Welcome

Welcome to All. This blog is a discussion site, looking at our lives through our experiences, our spiritual, and, not so spiritual lens, ....what our lives look like at The Front. We are and some would argue, always have been, in interesting times. Servants, past and present have been at constant struggle with whatever the issues of the day have been. Where do we even begin to name them: poverty, hunger, education, shelter, .... and did I mention poverty? Fifty-one years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, a war by the way, we're still fighting. Then again, we've always been at war with poverty, and yet poverty has remained steadfast. Jesus apparently got it right: "The poor will always be with you." But Jesus was a smart man. Did he mean what we think? Does poverty always have to be with us. Let's talk about this, and whatever else, in real and truthful ways. Let's view our lives from The Front.
If you have come to help me, then you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is linked to mine, then we will work together.
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com

Contemplative Action

The Rite of Initiation: You are going to die


A shocking statement. Perhaps. But the Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr,,who has studied the Rite of Initiation has said the following::

"Every initiation rite I've studied had some ritual, dramatic, or theatrical way to experience crossing the threshold from life to death in symbolic form. Some ritual of death and resurrection was the centerpiece of all male initiation. It is probably why Jesus sought out and submitted to John the Baptist's offbeat death and rebirth ritual down by the riverside, when his own temple had become more concerned with purity codes than with transformation. It is probably why Jesus kept talking to his disciples, three times in Mark's Gospel, about the necessity of this death journey, and why three times they changed the subject (8:31-10:45). It is undoubtedly why Jesus finally stopped talking about it, and just did it, not ritually but actually. Death and resurrection, the paschal mystery, is the theme of every single Eucharist no matter what the feast or season. It takes us many seasons and even years to overcome our resistance to death.

"The transformational journey of death and resurrection is the only real message. It makes you indestructible. The real life, God's life, is running through you and in you already. But allowing it to flow freely doesn't come easily. When you do, the spiritual journey really begins. Up to that moment it is just religion. Everything up to then is creating the container, but you have not yet found the contents; you are creating the wineskins, as Jesus says, but you are not yet drinking the intoxicating wine."

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Senior Partner

I saw this today and just couldn't resist....

Traveling Light

When Jesus sent his seventy-two disciples out to minister, he told them to travel light -- no walking stick, no travel bag. There was to be no suitcase for carrying a change of clothes or for stashing away a sandwich. And all of this at a time when there were no laundromats or fast food places! What symbolism. Jesus asked the disciples not to rely on themselves. Their task was a difficult one, but it was to be accomplished by God's power, not theirs. Could all of this have a personal meaning for us?

People are challenged whenever they offer love and hope to those who sometimes might seem unlovable and hopeless. Those who care for others have to travel light, for they have to rely primarily on God's power rather than their own. And the result of their efforts will finally have to be God's concern rather than theirs. In that sense, traveling light would mean a total trust in God as we offer our care to those who need it.

Traveling light doesn't come easily for me, Lord. I'm tempted to trust too much in my own methods and to be too attached to the outcomes of what I do. We work in partnership, Lord, but help me to see that you are the senior partner.
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