The Cross

 When a couple gets married in my church they never go to the cross or crucifix in the front of the church.  They are not asking their God for the self-emptying that will be required to live a life-long marriage, the sacrifice required to make the marriage work.  When I was ordained a priest I don’t recall going to the cross either.  I was too full of myself from the ceremony and congratulations.  I learned the hard slow way.  But I am still here almost 50 years later.  Grace is everywhere.  

Forgiveness

 We cannot buy forgiveness.  And no one can pay us to receive forgiveness from us.  We might be able to buy mercy, but never forgiveness.  If I am going to forgive someone it must come from my heart.  It must replace resentment and revenge.  Forgiveness is very valuable.  If someone chooses not to forgive me, that is not my concern.  I cannot earn it.  But I can live the better life than the one that got me in all this mess in the first place.  That I can do as it is my side of the street to clean up. 

Othering

 Children seem to accept others in all their differences.  But then comes indoctrination, culture in which they live.  Differences are taught such that people become “others.”  Others are not one of us, due to culture, color, income, class and so on.  I have to check on myself each day and see if I am othering people.  If I see the beggar on the street and say, “There but for the grace of God,” then I am not othering.  This does not always happen though.  “Thank God, I am not one of those people,” is sometimes the first thought or feeling.  We all have gifts, sometimes hidden, often different, but more visible to the humble onlooker.  

Recovery

Recovery from addiction requires certain rules, and rules limit one’s freedom.  If you want to go from Boulder, Colorado to Aspen you cannot get there by going East.  It is a simple rule of geography.  A goal limits one.  If you were leaving Boulder and did not care where you went, then you could go in any direction.  You have to have a desire to go to Aspen in order to follow the rule.  You seem to have to have desperation to follow the rule for recovery.  Abstinence is too much unless you are desperate.  We love our freedom.  But at the cost of one’s life?  The rules, steps that limit us now can open us to a whole new world.  I like such rules.   

Seek and Find

 I find that solitude is very helpful for me each day.  I need time in solitude which is not the same as being alone.  Solitude has more of a spiritual connect.  To what?  To a Power that helps me find or reconnect with my lost sense of self.  It got lost in the hullabaloo of daily life.  The hullabaloo is where I end up doing someone else’s will to please them or fulfill a false sense of who I am.  A false me cannot find God’s will, which is for the authentic me.  In solitude, prayer deepens me to reconnect.  Then I can be open to the Divine Power and what I can authentically be today.  

Charity

 Charity, as in love, does not go looking for evil.  Living with others who are not like me reveals how much love I have.  If I think they are evil because they are different from me, then I lock charity.  I am looking for differences and see them as negative, rather than as a way to expand my horizons, get different opinions.  And then finally, acceptance of our differences.  Who knows how they see my manner?  To think I am the good norm, is simply my opinion.  And to ignore them is to learn nothing.  

Community

 What is the point of living in community?  One good reason is that community allows those with whom we live to become our teachers.  See yourself as a learner amongst those with whom you associate or with whom you live.  Learn what?  How to escape self-complacency.  You read in a paper or on line about the sufferings of someone(s) in some other place or country.  You sort of dismiss it or pass over this story moving on to something “more interesting.”  Why?  Because their suffering differs from your own.  Their home got flooded out, but you are suffering from a toothache.  You would stop at a story that was about the latest dentistry and tooth decay solutions.  It is harder to escape those with whom we live in community.  Which is why they can upset us all the more than a story in the news.