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."

Friday, March 18, 2011

Gratitude,.... now that's what I'm talkin' about

Michael Bernard Beckwith talks about gratitude in an infectious way,... kind of makes you want to go out and catch whatever it is that he has. What do you think? Read on:

"When I first wake up, I wake up in a field of gratitude and thanksgiving. I’m just very grateful to be awake and aware and alive, in an attitude that allows me to see differently. When I’m in gratefulness, when I’m in gratitude, then I can’t vibrate on worry, doubt and fear. And I cannot live in the future as well because gratitude is now.

"So that’s the first thing I do. And then I will say something along these lines: “I’m available to more good, more love, more wisdom, more knowledge, more joy than I have ever realized, experienced, imagined before in my life.”

"I throw myself open by saying that.

"I’m now available to more good, more love, more peace, more joy – whatever the qualities are that I’ve ever experienced, realized or imagined before in my life – so, I’m on now a precipice of becoming more myself. So, I’m not living on yesterday’s laurels.

“I’m available to more good than I’ve ever imagined to come forward in my life and I’m not under any delusion that I know what that good is!”

"I’m not under the illusion, and I haven’t defined what that good is. I’m just available. I’m grateful and I’m available. Now, transformation can occur.

"And we always know it’s transformation because it surprises us – and if it doesn’t surprise you, it’s not transformation. It could be something that you’ve expected and put together in a nice, little, neat package.

"But when you throw yourself open by asking empowering questions and by willing to be more than you’ve ever thought you could be, you get surprised by the depth what’s inside of you!

"It’s so potent that it’s oftentimes shocking.

"You have to be prepared to free flow – what I call “free fall” – and surrender to the good that’s beyond what you can even describe. And so, a lot of the spiritual work is really about moment-by-moment preparation, to release the illusions of what you think makes you happy, to move into being a giver and a sharer of the Divine."
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