Welcome

This is a blog that I post to several times a week although not necessarily daily. These reflections are triggered by the scripture found in the lectionary used by many Christian denominations. While I am part of the Catholic tradition, these posts are not --or rarely--sectarian. I try to put myself in the space of a of Jesus Christ and listen to words that come to me as I read and pray the scriptures. Each post also includes a photograph. These rarely have any connection to the content of the post but are simply pleasing images that I capture as I make my pilgrimage through life.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Can I hear, really hear, the Divine One's judgement

Sunset outside Boulder CO
“I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.  Revelation 3:15-17

These are the words the Divine One ordered said to the church in Laodicea but they could just as easily be said to us, to me, today.  I live a comfortable, stable, organized life insulated from the ups and downs of life by an above average affluence.  I really don't see myself as "rich" but that, of course, is a relative term.  To most people, I am; to a few, I am not.  But regardless, my life moves along within fairly narrow band:  nothing too good and nothing too bad.  Of course, there are times when events intrude.  These are mostly threatening things like the death of someone close.  Such are threatening because it reminds me that I am never far away from that very same event.

It is hard for me to see that I am "a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless."  I see people like that and they are very different from me and my protected, insulated life.  But then that is not the point.  There is the reality of the apparent world in which I live and then there is the fundamental reality of my life as a child of the Divine One.  How many times did Jesus say "If you have ears, listen."  "If you have eyes, see."  Just pay attention and the world changes.  You see your deepest reality and that is the reality in which and out of which I am calling you to live.

What I have in life--things, resources, relationships, property, knowledge, memory, creativity, understanding--do not provide the ultimate meaning of life.  All those simply define the context of my life.  In this context, I am called to do the Divine One's will:  to love the Divine One with all my heart and to love others--all others--as I would love myself.  Jesus said it simply, "Love one another as I have loved."

If I can do this, I will have "gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire," clothes designed in Heaven," and "medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see."

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