FEAR NOT

    Dear All of Us,

     Here in the 

         USA 

       and in

  sadly many much

  peoples and places

     worldwide,

       today's 

       "as is" 

          is 

     too much

   for too many:

economic 

uncertainty,

polarized 

poisoned 

politics, 

a Demolition Derby 

of democracy,

the rule of law

ruled out, 

riots,

genocides,

wars and famines,

mass shootings,

authoritarianism,

dictators,

rude, crude behaviors,

scapegoating immigrants,

workers displaced by AI, 

robots with union cards

(so to chatbot),

traditional morals trashed,

religions not knowing 

what to do and

surely not doing it,

truth twisted 

unreal and unreliable,

abused atmosphere and

earth retching dangerous,

justice not equal 

       at all

       for all 

       if at all 

         

In reaction 

people feel 

thrown under 

the bus.

They slide 

into depression,

twitch in anxiety,

curl up in cocoons 

of worry, anger,

dread, denial.

Others spin 

their wheels in

frenetic activity, 

tilting at windmills

in bothered dithering.

Some do the opposite, 

becoming inert 

and uninvolved.

Underneath it all is

disturbing, disabling

dark, dangerous 

       FEAR

     ENTER

With a distinctive 

New York accent,

yarmulke askew, 

here comes 

Jewish Jesus 

saying to our 

fear fraught world,

"Not to worry already".

With all due respect 

we want to say 

(shout?) back,

"So, Jesus, please take

 another look already!"

A bit more formally, 

Jesus responds,

   "FEAR NOT"

as he did about 

forty-four times 

in the Gospels.

  Say what?

Well, Jesus is 

not denying

that there are 

monumental 

hurdles and hurts,

cavernous, consuming

sinkholes in life.

Concern and action

 clearly called for

     and that

     for sure

       but

      fear

       in 

 facing them,

  NO WAY!

Fear is wasted psychic 

and spiritual energy.

Fear achieves 

nothing good and 

damages deeply. 

It eats up all 

the attention 

and effort 

needed for 

right now, 

right here,

real life 

in the 

midst of 

worldwide, 

chaotic, 

unrealness.

On top of that

fear syphons off

the energy needed

to counter 

those terribly 

concerning

hurdles, hurts, 

and sinkholes.

We may have 

tons of troubles,

suffer terrible 

conditions, 

but not an

ounce of those

tons of troubles 

    is us.

We may be

 painfully

 pushed 

 down

   but 

 we are

 NEVER

  EVER

  OUT!

 Jesus says

 FEAR NOT

      

Why? How?

In all reality,

make that 

 REALITY,

we are not 

our troubles 

    and

conditions,

as hugely 

concerning 

as they are.

We are of God.

  Conditions 

 can cripple

us and society

in a lot of ways

      but

Our God Core 

        is 

indestructible.

Jesus is saying that

and that we are 

not abandoned. 

He is with us.

Jesus assures us,

  he urges us to

    Trust Him

    to endure 

       and

    together 

 work through.

     Upset, 

   stressed, 

  stretched 

     yes

     but

 FEAR NOT

In so doing

we will suffer.

Jesus did.

Women birthing do.

Farm workers do.

Life giving is like that

and all the more so 

in today's societal 

Death Valley.

Our troubles 

    and

conditions

may take away 

all we have, 

never who we are 

and whose we are.

That's forever solid.

That's oneness in 

  Forever Life  

  God's in us.

  FEAR NOT

So, we companion 

each other in our 

troubles to tragedies.

We get in tight 

with those cut out of 

advantage and security.

    We bring love,

         ours

    one in God's,  

      to bare 

   on social evils

 and help the hurt 

   as and where 

      we can.

In the meantime it's

      Trustime,

    all the time.

     FEAR NOT

    

That means 

we experience 

mutual indwelling

    with God.

It's more intimate

than the most perfect 

human union 

multiplied by 

divine endless.

As Jesus puts it:

" I am the vine; 

  you are 

  the branches.

   John 15:5

Shared Oneness.

What is us 

is God shared.

  We are God 

 branched out-

Vine and Branch.

   Our core is 

 indestructible.

   Fear Not

We've heard 

all this before,

or have we?

As simply 

and deeply 

as possible, 

let's listen as

"Cor ad cor 

  loquitor",

"Heart speaks 

 to heart"

God's, ours,

each other's.

"As the Father 

 has loved me, 

 so I have loved you. 

 Remain in my love."

     John 15:9

That's one heaven 

of a lot of love.

In fact, it is 

Love Itself.

What a way 

   to be,

   to remain,

   no matter 

   the mess 

    outside

  and all about.

  Deal with it, 

    count on 

   GodLove

     and

  FEAR NOT

  "For this reason 

   I say to you...

   do not be worried 

   about your life.

   Look at the birds 

   of the air,...

   your heavenly Father 

   cares for them.

   Are you not worth 

   much more than they?'

     In Mathew 7:1-23

    Jesus assures us 

      in many ways 

       that we are in

          His Care 

          Secured.

   That's not ouchless

         but that 

        GodCare

        is certain.

        FEAR NOT

       

When the bottom falls out,

when the walls cave in,

it hurts like hell,

it feels like all is lost

and that in a bad ending.

But it never is the end 

because God has our back, 

is our base, our forever:

"Fear not, little flock, 

 for your Father 

 has been pleased 

 to give you 

 the kingdom."

 Luke 12:32

We're family,

God and us all

altogether,

right now,

never stopping.

  FEAR NOT

Paul lived

a beautiful life 

in an ugly society.

He suffered 

truckloads 

of troubles.

He kept on truck'n.

May ours be his 

spirit and witness 

to Timothy:

 "The Lord 

  will rescue me 

  from every 

  evil attack

  and will bring 

  me safely to his 

  heavenly kingdom.

  To him be glory 

  for ever and ever. 

       Amen"

  2 Timothy 4:18

     FEAR NOT

Jesus is assuring us 

that for all the 

evil and pain 

right now 

we don't need 

to take an 

early retirement 

from full torque life, 

off in a cabin 

all by itself 

in outer Mongolia.

Equivalently 

Jesus empowers us 

to stick around, 

to stick to it.

    FEAR NOT

Given our givens

these days of 

  crumbling, 

  danger, 

  destruction, 

  destabilization,

 we do well to be

 deep embedded 

     in for real 

      spiritual 

    community.

Things look to get 

way more undone.

We need others.

Others need us.

  "Where two or three 

   are gather in my name, 

   I am in their midst."

   Matthew 18:20

        FEAR NOT

        

Given our givens 

of rush and busy,

we do well 

to go apart,

close the door 

on all our 

hurry scurry,

be Abba embraced

and soak in 

these scriptures.

Better yet, 

let them sink in, 

all the way in

so that we 

live a yes 

as Jesus 

empowers us 

      to

 FEAR NOT

  ******

         

   FURTHERENCE

For those who wish 

to pray/ponder more

over all this in the 

days and nights 

to come:

- Where are we in

  actually, practically 

      trusting God

       personally 

        and in 

     community?

- What "conditions" 

  impact us

  right now 

  threatening fear?

- Just how open are we 

  to being strengthened 

  in community?

- How and what 

  are we doing to 

  strengthen others?

- How can we 

   Live A Yes 

   trusting God?

- What can we do locally 

  to support the 

  knocked down?

- Who are some people 

  and where are some places 

  we can pray for as they 

  suffer terrible "conditions" 

  just now?  

              ******

SO GOOD TO BE 

IN COMMUNITY

      HERE

ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursday afternoons

(frequently mornings)

East Coast USA time

LAST FIVE POSTINGS
    

     AVAILABLE

          by

   scrolling down 

beneath this posting

    Thank You

        for 

     sharing

frankly speaking

   with others

 See you next week.

Praying us all the best.

     Love to all.

     God Bless,

     John Frank

"When I am afraid, 

 I put my trust in you."

       Ps 56:3

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

              ******

 

       

     

 

IN THE KNOW

Dear All of Us,

We humans,

especially

those of us

in the Western World,

are a bunch of loves,

but do we ever 

get all tangled up

in our heads.

Early on, and

very much from

the ancient Greeks,

we realized we can

   "figure out"

      a lot

       be

IN THE KNOW

 a great deal.

 Marvelous!

But we overdid it.

We tried to

capture in concept

that which is

beyond the reach,

certainly the realm,

of concept.

We absolutized our

relative, limited 

   

    concepts.

The Church did it.

It dogmatized 

   concepts

to the detriment 

  of mystery

and the living of

the mystery that is

       God.

The Enlightenment 

       did it.

It canonized,

if not deified,

man's measures.

The Enlightenment was

a sixty-watt bulb

that thought it was 

the sun.

A lot of modern,

and much current,

post modern,

philosophy, science,

art, psychology, culture,

and most of all,

our right now 

   spin out

with the cult of

 "ME- ISM"

are such.

They are

the arrayment

the emperor

doesn't have.

They leave people 

    naked to 

huge swaths of

 nothingness.



The overdo

of the rational

has gotten us into

troubles terrible.

In fact, it is plain,

old-fashioned idolatry.

We have erected

and worshipped

these gods of our

determinations.

They cannot and

do not hold up to

the mystery of what

        "IS"

     Existence

      Reality

       God

They fail and we fall.




Enter Einstein.

He sure was

"IN THE KNOW."

He could figure 

far, far, far out!.

And yet he

recognized

  Reality,

 What Is, 

 to be a

limitless 

mystery.

He counselled

that we use 

our mind

as far as 

it will go

and let it go 

at that.

Go home,

have supper 

rejoicing

in what we know

  and knowing 

   

    we know

   a speck of

  the mystery 

 

    of what

      "IS"

     in our

   capsulized

   confined 

   concepts.



When it comes to God

we can't grasp,

exhaust or define.

We can and we do 

   experience

 a touch of the

limitless Mystery

   that is God.

That is our spiritual life.

We can and do articulate

   a little, limited bit

   of the experience.

We tool that expression

  with simile, analogy,

      metaphor.



"God is love."

1 John 4:8

We don't figure out God.

We live-love God.

We are "in" Love.




     The only way

     we know God

     is the way

     lovers know

     each other.



"God may be 

reached and held

by means of love,

but by means 

of thought never."

  The Cloud of 

  Unknowing

  14th. Cent.

  Spiritual Classic



"Remember,

mystery isn't something

you cannot understand -

it is something you can

endlessly understand!

There is no point

at which you can say,

'I've got it.'

Always and forever,

mystery gets you!"

  Richard Rohr



The ancient Hebrews

had a word for

love making.

It was to

"Know"

the other.

For them and for us

that's the only way

we know God -

in love making,

    loving

     God

  neighbor

    self.

When it comes to God

  

We're in Love

  

We're In the Know

as we get lost in a 

skyscape at sunset,

as we hold a 

sleeping baby,

as we flow with

Gregorian Chant,

as we mow an 

elderly person's lawn,

as we soak in a hot bath,

a gentle wine at hand,

as we close the door

and mellow in 

the embrace of Abba,

as we be and do 

anything that is

    LOVE-LY

    What a 

   WHOLLY

    HOLY

 

    WOW 

    to be

IN THE KNOW

    ******




A WARM WELCOME

         and

    GREETING

         to

        ALL



ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursday Afternoons

(frequently morning)

East Coast USA Time

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

     AVILABLE

         by

  scrolling down

     beneath

   this posting

See you next week.

   

   Love to all.

  

   God Bless,

   John Frank

           frankly speaking

     spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

                ******

GLASS

      Dear All of Us,

          So, 

        is the 

       GLASS

     half empty 

          or 

      half full?

   

   Best answer 

     I know:

 "Yep! Sure is!"

 

  It sure as hell 

  is half empty

    at times

      and 

    it sure 

  as heaven 

  is half full 

   at times.

       

      Some 

  days and ways

  a lot more one

  than the other,

       even 

  over the top

        or

  blowing out 

  the bottom:   

    We lose our job.

    We fall in love.

We live in a world

     quite right 

        and 

   quite wrong.

 pristine waterways/

   polluted rivers.

 Francis of Assisi/

    Adolf Hitler.

Civil Rights/

   Genocide.

Worldwide,

  too much 

  for a few,

  enough 

  for some,

  not nearly 

  enough 

  for most.

  Half full?

  Half empty?

  Other?

   

        This is 

 where and in what

      we live 

 our spiritual lives.

 There's an 

 ebb and flow

 to them.

 As such,

 they actually are

 a continuation 

 in us of the

    life, death 

        and 

   resurrection

        of

Jesus The Christ.

  They are the

   ushering in 

      of the

Kingdom of God

     in our 

here and now.

We do so together

  in community

         as

The Gathered

Followers of the Way

The Body of Christ,

three ways the early church 

was experienced and named. 

In some form or other

what Jesus did we do.

In some form or other

what happened to Jesus

happens to us.

Some days the glass 

tops out full.

Somedays the glass 

is down to dry dregs. 

     Getting past 

    churchy piety 

         and

       flexing

some spiritual sinew

 as we move into 

 the way and work 

         of 

       Jesus 

  means things

        get

sweaty to sweet, 

half full, half empty,

topped, bottomed,

much and often

and that in spades.

We do well 

to hear Jesus

on the matter 

       of 

full and empty

     and 

 to consider 

  our lived 

  response

as he works 

through us.

It's anything but 

casual or occasional.

     It's a life

         in 

     The Life

We hear, 

take to heart, 

put into practice

what Jesus says.

Two examples,

     FULL

     EMPTY

   

               FULL

    "I have come that you

     might have life 

     and have it to the full"

          John 10:10

          

        In Christ Jesus

         we get to be 

         life givers, 

         life savers,

              by

         life sharing

         the full life

         Jesus gives us.

- we host a needy 

  inner- city child

  for a week 

  each summer

- we work away 

  one Saturday 

  a month at 

  Habitat for Humanity

- we have the 

  nuisance neighbor 

  over for dinner

- we lead a scout troop

- we donate to 

  the food pantry 

  as much as we spend on 

  food for ourselves

- we form a spiritual life 

  support group

- let's come up with 

  five ways 

  we will be 

  life givers/savers,

  will fill the glass full

        in Christ.

  "I've come that you 

   (and others through you) 

   might have life 

   and have it to the full":

  ......................................

  ......................................

  ......................................

  ......................................

  ......................................

       

              EMPTY

     "If anyone would follow 

      after me that person 

      must deny self,

      take up their cross 

      and follow me."

       Matthew 16:24

          Wave Good By 

                 to

          self-selecting, 

      casual, comfy, churchy,

      Cafeteria Christianity!

         There's a lot of 

              let go 

              to the 

              get go 

           with Jesus 

        and the work of

       Kingdom coming 

            through 

         the two of us 

         with others,

         for others.

      What's gotta go,

      be emptied out, 

         "denied"

           is the 

           "self" 

           as in 

      the loner me

   not wrapped tight  

      "en Christo" 

   the me all about me,

       self-serving, 

       self-preferential

       selfish, 

       separate

           from 

  God's Life Giving Love

        shared in 

      warm, wide 

       generosity

          and 

      community.

  Gotta deny that self 

  any place or way in me. 

      It has to be

      CROSSED

          out

Then we can get a handle 

    on the real cross, 

        take it up 

           and 

   come follow Jesus.

     Emptying out 

   in love and service,

   in cross carrying,

       is going 

     to put us at  

   Cross Purpose

  with our culture of

      capitalism 

         and 

    consumption,

 a sickening surfeit of

        stuff 

surface satisfactions 

         and 

     sensations,

          of 

  earth and people 

    exhaustion.

   If this seems 

    too strong,

    too radical,

    we need 

to hear and heed 

      Jesus:

"Don't hoard treasure 

 down here where 

 it gets eaten by moth 

 and corroded by rust or 

       - worse! - 

 stolen by burglars

(say a stock market crash). 

 Stockpile treasure in heaven, 

 where it's safe from moth 

 and rust and buglers.

 It's obvious, isn't it?

 The place where 

 your treasure is,

 is the place 

 you will most 

 want to be, and 

 end up being."

Matthew 6:19-21

  The Message

   That's going 

   to place us

   at odds with

     a culture 

         of 

        me  

        now

        get

       have

       keep.

     But hey,

Jesus was at odds 

     with the

 phony religion 

       and 

rogue Roman rule,

the (de)value system, 

the flaccid culture 

       of his 

 time and place.  

 

  Our treasure 

       and 

      Cross   

    is to live 

      God's  

"Preferential option 

    for the poor,"

 be that privation 

 in their body, 

 mind, bank account,

 social acceptance,

 human rights,

 opportunities -

 anything that counts 

   for their health

   and wellbeing.

    The new Pope 

       Leo X!V 

      says that 

   many Christians 

 "...need to go back 

     and re-read

     the Gospel" 

     because 

     they have 

     forgotten that 

     faith and love 

     go hand in hand.

In his first major document, 

         Delexi Te 

    ("I Have Loved You")

       he says that 

Scripture and tradition 

clearly show that God 

has a special heart for 

the poor and oppressed, 

and he asks the church 

"to make a decisive 

and radical choice 

in favor of the weakest."

     October 4, 2025

       Feast Day 

           of 

St. Francis of Assisi

        Such a 

       decisive

       radical 

       choice

 favoring the poor

crosses up our culture 

and we will pay for it 

as we carry the cross of

distain, disadvantage, 

rejection and exclusion.

The cross we carry 

following Jesus will be 

such as

- long suffering 

  in patient concern 

  for difficult relatives 

  and associates

- adjusting to a simple 

  and sufficient lifestyle 

  so that others 

  may simply have a life

- focusing family 

  and church on

  the treasure of 

  "eoughness"

  and giving the rest

  to those shorted

  by need

- spending years 

  carrying for a 

  family member 

  or friend

  dependent 

  or disabled.

- risking position 

  and possession

  in solidarity with all 

  seeking justice, 

  Gospel Goodness,

  for the oppressed 

  as many are 

  doing that right now

  on behalf of peoples 

  recently migrated here

(I vividly recall hearing 

 of the oppression 

 my Irish great and

 grandparents suffered 

 as they migrated here) 

In short and in Jesus 

we suffer the cross,

splinters of all sorts, 

of denials and deaths,

emptying out,

giving life for others.

The wild and beautiful 

        paradox 

   in all this is that 

     in emptying 

 the glass for others 

     it overflows

        for us

          in

  Life and Love

as a never ending 

        NOW

    

    The Cross

    What a plus.

    

    To that 

    to life sharing

    to empty

    to full

    let's lift 

    an overflowing

      GLASS

     ******

   A WARM WELCOME

            to

           ALL

with a special greeting

to the large contingent 

          from

     SINGAPORE

who joined us this week.

   ONLINE POSTINGS

THURSDAY AFTERNOONS

     (lately mornings)

EAST COAST USA TIME

   LAST FIVE POSTINGS

        AVAILABLE

              by

       scrolling down

         beneath 

      this posting

Have a great week.

Love to all.

See you next week.

    God Bless,

   John Frank

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

              ******

         

We're forced to live 

in the mad midst of 

      Empire.

  We're invited 

 to live together 

         in 

The Kin-Domain 

        of 

   God Good

HAELAN

Dear All of Us,

So, how about it?

    Are you a

People Watcher?

     Highly 

recommended.

  I've been a 

card caring one

  all my life.

Without a doubt

    it bests 

   the best

  grad course 

        on

human behavior.

      Watch 

what people do 

       and 

how they do it.

We'll see their

truest selves.

     Watch 

where they invest

most of their 

time and energy.

Notice how they 

      connect 

        and 

     respond 

     to others.

     

     It all gives a 

          real

        reliable

      true to life

   Person Portrait.

   The Gospels 

    give such a

      portrait

         of 

      Jesus.

    He spent 

   generous 

time and energy

    healing.

He connected 

  personally 

   simply 

  care fully

 with those

 healing needy.

 It is noted in the

   four Gospels 

about sixty times.

   It counted 

  compliment 

        to

Jesus' teaching.

    Tells us 

a heaven of a lot 

  about Jesus 

   and what 

he was all about.

And it tells us what 

we are privileged 

to be all about,

not only what, 

but also how.

In the here and now  

     we are the

people and presence

          of 

       Jesus

     in a world

     of so many 

     wounded

     wanting

   dis stressed

   dis at eased

   dis abled

   dis abused.

      We are

     the very

 Body of Christ (1)

     in a world 

     aching for

     HAELAN

       (OE)

"to make whole"

  "to restore"

in our now English,

     HEALER

Put pointedly,

to be a Christian 

is to be just that, 

        a

    HEALER

     At the 

 very mention

 many much

    panic,

  head for 

 the doors 

 screaming,

     "What me

        heal?

   No way, Jose.

That's more miracle

than I dare mess with.

Way out of my orbit.

  Too misty much 

     like those 

     sweating,

     screaming, 

     foaming 

     at the mouth,

     TV preachers.

        Weird!"

   That's not how 

   Jesus healed 

     nor how 

  we are called 

      to let 

  His Spirit heal

    through us.

     To heal 

        is 

   to restore

to make whole.

That comes about 

in a library of ways 

         and

in a generous scale 

    of degrees.

 Some few of us 

       heal 

        as 

   physicians,

   pharmacists, 

   therapists,

   spiritual 

   companions,

   social activists.

   Many more 

       of us 

       heal

        as 

    educators

    musicians

    artists

    librarians

    supporters of social 

    justice efforts

    public service workers 

    scientists.

Consider bus drivers.

They close the challenging gap

between where we are 

and where we need to be.

Consider farmers. 

They heal hunger.

         When we

           heal,

            we

        "restore" 

          good 

    that is missing,

           we

    "make whole" 

painful gaps and gouges.

It's as immediate as:

- looking out for the 

  inexperienced, 

  young intern at work

- deep listening and 

  accepting presence

  as a friend pours out 

  a soul of pain

- welcoming a new family 

  to the neighborhood

- going to a third grader's 

  first trumpet performance 

          - EKKS -

- thanking the young pastor

  for the sermon that

  consistently threatened 

  consciousness

- believing in an 

  unbelievably

  turbulent teen

- a simple smile 

  to a stranger

  on the sidewalk

- letting a lonely old person

  fill us in on an hour's worth 

  of their life story 

  when all we want 

  ever so much 

  is to get home, 

  kick off our shoes,

   have a glass 

    (or two)

     of wine

     after a 

 really rough day.

Here's one I experienced

on a long checkout line

at a busy supermarket.

The cashier was 

stressed snappy,

sharp with everyone

in that long line

and that included me.

I simply said, 

"I don't know how 

 you manage it 

 but you do

 a super job 

 under all this 

 terrible pressure." 

 She went from 

 deepest dark 

 to brightest light,

 flashed a 

 million-dollar smile 

 and said,

      "Damn! 

  Honey I sure 

 appreciate that!"

 She almost seemed 

 happy to process 

 my too many coupons.

Healing is 

putting a plus 

where there is 

a minus.

That makes 

  a cross,  

a saving one!

That's how

in Christ  

we are a 

HAELAN

******

(1) Ephesians 1:22-23

     Colossians 1:24

     1 Corinthians 12: 27

             ******

      

Here where I live in 

 Washington, DC

it's a beautiful mix of

Autumn rich color

    right now.

That's how we are 

as we gather here 

    each week, 

a splendid mix of us, 

toned warmly rich

in religions, regions,

cultures, countries.

      This week 

 we were gifted with a

 first ever visitor from

        Senegal.

Wonderful and Welcome!

ONLINE POSTINGS

THURDAY AFTERNOONS

 (frequently mornings)

East Coast USA time.

LAST FIVE POSTINGS 

     AVAILABLE 

          by

   scrolling down

      beneath

   this posting

      PLEASE

       share 

 frankly speaking.

  That would be 

most appreciated.

Where we are, 

as we can, 

any way we can,

let's help heal our

terribly wounded world.

See you next week.

    Love to all.

    God Bless.

   John Frank

           frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

              ******