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Medjugorje
Message: August 25, 2015 Dear children! Also today I am calling you to be prayer. May
prayer be for you the wings for an encounter with God.
The world is in a moment of trial, because it forgot and abandoned God.
Therefore you, little children, be those who seek and love God above all. I
am with you and I am leading you to my Son, but you must say your ‘yes’ in
the freedom of children of God. I intercede for you and I love you, little
children, with an endless love. Thank you for having responded to my call. |
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Published
by the Marian Center of San Antonio / A Catholic Evangelization Ministry This month Our Lady issues an existential plea: “Also
today I am calling you to be prayer. May prayer be
for you the wings for an encounter with God.” Once again she is reaching beyond the level of our “doing”
to the bedrock of our “being.” What does it mean for me to “BE” prayer? As opposed to “saying” prayers, “attending Mass,” “chanting
psalms,” or “reciting” litanies, novenas, rosaries? These are all valuable prayer forms,
but can I say that I “AM” the psalms? That I “AM” the rosary? That I “AM” the Holy Mass? Yet this is what Our Lady wants! How are we to
understand prayer at this deep and profound level from which she calls us? To “be” prayer points to a
state of consciousness—not just an isolated activity among thousands of other activities.
To “be” prayer means that we are in a prayerful state of mind and heart
throughout our day and in the midst of all our life’s activities. Prayer
is the “background music” that plays endlessly behind everything else that
happens. This is what St. Paul means by “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess
5:17) This existential state of
prayer is what provides for us, Our Lady says, “the
wings for an encounter with God.” Her
image of “wings” (whether a bird’s or an angel’s) calls to mind the
scripture passages Isaiah 40:31 and Psalm 91, both of which inspired the well-known church hymn, “On Eagle’s Wings.” Isaiah wrote: “They
that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they will soar as with
eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” The Psalmist wrote: “You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who
abide in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and
fortress, my God in whom I trust’…. God will…shelter you with pinions, spread
wings that you may take refuge; God’s faithfulness is a protecting
shield. You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies
by day, nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that
ravages at noon. Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your
right hand, near you it shall not come. You
need simply watch….You have the Lord for your refuge; you have
made the Most High your stronghold. No evil shall befall you…for God commands
his angels to guard you in all your ways. With their hands they shall support
you….” To “be” prayer, then, is
to be in a continual state of loving attentiveness to the Divine Presence—a
state of “simply
watching” with mind, heart, eyes and
ears open and attuned to the presence of God in each moment. Short,
intense “darts” of prayer such as, “Lord, have mercy,” “God, come to my assistance,” or “Jesus,
I trust in you” might be part of this
prayerful state, as well as formal prayers like the rosary or Lord’s Prayer
and spontaneous improvised prayers from the heart. But even if no
verbal prayer “words” arise to our mind or lips, we can still “BE” prayer simply by our silent, loving attention and alert awareness of God’s presence in each moment, with each breath we take. This
mindful wakefulness of being “present
to Presence” is how we can “be” prayer (as Mary asks), and answer
Our Lord’s plea to “Stay awake!” (Mt 24:42) Our Lady continues: “The world is in a
moment of trial, because it forgot and abandoned God. Therefore you, little
children, be those who seek and love God above all.” Again the issue of consciousness arises, for Our Lady says we experience the travail of this moment
in history—filled with violence, hatred, destruction, and unrest —because of
a great worldwide lapse of consciousness: we “forgot
and abandoned God.” When human beings forget the
God who made them and lose themselves in the egoism of the human condition (“original sin”), the resulting myopic focus of a self-centered life will
inevitably bring destruction; it is unavoidable. It is not that God “throws
thunderbolts of doom” upon us; rather, we self-destruct and doom ourselves by our own egoic choices when we “forget and abandon” our Source to whom we should always be attentive and to whose perfect
will we should always be striving to conform for our highest good and
utmost happiness. The scriptures quoted previously illustrate that such
conformity is marked by “hope
in the Lord,” “dwelling in the shelter and abiding
in the shadow of the Most High,” and “trusting my God” as “refuge,
fortress, and protecting shield.” In other words, living in continual
consciousness of God’s Presence and faithfulness. To live at this level of consciousness, Our Lady says, is to “be those who seek
and love God above all”…. and to thus be free of
all fear. Our message this month concludes by Our Lady saying, “I
am with you and I am leading you to my Son, but you must say your ‘yes’ in
the freedom of children of God.” We are
reminded again that Mary’s role is the same today as it was 2,000 years
ago: to lead us to her Son. It is all she has ever
done, from the moment of her “fiat” at the Annunciation of Gabriel, all through the earthly life of
Jesus, and throughout human history since the Resurrection, in various
apparitions around the world. Never does Mary point to herself or seek accolades or “worship”; rather,
as in her Magnificat of Luke’s gospel, she only “magnifies the Lord” and draws others to him. And Our Lady—the consummate mother of the whole
human race, given to us by Jesus Christ himself from the cross—works tirelessly to fulfill the mother’s role of forming
her children’s consciousness. What a great gift of God we’re given in Mary! God knows how easily we
“forget and
abandon” our Source due to the frailty
of our egoic human condition, and so He provides
for us a Mother to remind us—as
all good mothers do—of
the great
responsibility that comes with our free will which was given to us as part of being created in the divine image
and likeness. This mother who continually calls us to “make good choices” reminds us that we “must say our ‘yes’ in
the freedom of children of God.” Here
she again alludes to sacred scripture, for in this world’s “moment
of trial,” we can turn to Romans
8:18-21: “I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager
expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made
subject to futility…in hope that creation itself would be set free from
slavery to corruption and share in the
glorious freedom of the children of God.” May we each “be” prayer, and from that constant consciousness of God’s presence, give a continual “yes” to the divine will from the heart of our glorious freedom—just as Our Blessed Mother gave her free “yes” that set the world’s salvation in motion. May our “yes,” with hers, be a saving “yes” for the world. September Musings . . . Honoring Our Created World . . .
“Inner” vs. “Outer” Religion: Being & Doing / Experience & Belief . .
. Pope Francis has established a new feast day in the Church: September 1st, which will
be celebrated as a Day of Prayer for
the Care of Creation. In keeping with this theme, Bishop Michael
Pfeiffer, OMI, wrote about ecology in these words: God gave human beings the gracious
gift of Earth for our use and use by future generations. As his stewards, we
are to respect it and care for it. Our mandate from God is to complete
the work of creation, to perfect its harmony and growth for
our own good and that of our neighbor. As guardians of the environment, we
are to ensure the proper balance of the ecosystems on which we depend. The creation that surrounds us is a
“chalice
of grace.” It reveals God’s abundant goodness. This grace is found
everywhere, and to treat it with disrespect is blasphemy. St.
Francis teaches us that the imprint of the Creator, as the patron of the
environment, is found in all of creation, especially in humans. The
environment is sacred…and to ruthlessly exploit it is a sacrilege. And Pope Francis reminds us, “We
are losing our attitude of wonder, of contemplation, of listening to
creation, and thus we no longer manage to interpret within it…“the rhythm of
the love-story between God and man.” Francis calls us to be
protectors of creation, of God’s plan inscribed in nature. Ecologists seek
the conversion of cultures and individuals from a focus on consumption to lives of temperance, and from being a “throw-away” society, a “culture of waste,” to being a sharing and sustainable community—recycling
and repairing the environment, and using nature’s gifts in a responsible
manner. This calls for ecological conversion. As we care
for creation, we realize that our Creator indeed cares for us. Our engagement with the world must
transcend politics, policy and science, and focus on human ecology, which
calls for a conversion of lifestyle, and sharing all of Earth’s goods with
all. We are
living in a time of crisis, fracturing the environment in countless ways,
such as global climate change….Science and technology have contributed
much progress to enrich the gifts of creation. However, there are moral
limits to their use, among which is the effect on the environment. The
proper ecological balance demands international
cooperation, intergenerational solidarity, and addressing structural forms of
poverty. Ecology
stems from the
Greek word “oikos”
which means “home,” and shares the same roots with economy. Ecological living requires us to care for our earthly
home with an economy that respects creation in a pattern of sustainable
development and prudent use of energy, water and food resources, and sharing
them with others. Ecology implies a system of relationships…and
maintaining a proper ecology of our natural environment is only possible when
we foster a truly human ecology, which is inseparably linked to
natural ecology. All ecology is strengthened when we promote human
relationships that respect the dignity of the human person, the
common good and all of nature. + + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ Loving
Both Jesus and Christ . . . Jesus is the union of human and divine in
space and time, and
the Christ is the
eternal union of matter and Spirit from the beginning of time. Later
centuries tended to lose this mystical element in favor of fast-food Christianity—almost always
dualistic—for the normal parish believer. We are indeed “saved” inside the Christ Mystery…which only eventually
takes the organized form of “church.”
A full Christian loves both Jesus
and Christ….Too many Christians have started and stopped with Jesus, and never known the Body of Christ; and many
non-Christians have started with the Christ
(under whatever name) and not even known this is what Christians are,
in fact, talking about….Tertullian (160-225) taught that “the flesh is the hinge of salvation.”
The incarnation of flesh and Spirit is always
Christianity’s great trump card, yet it often prefers either flesh or
Spirit instead. Literalism is the lowest and least
level of meaning—using
dualistic thinking as a substitute for the experience itself. This is what the
Jewish people were trying to overcome by “re-presenting” the founding
event through ritually re-membering it in later
time and space, the Passover Meal, and what
Catholics do with the Eucharist, and Muslims do with sacred
pilgrimages. We were all trying to move beyond words to actually
changing people’s “imaginaria”
at the unconscious level, where real change must happen. – Fr.
Richard Rohr, OFM + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
Christianity, by comparison with all
world religions, is a “newer” religion, and since our scriptures point to
Christ being in the beginning with the Father, then simple reason would point
to Christ being present in the oldest (namely the Vedic traditions), all
the way through present time religion (Science). When we look through the
contemplative eye of wisdom it is easy to see this “intersection,” but when
we look with only our three-dimensional eyes and thought, we see only
division. Those who have the “ears to hear” are blessed to perceive
this hidden truth. –
Adam C. Wynant + + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + Spiritual
knowledge is the
result of total attention: “Seek
first the kingdom of God and all the rest will come to you as well.” (Mt 6:33) Spiritual knowledge is a
way of perception that arises from a clear and awakened center of
consciousness: “Be still and know that
I am God.” (Ps
46:10) It arises
from stillness rather than from intellectual activity, and is marked by
the contemplative qualities of silence, stillness and simplicity. Spiritual knowledge is not the same
as religious belief.
Religious
belief without spiritual knowledge can be very empty and hollow. Spiritual
knowledge is the result of total attention which we could describe as
“a condition of complete simplicity
costing not less than everything” as Mother Julian described it. If
something costs everything, what are we left with? Nothing…(as in the parables of the pearl of great price and the
treasure in the field.)...There is this direct relationship between having
nothing and having everything, between poverty of spirit and the
kingdom of God. That’s why we let go of everything.
And that’s why in all the great mystical traditions, terms like nothingness, emptiness, poverty, describe what we encounter on the journey. “Nada!
Nada! Nada!” says St. John of the Cross; or Cassian: “By the
continuous repetition of this single verse, you renounce all the riches of thought and imagination, and come with
ready ease to poverty of spirit.” So our meditation is on this wavelength
of mystical wisdom, of spiritual knowledge. – Fr.
Laurence Freeman, OSB +
+ +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ Silent prayer (meditation) is so
difficult for us because we live in such a materialistic society. It is a
society that sees everything in terms of possession and possessing and,
even if we happen to be more spiritual in our outlook, we can easily become spiritual
materialists. Instead of accumulating money we try to accumulate
grace or merit. But the way of prayer is the way of
dispossession and surrender,
and that is hard for us because we have been taught success, the importance
of winning, not losing. But Jesus tells us that if we would find our life
we must lose it….be wholly at his disposition, give him our undivided
attention, our undivided heart, in a state of undivided consciousness, at
one with him. – Fr. John Main, OSB + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + + Jesus comes to us offered and completely
surrendered to us in the Eucharist, in order to call forth the same
surrender in us. If
we do not receive the Eucharist with at least a desire for complete
surrender, the whole thing becomes a lie. We hinder God when we do not
want to respond to his total surrender with our total surrender. The
total surrender implies that we lay the entire responsibility upon God.
We give him our understanding so that
he will use it to think what he wills. We give him our will for his divine
will to be incarnated, so that he may will through our human will. We give
him our memory for him to touch it and make it remember what he considers
important. We place ourselves and all of our powers at his disposal. God
wants to take our concerns upon himself. – Fr.
Wilfrid Stinissen, OCD + + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + WISDOM
and the EUCHARIST “Wisdom
has built her house, she has set up her seven columns…She calls from the heights
out over the city: ‘Let whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks
understanding, she says, Come, eat of
my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed!” (Proverbs 9:1-5) Unless we are given a way for
Jesus Christ to be inside us, we will turn Christ into an abstraction. “Unless you eat the true food” and the
“true drink” of the Eucharist, “you do not have life within you.” The
Sacrament is God’s method for enabling us to remain in him and him in us.
It is imperative for us to “try to understand what is the
will of the Lord.” To conjecture any other means for remaining in
Christ is to induce a “foolishness that you must forsake that you may live.” To
the one who lacks understanding, Wisdom commands, “Eat my flesh, drink my blood.” – Magnificat
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Mark Your Calendar!
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September 1 |
World Day of Prayer for the Care of
Creation (est. by Pope Francis) |
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7 |
Labor Day |
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8 |
Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
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10 |
Course: The Monastic Orders—Foundation for Our Spiritual Life Today with
Fr. John Markey, OP; 3 Thursdays through Sept 24; 10 am-12 pm; SoL Center, 300 Bushnell; $35; call (210) 732-9927 |
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14 |
Exaltation of the Holy Cross |
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15 |
Our
Lady of Sorrows Course: The Spirituality of Growing Older with Rosalyn Collier; 9
Tuesdays through Nov. 10; 10:30 am-12:30 pm; Oblate School of Theology “Rock
House,” 285 Oblate Dr; $75; call (210)341-1366 x
212 Course: John the Baptist—Then and Now with Brian LePort;
3 Tuesdays through Sept 29; 7-9 pm, SoL Center, 300
Bushnell; $35; (210)732-9927 |
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16 |
Course: Religion and Current Events in the Islamic World with Farouk AbdulGhani; 3 Wednesdays through Sept 30; 7-9 pm; SoL Center, 300 Bushnell; $35; call (210) 732-9927 |
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21 |
St. Matthew, Apostle/Evangelist |
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24 |
Course: Nonviolence—Theological Roots and Contemporary Possibilities with
Dr. James Ball; 3 Thursdays through Oct 8; 7-9 pm, SoL
Center, 300 Bushnell; $35; call (210) 732-9927 |
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26 |
PEACE
MASS: 12 pm, St. Mary’s Church, 202 N. St. Mary’s |
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27 |
Rosary
Making: 2 pm-5:30 pm; St. Mary’s Church, 202 N. St. Mary’s, free parking
& materials |
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29 |
Archangels St. Michael, St.
Gabriel, St. Raphael |
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30 |
St. Jerome |
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To reject the contemplative
dimension of any religion is to reject the religion itself,
however loyal one may be to its externals and rituals. This is because the contemplative dimension
is the heart and soul of every religion. It initiates the movement into higher states of
consciousness. The great wisdom teachings of the Vedas, Upanishads, Buddhist
Sutras, Old and New Testaments, and the Koran bear witness to this truth.
Right now there are about two billion Christians on the planet. If a
significant portion of them were to embrace the contemplative dimension of
the gospel, the emerging global society would experience a powerful surge
toward enduring peace. If this contemplative dimension of the
Christian religion is not presented, the Gospel is not being adequately
preached. – Fr.
Thomas Keating, OCSO |
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rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without
permission. |