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, March 5, 2024

Carl

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 Carl is a unique guy. Literally, one of a kind. He's a Catholic Priest. No,.. wait, he's a Priest of the Mennonite Church. But then, he tried for the Episcopal Church,... was told he wasn't Catholic enough,,..  whatever that means. But here's a man who believes in himself, --and his cooking-- and stands firm on those beliefs. Above all, he is the Rev. Carl Yusawitz, ordained to Ministry, and he's my friend. 

 

And he's a friend among friends.  Let me tell you a story.

Several years ago, my wife Pat, had gastric bypass surgery. It was a melancholy day since, on the same day, my beloved God-Sister Betty Ann, passed away. We expected Betty Ann's death since she had long been on a decline since her metastatic colon cancer diagnosis. So the  phone call from Betty Ann's daughter Joy, while I was in Einstein's waiting room during Pat's surgery, was not surprising. In fact, we expected that she would die that day. But since I couldn't be in 2 places at the same time, I wasn't at her bedside, I was with Pat.

The surgeon came out of nowhere.  I don't remember him approaching me, but there he was.

"She did fine", he said, with a warm surgeon's smile. "But her liver looks a little funny, almost speckled, "We'll keep an eye on it, and she'll be in recovery for a couple of hours and then she'll go to a room", I thank him for his care and the update. The he's off.

A couple of hours pass, I ask the people at the desk for her status.  They have no record of her, and certainly can't tell me where she is at that moment. 

So the situation is this: Betty Ann just died, my wife is out of surgery, her liver looks funny and no one knows where she is. And I'm in a state of confusion, my mind almost in a complete state of disorientation.

Except that Carl had come to sit with me for part of that and even though he had left before I received the call about Betty Ann, his spirit remained. What he stood for, was with me. His aura of friendship and  love, clothed me.  That's HUGE, and remains with me to this day.

Its true what they say, that true friends are hard to find. You know them by their aura of love. 

Thanks, Carl.

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