What is Life? by Leaven

I hardly know how to express in words what I want to say.

On the one hand, I believe that for me, Leaven, to be alive, is to be a hidden agent of transformation, "Through, With and In" the living Bread that we call the Christ, and whom we believe is One Being with the Living God.

On the other hand, I often have moments of questioning, what does it mean to be who I am? Who is this consciousness that I identify as me? How will it exist apart from this physical body that I identify as my body? In a sense, I am aware that it already does exist apart from this body - sometimes body, mind and spirit feel very disconnected, in fact.

I have no answers, only questions and wonderings that arise again and again. I do believe that there is a "me" that will exist in a new way beyond the limitations of this body of flesh and bones. I belive it will be identifiable as "me" in new ways that don't depend on physical characteristics. Maybe by personality? By the quality of love that I hope will have come to fruition in me? This is my belief and my hope, and "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1).

Where Is The Love? by Querci

In my last post All You Need Is Love? I was suggesting that Love is the only appropriate response to any circumstance. The problem is that so many different people use the word “love” in so many different ways that I get confused. 


The kind of love I’m talking about, that I’m saying is “the only appropriate response to any circumstance,” is the "God-Is-My-Everything-Love" that the Bible talks about. 


Now obviously, saying that “God-Is-My-Everything-Love” is the only appropriate response to any circumstance,” looks really good on paper. But, in practice, what does a genuine "God-Is-My-Everything-Love" response look like, and feel like, especially in difficult situations?

What does a genuine "God-Is-My-Everything-Love" response look like?
As Ember and Leaven pointed out, the Bible explains that genuine "God-Is-My-Everything-Love" responses look and feel a certain way. Responses that don’t have the look and feel of "God-Is-My-Everything-Love," may call themselves Love, but they aren’t the genuine "God-Is-My-Everything-Love" responses that the Bible talks about...they are something else.

"God-Is-My-Everything-Love" Responses:

Patient

Kind

Humble

Peaceful

Easygoing

Friendly

Gentle

Encouraging

Build up

Mature

Genuine

Forgiving

Faithful

God focused

Rejoice in truth

"Something Else" Responses:

Impatient

Rude

Arrogant

Quarrelsome

Pushy

Irritable

Rough

Discouraging

Bring down

Childish

Hypocritical

Resentful

Fearful

World focused

Rejoice in “being right”

How do I respond with genuine "God-Is-My-Everything-Love" when I don’t feel it? Sometimes, conforming to the "God-Is-My-Everything-Love" rule, (Whew! I’m going to shorten it to GIMEL for the rest of the post. OK? Thanks), can be a bitter pill to swallow for any number of reasons. Like, if someone is being quarrelsome, I feel as if I ought to defend myself, or my pride, even when the other person isn't listening. Then before I know it, I'm all quarrelsome too! ...especially when I’m grumpy, or afraid, or something.

What do I do then? I suck it up and do it anyway! It’s more important for me to respond with GIMEL than it is for me to feel comfortable. I don’t have to want to respond with GIMEL, but I do it, nevertheless, because that’s how I get to learn more about God. It's the way God has told us that he wants us to respond, and it’s my job to listen. 


What if I make a mistake and respond with “Something Else” instead of GIMEL?” I suck it up and do what I need to do to make things right on my part because that’s how I get to return to a GIMEL state of mind and learn more about God. It’s the way God has told us that he wants us to respond, and it’s my job to listen.


Sometimes at first, I find certain people so irritating that the only reason I’m even willing to try responding with GIMEL is out of faith that doing so will teach me something new about God. 


The cool thing is that eventually, as the new pieces of the puzzle become more clear to me, the GIMEL response is not so hard anymore, because I see that the new pieces are so awesome that they overshadow whatever it was that used to irritate me so much.

If you haven't tried it already, give it a shot! It's pretty wonderful!

All You Need Is Love? by Querci

Welcome Halcyon8 and Leaven! I’m super glad you’ve joined us.

Remember in my last post Now That’s Good Fruit I was going to go shopping for a fruit tester because I was worried that I might be cutting myself off from part of God by rejecting his good fruit in others when I don’t recognize it? 

Well guess what? It turns out I don’t need to buy a fruit tester because someone else is going to test it for me. Guess who? GOD!

The answer was right there all along in the letter to the Colossians 2:2-3. Paul told them that the tool they need to tell the difference between Image of God Fruit and rotten fruit is LOVE. And, of course, God IS love!

So Love is going to sort it for me, and God is love, therefore God is going to sort it for me. Does that make sense?

Love is so powerful that it’s absolutely mind boggling to me! 

Right now I'm imagining it like a force field that only lets Image of God Fruit in, (i.e. Love), and keeps everything else out. 

This sure simplifies things for me! When I let Love do the work for me, I don’t have to wonder, “What should I do about this thing”, or “that person,” in each circumstance, because the only appropriate response is Love: 

• If someone trying to share their image of God fruit with me, love lets it in. (Phil 1:9-10; 1 John 4:12)
• If someone is hiding their image of God fruit from me, love seeks it out and brings it to me. (Matt 5:44-48)
• If someone is throwing rotten fruit at me, love keeps it out, and teaches that person a lesson at the same time. (Eph 6:11; Rom 12:17-21)
• When I’m having a hard time incorporating everything, Love glues it all together for me. (Col 3:14)

Love is simultaneously our God, our goal, our prize, our path, our plan, our destination, our shield, our food, our everything!

I do have to admit though, that in some ways, complying with this standard is going to be quite challenging for me. I’m kind of embarrassed to confess that there is a small part of me that wants to make those bad fruit throwers of the world suffer, and for them to know, that I know, that they know, that I know, that they are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Sometimes this impulse is very hard for me to control. But at the same time I also have to acknowledge that with the whole I know, that they know, that I know, that they are Wrong thing, there is a part of me that enjoys it, 

but also another part of me that suffers from it. And the part of me that feels good about sticking it to someone is not a part of me that I’m proud of, and the part of me that hurts when I stick it to someone, is the part of me that I want to work on healing and strengthening.

Not only that, but what choice do I have? God vs. Not God. That’s a no brainer! Furthermore, I know that when this way of Love does get hard, all I need to do is ask God and he’ll send me all the help I want. And since I’ll be focused on his name, or nature, that is to say, Love, I’ll be asking “in his name” and guaranteed to receive the extra help I need.

What is the Gospel of Christ? by Ember

I would like to propose a question. Who is Paul refering to in Galatians when he says, "we"?

"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gosple contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed." (Gal 1:8)

Because it seems that we, who are drawn to the gospel of Christ and believe and receive the Spirit because of it, need to always be vigilant in determing that the gospel we receive is not perverted. We have the right and obligation to point out ways in which we are taught to turn aside from the gospel of Christ by those who are in positions of authority. If we are being troubled by the authority for living the gospel, why should we submit to any yoke other than to the yoke of Jesus Christ which we first received?

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."  (Gal 5:1)

And what is the gospel of Christ that we first received? Wasn't it to be servants of one another in love and not to bind under the law?

"For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Gal 5:14)

When the law hinders me in loving my neighbor, I think there is a flaw in the interpretation of the law. Just like the early Christians were persecuting the Gentiles because they were not circumcised.  They were letting a law get in the way of loving their neighbor. Paul even had to repremand Peter for not standing up for the Gentiles and their right to remain uncircumcised (Gal 2:11-16)

"Are you so foolish?  Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?"  (Gal 3:3)

I wonder why so many Christians think it is OK to act in unloving ways to people whom they judge to be sinners when our only concern should be love.

"Owe one another nothing, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." (Rom 13:8)

And while I believe it is right to discuss what is good and what is bad, no man should be bound by another's scruples.

"For why should my liberty be determined by another man's scruples? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?"  (Gal 10:29-30)

Now I am speaking as if to adults, for all children are obligated to follow the will of their parents and not determine for themselves. But honoring parents is different when one becomes an adult. With respect you listen, but you act according to your own conscience.

". . . for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child.  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.  Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity, not again laying the foundation from dead works and of faith toward God, with instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." (Heb 5:14-6:1-2)

I don't know about you, but I don't feel as if I need to be breastfed anymore, yuk!  I respectfully decline because I am an adult.

What is the strength of love? by Halcyon8

A friend today told me that love is support and that support is crucial for love to flourish. It stuck with me. When I feel love it does support me. When I love something or someone, I want to support them; I really want them to flourish! There've been a few times in life, a few people, who though they said they loved me, I didn't feel loved, and I wasn't being spiritually or emotionally supported, and it took so much more energy to flourish on my own. What is support? What is love? And what does it mean to be strong and flourish?

Strength

It’s in the being beautiful of who you were created to be.

It’s in being uniquely you when it would be easier not to.

It’s in the ability to adapt

to all that was in store, set in motion

by God, the Universe, Chaos

whenever you were conceived.

It’s in the ability to weave

yourself, your part of our divine tapestry.

I’m not the person my parents wanted me to be

and learning that was scary

b/c the map they gave me had no bearing on my journey.

I worried they’d think I was crazy…they did.

Or indignant or ignorant, even

those things that are worse…they did.

Despite which, they’d filled my heart with love which

is God and guided me.

I believed in me to do my best

to be the most beautiful me

in love and charity and humility,

that then the people close to me would certainly see

God had made me me.

I believed my family would be at ease

seeing the beautiful person that was me.

What shame is it now, my failure

that my sister closest me, that SHE could finally say

b/c of you I know for sure it’s wrong to be gay.

Because of you

Because of you

Because of you, she said.

What’s left for me to do to prove

My validity to you?  Losing you…

it started a crack in my stomach

spread an earthquake in my heart

rattled my body, raging

a tsunami through my eyes, and

aftershocks come each time

I miss you. What day don’t I remember you, in everything?

I’ll never forget you’re mine.

My sister.


I promise me my love is earthquake safe.
I’m strong enough to weave
this life, to breathe through disaster.
I promise I’ll be strong enough
to love you to death

Practically Perfect in Every Way, by Ember

You probably think I am talking about Mary Poppins right, Querci?  Nope.  I'm talking about Jesus.  Now don't freak out!  I know Jesus is perfect, but what does it mean to be perfect as a human?  Are we to suppose that Jesus never made one mistake his whole entire life?  I don't think so.  Of course he made mistakes, he just never sinned because of them.  Let me tell a hypothetical story involving Jesus to illustrate.

Jesus is talking to his friend Zachariah and Zachariah invites Jesus over for dinner the next evening.  Zachariah tells Jesus that his address is 223 Matzo Ave.  So the next day Jesus walks up to 232 Matzo Ave. and knocks on the door.  No one answers so he knocks again and shouts, "Hey Zach, are you in there?"  A few seconds later Jesus hears a baby crying and a very irate lady opens the door and tells him that he just woke up her baby and now she won't have time to go shopping.  Jesus feels really bad about the situation and apologizes.  " I'm really sorry, I'm looking for Zach," he says.  "Zach?  Zachariah lives at 223, this is 232 you schlemiel!"  the lady says  .  .  .

Now just freeze here for a moment.  This situation looks pretty hopeless.  How can our perfect guy, Jesus, go around making silly mistakes like this and causing disharmony in the world.  That is not perfect.  Lord help us.  What is Jesus going to do to fix this situation?  Let's see.

Jesus takes a second to compose himself after the shock of realizing his mistake and puts away any hurt feelings he might have because of the lady's harsh reaction to it.  He says, "Woman, I am truly sorry for erroneously coming to your door and waking your baby.  Let me make it up to you.  I will come by tomorrow and watch the baby for you and you can go to the fish market for as long as you want.  I'm really good with kids."  The lady is pleased by Jesus' response and agrees.  A few days later she is heard saying to someone, "That Yeshua, he is a really nice boy, and so polite!"

There is no darkness left  in that situation.  I would have to say, in fact, that everything is better than if Jesus had not even made a mistake to begin with.  Jesus had an opportunity to act in a loving way and be of service to someone, and the lady had an opportunity to forgive and made a new friend.  That's crazy!  Perfection out of imperfection.  That must be some kind of miracle.  Jesus was perfectly imperfect!  With the sincere desire to not sin and the help of God's grace and Jesus' example I think I can be perfectly imperfect too!  Not tomorrow or next week, but today, Querci!  Are you with me?

Ember

Now That's Good Fruit! by Querci

Ember, 


I have a little test for you. 


Look at the three fruit below and tell me which you think are good and which are rotten: 

It looks like the first one is good and the other two are rotten. But it’s a trick Ember! 


It’s hard to tell the difference on the outside, but when you look inside you can see that the first fruit is a good banana, the second fruit is a rotten banana, 

and the third is a plantain, which looks like a rotten banana on the outside, but it’s still good fruit. Just a different sort of fruit. 


Now I’m going to be serious for a minute. Imagine that the fruit stands for both the good things we do and the bad things we do. The good fruit comes from our share of the of the image, essence, or Spirit of God. The rotten fruit comes from things we do that are not from the image. 


Here’s the part that bothers me: what if my share of the image was like a banana, and some other person’s share of the image were a plantain? I might just assume that every rotten-looking banana thing they tossed at me was rotten fruit, and block it, toss it out, or hurl it back, and never, ever learn about the plantain image of God!

I would be rejecting God! I’d be limiting my portion of the image instead of building up the image of God inside of me! It makes me feel sick to think that I might cut myself off from part of God without even being aware that I’m doing it!


That’s what I was talking about in my last post, Rumpelstiltskin, when I said that sorting through the slings and arrows of nasty people to find the good stuff was going to take some detective work. We need to test all that fruit before we can be sure it’s really rotten and not some kind of tricky new fruit!

All I need to do now is get myself a fruit tester! Do you think they sell any at Wal-Mart?

Rumpelstiltskin, by Querci

Ember,


I think I’ve got a work-around for the problem I brought up in my last post Puzzle Pieces of the difficulty of learning about the image of God from nasty people! It’s so simple! RUMPELSTILTSKIN! 


Remember the freaky little guy from the fairytale who was going to get the queen’s baby because she couldn’t guess his name? So she sent someone to spy on him and her guy saw the freaky guy dancing around the fire bragging that the queen would never guess his name was Rumpelstiltskin.

My point is that, through a little detective work, she was able to learn his “name,” even though he didn’t want her to know it and never would have told her. I think we can apply this lesson to our current challenge. 


What if during the day some naughty, mean person did nine nasty things and then one good thing. Wouldn’t that one good thing still reflect something about the name, essence, or image of God into the world?


I think the Apostle Paul is agreeing with that in Ephesians when he says:

for the fruit of the light [Christ] is found in all that is good and right and true. (Eph 5:9)

So what we need to do now is somehow isolate that one good thing, focus hard on that, and try not to get distracted by all the nasty stuff.

Sifting through all that rotten stuff might not be pleasant, but just imagine Ember! With a little detective work We could be, at least nearly, ONE WITH GOD, right here, right now, on this Earth! I’m talking St.-Theresa-Seventh-Mansion, St.-Thomas-Aquinas-Everything-Else-Is-Straw Mystical Union with GOD! We wouldn’t have to wait for heaven!

And if we can build up the image of Christ in us even without other people actively helping us, can you imagine what the world would be like if EVERYONE on Earth was working toward that same goal and trying to help one another along with it?! I think the world would be very different.


Of course, all this assumes that we can really tell the difference between the image of God stuff and the rotten stuff. Maybe it’s not so simple after all.

Puzzle Pieces, by Querci

Ember, I’ve been thinking a lot about my last two posts What Does Invisible Look Like? and Please, Sir, I Want Some More.

We were talking about how the Bible tells us that Christ is the fullness of the image of the invisible God. 

And how God entrusted each of us regular people with different pieces of that image.

And all of our pieces together make up the body of Christ. 

And since we each have a different piece, we can learn more and different things about God from one another.

So I'm thinking that if we want to build up a complete picture of Christ inside of ourselves, we need a piece of the puzzle from everyone.

Of course that’s no problem with you Ember because you’re so easy to get along with.

The problem is that there are all sorts of difficult people out there who might refuse to cooperate with me, but I still need their pieces of the puzzle anyway!

What am I supposed to do? The first solution that popped into my mind was to hit uncooperative people over the head and take their pieces while they’re unconscious, but I know there’s got to be a better way.

You are Anointed, by Ember

Boy do I owe you an apology, Querci! 


Remember back when we were talking about  "What's in a name"?  Well, I said I wanted to take you seriously "regardless of your other qualifications", as if you may not have had any.  I should have backed you up better than that.  I still believe that we should listen to everyone, personally.  But that being said, you do have qualifications as regards the Catholic Church.  I know you received the sacrament of Confirmation.  It is your qualification.  During confirmation a person is anointed with oil (chrism) and,

 By this anointing the confirmed receives the "mark," the seal of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 1295)  

And this anointing most assuredly is a qualification of great value.  Listen to what the Catechism states next,

This "character" perfects the common priesthood of the faithful, received in Baptism, and "the confirmed person receives the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and as it were officially (quasi ex officio)." St. Thomas, CCC 1305 

OFFICIALLY, uh huh, you heard me! Given this It would seem that, not only are you well qualified to speak about your faith, you even have the duty, because of what you have received, to speak on behalf of your faith and the church you belong to. 


 Let us all listen to one another and learn from one another.


Ember

The Rich Man, by Ember

And as he was setting on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.' And he said to him, "Teacher, all these things I have observed from my youth." And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. (Mk 10:17-22)

I wonder, Querci, will you believe that I mean no disrespect when I say this? What would the Catholic Church do if Jesus said this to us? I mean to Rome, the Vatican. What happened to, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics"? (Lk 9:3)

Ember