Hard

The hummingbirds loved to forage in this flower's
blossoms

Sometimes people tell me I am hard on myself, and other people. But if I were not hard enough, I would accomplish nothing worthwhile, and I only expect people to do the utmost that they can, realizing the power of God at work in people to change the landscape of earth into a lush garden where silence allows our minds to hear God and respond to Him.

If i were indeed hard on others, that would be a fault, and a sin, because God moves us within ourselves and  has no need of anyone else's effort unless He has requested it.

I expect people to do good because it is beautiful to see love flourish, being expressed and thereby given the opportunity  to be happy.

I do not expect God will permit me a sin of pleasing myself because I am some special character. The fact that He allows illness and pain reasserts His power in us, and the appreciative soul is glad for it, especially when it goes away <s>.

But we need, as sinful people, to repent and show the gratitude we should have been pouring forth into His Heart. Our failure through sin, costs us minutes of our life that were wasted, when it might have been better spent simply giving thanks for God and our friends and ourselves.

Certainly this fits in with the coming penitential season of Lent during which we are confronted with  the monstrous cruelty imposed by men on Christ, who died in love with us, even while we paid Him no attention at all, while were whiling away our time on frivolities.

Having so recently encountered the physical and spiritual side of illness, my heart is fresh cut open sharing His love with me, His passion life. It is a side we do well to confront periodically by confronting what happened to Jesus, and by realizing that He went through everything He suffered for our love, even knowing all the while that we would be incapable of rising to the occasion. He knew too that we would be hungry for a way to atone for that weakness and failure, to mend the injury we caused. In order to hear Him tell us what we can do tor Him, we will have to forget our faults and sins and realize He has forgiven us and prayed for our future perfection. He created no junk; He did not make garbage, but people make themselves into such monsters, sometime, that all we can do is look down and weep.

Jesus wept for us realizing what we would encounter in what He asks us to do.  We should share with one another, in some way, the beautiful things we discover. The little bits of beauty we share with each other, like the little love we share with each other is in no way trivial in the mission of Jesus to win hearts to Himself. But we cannot approach Him paralyzed with selfish concerns, fearful of what He may ask of us and which we might discover we are not strong enough to lift. One man might not lift the cross from Jesus as He lay gasping on the ground when He fell under the cross, and one woman might not be able to do anything but touch His cheek for a moment to convey a tenderness. But if all of us spiritually connect and lift our hearts to Jesus, we must be able by our mutual strength to overcome weakness and pain in order to connect with him and feel His Spirit coursing through us like a lightening bolt.

Hard

The hummingbirds loved to forage in this flower's
blossoms

Sometimes people tell me I am hard on myself, and other people. But if I were not hard enough, I would accomplish nothing worthwhile, and I only expect people to do the utmost that they can, realizing the power of God at work in people to change the landscape of earth into a lush garden where silence allows our minds to hear God and respond to Him.

If i were indeed hard on others, that would be a fault, and a sin, because God moves us within ourselves and  has no need of anyone else's effort unless He has requested it.

I expect people to do good because it is beautiful to see love flourish, being expressed and thereby given the opportunity  to be happy.

I do not expect God will permit me a sin of pleasing myself because I am some special character. The fact that He allows illness and pain reasserts His power in us, and the appreciative soul is glad for it, especially when it goes away <s>.

But we need, as sinful people, to repent and show the gratitude we should have been pouring forth into His Heart. Our failure through sin, costs us minutes of our life that were wasted, when it might have been better spent simply giving thanks for God and our friends and ourselves.

Certainly this fits in with the coming penitential season of Lent during which we are confronted with  the monstrous cruelty imposed by men on Christ, who died in love with us, even while we paid Him no attention at all, while were whiling away our time on frivolities.

Having so recently encountered the physical and spiritual side of illness, my heart is fresh cut open sharing His love with me, His passion life. It is a side we do well to confront periodically by confronting what happened to Jesus, and by realizing that He went through everything He suffered for our love, even knowing all the while that we would be incapable of rising to the occasion. He knew too that we would be hungry for a way to atone for that weakness and failure, to mend the injury we caused. In order to hear Him tell us what we can do tor Him, we will have to forget our faults and sins and realize He has forgiven us and prayed for our future perfection. He created no junk; He did not make garbage, but people make themselves into such monsters, sometime, that all we can do is look down and weep.

Jesus wept for us realizing what we would encounter in what He asks us to do.  We should share with one another, in some way, the beautiful things we discover. The little bits of beauty we share with each other, like the little love we share with each other is in no way trivial in the mission of Jesus to win hearts to Himself. But we cannot approach Him paralyzed with selfish concerns, fearful of what He may ask of us and which we might discover we are not strong enough to lift. One man might not lift the cross from Jesus as He lay gasping on the ground when He fell under the cross, and one woman might not be able to do anything but touch His cheek for a moment to convey a tenderness. But if all of us spiritually connect and lift our hearts to Jesus, we must be able by our mutual strength to overcome weakness and pain in order to connect with him and feel His Spirit coursing through us like a lightening bolt.

Storm Time

 

Several days ago, if you had offered me the Last Rites, I would have gladly accepted. I was so miserable with pain in difficult breathing through  my stuffed head and lungs that I was near the end of my energies. Having gotten the flu shot, I don't understand why I got so way-laid. Since I got the shots ( COVID and FLU), for free, I can't complain on that account, but as far as efficacy is concerned, I have to give zero percent satisfaction rating. I even bit my tongue in a bad spot in the midst of a violent sneezing fit, but fortunately I got through all that and now am on the mend. I had one bout with diarhea, but took some medication for too, and it has mended as well.

We have a pretty dawn underway, in the midst of winter. The mountains are getting their snow pack refreshed, so enthusiasts of skiing are happy. I miss not seeing some snow for a couple days, but it seems the present weather pattern if not favorable for lowland snow this year.

As for the rest of the world, I can understand all the suffering being necessary, as the world has gone mentally ill. I commend the world to the Lord in all my prayers and hope you will too, not pay any attention to headlines sensationalizing politics and news, spreading lies and hate everywhere. As you pray, remember those who need your prayers and offer your prayers to God who can relieve their hearts.

He has opened my heart all the way, and the love is so beautiful. 

THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN BEING SOMEONE'S DINNER.

Storm Time

 

Several days ago, if you had offered me the Last Rites, I would have gladly accepted. I was so miserable with pain in difficult breathing through  my stuffed head and lungs that I was near the end of my energies. Having gotten the flu shot, I don't understand why I got so way-laid. Since I got the shots ( COVID and FLU), for free, I can't complain on that account, but as far as efficacy is concerned, I have to give zero percent satisfaction rating. I even bit my tongue in a bad spot in the midst of a violent sneezing fit, but fortunately I got through all that and now am on the mend. I had one bout with diarhea, but took some medication for too, and it has mended as well.

We have a pretty dawn underway, in the midst of winter. The mountains are getting their snow pack refreshed, so enthusiasts of skiing are happy. I miss not seeing some snow for a couple days, but it seems the present weather pattern if not favorable for lowland snow this year.

As for the rest of the world, I can understand all the suffering being necessary, as the world has gone mentally ill. I commend the world to the Lord in all my prayers and hope you will too, not pay any attention to headlines sensationalizing politics and news, spreading lies and hate everywhere. As you pray, remember those who need your prayers and offer your prayers to God who can relieve their hearts.

He has opened my heart all the way, and the love is so beautiful. 

THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN BEING SOMEONE'S DINNER.

Bug

The last three days were spent trying to recover from a virus with chills and heavy coughing and very sore throat. Finally coming out of it, and hope I never get hit again. Actually, since I have had all the COVID shots, the flu shot and the shingles shot, you would think I would be invulnerable, but think again. A senior person's immune system can be weak to begin with and the inoculation might not be as efficacious as it would be otherwise.

Thankfully, a couple aspirin helped a great deal, I curled up nice and snug in my bed for the duration of the fever. This morning's coffee and the aspirin have helped soothe my sore throat. 

I do remember one other time when I had such a spell, and that was during a visit to a monastery. 

Best wishes to everyone.

Bug

The last three days were spent trying to recover from a virus with chills and heavy coughing and very sore throat. Finally coming out of it, and hope I never get hit again. Actually, since I have had all the COVID shots, the flu shot and the shingles shot, you would think I would be invulnerable, but think again. A senior person's immune system can be weak to begin with and the inoculation might not be as efficacious as it would be otherwise.

Thankfully, a couple aspirin helped a great deal, I curled up nice and snug in my bed for the duration of the fever. This morning's coffee and the aspirin have helped soothe my sore throat. 

I do remember one other time when I had such a spell, and that was during a visit to a monastery. 

Best wishes to everyone.

Rest

The Lord can be found and life can blossom
in His presence.

I find the things I obsess about are usually irrelevant. It is a waste of time to worry so much about the things that trouble so.

If we are obsessed about something, the focus is usually on ourselves.If we are not focused on God, then we have wasted our time. Since He put us here to discover His immanence and to be immersed in Him as in the finest ointment or best vintage wine. But it isn't even about that. Being so concerned that we focus on ourselves means we are not focused on God and have wasted our time not using the gifts that reveal Him to people who are in love with Him.

Such love is hardly passive or to be found in frenzy. That is why He continually invites us to the Garden of His presence. The desert fathers were not focused on penance without good reason, nor were their exercises arbitrary and mindlessly mechanical. The love in them which urged them to be penitential was alive and real and active. That we participate in such moments must give us a clue to how important it is that He should invite us in the first place.

The contemplative consolations I received were deeper than awareness, and were full of refreshment and energy, so that whatever I did, was more meaningful than I realized. In the end, I was never denied consolation when it was needed, His consolation was a share of His love that was meant to enhance the spark of my life, and to produce from within me, a peace that produce rest for those who were willing to pray with me.

In another life, I might have been a parish priest whose love was the Mass and the Eucharist, forever giving thanks to God, and finding my life, rest and nourishment in Him. 

But I am a hermit who is hardly hidden away in a cave, but whose solitude is seldom interrupted by a visit from anyone.

The world can still make its presence felt whether I want it or not. The gifts God gives a hermit are nourishment of soul for other people, health, life and refreshment for busy lives by my presence in the world. Perhaps the world is starving for the love God puts in a hermit, perhaps that is why there are so many now, legitimate or spurious. By their fruits you will know them.

If in life, you discover a person who is spiritually like a spring of cool water, that person might be a hermit without knowing it. You might ask yourself if encounters with others were refreshing or nourishing, and if not, ask yourself where you were in that moment. A hermit strives to be always mindful of the Lord, and focused on Him without self concern. His presence where he is is no mistake and it was not coincidental, but part of the plan of God, who knows exactly where and exactly with whom you were. 

Being present to God in this world is difficult so long as we are self centered creatures. Eventually it is possible to be less self concerned and more eager to be in the presence of the Lord, because once we are no longer centered in His consolations, He certainly does make Himself known to a person He has called and consecrated. That consecration, by the way, produces a tendency to focus on God instead of self, for by our being focused on God we can change the world, however slightly, to be a better and more peaceful place. When there is resistance to a spiritual person on the part of others, whether religious or clerical, it is not of God, even though He can certainly use the friction for the sanctification of his soul. 

My advice is to not bother a hermit who seems legitimate on the basis of his demeanor. In all things, the just tend to want to heal and perfect others so they may enjoy the happiness of the Lord. To hinder that work is hardly bright.