The Golden Sea

"Tell me how many songs that I must sing before I can see you in your glory, hear your whole entire story, bathe inside your golden, golden sea?"

- Trevor Hall

I realize you just read the above quoted lyric, and maybe you liked it. I ask you to please read it again, and drink it in slow like hot, honeyed tea. Go ahead... It's delicious, isn't it? The song is 31 Flavors by Trevor Hall and is one of my favorite hymns to love. I discovered his music through one of my senior students last year - thanks Tosti!

So now.... give yourself a minute to ponder this: How many people do you really know on Planet Earth? I don't mean know about, or have encountered in your travels, or clicked "confirm friend" with on Facebook. I mean face to face, heart to heart, soul to soul friends.

How many people do we really know, deep down, to the core, and to the point of practically being able to finish their thoughts for them, predict their actions, read their hearts, swim in their golden, golden sea of experiences? Is it one? Two?

The only soul I can honestly say I know on that intimate, almost spousal level, is... well, my spouse.

As we approach our 7th wedding anniversary (just three weeks away), I've been thinking of her more and more. I mean really thinking of her. This whole marriage thing is pretty earth-shattering you know. What a blindingly brilliant thing it is to be able to say to another human being, "Come in..... look around. The place is yours." What a crazy thing it is to say to another person, (you with all of your sins and weaknesses, they with theirs) "Let's become One. I give you sovereignty here. I turn over the key. What's mine is yours and what's yours, I ask of you, let it be mine."

I am convinced that God gave us marriage as an aid or a preparation for Something More, Something Big. Namely, HIS entrance into the human heart, and our hearts entrance into the Communion of Saints in Heaven some day. Marriage is a "school of love" and a fertile field where the fruits reach high, "so high that I can almost see eternity" (that's Anne Murray by the way, not Trevor Hall). But to plant Heaven's seed you need to dig up that soil, scour those fields, remove the rocks and old roots of selfishness and greed and ego. Marriage is farming the fields.

We all speak of a forever love too. We want it to spread wings big enough to escape the fields of earth, of the gravity of time and death. We want to soar. But we know simultaneously that even as it soars, "at death do we part." As wonderful as my marriage has been these past seven years, I know it's not the be all and end all of my existence. We don't exactly "complete each other" - what human being could really do that for another? The sooner couples realize this the healthier the union will be! A certain debilitating pressure comes off the shoulders. Who is the ultimate Bridegroom after all? It sure ain't this Jersey boy. And who is the spotless Bride of Revelation, the wife of the Lamb? I say Rebecca is a close second ;)


And I would lay down and die
For one glimpse of those open eyes
How am I to describe
The one who holds the Sun's Fire

Earthly marriage is a foretaste of a Heavenly one. "The Spirit and the Bride say 'Come, Lord Jesus!'" The Immaculate Daughter of Jerusalem and the reflection of the Son's Fire in her eyes is what I see in Rebecca. And I can only hope she sees the Fire of the Son in me. Therein lies the daily work of marriage! What she shines with is more than her own making. In fact, when she shines brightest is when she is outside of herself - transparent in her mothering of our son, of her nieces and nephews, caring for those marginalized, the poor, the lonely and abandoned, and in her patient love and support of me, inspiring me, serving me in so many thoughtful ways throughout the day, always thinking of me. She shines with a "heavenly" light, like stained glass.

So there's joy and struggle and effort and grace as we share in swimming this "golden golden sea" of married love. And it's a beautiful opening hymn to the Communion of Saints that's coming! Maybe it takes us to the sea's horizon in this world, and then the veil lifts, to a Blessed Realm. Then the ultimate Marriage begins! Then we shall know and be known, we shall see and be seen, and we shall "hear our whole entire story, and bathe inside His golden, golden sea"  forever...

Take a Breath, Take a Break

I'm so busy.

I wish I had more time.

I'm stressed out.

It never ends.

There's always something.

I need a break.

Then take one.

September is a crazy month, I know. It ushers in the busy season for many of us. School's back in, buses are clogging up the morning streets again. Sports, lessons, homework, teaching, grading, running to those meetings that the summer kept at bay, holiday preparations, transitioning the house for the new season, for the coming cold.

But something else in September is present to counteract this hectic pace. Cold crisp air, burning blue skies, leaves afire, the mournful song of geese overhead, the scent of leaves, of wood-fires, sunsets that throb with color, and starry nights. These are invitations to stillness and to watching. And it only takes a moment to breathe them in, to slow down, to drink freely. Each of these encounters has power in them, because they are natural. And Nature is seldom in a hurry.

I was walking to the parking lot after a long and busy day, with the prospects of a long night of grading and planning ahead of me, when I saw this single leaf in a tree on a patch of grass at the corner of the road. I looked at it. I took a deep breath. And behold, it was good.

Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid. All things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains everything. God alone is enough.

- Saint Teresa of Avila

Small Wonders

I love taking pictures. I'm crazy about taking pictures. So I finally decided to get meself a Flickr account and share my little vantage point of this splendid reality with the world at large (you can check it out here). I've named the account "Small Wonders" because I think that pretty much sums up the little gems that surround us every day.

We must open our eyes to admire God, who hides and at the same time reveals himself in things, and introduces us into places of mystery... In reality, for those who know how to read in depth, each thing, each event brings a message that, in the final analysis, leads to God.

- Pope John Paul II

With the wonder of technology and the camera feature on so many of our cell phones today, we can all have the chance to capture the small wonders around us... even this close up of my neighbor's cucumber plant! So keep your eyes peeled and your heart ready for a game of Divine "Hide and Seek" with the Lord. He loves it when we take time to read His Love Letters, big and small.

Sea and Believe

I love the ocean. It helps me believe in things much larger than me. Transcendent things, eternal things; Beauty, Peace, The Oneness. Ultimately... God. Standing before the sea this morning, here in cloudy/sunny Sea Isle City, I had a physical encounter with a spiritual truth. The sea became a channel of grace. And that's the definition of a sacrament, in a very broad sense. I wasn't alone either. Other daily communicants were gathering for this celebration of the sun, rising in benediction over the new day. Does this sound scandalous? Let's recall that the world was God's first church, or Temple, as the Hebrews saw it. In the beginning, we were all priestly in our vocation of praise and worship to the One Who fashioned it all from nothing. We've spent two nights here and are leaving soon. So I had my farewell coffee sitting in the sand, while Rebecca and the wee lad slept. I snapped this picture with the phone, then just stared and listened for a while as the slow, rhythmic beat of the heart of the sea came into me. Ponderings... Who was the first ancient soul to build a craft and seek to cross this watery road to the world's edge? That took some guts. What is it about the lapping up of water on sand, endlessly, that stirs me, invites me, into endless peace? I truly believe we're drawn to the sea because God is still speaking through it; His first sacramental encounter with us. He sings through it's salty symphony, He shines in the sun!

Open Up and Say "Awe"

"Entrances to holiness are everywhere. The possibility of ascent is all the time. Even at unlikely times and through unlikely places."

- Bamidbar Rabba

Our little boy is captivated by absolutely everything. He is nine months old; his little eyes are brand new, his tiny ears are brand new, and his little soul is like a sponge absorbing EVERYTHING.

We watch in amazement as the little nuances of sunlight on a wall capture his attention, or the corners and colors of his toy blocks become like the facets of a diamond in his hands. The other day, he amused himself with a plastic cup for about 15 minutes, turning it over and over again in his fingers, crinkling it, bending it, chewing on it. It was hilarious too watch, and humbling at the same time. Humbling that something so ordinary could capture his attention for so long...

Our little boy is teaching us as parents, with our 30 something eyes and ears and hearts, to see everything as if fresh from the Hands of God. These are the days of living wonder for him... and for us.

THE BIG PICTURE

Catholics are back in "Ordinary Time," liturgically speaking, but beware... this is just when the most extraordinary things can happen. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, I think we're given the power to see things in their true light, finally.

Our boy is still dripping with the waters of Baptism; he can see. But with the gift of the Spirit, we too can "see." Finally, the veil of mediocrity, of ennui, of agenda, or mere utility (only seeing a thing as a thing for our use) is pulled away. The Spirit is our Divine Physician making a house call, inviting us to open up our mouths and say "awe." To be captivated again. Behold! The world is full of gratuitous beauty! Faces, places, colors, sounds take on all the freshness which they had for us when we were young and the world was new.

Further, we can with the gift of the Holy Spirit go into those places we once feared the most; the inner depths of our own hearts, those locked rooms, those shadowlands that we thought we're unapproachable by anyone, including ourselves, let alone God. Now, He whispers, let's "lower our nets for a catch." And He says, "Fear not," reminding us that we are truly called to be like little children, and that He Who Is Our Father will take us into those places by the Hand.

May God grant us "old heads" the grace to become little again. To rediscover everything, to see every object and every subject, every thing and every person as a gift from the Hands of the Father. From the ordinary and mundane to the extraordinary and sublime...

"To see the miraculous within the ordinary is the mark of highest wisdom." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

What's Inside You?

One filled with joy preaches without preaching.
- Blessed Mother Teresa Some people are seemingly always happy. Like the Psalmist says, "They have heard no evil news." They float, they roll, they fly, they bear it and wear it well in all manner of circumstances. They actually believe Blessed Julian of Norwich's famous phrase "All shall be well, in all manner of things. All shall be well." Please understand, I don't mean a kind of flaky, out of touch, dilusional happy. I mean content, satisfied, fulfilled; actually possessing a deep peace at their center, regardless of the choppy waves on the surface of things. I think the better word here is JOY. Happiness is too often the effect of happenstance, stuff happening to you. "Hey, it's stopped raining!" "Ooo, a quarter!" "I don't have to pay for my parking?" Real Joy flows more from convictions than it does from conditions. That's why when the saints were suffering in such terrible conditions, they could still smile, be at peace, love. They had conviction. Their hearts were not shallow puddles that could tremble at the slightest atmospheric changes, but rather were deep wells of trust in God. So there it is... a goal to shoot for; to place your pursuit of happiness not in feelings but in the freedom of your will. To begin to construct your conviction that all shall be well. To build the well within, and let God fill that well with His Grace. We'll discover that even as bad as things may feel, they can never again rob us of His Joy.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Rom. 8:35-37)

It's been said that if the joy Christians proclaimed with their lips were shining on their faces, there would be no unbelievers. Well, "peace begins with a smile" (Mother Teresa). So let us "rejoice always.... I say it again, rejoice!" (St. Paul) There's a gloomy world out there that needs some serious silliness and "There's no such thing as a sad saint." (St. Theresa of Avila) Thanks to Cecilia for the video below! The ending just about sums it up!

A Year in 40 Seconds

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

Time flies, when you piece 12 months together into a 40 second clip. Very nice transition with the sounds of nature and all. So long 2008! Hope 2009 slows down a bit!

Just a Moment

So we've had a wee bairn in the house for sometime now. That's Scottish for "little one." And after five years, cries fill the house, and we are singing 80's songs put to new words, like "We've been waiting... for a boy like you... to come into our lives... yeah waiting, for a boy like you, to make us feel alive..." And then we tag team bottle time, and snuggle time, and we gaze into the little pools of this other little person's eyes.... and we see they are "impregnated with distance" in the words of C.S. Lewis; his eyes are full of light and of a future full of walks in deep woods and sword fights and drawing maps of Grandpa's land in Maine, of leaping from cliffs into cold water, and singing the Clancy Brothers songs, and a host of other adventures. Sure, the weight of glory that's been set upon our hearts with him is beyond measure. What greater thing is there in the world than to be given stewardship over one of His little ones? We have fallen head over heels in love with this squishy wee babe. Thank You God.

The Trouble with Angels

Throughout human history, in our philosophy and in our cosmology (or worldview), the pendulum of our place in the cosmos has swung back and forth again and again. Are we the crown of creation or are we just "trousered apes?" In our tinkering with the inner and outer worlds that we find ourselves swimming in, we are often ennobled and belittled all at once. The great Shakespeare summed it up well: "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" (Hamlet, Act V, scene ii) And of course, the Bible encapsulates the enigma even better: "What is man that you should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet" (Psalm 8) The perennial question remains for each of us as to where our destiny lies. Are we angels or are we animals? The singer-songwriter John Gorka once sang "We are dust that was made in stars, now we roll off to work in cars. When we were young we spilled our dreams in bars. Now we clean up the mess." I think the answer as to our place in the universe is, scandalously, up to you and me. You see, we alone in this wonderful cosmos can choose chaos. We can be sacred or profane, holy or horrible. No other created reality, stars, dogs, planets, buttercups, can choose it's identity. But we can. I think this freaks us out. I've been reading an amazing book for the past few months (that's my style, a couple pages at a time). It's called the Philosophy of Tolkien by my hands down favorite author, Dr. Peter Kreeft. He took me through a whirlwind of deep thoughts by positing this idea that we, as free persons made in God's image have the power (because of our freedom) to maim or to manifest that image; to distort or declare it. At the end of the day, I think we are afraid of this great task that God has laid upon us; the challenge of living up to our own dignity. We seem today to be shrinking away from it, from our worth as human beings. God has "put all things under our feet," and all we are concerned about is leaving our "carbon footprint." Wake up, people of the earth. "Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows." (Luke 12:7) And this brings us to today's Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. They are clarion calls to us, trumpet blasts from the Realms of the Infinite. Their mission it is to "trouble" the waters of our complacency, to stir us up, to remind us that there are indeed "more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies." (thanks again Mr. Shakespeare). Are we angels or are we animals? Neither. We are men and women, a unique bridge in the visible universe that opens up into an invisible world. So today we should take a long look below us at the plethora of animals and a deep look into Heaven at the myriads of angels. We should rise to the occasion and take our assigned seats in God's plan; to be voices of praise lifting up created reality, and hearts made for eternity that will someday swim in God.

Mist and Sun and the Meaning of Life

I love back roads. Swervy, windy, half in shadow, half in sun ribbons of asphalt. They're like "mobile prayer" for Rebecca and I. Add a little Lord of the Rings or Dances with Wolves soundtrack music into a Sunday drive and you are GONE... floating away to Happy Land, the Land of Contemplation! And all's right with the world! Well, mostly. My drive into school each morning is a gift; back roads abound! There are a number of paths to take and I generally mix it up from day to day. Case in point: just last week, after passing it for three years in moderate "haste," I decided to take "Grubb's Mill Road" for a spin. Now don't judge a road by its name. As I made my way over hill and dale (what is a dale anyway?) I was literally captured by the sunlight streaming through morning mist over wet grass. I flipped on the hazards and with the handy iPhone (I know I know, Geek Boy Returns) I snapped a few pics. One is handsomely portrayed in this post above for your observation. Click on it and it should fill the screen.... go ahead, try it! Now curiously, I was able to use this image as a teaching moment in class that very day. I start off my freshmen theology course light on the homework, heavy on the heartwork. I invite them into a fresh way of looking at the world.... into a "sacramental" vision. Afterall, this is how a Catholic sees the universe..... as a mosaic full of meaning, an icon, a Mystery wrapped in ribbons of protons, neutrons, and electrons. This is pretty dang exciting. Here's that quote I love to quote... again: To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity. - Bishop Fulton Sheen Back to the back roads.... This image (above) was breathtaking. And I guess what intrigues me about an encounter like this is how the physical channels the spiritual, the visible can communicate the invisible. How does it happen that we alone in the universe can "see" this? Apprehend this? Comprehend this and be captivated by this? Objectively, the scene I saw was made of water vapor, chlorophyll, and a swirl of elements bending and twisting in the rising heat of a large ball of gas 93,000,000 miles away. But it was beauty that caught me. The squirrels didn't stop and stare. Mr. Bluebird didn't land on my shoulder and strike up a conversation on the matter, cool as that would have been. For some reason, I saw in these elements a wonder, a story, a window that opened into my own experience. In this sacrament of the present moment, as the mist swirled before the sun, I thought of our sorrow thick and dank, sapping us of hope. The trees reached in and broke its cloudy mask, like the hands of friends praying for us, reaching into our lives and rooting us in hope. And then the Sun, beyond hope, pierced that mist of melancholy like a dozen swords of holy light that shone and fell upon the earth. And behold, there was light and heat and a new kind of "illumination." I think it was Dostoyevsky who once wrote that, in the end, "Beauty will save the world." Well, Beauty has arrived, and often lies waiting for us on the back roads, in places least expected, in sudden and sharp turns from shadow into light. Perhaps all we're asked to do is stop and look with love and gratitude.

Jawdroppin' Jesus

What's the most exciting adjective ever hurled at you? Funny? Crazy? Caring? Compassionate? Nice... ? How about spellbinding. Now that's an adjective for ya. This rarely used word is the one used in today's gospel from Luke 4. Jesus is making his rounds around the towns and villages of Galilee (the sea of which is pictured above), and this time he's in Capernaum. The people are "spellbound" by his teaching. What a great word.... spellbound. It means "entranced by or as if by a spell; fascinated." But why were the people so entranced, you ask? Because he spoke with authority. Now there's something we need desparately today but are afraid to take, like nasty medicine that we know is going to heal but it hurts to go down; words of authority. The funny thing is, they only taste nasty when we are sick, that is, need to get out of unhealthy situations of self-righteousness and autonomy. When we are arrogant, anarchists, or anti-authority, words of authority come storming towards us, shining with all of the clarity, force, and power of a waterfall or a flash of lightning. They quite literally rock our world, like the words of Jesus did to the powers that be (or were) in his own time. But the truth is, we need a shock to our systems, so dulled as they are by soupy words, wishy washy words that dribble out from our lips or in opinion polls or from the media. We need a center of gravity. We need a Son to revolve around. In the me-o-centric universes that we can construct for ourselves, we simply end up floating through space like asteroids, bound sooner or later to crash into something. But it takes alot to convince us of this truth. To assure us that there is an Authority and a Law, and that we need to obey it (Him) just like the planets follow the rules. But we have the added challenge of doing so willingly, of placing our hearts and wills into His system. Falling in line with the Law of Love is the surest way of finding ourselves, of discovering our ryhthm, our pace, our deepest identity. All else is chaos. To resist his words of authority is to fall prey to the black hole of self-absorption, to lose all sense of space and time, to be bent... to be lost. The prayer today is to realign ourselves, reorient ourselves under His authority. So God, make our crooked ways straight. Draw us in and bind us to Your Truth. Then we can truly be spellbound, and in that binding we will truly be set free. "In His will, our peace." - Dante

The Catholic Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien

"Humanity in every age, and even today, looks to works of art to shed light upon its path and its destiny. " - Pope John Paul II I had a wonderful conversation last week with Generation Life speaker Matt Chominiski on the Catholic vision of J.R.R. Tolkien. We blazed a trail with the characters of the Fellowship through some of the inspiring themes that made this novel a worldwide phenomenon, and a truly Catholic classic: Providence, friendship, love, loyalty, sacrifice, creation, stewardship, a touch of Chesterton's Distributism, virtue and vice, and the unfailing power of hope. For the podcast, visit iTunes and search the store for "The Heart of Things or Bill Donaghy" or just click here and listen right from the podcast website (the show is an hour long and may take some time to download). WEB ARTICLES AND ESSAYS: http://tolkienandchristianity.blogspot.com/ BOOKS on TOLKIEN: J. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth, by Bradley J. Birzer. J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion, by Richard L. Purtill. Tolkien: Man and Myth, by Joseph Pierce. Ignatius Press, December 2001. Tolkien: A Celebration - Collected Writings on a Literary Legacy, edited by Joseph Pierce. Ignatius Press, November 2001.

What Amazes You?

So we closed off our vacation in NY last week with Holy Mass and the traditional Byrons Family Blowout Breakfast at Benny's Mexican-American Diner (you can have salsa with pancakes). I love Byrons Family Blowout Breakfasts (hereafter named BFBBs). Basically, they involve the peaceful takeover of small eateries by the Byrons boys, girls, babies, big and tall uncles and wonderfully affirmative aunts.... and Grandma and Grandpa B. You need (and we often exceed) at least a dozen souls for an official BFBB. Tables are pieced together like Tetris blocks, wait staff quail, menus get flipped and decorated with classy drawings, and the cooks run out of eggs real quick. This Sunday, Taylor Man (my 13 year old nephew with a rapier wit) was perusing the comics section in between his pancakes and Pepsi when I noticed the "Zits" column. I took it home with me and here it is above, thanks to the power of our HP scanner. If you click on the image it will become muy grande (which is Benny's for really big). (The other image in this post is Trogdor, The Burninator, who needs no introduction, expertly drawn and labeled on the back of a placemat by SB and TG, respectively). If you're a consistent reader of this blog, you can see why the above comic caught my attention. A teenager is dragged across the globe and shown some of the great wonders of the world, and he simply sighs, moans, groans, or slumps through it all. It takes a trip to the cell phone boutique kiosk thing at the local mall to rekindle his sense of wonder. As they say at Benny's.... "aye ya yai!" * Now I get tantalized by technology and geeked out by gigabytes myself, as you may well know. And my daily walk can be a slippery slope into "technolatry" if I'm not careful. These days, it's become hard to imagine life without Mr. Google, or cell phones, or the 150 billion e-mails we "MUST READ AND NOT DELETE!" that zip out every day across the planet (and that is an accurate number)... but the question remains, what truly amazes us? Takes our breath away? Reminds us of our place in the Great Chain of Being? What wows you? And let's keep our examples unplugged. Here are a few of mine: - the iridescent shine on the backs of Japanese Beetles - feeling the rush of wind and not knowing exactly how it forms and how it found me - getting caught in heavy rain when hiking up north through balsam firs and pine trees. Rain splattering, dripping, dropping all around us, and the scent of the wet woods was intoxicating - incense hanging in a church and how it can conjure up so many things and so many feelings. It's a SMELL! - a baby's fingernails - reciprocated love "Faced with the sacredness of life and of the human person, and before the marvels of the universe, wonder is the only appropriate attitude." - Pope John Paul II ___________________________________________ * I'm not sure if they ever really say that at Benny's.

On Top of the World

I'm in North Carolina this weekend, catching up with an old friend and giving a couple of short reflections to his Confirmation students. We had a great hike today up Whiteside Mountain. There's nothing like talking about the wonders of God's creation while you're sitting in the middle of it! The kids, all roughly high school age, were a great group and brought a peaceful, fun spirit to the hike. The pictures of the day and the beauties we discovered can be found by clicking this here link! - "My Mac Web Gallery."

"To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity."

- Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Sun and Shade

When I was a kid, we used to play a game called "Sun and Shade." It was only possible on those extraordinary summer days when school was out, the clouds were high, and the wind was strong.

The game consisted of a race from a shady patch in the neighborhood (point A) to another shady patch (point B) up the hill. You could move anywhere, run in any direction, as long as your feet were touching shade. Under trees, shrubs, the shadow of a mailbox, a car, a trash can.... all were like stepping stones on the way to the coveted Goal. If you ever stepped into the Light, you were "fried," and back to the Starting Place you ran.

My favorite part of the game was when a massive bank of cloud would race across the face of the sun, and a half dozen kids would bolt like mad up the hill before the shade fell over us again; screaming, arms flailing, laughing, leaping up to land at the last second into the shady patch of a tree when the sun came out again. Ah, youth!

Let's Get Spiritual

Now if you are like me, you wouldn't mind a little experience of the Divine once in a while (or how about every second?) as we make our Monday to Friday runs from the Shade into the Sun of a weekend. By experience of the Divine, I mean a glimmer of eternity in time, a sense of peace even in the midst of tragedy, or a strong dose of Warm Love, the kind Van the Man sings about:

Look at the ivy on that old clinging wall. Look at the flowers and the green grass so tall. It's not a matter of when push comes to shove. It's just an hour on the wings of a dove... Its just warm love... And its ever present everywhere... That warm love.
- Van Morrison

Now mind you, I'm not talking about gooey "religious feelings" - it's a heightened awareness of the Sacrament of the Present Moment. In the old spiritual classic of Brother Lawrence, it's the Practice of the Presence of God. For us kids growing up on 'ole Jefferson Street, even the Sun and Shade invited us into the Dance, into the vision that the Universe was made superfluously, for us, for FUN. It's meant to be as transparent as stained glass. That's the definition of a sacrament. A visible sign that houses a spiritual reality. Maybe that's why the saints were so crazy, so happy, even in the Shade of Suffering; the cold darkness seemingly devoid of the Sun. They praised even there, oftentimes especially there! They knew, in the immortal words of that little redhead Annie, that the Sun "would come out tomorrow" - or at least eventually...

So look at the ivy on that old clinging wall, look at the flowers and the green grass so tall. Look at the suffering with its power to shape. It's all Warm Love... and it's ever present everywhere.

Our Hope

If you think about it, we don't have to look too far to see on the faces of our fellow human beings a profoundly simple truth. When properly understood, it's a truth that can really liberate us and start some deep healing. The truth is: we are living in a state of exile.

... But certainly there was an Eden on this very unhappy earth. We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most humane, is still soaked with the sense of 'exile.'
- J.R.R. Tolkien

Separation, death, divorce, heartache... We've all tasted this bitter cup. Drive down a few blocks in any forgotten corner of a city, spend some time in a bus station or a DMV. Listen to the news ANY time of day. Look at our movies, so many of which seem soaked in blood and lust. We're crippled by our fallen condition, and we look up and wonder if there is any way out. "It is what it is" we mumble.

Oftentimes, we are removed, distant, doubtful, cynical. Has life turned out the way we dreamed it would, playing in the school yard, with our little crushes, and our wonder and awe at the smallest butterfly or bug making its way along the path? What happened to that sense of home, of happiness, of seeing the universe as a big playground with God as our Daddy always smiling at us? Our experiences have weathered us, soaked us with the sense of homelessness.

"We are on the wrong side of the door" in the words of C.S. Lewis. This side of the wardrobe is dingy, drab, and seems more often just a bundle of old coats and mothballs. Nothing so new and dazzlingly clear as Narnia's cold ice castles and verdant, emerald fields full of dryads and centaurs. We're we just delusional children? Unrealistic? Naive to think that the universe was made in music? Foolish to think we could ever get back inside? Go home again?

Well, if this were all there is... why would we even ask those questions?

Last Thursday was the feast of a homecoming. A return of biblical proportions... Jesus ascended, was lifted up, soared up up and away... out of this mess and back Home! Now He "sits at the right hand of the Father" (that's biblical for an intimate share in the Power and Love of the One) and now.... we have a way in.

No longer exiles, we have a Man inside! This next truth is almost too much to swallow, so drink a glass of grace to help it go down easier..... THERE IS A HUMAN BODY IN HEAVEN (two in fact!)

Jesus and Mary, with their whole selves; arms and legs, hearts and bones, eyes and ears, breathing somehow that air of Deep Heaven, and looking out somehow with immortal eyes! They are IN. Is this insane or what?! And they, like sentinels, stand at the "Door" of that Undiscovered Country and wait for us, their children, who can and should believe that the fairy tales are much nearer the truth than we ever thought possible...

"The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility.... in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved....
- St. Paul, Romans 8:16-24

Two Deep

My deep thought for a Tuesday morning: What if everything is here, now?

Heaven, Hell, God, angels, demons, saints, loved ones, a battlefield, shouts of victory, the seemingly "dead" who have left us grieving, the answers to the questions of every human heart, the hidden meaning of suffering, the reason for it all?

What if it were simply a thin veil that separated you and me from all of That?

How would you live, walk, breathe in the air of today if you could see It? If you could pierce that veil with your eyes, see the Shapes of the Answers moving about in a Great Dance that made everything here in this Room so much clearer, brighter, even joyful, like the giddy surge of the heart on Christmas morning when you were seven years old and the whole universe seemed like a Big Present just for you.

What if it still is, just for you?

"At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known."
- 1 Corinthians 13:13

I've heard faith called wishful thinking, theology just pie in the sky intellectualizing. Belief an opiate for the people. But to me this seems to come from a one-eyed view of the world, one that limits our "depth-perception" and ultimately leaves the heart dry and thirsty.

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."
- William Wordsworth

Why?

C.S. Lewis said the best explanation for the feelings that you feel and the cravings of your heart that can find no completion or absolute fulfillment in this world is.... you are made for Another World. This sentence rings truer than anything for me, in all my years of longing, through all my years of study, through the experiences I've had or borne through the lives of others near and far in this messed up human family. This one truth rings clear as silver. There is More.

"I want eternity. I was made for greater things."
- St. Stanislaus Kostka

This word was spoken by a young Polish nobleman who had all that money could buy, and yet was not satisfied. He gave it all up for a faith in the Unseen, and he was fulfilled, like countless others. And he was given a view of that Unseen Love finally. Love took on a human face and the veil was lifted.

So I think we should live today as if the veil were pulled back. As if all that is "seen and unseen" is visible and woven into one great tapestry. May we see Love behind every atom, eye, and blade of grass, every word, whisper and walk of life. It's preparation.... it's Heaven all the way to Heaven, as St. Catherine said. It's the Practice of the Presence of God... and

"The best is yet to come."
- Van Morrison

Wasted in Wisconsin

In the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians (aka Holy Hill) there is a great deal of WASTE. It's scandalous really. A blatant disregard for the earth's resources! Marble vaults and pillars filled with angelic faces and Latin phrases, twists and turns in columns of precious wood and stone high above our heads, glass splintered into a thousand colors and hues in intricate webs of light. What were they thinking? And so much space! Dead air filled with nothing!

Well, nothing but music, and sunlight, and prayers in their heart-spun arc towards the tabernacle. And Love returning, burning and flowing from the altar.

Yes, what a terrible waste love is. What a slap in the face of utilitarianism and frugality. "The money could have been used to feed the poor," we can hear today's Judas' whining. But to waste, to pour out, to squander is the very nature of love.

The ones who built this Holy Hill, this Holy Temple, were kin to that woman of the gospels, who broke the alabaster flask of oil and "wasted" it, pouring it out onto the feet of Jesus. Thank God for her. Thank God for them. May we in our soulless strip malls, opaque office centers, and hollow gymnasium churches learn something from the extravagance of their love.

Wisconsin or Bust!

I am presently extremely excited, and 32,000 feet off of the ground. I'm heading for this amazing place called "Holy Hill." It's a Carmelite Monastery situated on over 400 acres of rural countryside in the southeastern part of Wisconsin. Woohoo!

Tomorrow I'll be giving two talks at a conference they are running for young adults. My topic is "Rekindling Our Eucharistic Amazement, Rediscovering Our Mission."

Woohoo yet again!

I really believe there is never a shortage of things to be amazed by. Especially in these days of the incredible blossoming of technology - case in point, I'm typing on a touch keypad on an iPhone while listening to the soundtrack of Dances with Wolves, soaring above billowing shapes of clouds and sipping Sierra Mist. What the heck America!

I know, I know.... I didn't tell you guys about the iPhone yet. I'm so ashamed, and simultaneously elated. I made the fatal mistake of saying it's the "most visually stunning thing I've ever seen"... to my wife Rebecca. She just made that face, that cute face that is actually the most visually stunning thing I've ever seen.

Ahem...so... Where were we? WONDER! Now the irony is, I'll be poking fun at technology in this talk. My point being that we can spend so much time these days staring at screens that we can miss the wonder of the face before us. The sacramental signs that God tosses our way like so many kisses: other people, rain storms, spring flowers, good wine, songs, smells, sights that make the heart weep and we know not why. Can I get an amen? Clearly God calls me to speak about these topics because He really wants me to get the message myself. I find it funny that I have such a fiendish proclivity to technology. I guess you have to know what you're talking about, right? Yessss, precioussss, yessss.

Anyhoo, I hope to post some pictures and ponderings from the shrine. This service made available by technology by the way. Haha! Now let me turn this dang thing off. We just landed in Chicago for a connecting flight, and airports are awesome places to encounter the many-splendoured face of humanity.

Carved in Ethereal Realms

Carved in ethereal realms
Unique as a human soul
Tumbling through empty skies
They come.

Beauty hidden from our eyes
Resting on frozen slopes where no one walks
Deep as a pirate's jeweled treasures
Sharp as diamonds, glistening with promise
They rest.

Will we pass them by?
Will any eye stop to wonder
at these hand-carved theophanies?

Will the warmth of a human heart stop to see
take and treasure, imbibe their beauty?

For these little ones are ours to treasure
to take and see in their individuality
wondering which is me
unique
unrepeatable
Sharp as diamonds
glistening with promise.

_______________________________

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity;
so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.
- Henry David Thoreau