September 20. 2022

Reflection

UP  TO  JERUSALEM

Jesus went up to Jerusalem several times - but he knew down deep there was going to be THE trip to Jerusalem.

We go to the doctors many times, but we know down deep there is going to be THE trip to the doctors.

We go to church many times, but we know there is going to be THE trip to church.

We go to a cemetery many times. but we know down deep there is going to be THE trip to the cemetery.

We experience God and heaven, death and dying, at varioius times in our life, but we know there is going to be THE trip to God and heaven.

The ordinary and the extraordinary are parts of life.

There are weekdays and Sundays.

There are ordinary days and Holidays.

There are meals and there are meals.

There are moments and there are moments.

There are meetings and there are meetings.

There are books and there are books.

There are people and there are people.

There are I-It moments and there are I-Thou moments.

This was to be Jesus' hour.

 September 20, 2022

Thought for Today

"It is not a fragrant world."

Raymond Chandler

Quoted Colin Watson,

Radio Times April  21, 1987

 

BODY AND BLOOD

 

 

The title of my thoughts for today is, “Body and Blood.”

 

This will be a poem, poetic, the me that’s me – some of the time.

 

Yesterday I sat back and said, “I have a conference to give tomorrow.”

 

Next. I asked, “What is there to talk about – or wonder about?

 

“What is needed?  What would be helpful? Where are the priests who will be here tomorrow?  What’s on their mind?  How’s their health and their hearts?”

 

What do they hunger for?  What do they thirst for?

 

Hello!

 

Answers: I don’t know.

 

Should I talk about aging …. I’m almost 83 …. Should I talk about the country …. The world …. The church …. The still going on aftermath of the Corona Virus…. The Queen’s funeral …. Who, what, when, where, why, how?

 

For some reason, the first word that hit me was bread.

 

Give us this day our daily bread.

 

Next, I said to myself: “Bread and Wine – the body and blood of life – the body and blood of Christ.”

 

Then I began thinking: Life 101 – the liquid and the solid, the flow and the firm, the ocean and the shore, the river and the river bank, the bottle and the liquid inside.

 

Life – the known and the unknown – the  what has been and what will be next…?

 

Life – birth and death – birth day and death day – the numbers on our tombstone and death card – as well as the flow of birthday cards and cakes and presents – down and up – through the years.

 

Life: what’s the date on the package? Is there and expiration date?

 

Those wrinkles on my skin – especially on my arm – just before  my inner elbow - sometimes looks like script or numbers.

 

Life has the solid and the soft – the solid and the sag.

 

Life: the solid buildings we sit and sleep in, the ground we stand on – the roads – the highways, and streets we move  - and travel on like the flow of blood through our system. Sometimes we’re the blood and sometimes we’re like the vessels that hold it. Sometimes we’re in cars and traveling on rubber tires; sometimes we’re in shoes or bare feet.

 

Blood – liquid – flowing ….

 

Body – solid – the steady unnoticed.

 

Life: standing still in place – and movement from here to there.

 

Life: 101.

 

I began wondering about when did Jesus come up with the idea of giving his body and blood to us.

 

Great poem – not a bad idea – and it fits most of the time  - in our life.

 

Was he sitting at table or the place where he was eating – looking at bread – watching and seeing someone break bread and pass it around the table.

 

Some smiled and said, “Thanks!”

 

If anyone had some Greek in them – they might have heard the word  “thanks” sounding like “Eucharist” when someone was thanking  someone.  I don’t know the sound and derivations of Aramaic word for “thanks”.

 

Thank you – delicious bread. Thank God for bakers and bread makers.

 

Good bread  - solid leavened bread – the sending and shifting of the wonderful scent of bread around the room – people eating together – people being and becoming a body together – family, friends, marriages, communion, holy communion with each other.

Life.

 

Life: moments at a table.

 

Life: sometimes it feels like a banquet.

 

Life: filled with great gifts.

 

Not all the guests, the invited, show up.

 

They have other things on their plate….

 

Disciples – seeing the empty seats – might have gotten the idea to head for the highways and byways, the back roads and the hedge row and invite all in – the banquet needs to be filled.

 

Life: 101

 

Life: roaming on our roads – with food – bread and wine – sheep and salad - tomatoes and beans in our bellies – the miles of our life.

 

Life – alone and with others.

When did Jesus come up with the message and meaning of bread and wine?  How old was he when he figured that one out?

 

Did Jesus see and hear people drinking and laughing and enjoying wine together – toasting and clinking cups and chalices together?

 

Did he inwardly say: “Wonderful.  This is it. Life. This is what it’s all about?”

 

Did he stop into bakeries – or simply watch Mary – and Martha and Mary make bread?

 

Did Jesus do a lot of thinking and learning and listening to people while he walked around Nazareth and Capernaum.

 

Where did he get his sermons from?  Where do the preachers of today get theirs?

 

Did he ever meet the man born blind again – or that deaf guy he stuck his finger into his ear and healed – or the woman at the well?

 

How about Samaritans?   Did Jesus mean a few on the road to Jericho.

 

Did he stop to see grapes growing – being picked – being crushed – becoming wine.

 

Did he think: this is life – people grinding out a living – drop by drop – wow does wine look like blood at times – especially when people get cut.

 

Was the world he walked in – the marketplaces, the carpenter shops, the synagogues, the homes he visited – classrooms for him?

 

Did he see shepherds with sheep on their shoulders – and a smile on both their faces – the lost and the found?

 

Did he see fields of sheep and goats and did he wonder: how do they separate them?

 

Did he stop to check our soil and our  fields, wheat and weeds, good trees and bad, fig trees that were producing and those who were doing nothing?

 

Did he think about Mary and Joseph, Martha and Mary and Lazarus after he left them?

 

Why in the world did he choose bread and wine? Was it to tell people about the meaning of life – sacrifice – giving and receiving – that everyone is called to hold out their bodies to everyone else as they say: “This is my body. This is my blood. I’m giving me to thee. Take. Receive. Eat.”

 

Why in the world did he choose bread and wine?  Was it because food goes inside of me. The intimacy of food – sometimes. Sometimes minds are elsewhere during meals – where people are sitting – or when betrayal is taking place – or how many pieces of silver is so and so worth?

 

Did Jesus see his possible death on a cross – if and when he ever really told others what life is really about – the dying for others – the giving of our lives for others – the laying down and laying out of our time – no matter how many hours we’re in the vineyard.

 

Did Jesus see how tough forgiveness is – sometimes  when brothers won’t welcome brothers – back after they messed up – but parents will – and this makes one worse than the others?

 

They won’t even forgive once. Heck. Hell, Heaven, the difficulty of forgiving 7 times 7 times – 70 times if necessary.

 

The title of my poem is, “Body and Blood.”

 

Maybe it would have  better,  if I called it, “Bread and Wine.”

 

Either way: something to digest.

 September 19,  2022

Reflection

2 KINDS OF PEOPLE

There are 2 kinds of people: those who see what's there and those who see what's missing.

I went to the library for a certain book.  The book I wanted wasn't there. 

That experience taught me  to go to the library in order to be surprised - not to look for a certain book.

Surprise!  There are a lot of books in the library. 

There are a lot of books out on loan.

I don't go to the library for books that aren't there.

I discovered the same thing at art museums.  Here and there I noticed blank spots - which had an index sized notice - "On Loan,"

That caused in me a slight feeling of emptiness - I was missing something - and it carried over to my viewing of other paintings - instead of simply enjoying what was there.

I then began to notice the same thing happening to  various  people in restaurants - as they looked at menus. They spotted things that were missing - delights that were dropped for some reason.

Next - because of my growing awareness of this human phenomenon - I would hear people say things like the following: "There are a lot of empty seats in church today - or at the baseball game - or the restaurant - or wherever."

Or, "Where's Charlie? I thought he'd be here."

Or, "Do you have and Dijon mustard?"

Or, "Do you have Sam Adam's beer here?"

Or, "Do you have any hand wipers?"

So are there 2 kinds of people: those who see what and who's there and those who see who and what is missing?

Am I one of those who tend to spot the missing?

Can I change?

Is all this an, "It all depends"?

 September 19, 2022

Thought for Today

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, hearing within him the image of a cathedral."

Antoine de Sainte-Exupdery

Flight to Arras,  1942

 September 18, 2022

Reflection

LISTENING SKILLS  # 3

We used to do a neat listening exercise in small  groups.

You put 6 people together and give them the following instructions.

Starting with the person in the group who has the earliest birthday in the year, that person tells the person to their right - with the other 4 people listening - "I think the main reason why people have trouble listening is this: ______________."

Then they tell what they think that main reason is.

Next step: that person who has just heard that first person's response - has to tell that first person - with the whole group listening -  what they heard - not word for word - but the substance of what they heard - and in their own words if they want. 

If the first person is satisfied with the listener's response back to them, then good.  If they are not, then that first person repeats what they said to the person on their right - and then that second person tries again. Sometimes they really mess it up,

I noticed that sometimes this takes a few times. 

When the exercise is all over - comments are made.  Sometimes - it seems -  the speaker is not clear about what they are saying.  Sometimes the listener is just not a good listener. Sometimes the listener gives back to the speaker their comments in a neater way.

The second speaker - after being given a moment to think - after the first person is satisfied -  then gives his comments to the third person - what he or she thinks is the reason people have trouble listening.

The third person  - always going to the right - listens and then gives back to the second person - what he or she heard.

And on and on around the circle.

Great exercise.

It takes time.

The time - afterwards - for group comments  - as well as - comments in a larger group - if there are many groups of 6 - is also very valuable.

I learned that I think the number one reason why people get messed up in listening - is because the speaker is not that clear in speaking. 

 September 18, 2022

Thought for Today

"You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore before you decide to be happy."

"I have a 2% chance of survival, but 2% is not zero percent. 2% is something."

Nightbirde - Jane Kristen Marczewski

Dec. 20, 1990 - Feb. 19, 2022