REAL PRESENCE

Dear All of Us,

When you go to kiss a loved one, 

just how essential is it 

that the loved one actually be there?

Would you be ok with kissing, say, some symbol of the loved one?

Could you settle for kissing a picture, 

a memento or even a memory of the loved one?

(If you are free enough, change the question to "make love with your beloved").

In any case, the preference and answer is more than clear.



Let's notch it up - really "up"!!

How about if that loved one is God

and you want a lot more closeness than some sort of a spiritual  kiss,

and sure can't settle for a symbol, picture,  

memento or memory of the beloved?

You want the deepest possible communion,

center to center, heart to heart, person to person - 

FOR REAL ONENESS!!




Hang on!

Now let's notch it all the way "up"!!

How about if God wants you, all of you,

and sure as heaven wants 

a lot more than some sort of spiritual peck?

How about if God wants to give Godself to you

in the deepest possible communion,

center to center, heart to heart, person to person - 

FOR REAL ONENESS!!

The preference and answer is also more than clear.





A good tag for this deepest possible communion is

The Real Presence.

It's  way, way beyond experiencing a union  

via a symbol, picture, memento or memory.

The Real Presence is a communion that is  

center to center, 

heart to heart, 

person to person. 

We're so "really present" to each other, 

so much closer then any marriage bed bonding, 

that we are two rivers flowing into an Ocean of Oneness.



In high church tradition,

The Real Presence 

means that Jesus 

is really present 

in the Eucharist.

Sure enough.

There's more not to be missed, though.

Much more!!

It's ever so much fuller.

God is really present in all that is.

We and all creation 

are from, in, of God.

We exist in The Existence.

We are present 

because we exist in 

The Real Presence

and that is both blessing and mystery.

It's critical that we don't try 

to contain the mystery of 

The Real Presence by definition,

but rather humbly, happily describe 

our experience of it, our joy in it.

That matures over time 

in our personal and corporate consciousness.




The infinite cannot be defined, much less by the finite.

And finite we are so far and for sure!!

Religious leaders and groups distract by efforts at definition 

What's not to be missed is the marvel of awakening 

to the blessing of us all existing and being enfolded in

The Real Presence. 




One "presence" of The Real is to share 

the sacrament of Holy Communion.

It can be a time of the deepest possible communion,

center to center, heart to heart, person to person, 

Oneness with God.

It's way more than some sort of spiritual smooch.

It's way more than communicating through 

a symbol, picture, memento or memory.

Jesus is present.

He didn't explain how.

We can't.

We do well not to try, yet too many get caught up 

in the futility of trying to define this wonderful mystery

among a cosmos plus of them.




Mystery is a reality so vast the human mind alone cannot grasp it.

But our deepest self can be drawn into and experience it.

It's like the Pacific Ocean.

It's real and really there.

Neither our eyes nor our arms can grasp or contain it, 

but we sure can jump in and enjoy it, and endlessly so.

So it is with the mystery of the Real Preance.

Our mind cannot grasp or contain it.

But our spirit, our deepest self, can experience it, 

get lost in the sheer and limitless goodness, "Godness" of it.





A metaphor that can help here is our experience of loving another.

Holding a baby, hugging you child at their college graduation,

making love with your beloved are better experienced than explained.

If point of fact, they can't be explained.

No one really wants to try for the sheer bliss of the experience.




Scripture reveals that

 "God is love."

  (I John 4:8)

It's in that Real Presence of God Love 

that we exist, experience - live and love.

It's a Holy Communion that happens always everywhere:

      - in the sacrament of the Eucharist

      - in being absorped into a Fall bouquet of color 

      - in feeding a homeless person

      - in moments of mystical oneness

      - in working a second job to get your kid through college

      - in refusing to hate a politician you consider dangerous

      - in befriending a lonely senior adult

      - in being a Big Brother/Sister

      - in looking through an atomic force microscopy (AFM)

        at the wonders, the mystery of the deep down universe revealed.

      - in being out front for social and ecological justice.

Yes, The Real Presence sure is a Holy Communion, 

one that happens always everywhere.

It's ours to be present to it.


When I was a little kid I was told 

that you could only go to Holy Communion once a day.

Well, come to find out it's way better than that.

We can be in immediate contact with God,

in the deepest possible communion,

center to center,

heart to heart, 

person to person,

always everywhere

because we live in 

THE REAL PRESENCE.


Hey, right here, right now,

we just did that.

Thanks for your very real presence

and for inviting me in my little way

to  share mine - us united in 

THE REAL PRESENCE,

          God.



At this time of Thanksgiving, 

a word of gratitude

as we from many nations

begin the fourth year 

of gathering here weekly

for spiritual sharing and support.


          John Frank

         *****



So how about this?

                      "Blessed are the flexible, 

               for they shall not be bent out of shape."

                                                        Rolf Gates



   Here's a Shout Out

to welcome those joing in 

for the first time here at

   "frankly speaking"

spirituality for the street.

   It is posted online 

each Thursday evening

east coast USA time at

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

and is available each Friday 

by automatic email delivery - 

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See you next week!!



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