Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Message for 2008 to the Church

You have been living, drifting on the surface.
You have been living in the desert with only a sip here and a sip there.
You have been waiting season after season for evidence of a fertile womb.

Like streams of fresh clean water that appear to people of the desert,
like sudden fertility to a barren woman,
the alive word will appear.

Do not tire of promises.
Man's promises are slung together with words and intentions;
God's promises are the true living fabric of what He has called into being.

Believe,
no longer will you only have the reputation for being alive (Sardis), but you will be ALIVE and people who don't know Me will talk to each other about your LOVE.

John the Baptist: Wild Wise Man - Excerpt from Radical Grace by Richard Rohr

For many reasons we have chosen St. John the Baptist as the patron of our Center for Action and Contemplation.  Our feast day is celebrated on June 24, as the sun (reminiscent of John 3:30) agrees to decrease.  John the Baptist is the prophet who rejects the system without apology, eats the harsh food of that choice and wears the clothes of rejection.  Like our native peoples here in New Mexico, he goes on his vision quest into the desert where he faces his aloneness, boredom and naked self.  He returns with a message, a clarity, a surety of heart that reveals a totally surrendered man.  First he listens long and self-forgetfully; then he speaks, acts and accepts the consequences.  Surely he is the ultimate wild man!  Or is it wise man?  He is both. 

Thinking on Community by Eric Janzen

There is a Hebrew word that most Christians are aware of: Shalom.  It is generally understood to mean “peace”, but this word contains a deeper and broader meaning.  Shalom more accurately means an absolutely unbroken and whole, as well as peaceful, state of existence and reality.  In such a state there is no separation or enmity between anyone and anything in existence.  All relationships are whole and unbroken, perfectly interconnected.  In such an idyllic state the relationships between God and humans, humans and humans, humans and nature, and nature and God are whole and unbroken.  Where and when did such a state of reality exist?  It was the blueprint with which God created the earth and everything in it. If Shalom is the foundation for community that we are trying to discover then we must first consider the source of Shalom and in doing so we shall see that it is of immense value, for it is a very part of the nature of God.

On the Nature of Sin by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

Preface:

    Faith is an orientation of the soul, not an accord with a collection of facts .  Faith is not only the fact that we believe, but what we believe.  God calls us to the former, and has given us the latter. Not all faith is good, not all religion is good. The truth in anything comes by the actions of the Word, Jesus Christ.  He "enlightens every man that comes into the world." Mere faith is not true and living faith.  Mere faith does not "orient" us to God, because mere faith has not the true God and His Revelation as its raison d'etre. Mere faith is not "an orientation of the soul."

Orual and Psyche on the Violence of the gods (God)

"Do you and I need to flatter the gods any more? They’re tearing us apart . . . oh, how shall I bear it? . . . and what worse can they do? Of course the Fox is wrong. He knows nothing about her. He thought too well of the world. He thought there were no gods, or else (the fool!) that they were better than men. It never entered his mind—he was too good—to believe that the gods are real, and viler than the vilest men.”
     “Or else,” said Psyche, “they are real gods but don’t really do these things. Or even—mightn’t it be—they do these things and the things are not what they seem to be?"

    -Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Where is God at Christmas? Sermon by Brian Schmidt

This Christmas season there has been something that has been gnawing away at me more than it has in other years.

Like everyone else, I enjoy the nativity pageants: the children waving at their parents, re-inventing their lines (if they remember them at all), picking their noses, or dropping the baby Jesus on his head! Indeed some kids are true angels on the stage; while others we all know will become the future Jim Carries of entertainment, like one of the kids I saw at the Catholic elementary school concert this week playing an unscripted role of a ‘donkey’ without the costume!

My Prayer for Advent 2007 by Cathy Hardy

It has been hard to say,
            ‘I did what I could’ – when that means
            That I have to admit
            That I can’t hold everything
            Together all the time.

To allow things to fall and crash and break
            To allow things to get lost and not found
            To allow misperceptions and judgements to be – without freaking
            To allow my carefully laid plans to
                        Fall apart
            To allow the feeling of emptiness
                        To come close to me
                        When I feel that things are slipping through my fingers
         
To allow my heart to say
            YES
            To YOU
            In the midst of these moments            

And not lose heart
            To be willing to be turned upside down
            And shaken
            Loose of my firm grip on things
            So I can rest
            In my poverty and humanity
            And celebrate the mystery,
                                    The paradox,
                                                The miracle of
                                                            Emmanuel – God with us.

©2007 Cathy Hardy

Poling the Great River of Suffering: Social Justice and Pastoring by Andy MacPherson

Nothing can be farther from the truth than the facile belief that God only manifests himself in progress, in the improvement of standards of living, in the spread of medicine and the reform of abuses, in the diffusion of organized Christianity. The reaction from this type of theistic dilution, which a few years ago had almost completely supplanted the faith of Moses and Elijah and Jesus among modern Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, is now sweeping multitudes from their religious moorings. Real spiritual progress can only be achieved through catastrophe and suffering, reaching new levels after the profound catharsis which accompanies major upheavals. Every such period of mental and physical agony, while the old is being swept away and the new is still unborn, yields different social patterns and deeper spiritual insights. (W.F. Albright)

It has become glaringly obvious in my own experience that I cannot seem to attach myself to any one social cause or endeavor. As a pastor who wants to live with eyes wide open, I see things that prod my compassion into fight mode. Yet even though I often take steps onto various battlefields, I find myself once again poling my boat out into the great river of suffering looking for that one beachhead upon which I am supposed to sacrifice myself.

 

Wave of Sorrow - U2

Meg Tilly: A Spirituality of Courage and Hope

My Intro to Meg Tilly: Agnes of God

I first experienced Meg Tilly via her Golden Globe winning onscreen portrayal of an enigmatic young nun named Sister Agnes (Agnes of God, 1985). Her mysterious encounters with God trigger investigator Dr. Martha Livingstone (Jane Fonda) into a spiritual crisis which may just lead her back to faith. The providential interface between Agnes’ spirituality and Livingstone’s cynicism impacted me. It mirrored my own internal struggles as a young theology student whose heart and head were plagued by a serious disconnect. 

Novels: 

Twenty years later, it’s happening again. Meg Tilly left the acting trade to pick up the novelist’s pen. I’ve only just discovered her body of work and I’m pleased to say that I have not emerged unscathed. In each of her first three books—Singing Songs, Gemma and Porcupine—we hear the authentic voice and feel the true heart of courageous young girls who reflect some aspect of Tilly’s reality. The stories reveal an acquaintance with grief and fight and hope that are deeper than fiction. They have the capacity to heal.