Alleluia!

(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

"And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here." 

 ~ St Augustine

This day; this Friday

Artist: El Greco

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Complete truth – for here at the intimate cross is a man in whom there is no falsehood, and God exists completely. And even in this scene, one intuits somehow that life itself emanates from death, and is the reason for the cross. Life you can access.

-- The Rev. Rob Gieselmann

There is no spot where God is not

Artist: Ivan Aivazovsky

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I remain ever grateful for the ministry of Richard Rohr:

You cannot not live in the presence of God. You are totally surrounded by God all the time and everywhere. You have no choice in the matter, except to bring it to consciousness. St. Patrick said it well in the prayer attributed to him:

God beneath you,
God in front of you,
God behind you,
God above you,
God within you.  

You cannot earn this God by any practice whatsoever. You cannot prove yourself worthy of this God. Knowing God’s presence is simply a matter of awareness, of fully allowing and enjoying the present moment.

~~~

A prayer for the New Year

Creator God, When you became one of us in the person of Jesus, we believe that you made the most powerful statement of all time. You speak with deeds -we speak in words. In becoming one of us, you said "If you want to know what I look like in your world, look at people." People are the most profound expression of God in our world of space and time. And so human beings, each in a unique and most precious way -not by what they do or what they say, but simply by their presence - makes a statement unique to him or herself about God.

If this be true, at this, the start of a new year, we ask that we as individuals and as a nation commit ourselves to respecting the God in every human being, no matter how cleverly each has disguised him. Help us so to respect one another that war and violence become as antiquated as dinosaurs. In our highly complicated world, awaken us to the wisdom of the prophet. "There is only one thing God asks of you. This alone, to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God." 

-- The Rev. Mark DeNardo

Feast of the Incarnation

This beautiful Christmas hymn has been a favorite of mine since I was a child.

May the blessings and joys of Christ's holy incarnation be with everyone this day and always!

 
~~~

Coming!

(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

"Kingdom people are history makers. They break through the small kingdoms of this world to an alternative and much larger world, God’s full creation. People who are still living in the false self are history stoppers. They use God and religion to protect their own status and the status quo of the world that sustains them. They are often fearful people, the nice proper folks of every age who think like everybody else thinks and who have no power to break through, or as Jesus’ opening words put it, “to change” (Mark 1: 15; Matthew 4: 17)." 

 -Richard Rohr, "Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent"
~~~

The true consolation of Advent

When I was a little girl, my Sunday School teachers and church choir director made it very plain that Advent was only partly about the coming of Christmas. It was really more about Christ's second coming in glory.

Some time ago I found a blog with a posting that talks about that by referring to the Book of Revelation - also known as the Apocalypse:

Spoiler alert: if you want to know what the Apocalypse is about, I will happily summarize it for you in two words: God wins. The longer version is that no matter how mighty and oppressive earthly powers may be and no matter how dire the plight of the faithful may be, the victory is ultimately God's and those who hold fast to God and remain faithful will share in God's victory. All the rest, as they say, is commentary.

This is a book written from a pastoral perspective to people in times of persecution and affliction, a book designed to strengthen faith and give hope, a book that calls us all to repent and turn from the ways and values of the world and hold fast to God.
-- Paul

God wins. With the world (and the earth) facing such horrible calamities today, that's a good thing to know.
~~~