the gifts offered? Will we grow in the light of our true nature? Will we have the patience and the determination to do what is necessary for becoming that light to our brothers and sisters of the world? We live our lives together. We are never alone. God is always with us to remind us what we share His light.

Deo gratias.

Christian Mindfulness

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. (Mt 6:25)

Did the Christ meet and talk with travelers on the Silk Road that linked China and India through Persia to Egypt and Greece? Alexander the Great traveled this road many centuries before Jesus was born. Along with a wealth of material for the rich who were worried about their appearance and the privileges of power, there traveled a wealth of knowledge and experience, of ideas and people on those camel trains.

Speculation. History. Who knows. But as i read today's mass reading i am reminded of mindfulness. Nothing new under the sun, we say. A common wealth of knowledge shared by God to all nations is also possible: common sense. Live now, not in things past, not in the dreams of tomorrow. Live in awareness. Choices are made in the present. When we choose to love God and behave in a way that honour Him and us, this choice is the now.

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? (Mt. 6:27)

Anxiety occurs in the present but the mind creates this tension by dwelling in the past or speculating on the future. The mind keeps us busy, keeps us in chains, keeps us from standing in the moment and choosing for Love or loving-kindness: why would we share our food and wealth if tomorrow we might loose it? screams the insecure mind! Keep it! Hord it! This is who we become, an identity based on material things that the anxitious mind craves.

Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them (Mt 6:28-29)

I have to smile. Jesus sounds like a hippy. But then, people have been repeating this wisdom for millenia. Nothing new under the sun, we say. Yet we don't hear it. People are starving and their neighbours are more concerned about their outward appearance, the food on their table and what other's think of them.

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself (Mt 6:34)

We reap what we sow. We sow now, in every thought and word and deed. Our attention can better be on now, Jesus says, and not let our mind make us slaves to fear. I am still smiling because Buddha teaches those who listen the same advice. The moment 'now' is important. 'Now' is the only time that matters. East meets West. Seek first the Kingdom of God (that which transcends the material world, that which is known through the senses, but beyond, the source of All there is, Love perfected, for example) and be correct in ones behaviour, be aware of all the moments in ones daily life, and the sun and the rain and the food of life shall be provided. Grow to the sun in happiness and why worry about anything else? God, please let me share every moment with you, in your name, in your honour, that i might share your light and peace and love and be that which i truly am. Amen.


Deo gratias.