Chris’ Personal Reflections
Rest Stop … Memorial Day: Never forget
On this Memorial Day let us remember all of those people, past and present, who have given us the greatest sacrifice; their life, so that we may have freedom and security.
Chris Tomlin’s song, “I Will Rise”, inspires me today as I imagine the words of the song as the words of those gone before us. I hope this song inspires you too.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btjj5ieSYoY]
Let us pray the words of the psalmist: (psalm 130 of the Catholic Bible)
… continue the conversation here or on social media …
{loadposition blogsocial}
Rest Stop (Mother’s Day) … love
“Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4: 7; 12
Today, in the United States, we celebrate and remember our mothers on this their special day! What is it about mothers which causes us to feel such a fondness for them? For me, in my life’s journey and reflection, there is no truer description of a mother other than the word “love”. Love, felt in its deepest sense, is expressed by a person (mom) just because we exist. The love of a mother has nothing to do with who I am or what I give in return. No, the love of a mother, whether she bore you or not, is freely given simply because you exist. In this unconditional love is where we find motherhood as a reflection of the Divine, of God. Total and complete love, not requiring anything else.
Several years ago, Robert Fulghum wrote a book entitled “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten“. I would like to share it now as a tribute to Mothers and all they teach us. I know this wasn’t Fulghum’s intent, but his reflection speaks perfectly to the lessons taught us by the women who very deeply cared for and about us.
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:
Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life — learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
BE AWARE OF WONDER. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup — they all die. So do we. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all — LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if we all — the whole world — had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are — when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
As we remember and celebrate Mothers on this day, how best can we honor the person who has given us the greatest gift of all: unconditional love!
… continue the conversation here or on social media …
{loadposition blogsocial}
Rest Stop (Friday) … Earth Day
planet Earth from space (credit: unknown)
Today is the annual celebration of Earth Day! It is a day for us to recall the natural gifts we have been given which nourish and sustain us. Whenever I see a picture of our planet, like the one here, I am astounded to realize that we are but travelers through a vast universe! I know that sounds cheesy, but think about it; we are on a ball which is moving quickly on a path it has travelled for millions of years. We are truly passengers on a vessel, and this vessel has all the equipment necessary for our survival. We need to properly care for the earth so that we, and future generations, may not only survive but also be able to enjoy the beauty of nature all around us.
St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, wrote this “Canticle of the Creatures”. I urge all of us to spend some time meditating on what we can do to sustain our planet.
How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars; In the heavens you have made them, bright and precious and fair.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air….
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water, So useful, lowly, precious and pure.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten up the night….
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother, Who feeds us…and produces various fruits With colored flowers and herbs….
Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks, And serve him with great humility.”
… continue the conversation here or on social media …
{loadposition blogsocial}
Rest Stop (Palm Sunday) … the start to an emotional week
Today, for Christians around the world, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the days leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Spiritually, Holy Week has always been a special time for me as this week is a high point of much emotion in the life of Jesus, His early followers, and for me. In my personal spiritual journey I try to understand what it was like living in the time of Jesus. I read historical books as well as the Bible in my attempt to more deeply understand and feel the emotions of the people of the time. In my effort for a deeper and closer relationship with God, I immerse myself into the Bible stories, trying to feel what they felt; experience what they experienced. This week, Holy Week, is a recollection of not just an ancient story, but a retelling of real events which happened to real people who lived real emotions, real feelings, and real experiences.
Our challenge this week is to enter into the emotions of the apostles and the bystanders as they experienced the events leading up to the betrayal, arrest, death and later resurrection of Jesus. The emotions of this week begin today, with the joyous celebration of Jesus entering, as a beloved hero, into Jerusalem. Later this week the joyous celebration and exaltation of today becomes the confusion of Thursday as one of their own betrays and hands over Jesus to the Romans to be arrested. Quite quickly the feeling of confusion turns to fear and depression on Friday when Jesus is tortured and later killed as a common criminal. Jesus, for whom they left family and jobs, is now dead, betrayed by one of their own! Three days later comes the bewilderment and hope as news spreads of Jesus’ resurrection Sunday morning!
As this week unfolds I will share with you my reflections and feelings of the events of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. I invite you to join with me in my spiritual journey this week. Share with us your reflections and emotions as you journey through this holy week.
My challenge for today:
- What can I do to more deeply understand the emotions and reactions of the apostles as they triumphantly enter Jerusalem?
- What can this week teach me about my faith life?
- How do I hope to have my life changed by this exercise of delving into the emotions of the stories of this week?
… continue the conversation here or on social media …
{loadposition blogsocial}
Rest Stop (Ash Wednesday) … letting go
Today, Christians around the world will receive ashes on their forehead as a reminder that we came from dust and will once again return to dust. Therefore, “Ash Wednesday” is a time to pause, reflect on our lives, and make plans to remove from our lives those aspects of ourselves which do not lead us closer to our God.
The practice of pruning our lives of those areas which are not healthy or which take us away from our inner-peace, produces a sense of humility as we realize that we are not perfect, but that we have the ability to learn from our imperfections. Letting go allows us to be true to ourselves, and open to the guidance of others.
There are people who exemplify humility, and for me, the ideal example comes from Saint Francis of Assisi. He was a wealthy son of a powerful merchant father, who, after gaining personal insight, gave up everything to live in poverty and to serve the poor in the spirit of Jesus. It wasn’t simply the giving up of everything that made Francis humble; it was his attitude and way of living. In the book “The Way of St. Francis: the Challenge of Franciscan Spirituality for Everyone“, author Murray Bodo, OFM writes:
In other words, living our lives focused on our values, and in a true sense of a love of neighbor, will keep us grounded (humble) and focused on our priorities (simplicity). Today’s closing prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours morning prayer nicely sums up what I am saying: “Change our selfishness into self-giving. Help us to embrace the world you have given us, that we may transform the darkness of its pain into life and joy.”
What can we do to help us attain humility and simplicity?
- Spend 10 minutes each day in quiet, focusing your thoughts on simple phrases and your breathing.
-
Spend time watching and reflecting on the nature around you. Do you see the ant, flower, bird, leaf, dog, cat, etc. What are they doing?
-
Make a list of your life’s priorities. Those items at the top of your list need your full attention. The rest, well, decide what is necessary and what is merely clutter in your life.
-
Help others. Love your neighbor.
… continue the conversation here or on social media …
{loadposition blogsocial}
Rest Stop (Epiphany) … flexible expectations
Today the Christian world celebrates the Epiphany; the commemoration of the moment when the three kings, or wise men, arrived at the birthplace of Jesus. They had journeyed far and long, following a star in the sky. Why did they embark upon this journey? They noticed something different and new in the sky; sensing its importance, they chose to follow it. They interpreted this sign in the sky to be significant and a sign of the arrival of a powerful person, a king. I have no doubt that although wearied by the journey, they were excited by the anticipation of their findings.
When they arrived at their destination they found the powerful person whom they were seeking, in a barn! Talk about blown expectations. Their journey of significance; their journey of anticipation at finding a powerful king on his throne, led them instead to a barn and a baby lying in a manger. A manger, its prior and intended use, from which the lowly and dirty animals ate. They found a defenseless baby laying in an animals’ food bowl. Talk about a let down.
Along our life’s journey, when our anticipated expectations don’t live up to reality, how do we react? What did these wise men do? According to the story, they not only stayed, but they knelt in homage to the baby in the food trough.
These wise men were able to recognize that although their expectations of finding a powerful man on a throne was a baby lying in a feeding trough, nonetheless they were able to recognize that their journey still had meaning. They were flexible with their expectations, understanding, through wisdom, that just because what they encountered did not match their expectation, it didn’t mean that the reason for the journey itself was flawed or wrong. The journey was true; the expectation is what needed to change. These wise men, after paying homage to the special baby, returned to their homeland by a different route; a new path. In a truly symbolic way, these wise men were so changed by their experience, that their “old path” no longer would lead them home. They now took a new way, and new approach, a new path, to find their way to their home.
How often do we feel disappointment at our journey’s end and thus respond by turning around and going home? What if the wise men did the same? They were able to “see” beyond their own expectations and were thus open to a new way of perceiving the world around them. The wise men didn’t act upon what they previously thought, nor upon their previous expectations. Rather, they saw more deeply the true reality before them. It is in that shift in perceiving and thinking which allowed them to see what was really present, and to be changed by the experience, not changed by their expectations.
… continue the conversation here or on social media …
{loadposition blogsocial}