Monday, April 10, 2017
MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK
Welcome!
This whole week,
HOLY WEEK,
daily postings are offered for reflection
as we focus on our theme of
" HOLINESS IS WHOLENESS."
They are a follow up to the blog posted last Saturday, April 8, 2017.
It would be helpful to read the blog first.
Just scroll down.
Blessings,
John Frank
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HOLINESS IS WHOLENESS
Vessel of Wholeness
Fractured
cracked
held together
in wholeness
completeness
by the air of the Spirit
the putty of trust
the glue of friendship
the cement of Scripture.
Serving a purpose
Beautifying the world
Testifying
to the power,
strength,
and possibilities
of limitations embraced.
Imelda Cooper
****************
Passover begins today.
Passover commemorates the emancipation of the Isrealites
from slavery in ancient Egypt
as recalled in the Book of Exodus.
We seek emancipation from that which enslaves us,
personally and societally.
***************
The Exodus from Egypt occurs in every human being,
in every era,
in every year,
and in every day.
Rabbi Nachmam of Breslov
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Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement...
get up in the morning and look at the world
in a way that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal;
everything is incredible;
never treat life casually.
To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
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Do not judge, and you will not be judged;
do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
give, and it will be given yo you.
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put in your lap;
for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
Jesus
( Luke 6: 37-38 )
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Everyone of us is showed by an illusory person: a false self.
This is the man I want to be but who cannot exist,
because God does not know anything about him.
And to be unknown of God is all together too much privacy.
Thomas Merton
( New Seeds of Contemplation )
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Saturday, April 8, 2017
A WHOLE IN ONE
Hi There!
So, how come people pay major money
for jeans with holes and rips in them -
a smidge of rebellion and a heap of copycat?
In any case, jeans with holes and rips are
an out there, on the street icon
of the incomplete aspects
of how it is with us and our culture -
holes and rips in who and how we are:
- " Civility? So wimpy!"
- " Sex? You bet! Love? Not required."
- " I'm a have, and tough you're a have not."
- " Numero Uno first and always!"
- " Go back where you came from!! ( but don't expect me to!)."
- " Not in my backyard."
- " Meditation? Too busy."
- " Alternate facts." Conway, USA 2017
" Truth. What is truth?" Pilate, Palestine 33A.D.
- "The Common Good and reasonable compromise?
No way, Jose!"
- The opiate of "stuff" and "rush."
- Teach to the test.
- Self doubt.
- Existential angst.
- Crowed aloneness.
- A Vogue life style.
These holes and rips in self and society hurt,
hurt like a cavity,
a hole in your tooth.
That's because something is missing.
These holes and rips mean
a lack of integrity ( "Integer," Latin for "One"),
a lack of
"Wholeness,"
gaps in how we are part of Reality.
Well, right now many of those in the Christian Tradition
are dedicating a whole week to just that -
"Wholeness."
They call it Holy Week,
a week focused on "Wholeness"
for self and society.
The "Holy" in Holy Week is short for "Wholeness,"
( just as "God" is short for "Good" ).
The psychologist and theologian,
Josef Goldbrunner,
says his book in its title:
Holiness is Wholeness.
Holiness in not something that happens mostly in monasteries,
or moments of meditation.
It's the experience of a Living Oneness,
alive and one in Reality,
One always and everywhere,
or, as the mystic, Julian of Norwich, called it ,
"Oneing."
Holiness is fullness, integrity, "Wholeness"
in the mind, heart, feelings,
in our deepest self
and all the way out to everyday life.
Holiness is oneness with Reality in our life style,
in our unity with others,
with Natue, in our work, politics, economics,
spiritual practices, recreation -
yes, Holiness is the experience of a Living Oneness.
It's being real.
So, whatever our spiritual settings and persuasions,
let's all dedicate this week to "Wholeness."
We can't earn it, or produce it.
We can simply relax into the integrity,
the fullness, the "Wholeness"
of Existence,
of Reality,
of Being itself.
It's already there.
All we need to do is show up.
Individually and collectively
all we have to do is
allow ourselves to be
in the dynamic flow that is the
Energy of the Universe,
and limitlessly beyond,
rather than abstract ourselves,
punching holes, tearing rips
in our participation of What Is,
Reality.
Now, we can't do this alone.
We need a community and tradition,
that is genuinely and fully
in the flow of Oneness,
of Wholeness.
One in community,
we share and experience
the wisdom, rituals and spiritual practices, grace
that address the holes and immerse us in Wholeness.
This whole week,
April 9-16,
there will be daily postings here offering follow up reflections
for our meditation and prayer,
during the whole week.
Here's a starter:
The love of God creates in us
such a oneing that when
it is truly seen, no person
can separate themselves
from another person.
Julian of Norwich
Showings 65
From wonder into wonder existence opens.
Lao Tzu
Blessings this whole week.
May it be for all
A WHOLE IN ONE.
John Frank
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Recently a whole new group of folks have joined in here at "frankly speaking."
Welcome!
It's ever so good to be together and share.
If you are one of the folks new here, please check out:
" What's Going On Here?"
Top of this page, down on right column
" Portals "
Top of this page, down on the right column to
Archives, November
These pieces would give a good orientation to "frankly speaking."
Again, welcome!
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.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
" I'M DIE'N TO LIVE!"
Hi There!
So, did you get your peas in yet?
Where I live here in New Jersey,
the folk lore for gardeners
is to get your peas planted by March 17th.,
the feast day of St. Patrick.
It is act one
in the drama of
a new growth season.
Granted, if you live in an apartment,
or don't garden,
talk about planting peas
may not overwhelm your interest level.
But please, stay tuned.
Embedded in the planting of seeds
is a foundational dynamic for all life.
It has everything to do
with our spirituality for the street,
where and how we live out our everyday,
ever so practical lives.
The planting of pea seeds
puts in clear relief
the paradox that
buried in growing is dying,
and in dying is growth.
Those seeds have to go down to go up.
Those seeds have to die to live.
Those seeds have to let go of
what they are
and how they are
so as to come alive
in a new and fuller way.
And that goes for us, too!
We all have to let go of
who and how we are just now
to be all we can become more and more without end.
That letting go means everything about us has to go,
good and bad, real and unreal.
We all like highs,
but we have to go low
to reach the heights.
The paradoxical dynamic here is that of dying and rising.
In the Christian Tradition
this counterintuitive dynamic is manifest
in the words and way of Jesus.
He said:
"Unless the grain of wheat
falls to the earth and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat.
But, if it dies,
it produces much fruit."
( John 12:24)
Jesus uses the metaphor of a seed
to put before us what is essential
for our spiritual development.
Let's look at it like this.
A flower seed "is,"
it "exists,"
it has "being,"
but just a touch.
If that tiny seed were to panic
and try to hold on to the little it is,
that's all it ever will be.
If, however,
the seed goes down into a soil grave
and is covered over,
all is lost in death,
all of what it was
and how it was.
Ah, but that falling apart in death
releases a potential deep down in the being of the seed -
the power to push against
the heaviness and darkness of the soil grave,
to break out into the sunlight
and be energized into growth as a beautiful daffodil.
That little flower seed is transformed, not destroyed by death.
It is resurrected into a whole new and fuller existence.
So for us!
Right now we are like little seeds.
We are real, we are alive.
If we try to cling to how and who we are so far,
we go no farther and eventually become dust in the atmosphere.
Conversely, if we die by giving away all we are and have,
in a loving donation to Creation,
the potential way deep in us is released,
we defy the grave,
and grow out of it
into a magnificent beauty and fullness
energized by the Radiance that is spoken of as God.
That loving donation to Creation
takes all sorts of generous, even heroic, forms:
- We give real recognition, respect and support to others.
That could mean everything from not tailgating
to marrying and having kids.
- We reverence and rejoice in Nature.
That could mean everything from recycling
to supporting initiatives to protect
water, air, soil and its growth.
- We give ourselves to a "life community."
That could mean being part of a religious group,
an intentional or alternate life sharing group
such as Shane Claiborne's inner city community,
the Camphill Village, a gay men's support group, AA,
Sojourners, a monastery or many such.
- We spend ourselves in the quest for social justice.
That could mean being politically active, tutoring at an ESL class,
paying day workers a full salary, being active in groups addressing refugee issues,
famine peril, infant and maternal mortality, as well as working for honest and just use
of social media..
- Vigorously embracing spiritual practices that open us to higher consciousness,
contemplation and mysticism.
That could mean saying the rosary, doing Yoga, meditating, reading sacred texts,
having a spiritual guide, guided retreats,and happily many others.
This whole paradoxical, counterintuitive dynamic was
personalized and lived out by Jesus rather beautifully.
He spent himself for others.
He taught, touched, cared, cured.
He modeled this giving away of self.
He gave himself away in the crucifixion
and came alive in a glorious new way in the resurrection.
In his death he poured out the fullness that was his for others.
In his resurrection he overcame the limits of death
for all who accept the invitation to abide in him.
I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me,
even though they die,
yet shall they live.
( John 11:25 )
We are blessed with another beautiful version of this paradoxical, counterintuitive dynamic
from the Sufi mystical tradition:
" Knock, and He'll open the door.
Vanish, and He'll make you shine like the sun.
Fall, and He'll raise you to the heavens.
Become nothing, and He'll you into everything."
( Rumi )
The Buddhist and Hindu traditions phrase all this in terms of reincarnation.
We reincarnate again and again until we are perfect and can reunite with The Source.
There is this wonderful potential in a seed to be way more than that.
It's like that with us.
Great to have this chance to garden together.
Thanks for the good company.
John Frank
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What a delight to have new friends and participants !
Welcome!
If you are open to a bit of an orientation, please check out:
- What's Going On Here?
( right column, top of this page )
- Portals
( scroll down through Older Posts below )
New contributions are generally posted toward the end of the week.
Thanks for your visit!
John Frank
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Wednesday, March 22, 2017
WHAT'S THE RUSH?
Hi There!
So, we all like a "Rush."
You know, like the rush
the first time you had sex
{ and hopefully many more times since!!),
landing a really good job,
or getting a significant promotion,
inheriting a sizable amount of money,
holding your newborn,
and years and dollars later
watching her graduate from college
( able and ready to get herself through grad school !!!),
during meditation, being mystically enfolded
into blissful Oneness with all that is
( doesn't get better than that ).
Rushes like these are expansive, energizing " highs."
There are other " rushes," though,
that don't expand,
but contract,
that don't energize,
but sap energy and leave as depleted:
- pressure for endlessly increased productivity,
whether on the line or at corporate.
- a schedule that is so packed that it bursts the belt of balance.
- literally "rushing " from intensity to intensity.
That kind of rushing. while promising that we'll get ahead,
trips us up physically, emotionally, spiritually, and every other "..ly,"
and lands us exhausted flat on our face.
It's flat out to fall.
It's rushing to ruin.
We live in the midst of a cultural value, even insistence,
that rush is right and the key to " the good life."
In actuality, that cultural value
devalues the quality of life, personally and socially.
Sure, there are times we darn well better rush,
say if the kitchen stove is on fire,
or our child come in from play with a bad cut.
Beyond that level of urgency, though,
there really isn't a humane need for rushing.
In fact, there is a humane need
to slow down and catch up with
a rich, full, sensitive, connected and spiritual style of life.
It takes sense and guts to go counter cultural,
but that's the price for balance and fullness.
I began, underscore " began," to get all this.
during my student summers.
I worked at our local cemetery
( the irony of making a living in the midst of death!)
Well, actually it was a pretty good deal.
It meant being outdoors all day,
getting paid to work out,
and the gift of meeting Old Mike.
Mike was well into his seventies,
and had been a laborer all his life.
I was a grad student in my early twenties.
As a young man Mike had immigrated here from Italy
( wonder if he'd get through these days ).
Being a young buck,
I flew into whatever job there was to do.
Mike had a cadence and rhythm to the way he worked.
My rushing propelled me across the surface of things.
Mike took the time to be a "life artist,"
to connect, to be drawn into union
with the beauty and goodness of things,
whether that be digging the earth,
putting on a sweater,
lighting up his stinky Italian cigar
( we teased him that at least it kept the flies away ), or
sculpting a wedge of cheese into bite sized pieces for lunch.
Mike connected and experienced.
He savored life.
There was soul in in how he was and what he did.
Mike was a contemplative,
connected with the extraordinary
through the supposed ordinary.
I was a speed demon,
missing a lot until I began to see Mike,
not just at work,
but at life.
Slowly I began to hear the symphony the birds offered,
to see the marvelous dress and coloration of the flowers,
to feel the hardness of rock,
to smell the earthiness of soil,
to taste the yeastiness of a beer at lunch.
All sorts of beauty and goodness drew my soul
to fuller awareness, often to rapture,
a whole wonderful "Rush" of a higher order,
the "Rush" of truly mystical moments
that where beyond time.
I slowly caught a bit of the wisdom in the old Roman adage,
" Festina lente."
"Rush slowly."
So, instead of rushing the down I-80's of life at 80 miles an hour,
and missing all through which we pass,
let's take some back roads,
enjoy a slower ride,
and everything along the way.
That's spirituality for the street of life,
real everyday life,
and it transports us to true mystical Oneness.
Here are some meditation prompts.
May they help us slow down
so we can mellow into meaning,
and experience a
REAL RUSH.
I would love to live
Like the river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.
John O'Donohue,
"Fluent," Conamara Blues
Cliff Street Books, 2001
In patience you will win your soul.
Jesus
Luke 21: 19
A mind that is fast is sick.
A mind that is slow is sound.
A mind that is still is divine.
Meher Baba
Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush,
anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on,
so the children have very little time for their parents.
Parents have very little time for each other,
and in the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world.
Mother Teresa
...learn the unforced rhythms of grace...
Jesus
Matthew 11:29
The Message
In silence the is eloquence.
Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves.
Rumi
Patient Trust
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability -
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually -
let them grow,
let them shape themselves without undo haste.
Don't try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
{ that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your good will )
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ
Food shall be washed, chopped, sautéed, and baked
with a grateful attitude and with tender loving care.
While eating you shall restrict yourself from all actions that distract you from the food,
such as driving, watching TV, or working.
Whenever possible, food shall be eaten in the company of others.
When that is not possible, eat in the presence of the holy.
Light a candle or place yourself in harmony with God's creation
by eating outside, near a window, or with a flower or plant.
Each eating experience should include a time of centering,
remembering God's goodness,
and offering an expression of thanks.
All negative emotions surrounding eating should be avoided.
You shall come to God's table free from guilt and shame
and leave God's table filled with the grace and love
God is offering to us in this food.
By grace we are given the chance to live each new day
in right relationship with God, our neighbors, and our food.
Ingrid Friesen Moser
quoted in
Simply in Season
Thanks for the chance to be together here.
May we all slow down enough to experience
expansive, energizing "highs" - a
REAL RUSH
John Frank
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A warm welcome to our new arrivals.
Thanks for your company.
To get a bit of orientation, please check out
- What's Going On Here?
( top, right column )
- Portals
( for this and all past postings,
either keep scrolling down or
go to Archives, top, right column ).
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017
SPRINGING
Hi There!
So, those of us on the east coast are shivering as
we dig out from Tuesday's surprise blizzard.
That not withstanding,
nature is ready to Spring,
to "spring forth" in
fragrance, color, warmth,
unfoldings and flowerings
beyond measure.
Nature's "springing" is
the Energy of the Universe,
the Dynamism of Love,
the Limitless Goodness
we call God,
uncoiling, bursting out
in a Lover's Embrace of us.
Wonder-filled is Nature's grandeur,
swelling up from the
"...dearest freshness deep down things..."
The poem, God's Grandeur,
celebrates that while noting our violation of it,
our closing off to Love's Embrace, yet
"...And for all this, nature is never spent...
Because the Holy Ghost over bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings."
"Springing" reminds us,
" re -hearts " us,
that we really don't , even can't, find God.
That Goodness is,
and we are invited to awaken to it,
to delight in The Embrace.
Out here on the street of life where
"...all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared...
wears man's smudge..."
our spirits are lifted, freed, filled
as we unthaw, relax into
The Embrace "Springing " for us.
Hopkins' poem is a marvelous "spring board" for that.
GOD'S GRANDEUR
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Thomas Merton echoed Hopkins:
"We are living in a word that is absolutely transparent and
the divine is shining through it all the time."
Rumi reminds us that
" Beauty surrounds us,
but usually we need to be walking in a garden
to know it."
Richard Rohr invites us to pray,
to resonate with
"...the eternal mystery that
enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things."
God for us, we call you Father.
God alongside us, we call you Jesus.
God within us, we call you Holy Spirit.
You are the eternal mystery that enables, enfolds, and enlivens all things,
Even us and even me.
Every name falls short of your goodness and greatness.
We can only see you in what is.
We ask for such perfect seeing -
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.
Amen ( so be it.)
Richard Rohr's daily email, Center for Action and Contemplation,
March 10,2017
So, let's take a walk and pray
as we get lost in
God's Grandeur
"Springing."
Thanks for this time together.
Holding you in
God's Dearest Love,
John Frank
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New offerings are usually posted toward the end of the week.
For past postings, please scroll down.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2017
" MAY I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION"
Hi There!
So,
"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
It's been a week since my last confession.
These are my sins.
I had impure thoughts many times every day."
That was a typical lead for the "soul script" of teenage boys
coming to confession when I was a young priest.
Their "impure thoughts" were sexual images and fantasies
sprung from a pubescent "hormonal upheaval."
Well, this confessor needs to confess that
I, too, am plagued with
"impure thoughts many times every day."
Do I have your attention?
You see, that's my problem:
ATTENTION !!!
My attention to fundamental, foundation, deep down
Goodness - God -
is blurred to blindness
by an impure haze over my spirit, my center self, my soul.
Its pollutants are pride, selfishness, fear, laziness,
and a batch of not a bit likable "impurities."
It's a terrible play in too many acts:
- Feigning attention while not really being interested in a person
- Smiling as a defense rather than as a soul stretch
- Saying the right thing for the totally wrong reason
- Planning next weeks schedule at a Bach concert
- Mentally reviewing my investment portfolio while playing with the kids
- Strolling through Lockwood Gardens and brewing up a really nasty response
to a really nasty relative
- Reading sacred texts to anchor my position
rather than be treated to a revelation of Goodness.
- Volunteering at Habitat for Humanity to rack up community service points at work.
These "impurities," and their smudged cousins, cause a disconnect
between my real self, my soul self, my Center Self and
The Good, The God, of Right Now, Right Here.
That Goodness Present, That God Present, is just that
in people, daffodils, indeed all of nature, service, striving for social justice,
sacred texts, work, science, learning, a glass of wine, making love, contemplation and prayer,
the arts - Goodness present in everyone and everywhere.
The trouble is, I'm not!
My "impurities" haze over this Goodness Present.
All this became ever clearer to me the other day.
I was spending time with a friend.
There's a lot of Good Present in him.
I was missing most of it because I was busy trying to score points
as a saint and sage with him.
Well, that's this edition of My True Confessions.
Here's the hope:
- To purely, to really notice God Present however, wherever that presence manifests.
- To give "soul attention" (i.e. "Center Self" attention )
to wherever I may be,
to whomever I may be with.
- To give myself an Attention Check every morning, noon and night
( how real am I at really being present to all that is present? )
- To thank " God Present " for waiting 'til I get there!!!
Here it is
SCRIPTURE STRAIGHT
from my tradition:
The Pollution:
" There are those who are pure in their own eyes
and yet are not cleansed of their own filth."
Proverbs 30:12
The Promise:
" Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God."
Matthew 5:8
Let's clean the lens!
" God Present " loves you, and so do I ( Really!)
John Frank
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Please scroll down for past postings.
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017
" THE DEVIL YOU SAY! "
Hi There!
So, remember Flip Wilson?
If you do, I'll bet you're already lightning up
and starting to smile just at the mention of his name.
If you don't, " Get thee to a YouTube."
so you, too, can lighten up
and start to smile a bit more.
Flip Wilson was an African American comedian.
His show on NBC ran during the early 70's and was immensely popular.
Flip was something of a modern day court jester
( boy, could we use him today!!).
He pointedly poked fun at our pomposity and picadillos
by playing a variety of hilarious characters.
There was The Reverend LeRoy, pastor of The Church Of What's Happening Now
( " What see is what you get!" ).
There was Herbie, The Ice Cream Man with an attitude.
And then of course, there was Geraldine,
a sassy, assertive, and delightfully misbehaving woman
and her boyfriend, Killer.
Geraldine would regularly go off the rails and do naughty.
When confronted, she would just rear back
and let you know rather vigorously
"The devil made me do it!"
Way before Flip Wilson, Matthew wrote a gripping story
about the adventures of a Palestinian Jew named Jesus.
Well into mid-life ( life expectancy in those days was about 45 ),
Jesus emerged into an intense public life for three years.
His kick off was a symbol of solidarity with us and
the messier parts of our human experience.
Jesus joined the crowds and hiked down to the Jordan River.
There he got dunked in purifying waters by his cousin, John.
As he emerged from the Jordan,
Jesus experienced an intense affirmation
of who he was and what he needed to do.
Before he took off for all that, he went through a rigorous test flight.
All alone, that took place in a vast desert area over a 40 day period -
reminiscent of Moses's 40 year desert exile as well as
the 40 years his ancestors wondered around in the desert
during their test flight,
trying to work out the kinks as a chosen people.
Jesus' test fight was electrifying.
Negative challenges brought forth positive affirmations.
Put simply, Jesus was tempted not to be who he was and
not to do what was his to do.
Unlike Geraldine, the devil couldn't make him fall for it.
Jesus' metal was tested in the same ways ours is.
For him, as for us, that testing, those temptations,
are in some form or other an urge to be unreal
by the misuse of
PLEASURE
PRIVILIGE
POWER.
PLEASURE
TEMPTER: Hey, Jesus, let's face it, you're hungry.
Enough already!
You've been through a lot.
You deserve to feel good.
" IF "
you are who you think you are,
just cut short this fasting business,
and chow down.
Use your app there
and in no time a Papa John's Pizza
will be delivered by drone.
JESUS:
Get real!
US:
For us it isn't turning stones to bread, or ordering out for pizza.
For us it's being destabilized,
disconnected from our true selves and our life task
by trying to antidote our stresses
with an opiate of misplaced pleasure:
Things are pretty chilly in the bedroom most nights,
and is my coworker ever hot and raring to toss the salad.
I work hard, so I deserve a lot of toys.
I'll feel good if I shop till I drop.
I could stop over eating/drinking, even smoking, if I wanted to.
PRIVILIGE
TEMPTER:
Hey Jesus.
" IF "
you really are who you think you are,
let's get some big time media exposure.
We pull a number no one else has thought of.
We get all the media outlets here.
So you jump out of a plane
with no parachute.
You have this celestial expression on your face.
We'll supply the media with sound from Handel's Messiah.
We can arrange to have cameras in the plane,
on you, and at the, what will it be, "crash/landing" site.
There's thousands of feet of free fall.
You bless the crowds below.
Then a thousand feet from splatter,
your team flies under you with a huge net
slung between their two planes,
and scoops you up at two hundred feet above the crowd.
We ramp up the sound track to the Allelulia Chorus.
I mean you'll get more coverage and comment than even Trump.
JESUS:
Get real!
US:
I'll take everything I can get as a white male.
Because I am a big contributor to this
(church, club, political party, cause ...... )
I want you to ................,
or not to..........................
Hey, I pay the bills around here,
so I call the shoots, got it?
POWER
TEMPTER:
Let me tell you Jesus,
I have enormous holding,
I out buffet Buffett,
so I'll deal you in big time,
'IF"
sign over who you are and what you do to me
and my organization.
.
JESUS:
Get real!
US:
You'll have to fit in time with the kids when you can,
but I need you here early to late, and on call 24/7.
I know we're cutting a few corners,
but it has really bumped up revenues big time,
so just stifle your questions about product safety.
Hey, those ( name your minority )
will work their toes off for way less
than other people I could hire.
Kiss my, ok, "ankle," and I'll move yo to the top of our
( church, party, company, college...).
Jesus passed his rigorous flight test.
Basically, he told the tempter to go to hell!!
He went steady and straight, stayed the course.
He then was able to really take off and soared
doing what he was all about,
because he held true to who he was and what was his to do.
The same can be true for us.
It might be helpful during our
Lenten Work Out
to chronicle the actual temptations we face,
being specific and honest as we do this in our journals.
(Don't forget to keep them securely away from nosy eyes.
It's a mixed metaphor and it happens!!).
We should note:
Where do I tend to get unreal?
What are my soft spots?
When do I tend to cave?
Then to each of those temptation bring an affirmation of
WHO YOU REALLY ARE,
WHAT IS REALLY YOURS TO DO.
Make them specific and practical
" Sure I want to take good care of my family
and make a lot of money,
but I will not sell my soul to the company store.
So, if a different company and a lesser salary
means I'm home nights and weekends with the family,
then let's barbecue!!
Our journal entries should be statements of how we express our own
" GET REAL!"
in the face of temptations to misplaced
PLEASURE
PRIVILEGE
POWER.
We all have a unique and sacred self
as well as a creative flow from that center.
A good part of our
LENTEN WORK OUT
is the exercise of affirming them against the temptations
to get talked out of ourselves.
So come on Geraldine!
The devil can't make you do it!!
Here's celebrating the real you
and all the good that flows from you!
I'm praying for all of us.
May we bring vigor to our
LENTEN WORK OUT!!
So good to be with you!!
Holding you in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
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