Being The Beloved

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Spirit Moments

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“And when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'” Luke 3:21-22

I have always felt I am blessed. Looking back at my recent experiences, I am dismayed how I have forgotten and lost sight of this precious insight. Since my youth, I have always felt and knew I was different and that I was special. Not that I am particularly outstanding but that there no other one like me. I am one of a kind and therefore special.

Would the world be better or worse if I were not born? I will never know; because the fact is I exist and I will never know of a world without me. The world is what it is today; and it has me in it. There is no other way the world can exist. No less than the trees and the sky, I have a right to be here. There is a reason I am here.

I have led a happy and fulfilled life. I had everything I needed to do what I have done. There is nothing that I deeply wanted or truly needed that I did not have. I love explorations and new things; I was given a life that continuously opened new and undiscovered places, people and events I never have imagined possible. And I have been a big part in some people’s lives. I love beauty and I have been blessed with the beautiful, the good and the true to fill up all my senses. like. I love music; but I cannot sing properly and often out of tune. But my life had been lived like a soundtrack is always playing in the background, surrounded as I have been with friends and family who play the most beautiful sounds and rhythms.

All of what have happened to me may have happened because it was the natural unfolding of things. Like, I do not need a god to explain or understand how good my life has been. And yet here is the thrilling thought: there is a God who has a personal interest in me, for whom I am special and a beloved. It simply blows my mind that a though of me resides in an infinite mind.

There are those who have more than I do, who are more than I am. That does not bother me nor do I envy them. It is enough that I am loved in an infinite way by a loving God who has called me by name and in whose palm my name is written for eternity.

There are those who have less than I do, who are less than I am. I care for them and I can imagine myself being one of them. I do what I can to help but I also learn to accept the possibility that I could be one of them. I can live with only half of what I have or am, and maybe even less, and still live a happy and fulfilled life. Knowing that I am loved by God is portion enough for me.

 

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Channeling Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Spirit Moments

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“After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.”

In my younger days, I would often imagine myself being like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Seagulls spend their days scavenging for food while riding the wind thermals along the shore. Jonathan was different. He wanted to explore the secrets and lessons of flight. He’d forego food and instead practice flying. When other seagulls were foraging for something to eat, he was busy testing the limits of how far, how high and for how long he can fly. He chose to be different.

One can easily get caught up in the busy-ness of daily living: establishing a career, pursuing a profession, raising a family, and even contributing to the community. Daily mundane tasks have us scampering from one place to another: commuting, doing the groceries, keeping house, and even doing our daily exercises. I sometimes find myself on auto pilot, moving from one activity to another through sheer routine and habit.

I can chose to be different. Instead of mindless activity, I can chose to go into mindful stillness and quiet. Instead of being busy looking or preparing for something to eat and drink, I can learn that there is a hunger in my soul that food cannot satisfy, a thirst in my body that no drink can quench, and a longing in my heart that no pleasure of  the senses can gratify.

In the stillness and the quiet, I come to know my limits and inadequacies, my pains and disappointment, my fears and my frustrations. But I also discover there are ways to go beyond them, go around them, and even go and grow because of them. I learn over time and practice that I am connected to a God, who revealed Himself as “I Am”. He gave me a mind that can reason and I respond saying, “I think, therefore I am.” He gave me a heart to build relationships and I respond saying, “I love, therefore I am.” And He gave me hands to give and to make things and I respond saying, “I do, therefore I am.”

Life is what I choose to make of it.

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Daily Miracles

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Spirit Moments

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“As Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”

People flocked to Jesus because He taught them many things; but also because ( and maybe even more so) He performed miracles: He fed them from a few loaves; He turned water into wine; He healed those who were sick and He even raised the dead.

I often also look to Jesus, and to God, for such miracles in my own life. I pray for my life to be easy and problem-free. I want everything I need to be there when and where and how I want them. I pray for answers to the many questions that bug and bother me. But my life has not worked that way. There is no Jesus in my here and now to multiply the bread or to turn water into wine or to take away the pain and the sorrow.

Instead, I am given 24 hours with the dawn of every new day and that itself is the daily miracle I get. And daily, I am given people who love and care for me to help me bear my pain and sorrow. I am given people to to care for and share with so that I can feed one hungry person, clothe and welcome one homeless waif, visit one lonely elder. If I can but be less greedy in a selfish world. If I can but be a little more gentle and a little kinder in an angry and vengeful environment. If I can but walk that extra mile for love and service. If I can but spend a day thinking more of others than of myself, then every day that ends will end up being a miracle for me and for others in my life.

 

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Epiphany

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Spirit Moments

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Today is the feast of the Epiphany – the manifestation of God in the flesh to the visiting Magi, who came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Gold to crown a king. The magi saw in the baby the King of Creation and they brought him gold as a fitting tribute. I peer through an opening on the wall to see the majestic Morro Rock, fashioned out of a volcano over millions of years. In yet other mountains, men dig up rocks and they are able to leach gold from the dirt and the soil. I see in the rock before me the reality of a God who created all these awesome wonders.

Frankincense to honor a king with its sweet aroma. The magi brought frankincense to the baby Jesus to give the place they were in the ambience of a royal court. I peeked through the hole in the wall and I see the fluffy clouds over the horizon. One can almost see angel flitting around. Can you hear them singing. The clouds and the skies proclaim the grandeur of God’s court, even as the magi saw in the humble home of Mary and Joseph the King of the universe.

Myrrh to anoint a king with divine grace. The magi pledge their loyalty and pay their homage to the King of the human heart with myrrh as the anointing oil. I look out into the vast ocean and see the life-giving waters that make life on earth possible. And how that life on earth is made meaningful by the beating of the human heart. And water cleanses everything that is unclean in men. The waters and the oil are the symbols used in Baptism by which Christ cleanses and transforms human hearts and souls.

Christ came and became a man of flesh to show us more concretely what is intimated by everything else around us. Christ is the epiphany of God in human flesh. Nature and the world around us is the epiphany of God through the the handiwork of His creation.

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Small Beginnings

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Spirit Moments

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Great endings often begin with small beginnings. Small terns feed along the shore under the shadows of the massive Morro Rock. Morro Rock home to thousands of birds finding shelters in its crevices and vegetation. Vegetation that is part of the ecosystem of the entire Morro Bay. Morro Bay that is home to millions of living things in various forms and sizes.

The start of the year is the time of people making plans and resolutions. I will seek small beginnings to work out some great endings. Here are some ideas from Sacred Space that I will work on this year:

  • Say “Thank you” to at least one person
  • Make one healthy choice about your body—food or drink or rest or motion.
  • Do one generous act, big or small.
  • Say “yes” to the day’s gifts.
  • Get quiet for five minutes, just to be still.
  • Let one person know that you appreciate him or her.
  • Do one creative act, big or small.
  • Allow yourself to consider what someone else is going through.
  • Do one thing well and with full attention.
  • Open your arms – and your heart – to God.
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Learning From a Rock

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Spirit Moments

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This is Morro Rock in Morro Bay. It was formed some 26 million years ago. It is a volcanic plug that formed at the mouth of an active volcano, virtually choking the volcano into extinction. It was originally situated in the bowels of the volcano. Over the next 23 million years, the mountain on which the volcano was located was melted away by erosion and washed into the sea. Today, all that remains is the dacite rock from the old lava.

In recent times, people have been quarrying the hard stone and were slowly chipping away at Morro Rock. Had this not been stopped, this mountain that took millions of years to fashion would have disappeared in a lifetime or two.

Standing before the magnificence, I was awed by the meager moments I have lived compared to the many eons this rock has survived. I count the years I have lived. This mountain has counted the tons of soil and rocks that have been eroded from it.

And yet, had the destruction not been stopped, this splendorous beauty would have been quarried out of existence by men. I am saddened that we do not care for earth as well as we should. We see beauty and grandeur around us, formed over millions of years, and we destroy and ruin these over our short lifetimes.

As I gaze at the rock, I wonder if it really is unfeeling and not aware of the humans standing in awe at it. If the Morro Rock could talk, what a story it would tell of the 26 million years it has been in existence. And indeed, I did learn some lessons and felt unfamiliar feelings just gazing at its majesty and magnificence.

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New Year’s Day

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Spirit Moments

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A little boy romping on the beach,
And it is early New Year’s Day.
The waves are pounding at his feet.
With nary a care, totally lost in play.

The waves roll on and the years pass by,
The little boy grows up to become a man.
In yet a little while, he has a family of his own.
And on a New Year’s Day, brings to this beach his son.

The sea. The waves. Pretty much remain the same.
But changes happen in the lives of everyone.
We mark our lives with the passing of the years.
To remember, celebrate the things we’ve done.

The sea and the sky, the moon and the stars
Like nature, they change ever so slowly.
It has always been by these that all lovers
have pledged their love to be sacred and holy.

Each New Year’s day is but a time
to mark the passing of the season.
But it is our daily lives that matter
to give our being here a joyful reason.

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Gift-giving at Christmas

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Christmas is the time of gift-giving. This tradition and practice has made Christmas the magical season that it is. For many, Christmas has mainly been about the gifts. And many of the gifts are about reciprocity. But there is a richness in Christmas that is about life and having it more abundantly.

There are those who give our of their fulness. But even those who have nothing also always can give to others something. Some would appreciate a gift because of its value or usefulness to them. Others would value a gift because of the person it came from. Sometimes, we give to others what is precious or important in our eyes not realizing it is something the recipient does not need nor want.

The best gift I got this Christmas is a self-made Christmas card/letter from Jane. She gave up precious play time to make the card for me and Anabelle. It cost next to nothing and indeed it was priceless to us. Jane made and gave it to us not so much expecting something in return but because of the loving relationship she has with us. Anything given in love is priceless. it feeds and nurtures that relationship.

This morning, I realize that is the lesson of the manger and of the first Christmas. Life is not for us for the taking for it is a gift that was freely given to us, unmerited and with no expectations of reciprocation. Life is for the giving and the sharing. The child Jesus in the manger would later teach us that He has come to give us a more abundant life. And it is in giving it away that we make it more plentiful, overflowing, bountiful. Indeed, when I come to think of it, the only thing I have and the only true gift I can give away is the gift of self.

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The Improbability of Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Spirit Moments

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Improbable. Certain disaster. Reversal of expectations.These words keep running in my mind as I think about Christmas.

A virgin, already betrothed but not yet wed, becomes pregnant. A righteous man, betrothed to a young maiden, finds out she is pregnant even before they get married and the child is not his. A cousin, advanced in age and already being laughed at for being barren, bears a child. Her husband becomes mute on learning that his ‘old’ wife has born him a child. And to make matters worse, the young maiden and her betrothed have to travel back to their hometown for a census ordered by the Emperor. And when she delivers her baby, it was in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn, probably filled with other out-of-towners who could better afford the surge-prices at probably the only lodging available in that small town. Then, they get crowded by shepherds who were probably seeking shelter from the cold night at they were watching their sheep out in the fields.

It is one reversal after another. Could all of these be ‘acts of God’?

Are these events impossibilities? No. As sure as the sun rises every morning, things can go awry any moment. One day we are happy; the next day we are sad. Today, things are good; Tomorrow they turn bad. Young girls get pregnant out of wedlock. Women advanced in age get pregnant. There are good men who love even when they shouldn’t. And many men go dumb and speechless when they find out the latest escapades of their wives.

Improbable? Very. And yet out of these series of improbable events begins the great story of God’s action for us men. I borrow the words of Bishop Robert Barron, reflecting on the mystery that is Christmas:

How common this is in the Bible: the reversal of expectations, the little giving rise to the great, wonderful things coming where you least expect them. The stuttering Moses speaks up to mighty Pharaoh, the slaves face down the Egyptian army, tiny David kills the giant Goliath.
And this last connection is the important one here. Bethlehem is the city of David, the city of the shepherd King. When Samuel came to that town to find the new king, he went through all of Jesse’s splendid sons and then was told there was one more, little David out in the fields. And it was this overlooked one whom God anointed.
This just seems to be God’s way, and that’s why the Messiah would be born in that tiny town, in an out of the way cave under the earth, because there was no room for him in the inn. Yet, through God’s amazing grace, great things can happen, including the birth of the Messiah.
Looking at the small, insignificant town of Bethlehem teaches us three great messages: greatness comes from smallness, never give up hope, and trust always. With those three convictions in our hearts, we’re ready for Christmas.
Because Mary said ‘Yes’ to the angel. Joseph heeded the advice of same messenger of God. Elizabeth welcomed and hailed her visiting cousin. Zechariah accepted his son and named him John. The shepherds came looking for the child. Simple acts by simple people. And the great Christmas story keeps on reverberating through the ages.
Merry Christmas!
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The Business of Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Christmas is good for business. The malls are filled with shoppers, loaded with their purchases. UPS will deliver 120 million packages this week alone. Fedex expects to deliver 317 million packages for the entire holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year. Families and friends will be having parties, one after another. Movie theaters are bursting with people, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens breaking all box office records. In the Bay Area, thousands are looking forward to watch the Warrior play the Cavaliers on Christmas Day.

And indeed Christmas is special. It is a time to remember and get in touch with those who are dear to us in a special and extraordinary way, making up for our neglect, our seeming uncaring and our forgetfulness for the entire year.

We give our loved ones a special gift to make up for our inattention during the year. We give friends and colleagues presents in gratitude for all the favors they have done for us during the year. We distribute give-aways and gifts to business partners and clients in appreciation of their business throughout the year.

But wait, that makes Christmas all about me. Christmas is about giving thanks, yes. But thanks for all the favors done to me and for me. It is all about reciprocity.

The first Christmas seems to be totally different. The surroundings and the circumstances were simpler and more austere. The gift of the child in the manger was a surprise and even unbeknownst to many. There was only a young maiden, her betrothed and they were so poor there was no room for them in the inn.

But the Child brought joy, which is often so sorely lacking in our festivities today. He brought peace, which is painfully absent in the world today. He brought hope, which is what our despairing world needs today. He brought love, which is a lesson we must learn or else we all shall perish.

I will shun the busyness and the business of Christmas and in my quiet and in solitude recapture the spirit of the first Christmas. I will seek and find joy in simplicity, peace in all the cacophony, hope in the all the calamities and love even when people may hate or dislike me. Christmas will be about being for others and not being engrossed with myself. I will give to those who will not be able to give back to me. I will pay attention to those the world have forgotten. I will serve those who have no one else to serve them.

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