AD RANDOM

    

Dear All of Us,

Some random reflections.

Let's pray - muse together,

no hurry, prayerful pondering,

    open to free, freeing

          Spirit Sight.

            ******

Doctrines, dogmas, 

creeds, catechisms

tell us what to see.

Mysticism shows 

us how to see.

Doctrines, dogmas,

creeds, catechisms

are somebody's 

frozen concepts

about what is -

idea knowing.

Mysticism is

participation in

what is -

a lived, 

dynamic knowing.

Sex manuals tell us 

about love making.

Love making 

is getting lost

in love -

a dynamic,  

love lived knowing

BIG DIFFERENCE!!

Mysticism is 

getting lost in

  The Love 

 That Is God

 right where 

   we are, 

  as we are 

bills, dishes, job, 

relatives, talents, 

weaknesses,

gifts and graces,

"Sweet Sweaty Real"

 lost in living Love - 

   "God is love."

    1 John 4:8

    ******

Love is being present to 

the innermost of the other. 

Relating surface to surface

is limited, limiting and lonely.

Relating center to center

is unitive, intimate -

altogether divine.

   

   "Abide in me 

 as I abide in you."

     John 15: 4

       ******

We pray with 

words and ideas 

to get started.

They are like 

a booster rocket.

Once in orbit,

words and ideas

drop off

in favor of 

the vastness of

Spirit Space.

   ******

Creation is the 

passionate evolution, 

the joyous unfolding 

of Love Intoxicated

    Goodness

     ******

I'm not sure of who said it,

I am sure of what was said:

the second coming is 

the rest of history.

                   ******

Expanding Consciousness

As Mother God nurtures us,

grows us fuller and freer,

we see and sense 

more and more 

the wonders 

of our home

here in Creation.

Just a bit ago

we reckoned there were 

six stars in the galaxy 

for each one of us.

Now we know there are 

at least six galaxies

for each one of us. 

As my year and a half old 

Grand Son, Ollie the Younger, 

says

  "Wowwwww!

Wonder to behold.

Wonder to be held.

       ******

Thanks for letting me share. 

These reflections are freely,

 and I pray freeingly, 

         random.

There is nothing random, 

         though,

about my love for you.

     It's centered, 

  deep and constant.

     Your Brother

      John Frank

         ******

      frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfranshares.blogspot.com

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  By mid-day Wednesdays

    East Couse USA time

            ******

      Just about every 

    church and charity 

           in town 

       right now are

     pitching pledges 

            and 

      contributions

.

Well, hang on to your money, 

        but if you can, 

        gave a hand,

        by letting 

        others folks 

        know about

     frankly speaking.

  That would be great

 and greatly appreciated.

         Thanks

          ******

      

    MORE THANKS

  Like so many of us,

I am deeply grateful for 

      Richard Rohr.

    Over the years 

I have enjoyed and valued 

       a number of 

personal contacts with him.

His insights and sharings

have often been the stimulus

for my reflection and sharing here.

Just this week the lead pierce 

about mysticism is an example.

Richard has stepped back 

from leadership at the 

      The Center for 

Action and Contemplation

due to age and health.

Let's hold him in love and prayer.

A little note of care and support

sure would be a blessed gift

and lift.

          Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM

The Center For Action And Contemplation

      1705 Five Points Road, SW

      Albuquerque, NM 87105

            ******

      Looking forward 

  to seeing you next week.

            ******

 

 

GIFTING

Dear All of Us, 

Here abouts,

as it gets 

darker and darker 

this time of year, 

things lighten 

and brighten

with the advent 

of a radiant trinity: 

   Thanksgiving

   Christmas 

   New Years

  Winter Lights

for delightful sure.

It's a festival of

   GIFTING

in three parts;

a Thanksgiving for

all the gifts 

we are and have,

a celebration of 

God Gift Christ,

a birthday party

for the gift of 

a fresh start,

a new way to count 

the living of our days.

All the fun and food,

presents and presence's

spin us spiritual.

We receive gift,

we give gift

and all of it 

in gratitude.

We're actively in on

   Inebriated Love's 

Cosmic Creation Bash,

    an effusion of 

 dynamic aliveness

 splendidly spiraling 

   a divine largess.

The Lights of Winter

illuminate any dull dark 

    that threatens

       GIFTING

Brightly about us 

we see and celebrate the

God Good Experience that

      GIVEN WE GIVE

The gift you have been given

        give as a gift.

       Paraphrase of

       1 Perer 4:11

God Gift enlivens us

so much so that 

we just can't keep it 

to ourselves,

so much so that 

we become 

the gift we give.

It's win-win

wondrously wild.

All we are and have is gift.

We live our gratitude by 

        GIFTING

     Time to turn up the 

         Winter Lights

   Blessings this triduum 

               of 

       Divine Largess

      Gratefully yours,

          John Frank

           ******

    Bright Good Wishes 

             and 

      Welcome to All

      frankly speaking

 spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com 

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 By mid-day Wednesdays

     East Coast USA time

      Please help share

      frankly speaking

     by passing it on to

 family, friends, colleagues

            Thanks

             Enjoy!

        Our holidays 

     are such wonderful 

          holydays,

      "Whole"lydays"

    See you next week

           ******

       

      

THRIFTING

Dear All of Us,

Thrift Stores are a bargain for sure.

About half of what I wear 

someone else broke in for me.

As a pastor, my Wedding/Funeral Suit 

came from a church thrift shop.

It was a dark blue Seville Row pinstripe 
in mint condition.

I got it for $5.00 years ago.

Many of the books in my library 

were cracked open 

for me by someone else.

That was how I got 

the leather-bound set of

The Great Books.

They were in perfect condition 

and came complete with bookcase.

There they were at a

Ladies’ Aid Rummage Sale and

happy to go home with me 

for a mere $50.00.

Thrifting is the way to go.

There are real “finds” everywhere.

Among my most treasured "finds" are 

a collection of wisdom sayings and insights.

Again, I am the beneficiary of others,

in this case not their clothes or books,

but their pain, their joy, their growing,

their freeing into Fullness.

All it costs me is attentive reflection.

What a bargain!

Rather regularly 

some of these treasures

are shared here.

They are ours for reflection.
Over time and slowly

let's caress them 

with quiet openness. 

Let them be prompts 

for a journey at once into

Spirit Deepest, Spirit Highest

as we slowly savor them 

in daily meditation and prayer. 

Happy to go “Thrifting” with you.

   

          John Frank

         

           ******

You are not just the drop in the ocean.
You are the mighty ocean in a drop.
                  Rumi

Soul Scope:

        Talk about "Oneness!"

        Wonder of wonders,

        we get to be awash 

        in the Ocean of All.

        What does it mean 

        to sense that we each 

        are a drop in the ocean

        and the mighty ocean in a drop?

                 
                 *****

I understand that Mozart 

just listened 

and wrote what he heard.

In a sense,

Mozart was made of music.

I wonder if we are like that 

and just don’t know it.

Are we all made 

of music we don’t hear?

Made of words we don’t write?

Do we have images within us 

we never form with our hands?

Is the genius simply the person 

who is able to let the beauty 

flow through him or her 

onto the page, into the clay, 
onto the canvas?

The one born knowing 

how to get out of its way?
There is the beauty everywhere, 

all around us, 

surrounding each of us,

and do most of us live entire lives

never feeling it course through us 

and out into the world?

          Barbara Crafton

Soul Scope

        We are divine at our core. 

        Let's listen and look.

        How can we get out of the way

        and let God's beauty in us flow forth?

        What are the tones and hues 

        of God's vibrancy in us?

                   ******

Prayer Pause:

       "Where your treasure is, 

         there your heart will also be."

                    Jesus

                Mathew 6:21

Soul Scope:

         In The Spirit let's 

         honestly, prayerfully, 

         unguardedly, 

         candidly and completely

         see and say

         our top ten "treasures",

         whomever, whatever, however 

         they are.

         

         Then in The Spirit let's see and say 

         what those "treasures" say about 

         what we are all about at heart just now.

 

          

       

*****************************************************

Thanks to all who are 

spreading word about

  "frankly speaking"
by sharing with others 

through personal word
and by reference 

on their social media.
It's the main way we connect 

with new people here.

Your help is just that 

and greatly appreciated.

         ******

          For All Those New To

            "frankly speaking"

        spirituality for the street:

                Welcome!

             It is a blessing 

          to have your company.

             

               For a bit of 

     grounding and orientation

              please do 

     take a touch of time with

     "What's Going On Here?"

                and

      "Consider Your Source"

       They are to the right 

       on the online posting.

  

          "frankly speaking"

         - Is posted online by

           mid-day Wednesday 

           east coast USA time at

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                click top left

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                     ******

             Holding us all in All,

            See you next week!

                John Frank

         

******************************************

RESPONSE

Dear All of Us,

Around here in DC

lots of folks had yard signs

thanking First Responders 

during the worst of the pandemic.

Those First Responders  

are just plain old GREAT!!

My family and I vouch for that.

First Responders came to our rescue

when we had an emergency.

They were all in on our behalf -

close, caring, giving.

They responded by 

vigorous God Love 

at a vulnerable time 

and did so in 

a most practical way.

It's no stretch to say that 

living a vigorous spiritual life 

makes us all first responders,

and that in all sorts of ways -

responding to receiving God Love,

responding to giving God Love

Pardon my French, 

well no, my Latin.

       re = again and again

       spondere = answering.

In our spiritual living

          Response 

    is how we answer

          God Love

with our lived reaction 

        

It may be a request that 

we share God Love.

It may be an opportunity 

to be gifted by God Love.

Our response could be to

     people, place, occurrence,

     peril or potential,

     need, nature 

     or opportunity.

       Portals to 

The Love That Is God

open all across daily life.

We answer, we respond

to Love Received,

to Love Given:

 - deep and sincere listening to another

 - looking out for those 

   others fail/choose not to notice

 - lending a hand or a buck

 - truth telling

 - stretching for Earth Care

 - taking a stand and the hits

   for social justice,

 - making a marriage,

 - raising kids,

 - taking an elderly person

   for a ride in the country,

- bringing dinners to a couple 

  who just had a baby

- being patient with a pest,

- working for community,

- warming to God Love in

  a glorious sunset,

- letting God make love to us

  in intimate prayer,

- singing our soul out in the shower,

- taking a hike in God's outdoors,

- going all nine yards with loved ones,

- soul sees of sacred writings,

- just plan having a time with 

  our first favored dinner

           Shrimp scampi 

     highly recommended!!

- coaching kids in sports and academics,

- getting lifted to the heights 

  listening to "O Blessed Spring"

  sung by The National Lutheran Choir

             (It's online),

- seeing God in all that is -

  a life of active contemplation.

- stilling for spiritual showing.

           Response

            calls for 

       receiving, giving

      generosity, sensitivity, 

      openness, wisdom

How most lovingly 

do we answer - respondere?

It seems to come down and up to

wisdom and largeness in living,

receiving God Love,

giving God Love,

our living our answer, our 

          Response 

             to 

        God Good

God infused flowing forth.

       John Frank

         ******

       For Prayerful Pondering 

         A Little At A Time

        Build a longer table, 

        not a higher wall.

Soul response:

         Is there always room for more at the table,

         or is there a quota that walls off and out?

         - relatives, neighbors, the needy and left outs,

           at work, at religious community, in our social circle 

           and our nation?

          How much do we host a communion table

          in the way we welcome people of differing colors,

          political persuasions, religious, cultural, 

          ethnic, sexual orientations, social and 

          economic standing?

          What's our Response - our lived answer?

Prayer Pause:

          "For with the judgement you make

           you will be judged, 

           and the measure you give 

           will be the measure you get."

                        Jesus

                      Matthew 7:2

Soul Response

            It's not at all a spiritual tit for tat,

            do this you get that.

            It is being really, fully open,

            responding to gift given, 

            responding to need manifest, 

            a free flow of grace

            to us, through us, from us -

            a God "forthing".

                What "Plaque" can obstruct the flow

           in, threw, forth?

           How wide open are we in practice?

           

          We look at our living.

          It's our answer to God Good, 

          It' our

                   Response

                  John Frank

                    ******

                   A Warm Welcome 

                   to first timers.

                   Great to be with you.

                   Please do join us 

                   each week here at

                  

                   frankly speaking

               spirituality for the street

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                     ******

                   See you next week.

           *******************

        

        

         

          

             

            

 

      

The birthing of these blogs

is always a labor of love.

The delivery is sometimes

relatively smooth,

other times quite difficult.

So such the later this delivery.

Days of reflection and prayer 

and nothing coming forth.

As always the prayer and

question is what will 

 "clarify and encourage"

us in our spiritual lives?

This Monday morning

at Coffee Prayer 

just more nothing.

Guess I'll have to do chores,

read and study instead of writing.

RESPECT

  A POSTSCRIPTED 

     FOREWORD

     Holy Cow!!

Just a few weeks ago 

we started a new

and briefer format

for "frankly speaking" 

and here we are this week 

with the same old same old 

longer format.

It was supposed to be history by now.

WELL, I just plain got carried away.

You know, old pastors never die.

We just keep talking too much!!

.

However, what follows 

needs to be said. 

It is critical to being 

at all spiritually real. 

It's also a front burner matter 

in these days of 

societal deterioration.

We dare not miss it, 

hard as it often is

to see and live it.

Thanks for your 

patience stretch!!

PS:

    If you missed the posting

    about the new format,

       

    just scroll down online

 

    through this one

   

    to "UPDATES", 

    October 12, 2022.

                 

        *******

Dear All of Us,

Remember the comedian,

Rodney Dangerfield:

  

   "Can't get no respect"?

He was pretty funny, 

but the lack of respect isn't.

It's debilitating.

It cuts the legs out 

from under everything

       

             Respect

It means a whole lot more than

           "Nice, Nice!"

      It is a vital dimension 

   of our spiritual wholeness.

  It means to keep looking 

until we see all the way into 

     what is before us

      

    

Latin: re = again and again

         spectare = to look

we look again and again 

until we really see center.

              

Surface sight sells short.

We miss what's at the core.

We fail to fully connect,

much less commune.

That goes for how others see us

and for how we see others.

It is wondrously unitive 

when we are "seen"

for whom we are - respected.

Same such for how we see all other -

 

peoples, plants, places, phenomena, 

         the profusion of

             WHAT IS

    puppy dogs to planets 

                ALL

    

             

             Respect 

             

               is to

           

            Deep See

            WHAT IS

             AS IS

    core and cause of all

     present, manifest,

substance of the subject seen

and seeing our oneness there in

 

    The Limitless Good 

            we call

             GOD

      (Yep, a second read 

       of the above

       might be best here!)

Seeing to center is to see 

          

         The Center.

   Seeing to The Center 

  is the way and place of

     Peace and Unity,

     in fact the only

     way and place

  

             to

    peace and unity.

Because we are so distracted,

often to blindness,

by busy, pride, fear, grasping,

misinformation misguiding multitudes

- all sorts of surface stuff -

we need to see again and again 

until we Deep See 

the Love Energy

that is God 

uniquely creative,

wondrously present 

at the core of all,

there welcoming us into 

       

      Divine Unity.

So, we "see" again and again 

with all our senses, 

with Soul Sense Sight,

all that we have.

That goes for what 

we initially "see" as attractive.

That goes for what 

we initially "see" as repulsive. 

           Respect 

It means to keep looking 

until we see all the way into

     what is before us

   and see ourselves as

          

       one at the core

          The Center

              GOD

       drawing us into 

  

       the embrace of 

       unity and peace.

We keep seeing until we see God

    in the last rose of summer.

We keep seeing until we see God

       in Donald Trump.

           For some people

Seeing God in the rose comes easy.

Seeing God in an old man 

who is reported to still be basically 

a little boy deeply deformed by his father,

one who doesn't seem to see it himself, 

and who is deforming The Common Good,

well, that takes a lotta looking!!

They need to "re - spectare"

until they see past his hurt and his hurting 

and "spectare" his GodCore

and our oneness there.

Only this way can there be 

    unity and peace.

Now, Real Respect does not mean 

to overlook, deny, discount evil.

It does mean to see God 

at the Center of all that is -

the Shannondoah Mountains, 

a dinner party with friends,

beautiful babies, Proud Boys 

and other bad boys in politics, 

governance, corporate 

and religious dominance.

We reverence and rejoice 

at the good, the true, 

and the beautiful.  

If we see evil and injustice 

at first and many more glances, 

we keep at it till we see center, 

but the evil we name, 

we challenge to change. 

We "see it" it like Jesus:

    

     "I'm telling you 

      to love your enemies. 

      Let them bring out 

      the best in you, 

      not the worst. 

      When someone 

      gives you a hard time, 

      respond with 

      the energies of prayer,

      for then you are working out 

      of your true selves, 

      your God-centered selves. 

      This is what God does. 

      He gives his best - ...

      to everyone, regardless: 

      the good and the bad, 

      the nasty and the nice...

      Live out your God-centered identity...

      the way God lives toward you." 

                        Jesus

                Matthew 5:44-48

                   The Message

"Live out your God-centered identity."

We see to center and love.

If we see evil 

before we get 

to the core, we

 

"...respond with the energies of prayer,"

empowered to right wrong.

           Respect

  

           Deep See

            CENTER

           Respect

      the only way to 

     union and peace.

         See You!!

        John Frank

             

           ******

A Full Fall Welcome To All

 

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

       a weekly offering 

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Greetings and Welcome To All.

     A special welcome

to the group of visitors this week 

    from the Netherlands.

 Great to be together here!

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In old age I've shortened a couple of inches.

Will work at doing that with the format here.

Thanks for your patience.

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Looking forward to "seeing" you next week.

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