Memorial Day 2015

Doubting thomas

 

1.  Prayer

Heavenly Father,
I come to You in my uncertainty. My mind is clouded with questions, and I feel unsure of which step to take. Please forgive me for letting doubt take hold of my heart. Grant me the wisdom to discern Your path and the courage to trust in Your plan, even when I cannot see the way forward. Calm my anxieties, replace my fears with faith, and lead me into Your peace.
In Your holy name, I pray. Amen."

2.  MEDITATION 

https://youtu.be/cyMxWXlX9sU?si=XA5NMW1eDTJXwtv_

3. SONG

https://youtu.be/kaqd4-5mhcc?si=H5bOwgkwxiEnWaP3

4.  NARRATIVE 

Franciscan mystic Richard Rohr teaches that doubt and faith are not opposites, but correlative terms. Rather than dismissing "Doubting Thomas" as a cautionary tale, Rohr values Thomas's refusal to accept a forced faith, teaching that honest, questioning doubt is a necessary doorway to true, contemplative transformation.[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Rohr writes that people of great faith often suffer bouts of great doubt because their understanding of God continues to grow. In his teachings, he emphasizes several key aspects regarding Thomas’s famous skepticism: [1]

• Honest Unknowing: Rohr stresses that Thomas’s demand to see the wounds was an authentic, firsthand desire to experience truth rather than blindly accepting secondhand testimony. To Rohr, nothing about Thomas's faith felt forced. [1, 2, 3]
• Wounds and Connection: Rohr often suggests that we are all "Doubting Thomas" in the places of our unhealed wounds. Thomas's encounter teaches us to bring our whole, wounded, and doubting selves into the room, as Jesus simply invited him to show up and be honest. [1]
• A Journey of Transformation: Rohr uses the framework Order → Disorder → Reorder. Thomas’s initial certainty was disrupted by the crucifixion, his mind wrestled in the disorder of doubt, and ultimately, this process reordered his understanding as he cried out, "My Lord and my God!" [1, 2]

For a deeper dive into his philosophy on "unknowing," you can explore the full Center for Action and Contemplation Meditation on the subject. [1]

Field Hospital on the Edge of the Battlefield
Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Francis of Assisi taught us the importance of living close to the poor, the marginalized, the outcasts in society. The outer poverty, injustice, and absurdity around us mirror our own inner poverty, injustice, and absurdity. The poor man or woman outside is an invitation to the poor man or woman inside. As you nurture compassion and sympathy for the brokenness of things, encounter the visible icon of the painful mystery in “the little ones,” build bridges between the inner and outer, learn to move between action and contemplation, then you’ll find compassion and sympathy for the brokenness within yourself.

Each time I was recovering from cancer, I had to sit with my own broken absurdity as I’ve done with others at the jail or hospital or sick bed. The suffering person’s poverty is visible and extraverted; mine is invisible and interior, but just as real. I think that’s why Jesus said we have to recognize Christ in the least of our brothers and sisters. It was for our redemption, our liberation, our healing—not just to “help” others and put a check on our spiritual resume.

I can’t hate the person on welfare when I realize I’m on God’s welfare. It all becomes one truth; the inner and the outer reflect one another. As compassion and sympathy flow out of us to any marginalized person for whatever reason, wounds are bandaged—both theirs and ours.

Thomas, the doubting apostle, wanted to figure things out in his head. He had done too much inner work, too much analyzing and explaining. He always needed more data before he could make a move. Then Jesus told Thomas he must put his finger inside the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side (John 20:27). Then and only then did Thomas begin to understand what faith is all about.

Pope Francis is encouraging a church of doubting Thomases when he tells us that “the church seems like a field hospital” [1] on the edge of the battlefield (as opposed to a country club of saved people) and the “clergy should smell like their sheep” (rather than thinking they smell better). [2] If this could happen, it would change just about everything that we have called church up to now.

Gateway to Silence:
Be still and still moving.

References:
[1] Pope Francis, Address to members of the Focolare Movement on September 26, 2014. See full text at https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/september/documents/papa-francesco_20140926_movimento-focolari.html
[2] Pope Francis, With the Smell of the Sheep: Pope Francis Speaks to Priests, Bishops, and other Shepherds (Orbis Books: 2017).

5.  Meditation 

https://youtu.be/NrrUIvqzszw?si=ArebEvaTVBeOgOuM

6. Sharing

7. Intentions and prayers

 

8. SONG

https://youtu.be/08vSmDJjl-k?si=51yY9xa6h9r0ky5B

 

1. PRAYER

A Prayer to See Others Through God's Eyes

"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for loving me and for creating every person in Your image. Today, I ask that You open the eyes of my heart. Give me Your spiritual vision so I can see others the way You see them. [1, 2, 3, 4]

When I am frustrated, judgmental, or impatient, help me to pause. Remove the lenses of my own biases and replace them with Your grace and mercy. Give me a heart of compassion that notices the pain, brokenness, or loneliness behind their actions. [1]

Remind me that every person I encounter is someone You deeply love and cherish. Use me as a vessel of Your love, peace, and kindness, so that others may feel Your presence when they interact with me. [1, 2]

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen." [1]

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/-Tb1lR8Z5oM

3.  SONG

https://youtu.be/1pdnXCVy97I

4.  NARRATIVE

Telling Us How to See

Sunday, November 7, 2021

Telling Us How to See
Sunday, November 7, 2021

This week’s meditations explore what Christians can learn about inner transformation from Buddhism. As Father Richard often says, “If it’s true, it is true all the time and everywhere, and sincere lovers of truth will take it from wherever it comes.” [1] In his book The Universal Christ, he writes: 

I am convinced that in many ways Buddhism and Christianity shadow each other. They reveal each other’s blind spots. In general, Western Christians have not done contemplation very well, and Buddhism has not done action very well. [2] There is a reason that art usually shows Jesus with his eyes open and Buddha with his eyes closed. At the risk of overgeneralization: in the West, we have largely been an extroverted religion, with all the superficiality that represents; and the East has largely produced introverted forms of religion, with little social engagement up to now.

At its best, Western Christianity is dynamic and outflowing. But the downside is that this entrepreneurial instinct may have caused it to be subsumed by culture instead of transforming culture at any deep level. In our arrogance and ignorance, we also totally trampled on the cultures we entered. We became a formal and efficient religion that felt that its job was to tell people what to see instead of how to see. 

I have lived for short periods of time in Buddhist monasteries in Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. They are definitely much more disciplined and serious than most Christian monasteries. The first question a Japanese abbot asked me was “What is your practice?” The first question from a Christian abbot would probably be something like “How was your trip?” or “Do you have everything you need for your stay here?”

Both approaches have their strengths and limitations. Buddhism is more a way of knowing and cleaning the lens of perception than a theistic religion concerned with metaphysical “God” questions. In telling us mostly how to see, Buddhism both appeals to us and challenges us because it demands much more vulnerability and immediate commitment to a practice—more than just “attending” a service, like many Christians do. Buddhism is more a philosophy, a worldview, a set of practices to free us for truth and love than it is a formal belief system in any notion of God. It provides insights and principles that address the how of spiritual practice, with very little concern about what or who is behind it all. That is its strength, and I am not sure why that should threaten any Christian believer.

By contrast, Christians have spent centuries trying to define the what and who of religion. We usually gave folks very little how, beyond “quasi-magical” transactions (sacraments, moral behaviors, and handy Bible verses). And yet these religious elements often seem to have little effect on how the human person actually lives, changes, or grows. Such transactions often tend to keep people on cruise control rather than offer any genuinely new encounter or engagement.

References:
[1] See Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (Jossey-Bass: 2013), 127–138.

[2] In recent decades we are seeing the emergence of what is called “Engaged Buddhism,” which we have learned from teachers Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, Joanna Macy, Joan Halifax, angel Kyodo williams, and many others.

Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope for, and Believe (Convergent: 2019), 210–212.

Story from Our Community:
When I signed up for the daily meditations and read about Shamanism, Islam, Taoism, and Buddhism, I was convinced I was connecting with a heretic! I pressed through the confusion with Fr. Richard’s consistency, transparency, and sincerity. What I fought for for years became mine by love, and not fighting at all. The Daily Meditations are a love letter and I am eternally grateful to Fr. Richard for this expression of Love—and THE Love. —Thomas G.

5.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/RNeLU-5yR04?si=oHxnXsGKm3v0Vird

6.  SHARING

7. PRAYER

Father, You alone know each heart. Please help us be more patient with others before forming an opinion about them. Father, we know You see our hearts right now. You see what is true about my heart, our hearts. We want our hearts to be pleasing to You. Purify our hearts. Humble our hearts, soften our hearts, make our hearts like Yours. Make us men and women after Your heart and give us Your heart for others.  Help us to see others as You see them. Help us not to see that outward appearance, according to the way the world sees. Father, help us to see hearts, to love hearts, to shepherd hearts, to lead hearts to know You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

8.  SONG

https://youtu.be/Z8h3fvk9wGY

Hunan Chicken

 

This is my favorite chicken dish I savored during my recent trip to China. I particularly liked relishing into the bony small pieces from the chicken backs and necks.  This is my recreation using a few ingredients.  It gave back the same flavorful experience.

Hunan Chicken

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Servings: 6 Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients 

            1/whole chicken, including backs and necks, chopped into small bite-sized pieces 

Marinade

            1/2 cup hoisin sauce 

             2 anise seeds

            1/4 teaspoon five spice powder

            1/8 teaspoon ginger powder

            1/8 teaspoon white pepper

            3 basil leaves, torn

Instructions

1. Add the marinade ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the chopped chicken pieces to marinate for 15 minutes..

2. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat, then add the chicken pieces and marinade to the skillet. Cook till the chicken is done.  .

3. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan. Serve over rice and garnish with fresh basil.

Notes

    Fresh chopped ginger can be used instead of ginger powder.

    Dried basil leaves can be used instead of fresh ones.