Heart of Matter: God is Doing New Things

8 Comments

1. Joe Masterleo on January 7, 2023 at 7:39 am

   The old horizons and boundaries of nations, ethnicities, and religions have broken down. It’s one world now, to be seen as such or perish. And a new mythological “omelette” is to be made from the common contents and sheer number of their broken and shattered shells. The new world mythology has to be of no particular time and place, of no selected people. All social groups remain bounding groups, and their movements are in-group movements whose self-referencing spirit works contrary to the whole, to inclusivity and unity, one that orients itself to a common energy and center from which all created thing emerge and return. Pilgrims came to the new world seeking religious freedom, yet immediately suppressed the native religions. In-groups tend to do do that. Christianity is not a world religion, is not of the whole, not reflective of the whole, nor is Judaism or Islam. They’re tribal, by history of one crowd against another. There you have intellectual walls, physical walls, and dogmatic walls with no shared, identifiable, incoherent element bringing them together.

   
   
   
2. Joe Masterleo on January 4, 2023 at 10:58 am

   God “doing new things” always involves those updates and renewals that serve to hasten the day when the Kingdom of heaven is to be manifest on earth. And the heart of that involves making ample use of the spiritual disciplines for serially unmediated interludes, encounters, and experiences with the Bridegroom in the apex of the soul, and multiplicity — “going out to meet him there.” Much like Zaccheus, who climbed the tree of faith which grows above downward, roots in the Godhead, the unapproachable light whose lower branches form material creation and humanity.

   
   
   
3. Colm Holmes on January 4, 2023 at 7:04 am

   EQUALITY

   Equality for Women
   Equality for Laity
   Equality for Gays
   Equality for Couples
   Equality like Jesus preached
   Equality for all the World

   
   
   
4. Darryl Nelson on January 4, 2023 at 12:02 am

   Our efforts need to focus on getting this magnificent message out to the masses. We still have a long way to go to change attitudes to planetary life. Pope Francis promotes integral ecology, but does every Catholic understand this concept or share his enthusiasm?

   
   
   
5. Annmary on January 3, 2023 at 6:27 pm

   A call 5obtrust even when I cannot feel the presence of God

   
   
   
6. Barbara Miller on January 3, 2023 at 2:34 pm

   Greetings. Blessings during Christmastide and as we begin a new year. 2022, I knew somehow at the outset would be a year of challenge and change. When I left the wisdom school in Tucson at the beginning of Lent, I said to (retreat leader) Cynthia Bourgeault “this was big” having very little idea of what that meant.
   I was sensing that I needed to step up doing the practices and participate in the world around me in a wisdom way, not just sometimes. Heather Ruce showed me that I could benefit by some of the Gurdjieff movements by envisioning those I couldn’t do physically, in my mind and sense them in my body.
   I took all of this to heart the best I could at the time feeling very grateful for this new understanding and being with everyone again. I participated in an online course “The Mystery of Death”. That added another layer to my understanding. I began to feel changes. An overwhelming sense of gratefulness filled me much more often. My days flowed with one synchronicity after another.
   I had planned to travel in the summer; 5 weeks at Community of Peace in Louisa, VA founded by Stefan Waligur. The vision of CPL is to be a monastic presence similar to the monastery in Taize, France. Since Br. Stefan first began to live on the site in Louisa, he has prayed in song, sacred reading and silence consistently three times every day. That regularity of prayer had a live changing effect on me. I thought I was going for a visit. Little by little I began to sense that I belonged there, with regular prayer, work and community. The life challenged me but seemed to invigorate me as well. Being a monastic has come up in my life a number of times but the timing was never right. Now, it seemed a path had opened for me to be what I was meant to be. All of my work with Cynthia Bourgeault, my training as a Spiritual Director and a Benedictine Oblate, my years in the Nur al Jerrahi Sufi order and Bill Redfield’s beautiful on-line retreats and more have prepared me for this next step where I will be able to share the wisdom life has given me so far. And, I’m grateful to all who have shared their wisdom over the years, even unawares. This is the first (I’m 76) I have truly felt “called” in this life. It’s deep and it’s consistent. A recent retreat has only made my feeling of resolve stronger.
   So, as soon as I sell my loft/condo in CO, I will move to VA and officially begin the discernment process leading to taking final vows.
   PLEASE: Pray with me that the process goes smoothly and that I have the patience to bear it.
   Barb
   For more about CPL- the website is Communityofpeace.org or check out Community of Peace or Stefan A. Waligur on FB and YouTube.

   
   
   
   • Info on January 4, 2023 at 4:39 pm

     Blessings to you as you make this journey Barb.

     
     
     
7. Tamara Kittelson on January 3, 2023 at 1:30 pm

   I am being stretched in new ways, to view the world and especially a new relationship non-dualistically. It is quite the adventure to set aside my judgements.