I hope you don't mind that I call you weird, but, it just appears to me that you are. I mean, my Aunt Connie, saw you face to face yesterday, and your response to that was to carry us through the day and remind me that: "I'm still God'.
You have surrounded us with Angels. You have given us friends and acqaintences. You have given us family. And I remain convinced that you are reminding us that You are still God.
It was a difficult day, September 21, 2016, .. started with receiving the phone call from my cousin, Jimmy, driving to Trenton, NJ, and spending my Aunt Connie's last few earthly minutes with her, as Doctors, Nurses and others gave chest compressions, meds, and artificial breath to her now unresponsive body. It was a scene taken right from any TV Medical Drama. But this was real life and this was my Aunt Connie, Jimmy's Mother, the Matriarch pf our family, the one who got to turn the lights off. We watched as they did their best, realizing that she was gone, But perhaps they sensed the broken heart of this son, the broken heart of this family,... that this,...this, was our last stand. They's been here many times before and I suppose you develop a sixth sense for the impact that your actions now, would have on the rest of the day, on the rest of our lives on this planet, and certainly on Aunt Connie's relationship to the Universe. They did their best.
The rest of the day,...pretty uneventful. My job , as I saw it, was to make sure Jimmy (in a very real sense, my youngest brother) realized that he wasn't alone. I had been there before too, as we all have been, called to make sure that none of us feels alone as we grieve. Or,.. at least to hug and then to allow space enough to grieve... and then to breathe, because these are the times when we really can't catch our breath. So, here I am making sure that the feeling of loneliness is kept at bay. In the many tomorrows to come, he'll have his fair portion of loneliness, but today,..this day,... he had to remain standing, for his kids, his wife,... and for his Mom. I'm one of the guards. Loneliness, you're not welomed here, Not on this day. Tomorrow,.. well, we'll see, maybe you'll win. Temporarily. But today, you will not invade these premises.
I'm home how, been a long day,... my body telling me that I've had a major loss, I need to breathe, too. In my down time, reading my e-mail before turning in, one particular e-mail catches my eye. Its from my brother in the Ministry, MJ. Its: title: Neil, meet your cousin. He had been corresponding with a cousin, who I had just met, by the way, yet had an initial correspondence with, only two weeks before. She's a missionary in Kenya. She was congratulating him on MMC and telling him about her correspondence with me. Now, this is just weird ,... or is it awesome? I can't decide which.
I do know that it is God's reminder to me that "I'm still God". I still hold the Universe in my hnad. I still am the connecting force for all of you. I'm still God.
He's a weird God, but an Awesome God. He has reminded me that He's still here.. In the days before the ascension, Jesus' reminder that he will send a comforter was real then and its real now. The comforter has transcended the ages and reminds us this day that He is still here.
May the Angels welcome you to Paradise, Aunt Connie. You are now in the presence of a weird but awesome God.
Rest Well.
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
----(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."
