Dear All of Us,
Remember those
good old student days
about this time of year?
It sure felt great to be
wrapping up the academics
and heading for
summer vacation.
For me and many, though,
that good feeling was tinged
with a degree of angst,
most notably and formidably
the
FINAL EXAM
So much rode on it.
I not too fondly remember
The New York State Regents.
Course work didn't count.
The grade for the year
was exclusively that of
The Regents
the
Final Exam
Well, the memory
of that angst factored
into the teaching
I did later in life.
For instance,
I taught World Religions
at Centenary University
for the first five years
of my retirement.
Loved those kids.
More than a few of them
every semester would ask,
half humorously,
half hopefully,
"Professor,
what questions
will be on the
final exam?"
I told them.
Those questions addressed
the core of the course.
Answer them completely
and you sure qualify to pass.
Jesus does that for us.
It's literally Gospel
(Matthew 25:31-46)
With the clearest of candor,
He tells us
there will be a
Final Exam
and exactly and
comprehensively
what questions
will be on it
and how it will be
scored
and
mark
our
forever.
Jesus shares that
we answer
those questions
by enacting
our responses
in the right now,
in the right here.
Jesus keeps it
simple, clear
and oh so definitive:
The way we treat others
in their needs
is exactly
how we treat,
how we relate,
how we connect
with
God
Others and their needs
are where and how
we connect with God
now and its consequent
forever.
It's a
Match
Its a
Oneness
That Oneness
in our now
graduates to
unending oneness
with God in glorious
Forever Fullness
To mess or miss
others in need
in this now and here
is to
mess and miss God
in horrid
Nothingness Forever
To skip over or trivialize
the questions on our
FINAL EXAM
undercuts any
and all efforts
at spirituality
no matter how trendy,
no matter how esoteric,
no matter how devotional,
no matter how ascetical.
Ours sure is a
"spirituality for the street."
All along life's way
and its intersections
God is waiting for us
in the needs of others.
The homeless,
the beggar for sure.
Just as surely, though,
the needy
in our own home,
at work,
sitting next to us
on the plane,
in our social circle.
Let's look around
out here in
the flow of now
for God awaiting
our notice and loving care
in the least and lost,
those in need.
Some of them are
financially broke.
Some are
physically battered,
some psychically bent,
some even violently
bend and break other.
Some of the
MOST NEEDY
though
have lots of money,
are socially and
professionally
well placed and are
painfully, desperately
NEEDY
Over the next whiles
let's do a
Finals' Review.
Examples
of
key questions
and
right real answers
follow below in our
FURTHERENCE
Praying us all a
passing grace grade.
Our
Final Exam
will have
everything
to do with our
FINAL FOREVER.
******
FURTHERANCE
What's at question:
Are we open
to life flowing
to and through us
in the immediacies
of right now,
to filling the emptiness,
the need for it in others?
That life flow is God.
As it flows now
it opens wider and fuller
to the ocean of
Forever Life.
It would be
a damming shame
to damn it up.
How does/did
the flow go?
"I was hungry and
you gave me food."
- We support local food banks
with at least as much as
we spend on
dining out and
on take out.
- We nourish those starved
for notice and inclusion
with time, invitation, attention.
- There are so
many hungry for
contact and
companionship.
We can visit
lonely elders,
even have them
over for dinner.
We can become a
Big Brother/Sister
and feast a kid
on weekly
company, care,
love and activity.
"I was thirsty and
you gave me to drink."
- We can help quench
the thirst of those
seeking social justice
by voting into office
people of proven principle,
courage and
caring competency.
- We can walk a stretch
with a friend
who is in a
spiritual or emotional
desert.
"I was a stranger and
you welcomed me."
- We make sure
the ugly duckling
in our social pond
gets to be in
the swim of things.
- We are cordial
to those whom we peg as
somewhere between
weird and outstandingly so.
"I was naked and
you clothed me."
- At work we stitch together
cover for a colleague
needing extra time off
to deal with
a troubled teen.
- We cover a car payment
for a friend out of work.
"I was sick and
you cared for me."
- We are patient with
a family member
stuck sick with depression.
- We baby sit for an exhausted
single parent.
"I was in prison and
you visited me."
- We correspond with
someone doing time.
- We organize an
Intervention
for a a family member
locked into addiction.
- We patiently stick
with a friend who is
an inmate of
self-absorption.
Matthew 25:31-4
is
well worth regular
attention
and
discerning
the
practical particulars
of lived response.
Now and forever
depend
on it.
Seeing with eye and soul
we
God Spot and Respond
in the needy.
******
WHAT A WEEK
The Roman Catholic Church
has been blessed with a
Wonderful New Pope
From our many
religious
locations and persuasions
we pray clarity and courage for
Pope Leo XIV
"Ad multos annos"
Last Week's Blog,
Embassy Day,
focused on the richness
and
enrichment
of
our many
spiritual traditions.
In tandem
is the blessing
of our
global togetherness
here at
frankly speaking.
Last week we gathered
with sizable groups
from
The Netherlands
Singapore
Vietnam
USA
Russia
Brazil
and sixteen other
homelands.
"How good and
pleasant it is
when we
dwell together
in unity."
Psalm 133
NEXT ONLINE POSTING
Tuesday morning/afternoon
East Coase USA time.
May 20, 2025
NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY
Friday
May 23, 2025
Thanks for sharing
frankly speaking
with others.
******
LAST FIVE POSTIGS
AVAILABLE
by
scrolling down
beneath
this posting
See you next week.
All the best with the
FINAL EXAM
Here's to
FLOW GO.
Love to all.
God Bless,
John Frank
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
******
