Tag: john the baptist

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time to change!

diversity

Feeling pretty good today?  We should be.  You and I are worthy of joy and peace.  The insanity of past behaviors, whether addictions or severe character defects, has been conquered by the One we name as Higher Power.  Victorious and serene in recovery.  That’s a miracle we can take to the bank.  It’s ours, undeserved and unmerited.  Embrace it and run the marathon of life with it.  God wants to love us and live within forever.  What could be better?

HALLELUJAH!

fireworks 2019

Our freedom from self and the ravages of “self-will run riot” has been freely given.  But that salvation is not without responsibility.  I know “pay it forward” is an overused cliché, but it applies.  What has been freely given to us needs to be extended to the earth upon which we live and all its life forms.  Eastern faith walks extend a greeting of “NAMASTE” to others.  It means “I honor the divine in you.”  Let’s honor the divine element existing in all of Creation.

……as we read in Matthew, “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (25:40). Our only addition is to suggest that the least of the family members must include, in our time, the other creatures of the earth and even the planet itself. (1)

richard rohr

(Richard Rohr is a friar of the Franciscan order ministering in Albuquerque, New Mexico and founder of Center for Action and Contemplation.) 

The Christian season of Lent is a time when we are urged to take time to consider our lives and slow down the world’s hectic pace.  It is a time to recognize behaviors and habits which hinder our spiritual growth and then assume an attitude of repentance.  As a headstrong young man, the word repentance represented a moral issue (usually sexual) which needed to be adjusted.  As a happier, better adjusted old man I define repentance as change.  Lord knows I’ve dealt with far too many issues during my lifetime with man’s interpretations concerning morality and righteous living.  Change suits me better.  I like change.

Metanoeo is the Greek word translated into English as repent as spoken by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:2 – “….Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  The Greek definition of metanoeo is “to think differently, reconsider.”  That puts a vastly different connotation in John’s exhortation to the gathering crowds awaiting baptism in the waters.  Now, repentance means a change in thinking, reconsidering my worth in God’s world, assuming my place and purpose in God’s creation.  It no longer suggests a moral dilemma needing correction in the face of hell and damnation consequences.

Do we need to reconsider or change our attitude and thinking about the world in which we live, the people with whom we share this world, the creatures other than humans, the earth’s resources, other men/women who appear to be different from us in color, creed, nationality?

Probably.  Indeed, as John said, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  That kingdom is not in the future in some far-away cosmic universe.  It’s here and now knocking on the door of our soul.  Let’s open the door and live life fully honoring all of creation.

(1) CAC.ORG, 

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soul food

smiley-face-2Just another traveler on life’s highway, hanging out in the slow lane.  It’s quiet, it’s peaceful; beyond the horizon is rest calling my name.  Green pastures, still waters, my cup overflows.

 

The term “soul” is thrown around quite often in today’s society.  Soul food, soul music, eternal soul are just a few.  It always brings to mind that internal essence which many people consider the truth residing within each of us.  Fr. Richard Rohr, cac.org , defines soul as “……anything’s ultimate meaning which is held within. Soul is the blueprint inside of every living thing that tells it what it is and what it can become. When we meet anything at that level, we will respect, protect, and love it.”

Notice that this advocate of the mystic nature of Christ does not describe my soul as an entity separate from anything else, as a part of my being which will move on to heaven after my physical death, nor a hard-to-understand tenet of any religion’s theology.  Soul simply is.  It tells me that I am what I am and it leads me to what I can become.  It is the blueprint, the divine spark of DNA, present in every living organism.  Every living creature has soul.

Francis of Assisi understood this and is well known for spending many hours walking the roads of Umbria learning from nature the meaning of soul.  He called all of creation his brothers and sisters.  Think about it.  Every creature of nature is born, matures and reaches its destiny, when unimpeded, without a thought as to what it should be or how it should develop. A lion becomes the king of the jungle, a daffodil becomes a springtime beauty, a butterfly flits about searching for nectar.  Only man disputes and denies his inherent divine spark of DNA.  Man was created in the image of God and man’s destiny is to become a son of God, a recreation of that eternal Force which gave him life.

My religious tradition confused and often denied the teaching of St. Francis.  It told me I had to conform to its theology and ritual in order to access the sacredness of soul.  It led me to a narcissistic approach to God which proclaimed me as very unique and special while simultaneously damning me to hell if I did not conform through its creeds and prayers.

According to scriptures, John the Baptist eschewed the trappings of the temple and its purity laws calling people to repentance in the waters of nature.  Jesus was baptized in those waters and subsequently spent 40 days and nights communing with nature in the wilderness.

Fr. Richard goes on to observe the mark missed by contemporary Christianity:  “We would have done much better to help other Christians discover their souls instead of “save” them. My sense, after being a priest for almost 50 years, is that most Christians are trying to save something they have not even found.” cac.org

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