July 30. 2022

Reflection

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PRAY

A man came to me to see a priest - to see if I could help him pray better.

He said he prayed.

He told me, "Years ago I was visiting a friend of mine - a colleague - and the man was dying. He was laying there in a hospital bed and said, "I don't know how to pray."

Silence for a second. A long second.

I then said a low sounding, "Wow."

Then this man in added, "I never forgot that moment. I  said to myself, 'I don't want this to happen to me' - so I learned how to pray."

He came to talk to me about prayer at the age of 55.  I was 65 at the time. I was a priest and he figured I would know how to pray - and how to pray better.

I listened to him tell me about his prayer - about how the Our Father and its petitions were part of his thinking life.

He talked especially about the fourth petition: "Thy will be done."

Then he asked, "How does anyone know the will of God?"

He mentioned a talk he heard on the Our Father.  The speaker said, "Millions and millions of people say 'Thy will be done' - but they have no mind in the slightest to do anything in life but their own will.

And he laughed as he said that,

He went on to say that his family says grace before meals and they go to Mass on Sundays.

But I was intrigued above all about his desire to pray/

I said, "Well, turn your desires into prayers."

Then I said, "Turn your thinking into prayer."

I added that Saint Alphonsus wanted to get people to move from thoughts into talking to God  and with God.

It was getting late, so we said we'll talk another time.

 July 30. 2022

Thought for Today

"If someone claps his hand a sound arises.  Listen to the sound of the single hand!"

Hakuin [1686-769]

Japanese monk, writer and artist; 

founder of modern Japanese Zen

 July 29, 2022

Reflection

THE WALKERS

You see them everywhere: the Walkers.

Shoes, shorts, t-shirts, vision caps - a simple uniform.

Walking while talking to a friend - a buddy - a stranger - a spouse - catching up on the latest - while exercising, moving, cardiovascular fitness.

The mall, the streets, a country road, flat preferably....

Then there are the extras: cellphone. bottled water, Gatorade, the dog, the podcasts, earplugs.  What else?

Going nowhere in a hurry - going somewhere with health in mind ....

It's obviously better than just sitting - gaining weight, with snacks, while watching a football game, or the soaps, or what have you?

Then after walking for four months or four years or four times a week - one of us knows we know a lot more that when we started walking.

It just happens....

We're older, we're wiser, we're fitter. 

We've read t-shirts on others going by; we've heard tapes; we've heard about kids in far cities or at college....

We've figured out why a daughter said what she said. We've figured out why a husband did what he did. We're figuring out why God gave us seasons.

Go figure ....

 July 29, 2022

Thought for Today

"There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end.  He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it as. It was a fine compliment."

Jackson  Pollock [1912-1956]

 July 28, 2022

Reflection

THE WORDS WE SAY

The words we say involve risk.

"I love you!"

"I'm angry at you!"

"Thanks for finding my glasses."

A lady came up to me and said, "That was the best funeral Mass I ever attended. Too many times the priest rattles on with words - and he doesn't seem to mean them."

Now every at Mass from now on, I better be attentive to my words and my actions. Now at every Mass I need to make sure I mean the words I'm saying.

Now will that lady when she goes to Mass compare that moment with other moments and Masses and how they went  - and then will she make going to Masses more difficult for herself?

The words we say involve risk for both the speaker and the person spoken to.

"How are you today?"

"Is anybody sitting here?"

"Can  I join you?"

"The word became flesh and pitched his tent here with us."

Jesus Christ came among us - and then after 30 years of age or so - he began walking and talking and doing with us - and then some folks began planning to kill him.

Words ....

We pick up the Bible and begin reading at our risk.

Danger! Challenges ahead.

"Come follow me."

"Forgive 70 times 7 times."

"Go the extra mile."

"Give that shirt right off your back - especially on cold days."

"Lord, I want to see!"

"Lord, I want to listen."

"Yes!"

"No!"

Words contain risks.

 July 28. 2022

Thought for Today

" If  God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

Si Dieu n'existait pas. ill faudrait I'inventer."

Voltaire

 July 27, 2022

Reflection

TREES

I was driving back home from St. John Neumann Church - listening to NPR Radio.

Some guy on some program was talking about a book he did on trees.  That was the theme.

Interesting ....

I missed a good bit of the interview - but what I heard called for follow up. I would like to see the pictures he put together for his book. I'd like to reflect more on what he was saying.

He asked if trees were a central metaphor for life. He talked about the brain, rivers, cauliflowers, family trees, roots, gathering evidence, branching out, etc.

I didn't understand what he was talking about when  he said something like this: "We took a piece of plastic and zapped it with a bolt of electricity. Looking at it,  you can see in the plastic the branching out of veins from the central hit."

Rivers have branches that break off or come together in their journey to the sea.

I was immediately hit with the central image of Christianity - the cross - the tree of life ... the tree of death ....

Lightning flashed that Good Friday.

Christianity branched out into the world.

Genesis begins with a tree. Take and eat.

Artists are influenced by artists. They form schools. They branch out - and on and on and on ....

Go back the other way and you go back to God.

God is a tree.

God is the great tree of life.

So maybe those who make fun of people who are concerned about trees and climate, should stop the mock. Maybe those who mock others as tree hugers - don't get metaphors.

Maybe everyone should go into the woods and study roots and branches.

Maybe everyone should sit under a tree like Sir Issac Newton.

Maybe everyone should sit on a swing and watch the world fly by.