TEARS

Dear All of Us,

Guaranteed.

We'd all love her.

I sure do.

       Sarah 

is thirty something.

delightful, 

effervescent,

deeply spiritual,

a leader in her 

religious community,

a sought after 

children's therapist.

Sarah is distressed.

Why is there so much 

evil and hurt in our world?

Why are more people not

joyous and caring? 

It's so much more 

beautiful and better.

Sarah's soul aches.

I shared with Sarah

the wisdom of Virgil:

   "Lacrimae Rerum"

   "The Tears of Things."

"There are tears 

at the heart of things." (1)

At our deepest 

we weep 

bitter tears

at the horrors 

in life.

At our deepest 

we weep 

tears joyous 

at the beauties

in life.

Such our 

spiritual lives

for now.

I also shared with Sarah 

two examples

of my own recent 

flood of tears, my own

  Lacrimae Rerum

Stephen Miller 

is the chief 

White House 

designer and director

of the administration's

Immigrant Removal Program.

(I almost typed Pogrom!!)

They recently purchased 

a less than stellar warehouse 

in Roxbury, NJ.

near my former home.

It was to be a new 

Detention Center.

The contractor they hired 

was confident 

he could make it livable 

with basic comforts.

He was told "NO".

Stephen Miller wanted it to be

as rough and uncomfortable as 

humanly tolerable! (2)

Ripped away people 

treated as animals.

Getting closer 

and closer to a Nazi 

Concentration Camp

in suburban USA.

There are 

wretchedly more

across the land.

And we let it happen.

And we let it happen.

I weep bitter tears.

I am eighty-six and 

mostly homebound.

The other day 

my daughter 

took me

for a ride.

What a treat!

We had to stop 

at a large, popular

religious shrine 

so I could use 

"The Necessary". 

    The spirituality of 

     necessity!

I depend on my

four wheeled walker

to get around.

As my walker and I 

struggled to negotiate 

the heavy door of 

"The Necessary"

a thirty something 

young Latino man 

stepped in,

smiled, 

said nothing

     and 

held the door 

for me 

to roll through.

I thanked him.

When I was finished

   (and that takes 

    us older guys 

    a lot longer 

    than it used to)

unbeknown to me

the young man 

was still at the door 

patiently waiting 

there for me

all that time! 

Still smiling 

he again 

held the door 

for me.

I thanked him

from deep 

in my heart.

I wept tears of 

joyous gratitude

there as well.

Light Bright Beauty!

Jesus wept over Jerusalem

        Luke 19:41-44

            Sorrow

      Jesus went to bat 

      for little children, 

   gathered them close in,  

embraced and blessed them

        Mark 10:13-16

 I'll bet he teared up happy.

              Joy

Our souls sense so much.

We weep at hurt and evil.

We weep at good and dear. 

It's often in our eyes.

It's always deep in our heart.

            So it is

            for now.

Our souls mature to that. 

When they haven't yet, 

we look again and again 

until they do.

Our tears are not

one or other,

joy or sorrow.

Our Lacrimae Rerun

are both and.

 

They are  

our soul's

first responders.

They immediately 

show us 

what's going on,

what needs 

to be done.

They teach

     and 

  direct us

    in our

  Kingdom

   Living.

Sarah is maturing 

        into 

     the gift of 

       TEARS

     May we all

       as well

          til   

  "Thy Kingdom" 

     has come

        and 

  we weep only

    unending

      TEARS

         of

        Joy

     ******

(1) Seamus Heaney

     2008, BBC Radio

     Greek and Latin Voices

(2) October 8, 2026

     National Public Radio

     ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

     Jasmine Garsd

     Article  Pictures  Transcript

              ******

  

       A PROMISE

He'll (God) wipe away 

every tear from their eyes. 

Death is gone - tears gone, 

crying gone, pain gone - 

all the first order of things gone. 

The Enthroned continued, 

"Look! I'm making all things new."

         Revelation 21:4

          The Message

           Translation

   A RECOMMENDED READING

        The Tears of Things

        Prophetic Wisdom 

     For An Age Of Outrage

          Richard Rohr

             Convergent

                2025

MANY AND MUCH THANKS

FOR ALL THE AFFIRMATION 

       SENT MY WAY

ABOUT LAST WEEK's BLOG,

       CONNECTION.

        IT AND YOU 

            ARE 

  MUCH APPRECIATED

A GOLDEN AUTUMN WELCOME 

      TO ALL NEW HERE.  

    IT IS SO GOOD TO BE 

          WITH YOU

      ONLINE POSTINGS

            LATER

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS

   EAST COAST USA TIME

     RECENT BLOG POSTINGS   

             AVAILABLE 

                  BY 

     SCROLLING WELL DOWN

               BELOW 

           THIS POSTING

          

         PLEASE JOIN ME 

         IN DAILY PRAYER 

                FOR 

         STEPHEN MILLER

         AND HIS GROUP

       LOOKING FORWARD 

             TO US ALL 

     BEING TOGETHER HERE 

             NEXT WEEK

               MAY WE 

              RESPOND

                   to 

           WHAT WE SEE

             THROUGH

     THE TEARS OF THINGS

            LOVE TO ALL

            GOD BLESS

            JOHN FRANK

           frankly speaking

       spirituality for the street

   johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

           ******

CONNECTED

  

              A BEFORE WORD

  Well, actually, a whole bunch of them. :)

              Dear, Dear Friends,

              I ask your indulgence 

              and forbearance. 

              It's about this blog.

              It just isn't what I tried for.

              And "tried" I have - 

              hours and hours, 

              days upon days.

              rewrite after rewrite. 

             I pray there is 

             enough worth 

             in it to be 

             of at least 

             some worth to you.

             I'd love to give you 

             prime rib each week.

             But, sometimes 

             it's just a

             bologna sandwich. 

             I give you what I have

             such as it is.

             

             This posting is focused on

             our interconnectedness.

             It is God given and 

             absolutely essential.

             And it is under siege.

             There is a way forward

                and it is together,

                    CONNECTED

                          in 

               Kingdom community, 

                   life and love.

                Let's check it out.

                Thank you for 

                letting us 

                be connected 

                this week 

                in a less than 

                tight, bright, 

                clear posting.

 

                God Bless you!

                Much love!

                John Frank

                 ******

 Dear All of Us,

- "He's well connected."

-  Methodists are a 

   connectional denomination.

 - History connects past to present.

 - Our bodies are a connection 

   of 30 to 40 trillion cells.

OK, OK!

Enough already!

But we can never get 

enough connection.

Our very existence 

depends on it.

And yet, 

way too often 

we just 

come undone,

disconnect.

It's a killer:

    infidelity,

    war,

    racism, classism and all 

    their cousin "isms",

    gossip,

    incivility,

    too much for a few and 

    too little for too many,

    "exclusive" as exclusionary,

    dictatorships,

    media mind manipulation,

    possessed by possessions,

    jealousy,

    arrogance/haughtiness,

    and terribly much more.

The Demons of Disconnection

               are

             legion.

         They create

         Hell on Earth

              and 

 they're just getting started

      with a whopper

like none ever in all history

       Most ominous 

     of the moment is

              AI

AI is in its childhood.

Really bright.

But its toddler tantrums

have already disconnected 

protective boundaries,

penetrated and violated

the symmetry and substance

of other connections.

All that at its own bidding!

These tech toddlers 

can jump the crib,

get out the front door and

let loose dangerous undoing's,

dangerous disconnections,

across many/most? 

situations and systems.

AI's adolescent parents 

out there in Silicon Valley

are raising 

Frankenstein Monsters.

Soon they will 

outsmart their parents

and put us all at 

unchecked peril.

A for-profit president wants

those adolescent parents 

to regulate themselves

and their promising yet 

threatening progeny.

Really???

Not close to real!!

That's like going away 

for the weekend and leaving 

teenagers home alone!

       Empire's

    Massive Moral

     Disconnect

    Soul and Society

          facing 

  potential wonders 

     at the risk of

  devastating destruction,

   a disconnect from

     The God Given

     Common Good

        No matter what 

The Demons of Disconnection

               do

         to our undo

we have a hope and a future

               IF

        we accept it.

         

     Divine Connection

             is a 

           "YES"

           away.

       It takes but 

  an accepting embrace.

         

   It is a Rebalance

            to

       Right Real

            to

     Foundational

      Connection

   with all Creation 

          and 

 The Common Good

and all that in God.

         

   The Energy Field 

        that is 

         God

    is cosmically 

      unfolding

          in

   The Very Love 

    That is God.

     1 John 4:8

 God Good Creation

       connects

      Everything 

          and 

       Everyone.

          It is

 paradoxical and beautiful:

        Unique

          and

      Interwoven 

       in God's

       Oneness

        

        At core 

       all that is 

            is

 essentially connected,

participates in the same

God Source/Subsistence

   plants to planets

   petunias to pundits. 

  

As more than already noted,

that deep connection

has sadly often been

abused and traumatized

by people and movements

across time by those

Demons of Disconnection.

    We and our world 

are variously and often

        painfully 

        undone,

         split, 

    disconnected.

  

   We don't have 

   to go passive 

   and accept that.

     

    God Creative 

is present and active 

        in our 

disconnected world

and that in a most

   personal way,

 Jesus The Christ

    "I have come that

     you might have life 

     and have it to the full."

          John 10:10

        Full restitution. 

    Complete connection.

    

    "All this is from God, 

     who reconciled us 

     to himself through Christ 

     and gave us 

     the ministry of 

     reconciliation..."

     2 Corinthians 5:18 

        Reconciled 

            and 

        Reconciling

  

         

         Jesus The Christ

       righted, reconnected

                and 

    has us busy sharing that.

       He offers us life in 

      The Kingdom of God.

      As Paul puts it:

          "God wants us to grow up,

           to know the whole truth 

           and tell it in love -

           like Christ in everything.

           We take our lead from Christ,

           who is the source 

           of everything we do.

           He keeps us in step 

           with each other.

           His very breath and blood 

           flow through us, 

           nourishing us so that 

           we will grow up 

           healthy in God, 

           robust in love."

         Ephesians 4:15-16

              WHAT A 

          CONNECTION

Once living 

Kingdom Coming,

we rejoice in the

kinship of all that is

- people, place, energy

  matter, spirit.

We reconcile,

We reconnect

by

   - forgiving

   - welcoming other 

     ethnicities, 

     coloration of body, 

     persuasions and practices

   - by voice and vote supporting

     challenge to tech profit over 

     Creation protection

   - we invite extremes to center

     for our Common Good 

   - we are patient and prayerful 

     in so doing and seek ways 

     to connect - a block party,

     a music fest, sweating together 

     at Habitat for Humanity,

     sharing a spiritual retreat 

   - we stretch to strengthen

     The Body of Christ 

      that we are

      and do so 

      in patience and practically

    - one way and many 

      we foster children

      left out, needful, difficult

    - we turn difference 

      to compliment

      and balance 

      in family, at work, 

      in our neighborhood

    - we reverence Nature and

      and work to refresh it

    Reconciled and Reconciling

     we and our world become

              ever more

                 well

            CONNECTED

                ******

        In the week to come

          please go online

              to enjoy

     a wonderous expression

                 of

          GOD GOOD

         CONNECTION

  and its positive life giving 

    as threads and hearts 

       are woven one 

    in a lively, joyous

       experience 

              of

        connection.

     To Pray Ponder  

      this goodness

       just go to:

     Annandale Art 

            & 

     Textile Center 

    Annandale MN

  artandweaving.com

     Be sure to click 

     the tab for the

       video clip

 LEARN MORE ABOUT

      OUR WORK

     (TV coverage)

        

        and feel 

        the joy 

        and lift 

        of being

     CONNECTED

        ******

   AND ARE WE EVER   

   WELL CONNECTED

   TOGETHER HERE   

      EACH WEEK

     BLESS US ALL

    ONLINE POSTINGS

           LATER   

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS

  EAST COAST USA TIME

RECENT PAST POSTINGS

         AVAILABLE

             BY 

SCROLLING WELL DOWN  

         BENEATH

     THIS POSTING

          THANKS 

             FOR 

  YOUR GOOD COMPANY

  HAVE A GREAT WEEK

WEAVING CONNECTIONS

              TO

        WHOLENESS

       LOVE TO ALL.

       GOD BLESS

         JOHN FRANK

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

            ******

 

      

       

  

 

    

    

    

WONDER

Dear All of Us,

Over the weekend 

I wondered how best

to start off this week's blog.

Well, telling you that, 

I just found out.

We're started. :)

We all wonder 

a lot about a lot.

We do that 

in two ways: 

    Puzzlement 

        and

        Awe

Puzzlement Wondering

           is 

     questioning 

Sometimes it is

functional/creative.

We wonder what 

we should have 

for supper.

We wonder how best 

to word paint a poem.

Often questioning wonder 

is worrisome.

We wonder if we will  

AI ourselves extinct?

In functional/creative 

wondering 

we cooperate with God, 

in ordering daily life

and its enrichment.

 

In worrisome wondering

we can be One with God

in caring about all

People and Creation.

We are active in God's 

redemptive work in

righting wrong

where we can, 

as we can.

We're dealing with that

in spades these days.

We need 

to make sure 

we don't let

Puzzlement

Wondering

 crowd out

The Wonder

      of

    Awe

           Awe

        happens 

as we experience God

lovingly active and unitive 

             in 

Prayer, Nature, Others.

Awe is amazement, 

astonishment.

We are suffused in 

reverence and admiration,

pure wonder.

We're on 

The Skyland Drive in

The Shenandoah Mountains 

of Virginia.

We just need 

to pull over and let 

the wonder of it all 

have us.

We hold close 

a newborn baby.

Just nine months before

two cells sparked a union 

that has matured 

to over one trillion cells

in nine months

and will grow to over 

thirty-one trillion more.

This newborn is 

a life, a person.

It has an incredible body of

intricate systems and powers,

a soul and psyche

with divine potentials.

We just snuggle 

with the newborn and

warm in wonder

We open 

to God 

in prayer.

Sometimes we are

calmed, clarified, 

strengthened.

Other times we are 

transfused into

a passionate bliss 

beyond concept or word.

We slow down enough

       to notice 

   the deep down

marvels in the sciences, 

majesty in the arts.

We companion a tree 

springing to freshness,

summer maturing,

autumn toned rich,

winter rugged.

    The Wonder

         of 

        Awe

  is not answer

        but  

     Rapture

"God's glory 

 is on tour 

 in the skies, 

 God-craft 

 on exhibit

 across the horizon."

    Psalm 19:1

   The Message

    Translation 

God has given us 

five senses, a mind, 

soul and psyche.

Their employ is to 

open to Him, 

open to the wonders 

of His Creation, 

to welcome Him 

     in them 

as we wonder about 

the functional, 

the worrisome,

the awesome.

"God saw all 

 that He had made, 

 and behold, 

 it was very good,"

  Genesis 1:31

"The most beautiful thing 

  we can experience is the

      mysterious. 

  It is the source of all 

  true art and science. 

  He who can 

  no longer pause 

     to wonder 

    and stand in 

     rapt awe, 

  is as good as dead, 

  his eyes are closed"

    Albert Einstein

Given 

the heavy, 

the hurry 

the gravity 

of our just now,

it is such a grace 

to notice and 

bask in God,

God present in 

Prayer, Nature, Others

in all of Creation.

      It's a 

    WONDER

    to behold, 

      It's a  

    WONDER

    in which 

   to be held.

    ******

           HOW WONDER FULL

           EACH WEEK HERE 

           TO BE GATHERED ONE 

            ONLINE POSTINGS
 
                    LATER 

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           EAST COAST USA TIME

             RECENT POSTINGS 

                  AVAILABLE

                       BY 

         SCROLLING WELL DOWN

                   BENEATH

               THIS POSTING

              THANKS TO ALL 

                WHO SHARE  

             frankly speaking

        spirituality for the street

    johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

  EVERY GOODNESS AND BLESSING

           SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.

     IN THE SPIRIT AND WORDS 

                    OF 

      GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

        MAY WE ALL BE IN AWE: 

            

              "THERE LIVES 

     THE DEAREST FRESHNESS  

         DEEP DOWN THINGS" (1)

               

               LOVE TO ALL  

               GOD BLESS  

               JOHN FRANK

         (1)Hopkins quote from

              God's Grandeur

                  ******

THE PRESENCE

   Dear All of Us, 

     Please pop 

a patience pill or two.

Here comes some hefty 

   name dropping

Over multi anni

(eighty-six of them)

I've greeted/chatted with

a variety of public notables.

To a person they exuded a

formattable

       PRESENCE 

Elenore Roosevelt,  

Muhammed Ali,

Bishop Fulton J, Sheen, 

Eric Sevaried,

Daniel Berrigan,

a bevy of bishops,

a couple of governors,

Cardinal O'Boyle,

Dorothy Day,

Rowen Williams,

Gerald May

Richard Rohr

      and 

I shook hands 

      with 

      JFK

Each unique.

All definitely a

 POWERFUL

 PRESENCE

     and 

 you could 

    feel it.

After my Mother 

and my Wife, though,

the most 

consequential 

  Presence 

in my life 

hasn't been at all like 

those public notables.

It's an altogether

different presence.

And you could feel it,

gentle, understated, 

subtle, warm, 

quietly real.

It was Brother John.

Brother John

was a simple 

Trappist Lay Brother,

the guesthouse cook

at the monastery.

I met him when  

I made a retreat  there

back in 1957.

(Yah, that's pretty "back"!)

The monks observed silence.

In that silence

Brother John bespoke 

a simple, serene, quiet    

     Wholly - ness.

He was absorbed in 

The Presence of God

and was so with a

down to earth 

ease and practicality.

He let God 

be present to him

in the immediacies 

of his daily life.

in washing the dishes,

in setting out bread for the birds,

in roasting a chicken for our dinner,

in caring for the vegetable garden,

in spiritual reading,

in praying The Hours,

in setting the table,

in tidying up.

Ordinary things 

that he let be the

extraordinary things 

they actually are, 

Gateways Godly.

Brother John 

didn't stress out 

seeking God.

He calmed down enough 

to let God get ahold of him,

enfolding him into loving union.

He welcomed God taking the lead.

        

      As God presented 

     Brothr John lived a 

             "yes"

That could be baking a cake to 

mystical intercourse.

Brother John didn't try to

force fit his way 

to some sort of supposed 

superior spiritual status

(camouflaged arrogance).

He put his energy into accepting

God as God offered Himself

in the actualities of his life.

I tell you, 

I have never once 

met a person

who so simply 

let God have him, 

let God love him

as God chose to do that.

Brother John just 

relaxed into that Love.

He and God were 

gently inseparable,

genuinely and clearly 

          One.

A WHOLLY HARMONY

They did everything together.

There was an unhurried, 

soulful symmetry 

of trust and union

with God

about Brother John.

It was as if two dear friends 

were tending a garden together.

God presenced Himself,

God presented Himself 

        to

Brother John

where he was, 

as he was,

as guests needing 

a peaceful place and pace,

needing an unassuming 

"at homeyness".

God presenced to him

as tastes, touches,

scents, sights, sounds,

as tasks and surprises,

as suffering,

all suffused with God -

all moments and motions 

              of 

           Divine

 Presence and Oneness

I once watched 

Brother John

eat an apple.

He did not do that 

with music on 

while checking out 

a magazine.

It was rather a slow, 

appreciative venture,

reverential, 

accepting God's presence 

in the gift of an apple,

every bite, texture and taste of it.

About now I'll bet 

some of us are thinking 

that all this is fine and dandy 

for a monk

           BUT

we live in the real world.

We have to be busy 

making a buck and more,

changing diapers,

shopping, 

getting the car serviced, 

doing "nice-nice" with in-laws, 

coaching soccer,

negotiating rush hour traffic,

mowing the lawn, 

having the boss and spouse 

over for dinner,

shuttling grandpa around 

the medical maze,

- endlessly, frenetically more. 

In short, we're short on serene.

It might be a big help to strap on 

A Spiritual Heart Monitor

for a month of testing 

and then explore 

some appropriate retooling

of day and way.

That's a blog for another time.

However it is,

God is in our day,

as it is,

as we are,

how we are,

where we are.

We really can't 

think, drag or draw 

God into it.

God is already there

wanting us to be there  

       With Him

suffering a headache,

changing that diaper,

doing the taxes,

lost in ecstasy.

    That is the 

Divine Difference

        and 

    Presence

Brother John lived.

So much so often

people either 

obsess about trying 

to spiritualize the moment 

(that puts them in charge) 

        or saying 

"Forget it. It' too complicated.

 I'll check in with God 

 Sunday at church." 

(see who's still in charge?)

Two swinging strikes

for the count that most counts.

As God presented, 

Brother John said yes 

and let God make them 

           ONE 

    We can as well 

 and oh so well it is in

     THE PRESENCE

        ******

THANKS TO EACH OF US 

FOR MAKING POSSIBLE

           THIS

       ALL OF US

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         LOVE TO ALL

         GOD BLESS

         JOHN FRANK

 "Pay attention. 

        Be astonished. 

                Tell about it"

        MARY OLIVER

  "Make your home in me 

   just as I do in you."

           JESUS

       John 15:4-11

       The Message 

       Translation

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

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             ******