Survival

 

1.  PRAYER

Lord,

I come to you today with open hands and an open heart.

The struggles of this season weigh heavily on me. As fear and uncertainty grow louder, quiet the noise so that I may hear your voice.

Lord, through every trial and hardship, you are good. I pray for wisdom and guidance, peace and patience, that not my will but yours be done.

Grant me understanding when the outcome does not go my way.

Remind me that your plans are far better than my own.

Open my eyes to your provision as you help me surrender control.

Provide me with the strength to endure all that is yet to come.

When I am full of doubt, show me your mighty hand at work.

When I am scared, grow my faith bigger than my fear.

When I am disheartened, guide me to seek you in the pain.

When it feels like too much, let your presence feel near.

Lord, you came that I may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). Guide and direct me as I live it out.

Thank you for every moment you have seen me through that has led me to this day. May all the glory be yours.

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/H_uc-uQ3Nkc?si=eSlm49Hv-DOVgTmh

3. SONG

https://youtu.be/VzHNNHM_Glg?si=oKW3olWYnrYTMJy1

4.  NARRATIVE

Overview

Father Richard Rohr describes human survival as the "survival dance" of life's first half, focused on ego, boundaries, and outer success, which must transition into a deeper spiritual surrender and resilient love.[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The First Half of Life: The Survival Dance

Building the Ego: The first half of life is necessarily about successful physical and social survival.
Focus on Status: People focus on building an identity through possessions, titles, prestige, and security.
Dualistic Thinking: The mind relies on rigid, either/or, black-and-white thinking to make sense of the world. [1]

Moving Beyond Basic Survival

The Trap: Many people get stuck making money and protecting their status, refusing to stop the survival dance.
Dying to the Ego: True spiritual maturity requires the small, ego-driven self to let go of its narrow boundaries and grievances.
Embracing Disorder: Growth happens when ordered universes break down, forcing people to face mystery, darkness, and their own shadow self. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Radical Resilience and the Second Half

From Survival to Sacred: Transitioning past mere survival leads to the "sacred dance" of deeper meaning, compassion, and divine union.
Contemplative Depth: True resilience means letting go of non-essential delusions to anchor oneself in a flexible, loving presence during hard times. [1, 2, 3]

If you would like, I can share more about Richard Rohr's teachings on the second half of life or his insights on contemplative prayer and letting go of the ego. Let me know how you want to proceed!

Moving Beyond Survival

Monday, January 30, 2023

In his talk Loving the Two Halves of Life, Richard describes the questions we focus on in the first half of life:  

I first read the phrase “first half of life” in the work of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875−1961) years ago. It made sense to me then, but I probably was too young at that point to recognize how true it would eventually become. In short—and this is my layperson’s interpretation of Carl Jung—he would say that the first half of life is the task that we think is our primary task. The second half of life is really the task within the task that a lot of people never get to because they’re so preoccupied with the first task, which is all about making money, getting an education, raising children, and paying a mortgage. It’s about tradition, law, structure, authority, and identity. It’s about why I’m significant, why I’m important, why I matter, why I’m good.  

Most of us are so invested in these first-half-of-life tasks by the age of forty that we can’t imagine there’s anything more to life. But if we stay there, it remains all about me. How can I be important? How can I be safe? How can I be significant? How can I make money? How can I look good? And how can I die a happy death and go to heaven? Religion itself becomes an evacuation plan for the next life, as my friend and colleague Brian McLaren says, because we don’t see much happening of depth or significance in this world. It largely remains a matter of survival.  

I’m sad to say, after fifty-five years as a priest, I think a lot of Christians have never moved beyond survival questions, security questions, even securing their future in eternity. First-half-of-life religion is an insurance plan to ensure that future. In this stage, any sense of being a part of a cosmos, of being part of a historical sweep, that God is doing something bigger and better and larger than simply saving individual souls (and my own soul in particular) is largely of no interest to us. I don’t think I’m exaggerating. That’s all the first half of life can do.  

It’s clear that if someone wants to be elected to a political office in the United States or any country, all they need to do is assure people of safety. Bill Plotkin, who’s been such a wonderful influence on so many people in recent decades, speaks of the first half of life as our survival dance, and the second half of life as our sacred dance. [1] Most people never get beyond their survival dance. It’s just identity questions, boundary questions, superiority questions, and security questions. We would call them ego questions, but they’re not questions of the soul.  

The soul moves beyond questions of security and importance because it has discovered that it is absolutely important.  

References: 

[1] Bill Plotkin, Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2003), 84–85. 

Adapted from Richard Rohr, Ronald Rolheiser, and Edwina Gateley, Loving the Two Halves of Life: The Further Journey(Albuquerque, NM: Center for Action and Contemplation, 2011). Available as MP3 download. 

5.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/oN4SFTPR27M?si=KHRKMDWbPt3mTX7p

6.  SHARING

Happy Birthday 

https://youtu.be/i1xpjAWIuvY?si=qC3Nmht2xAuqSEqE

7.  PRAYER AND INTENTIONS

Dear God, 

You remind us over and over in your Word that you are always with us. You tell us not to fear and you draw us close into your Presence. You’re the only place we find refuge in the storms that surround us right now Lord. You’re the only place we can find peace and strength. So we ask you for your words of truth and power to strengthen us in our inner being and life our hearts to you. Thank you for your goodness, thank you that you know the way we take and you have a plan. We look to you today our Lord and Savior, it’s your face we seek.

8.  Song

FACEBOOK I WILL SURVIVE RELIGIOUS VERSIO

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Da3MPTliGI7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

OR

JUSTINE BIEVER HALLELULAH

https://youtu.be/b0GlNcc6BrQ?si=fFZtcUnj2_Umehhw

 1.  PRAYER

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:32 NLT

Lord, I often find it challenging to be kind to those who have wounded me. I struggle to be friendly, let alone to forgive. Please help me find comfort in knowing I do not have to rely on my strength for things like this. Instead, it is You who I get to rely on, so please soften my heart and help me to forgive. Amen.

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/H_uc-uQ3Nkc?si=nLYHR90_UZyO6Vqo

3.  SONG

https://youtu.be/km9FkMAf4kk?si=uxeDYP3C6pbcbLcl

4. NARRATIVE

Franciscan friar and author Richard Rohr teaches that forgiveness is "the religious word for letting go" and the very heartbeat of the Gospel. He emphasizes that it is a radical, rule-breaking practice of letting go of the hope for a different or better past. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Rohr’s core teachings on forgiveness include:

Accepting Reality: Forgiveness is not just about isolated offenses, but forgiving reality and the present moment for being broken, imperfect, and messy. [1, 2]
Transcending Victimhood: Clinging to the pain of the past creates an abused consciousness that offers a false sense of moral superiority but ultimately destroys trust and love. [1]
No "Heavenly Garbage Dump": In Rohr's view (drawing from his book Everything Belongs), forgiveness does not mean the pain simply disappears; rather, "we forgive it for being there". [1]
A Divine Technology: In Breathing Under Water, Rohr describes forgiveness as the "beginning, the middle, and the end" of the Gospel's transformative message. It breaks down the meritocracy of earning grace and opens us up to unmerited Divine love. [1, 2]

To explore more of his daily meditations and resources on this topic, visit the Center for Action and Contemplation. [1, 2]

The Power of Forgiveness

Friday, September 16, 2022

Father Richard Rohr writes of the power of Jesus’ teachings and lived example of forgiveness:

Among the most powerful of human experiences is to give or to receive forgiveness. I am told that two-thirds of the teaching of Jesus is directly or indirectly about this mystery of forgiveness: God’s breaking of God’s own rules. That’s not surprising, because forgiveness is probably the only human action that reveals three goodnesses simultaneously! When we forgive, we choose the goodness of the other over their faults, we experience God’s goodness flowing through ourselves, and we also experience our own goodness in a way that surprises us. That is an awesome coming together of power, both human and divine.

Eventually, I believe, we will all forgive one another because we have been forgiven, but let’s do it now and not wait until later. Let’s ask for the grace to let go of those grudges and hurts to which we cling. How else will we ever be free?

If we don’t “get” forgiveness, we’re missing the whole mystery. We are still living in a world of meritocracy, of quid-pro-quo thinking, of performance and behavior that earns an award. Forgiveness is the great thawing of all logic, reason, and worthiness. It is a melting into the mystery of God as unearned love, unmerited grace, the humility and powerlessness of a Divine Lover.

Without radical and rule-breaking forgiveness—received and given—there will be no reconstruction of anything. It alone breaks down our worldview of trying to buy and sell grace. Grace is certainly the one gift that must always be free, perfectly free, in order for it to work. Without forgiveness, there will be no future. We have hurt one another in too many historically documented and remembered ways. The only way out of the present justified hatreds of the world is grace.

An eagerness and readiness to love is the ultimate freedom and future. When we’ve been included in the spaciousness of divine love, there is just no room for human punishment, vengeance, rash judgment, or calls for retribution. We certainly see none of this small-mindedness in the Risen Christ after his own rejection, betrayal, and cruel death; we don’t see it even from his inner circle, or in the whole New Testament. I really cannot imagine a larger and more spacious way to live. Jesus’ death and resurrection event was a game changer for history.

The Crucified and Risen Christ uses the mistakes of the past to create a positive future, a future of redemption instead of retribution. He does not eliminate or punish mistakes. He uses them for transformative purposes.

People formed by such love are indestructible.

Forgiveness might just be the very best description of what God’s goodness engenders in humanity.

References:

Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder (Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media, 2001, 2020), 155, 158–159, 162; and

5.MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/RNeLU-5yR04?si=GDx-QYMkbeJ1JZh_

6.  SHARING

Happy birthday 

https://youtu.be/_QfXpQqRRW8?si=6W8gfbkR4Wi1JlMB

 7. PRAYER AND INTENTIONS

So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” – Luke 17:3-4 NLT

Lord, it is so hard at times to put aside my hurt and anger toward those who sin against me. I ask that You please help me to remember that Your Word says I should forgive seventy times seven times, as You have done for me. I strive to be more like You every day and ask that You give me the strength to forgive even under these painful circumstances so I may show Your love to others. Amen.

8.  SONG

https://youtu.be/PIyVReHUC3s?si=naU5H5ck9A1Q8Gi2