Into the Sacred Hills of Jade

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon Peter, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon Peter answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. – Luke 5:4-6

This life of contemplative Christianity is much in tune with that command of Christ to Simon Peter, “Put out into the deep water and cast your nets there.”  For so long, the Christians around me kept telling me to cast my nets in the shallows … and I worked so many years … with nothing to show for it.

Too much of Christianity is about fishing the shallows rather than fishing the deeper waters.  The shallows are filled with platitudes, slogans, catchy titles, and easy answers; but the depths are teeming with wisdom, discernment, mysteries revealed and fuller understanding.  The shallows are where the judgmental attitudes are found, and also an easy-to-come-by self-righteousness.  The depths are where the compassionate empathy is found, and also the questions that God needs us to ask.  The shallows are for splashing but not getting too wet; the depths are for diving further in, totally immersed in the river of God.

Fishing the shallows leads to a meager harvest of transformation of one’s soul, but fishing the deeper waters brings one a harvest of wisdom and More Perfect Love from out of the depths of God’s Mind and Heart.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, October 8, 2018

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. – John 1:8-10

Though I have heard preacher after preacher declare that we are already forgiven of our sins, John’s Gospel is vividly clear of the need for confession.  The forgiveness is primed and readied in the heart of the Lord, waiting for our acceptance of this forgiveness by way of our confession … but still the confession must be made.  And within that act of confession is also a commitment to repentance, to change the course of our attitudes and behaviors.

Yet … we live in a culture and many in a certain Christian sub-culture where confession is seldom practiced.  Oh, we think of a criminal’s confession of murder or theft, but of the subtler sins, we have grown silent and indifferent.  It is as if we have become insensitive to the sins to which we grown accustomed.

What are these subtler sins of which I speak?  Greed would be one, along with it a reluctance to share with others God’s Providence.  Pride would be another, along with it an arrogance that I am better than others.  Idolatry would be one, in the guise of a flag or a political ideology.  Hatred would be another, in all its shades from prejudice to cold-hearted indifference.  Hypocrisy would also be another, whether in the lack of transparency or in the self-rationalized lie.  Oh, there are so many … that are so much a part of our way of life that we far too often we have grown blind to their presence and significance.

And if we fail to confess … over time we convince that we have nothing to confess.  And this leads us down a path of blaming and judging others while forever excusing ourselves.  In such a state, forgiveness might we be waiting in the heart of God, but is inactive in our souls and our human relationships.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Sunday, October 7, 2018

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”  But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?” – John 6:60-61

With a good measure of confidence, I would offer that any preacher worth her or his salt has heard these words or words much like them.  If the conscience of Christ is honestly and forthrightly declared … there will be those who are either offended or dismissive of both the preacher and the message.  I believe it is the challenge within the message of Christ that causes this reaction.

People are resistant to change.  People get set in their ways and their opinions.  People are too proud for their own good; people are too often are more loyal to worldly powers than they are to Christ.  And thus there is often an emotional reaction to a clear statement of Christ’s teaching.

My counsel to most of my Loved Ones is to listen without the perceived need to react or even in respond in the moment.  Then allow what is heard to abide awhile in your soul.  And in time … you may begin to gain a fuller, deeper understanding.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Saturday, October 6, 2018

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.“ – Matthew 23:15

I first came into a church community that was devoted to higher thought and social responsibility.  But then with a change of leadership, I was re-converted into a church where making converts, winning souls, was the essential mission.  And later in life, I made yet another conversion into a church of contemplation and holy service.  Some say I strayed, some say I lost the faith, some say I was seduced away from the true church … but now, looking back, it was a guided pilgrimage to a higher and deeper understanding.

In this confrontation with the Bible teachers and the rigidly devout, Christ expresses His concern over the matter of making converts.  And I understand … for so much of modern evangelicalism is measured by the number of converts.  But Christ warns that it is not the number of converts that matters … but the quality of life those new believers gain.  Yes, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees went out and made converts … but what were the spiritual outcomes of those conversions?

Surely these converts believed in God.  Surely these converts studied the scriptures.  Surely these converts went to synagogue and adhered to the doctrines taught by their rabbis.  But Christ shockingly declares … “and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”  What was missing?  What was absent?  What corrupting or corrosive something tainted the souls of these converts?

The answers to those question could be many and diverse, but in my own discernment about Christ’s concern … were the matters of hypocrisy, indifference to the needs of the poor, judgmental attitudes, rigidity of spirit, self-righteous and arrogant pride.

So many Christians who faintly possess and convey the very essence of Christ Himself.  So few who seem radiant with the very personhood of Christ within their own lives.  How can this be?

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Friday, October 5, 2018

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now He said this about the Spirit, which believers in Him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. – John 7:37b-39

“Out of the heart … out of the core of one’s being … out of the deepest part of the soul … shall flow rivers of living water… not any water but fresh, thirst quenching, life-restoring water, refreshing water , not the bitter waters nor the poisoned waters that flows out of the cisterns of certain souls.”

I find these words of Christ to highlight both the creative nature of the Spirit and the providential nature of the Spirit.

The Christian life by definition is a life of creativity.  The Spirit is continually creating out of the Spirit’s own Life the life we are living.  Each day, the Christian returns to his or her studio to create the something more.  In Christ and in His Spirit, life becomes artistry.  Often using the essence of the old but now we a new spark of the new, we and the Spirit create a new expression of a day and add to the gallery of our days.  Life stops when we stop creating and our lives become but an museum rather than an artist’s studio.

Yet it is the one Spirit, the Spirit who sustain our yesterday, who will sustain through today, and who will be there to sustain in our tomorrow.  Each day we are to harvest the bread made available in the living of each day, sometimes we are planting, sometimes we are tending, sometimes we are harvesting.  The Spirit is the water that we draw from the Ever-flowing River, quenching not only our own thirst, but also the thirst of others, and the thirst of the fields of grain.

The human creature cannot live for long without water to quench the thirst, nor can the soul of that human creature without the living water that flows from that heavenly spring within.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and He answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” – Luke 17:20-21

A common interpretation of the words, “The kingdom of God is among you,”, is that Christ is speaking of Himself.  Surrounded by the defenders of doctrine and keepers of the tradition, Christ could be speaking of Himself as the kingdom of God.  Or what could go further and extend it to mean … who I am and what I am about, my values, my concerns and my vision, these make up the new kingdom of God.  I believe are surely part of the Truth.  Yet … I sometimes think there is yet another aspect of this teaching … the kingdom of God is in the midst of the relationship among the people, a kingdom that will be drawn forth from them by His Spirit in the realm of the new resurrection.

Within each soul is that inherited gift of the imago Dei, the image of God within us.  We have within our living breath, the Breath of God’s Life.  Like a latent image that is invisibly present with an exposed sheet of photographic paper, this image of God begins to appear when it is immersed in the Spirit of Christ, the quality of spirit that has come with the resurrection of Christ and in the anticipatory resurrection of all who welcome into their lives, His Life.

I believe it is possible that Christ answering the questions of the Pharisees was offering an invitation to both these men who sought to be holy and to the culture of faith that they were creating, these Pharisees who actually did believe in the resurrection.  “My Pharisaical colleagues, you do have within yourselves that inner Light, that ancient Light that is waiting to be drawn forth by my Presence, my teaching, my way of Grace, Mercy, and  self-giving Love.”

We have heard over and over that we have need for grace because of inborn vulnerability to sin, this original sin, but we need to remember over and over that we were also born within us the image of God enabling us to be inspired by possibilities.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Jesus. The inscription of the charge against Him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.  Those who passed by mocked Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also mocked Him. – Mark 15:25-32

To mock –  to laugh at someone, often by copying them in a funny but unkind way:
to make something appear stupid or ineffective. (Cambridge Dictionary)

To mock another person is a verbal cruelty; to be mocked by others is a painful experience.  The Gospel of Mark emphasizes by way of repetition this degrading practice of mocking.  There in the midst of the nails and the crosses, there in the midst of the swords and the spears, Mark vividly remembers the “mocking”.

I have observed that frenzied crowds like to mock and they mock with self-condemning laughter.  They enjoy drawing blood; they enjoy bringing down; they enjoy the release of a cowardly rage.  And within it all, there broods a repression of guilt, the guilt of indifference, the guilt of cynicism, the guilt of blaming, the guilt of abandoning conscience for the sake of a cause.  And the mocking can galvanize the crowd by way of a mutual permission to be cruel.  It is a tool of the evil among us.

It is so tempting mock for it is so easy to do especially when spurred on by the crowd.  It is so tempting to mock for it conjures a delusion of being more powerful than one truly is.  It is so tempting to mock  … because it demands no reason or logic.

I am guilty of the sin of mocking and I regret that moral failure within me.  But the Spirit of the Lord is making ever more vigilant to resist the temptation to ridicule.  I find a great deal of mocking in the world … and it continues the wounding of others and the degradation of ourselves.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

[Then Jesus said to His disciples,]“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth, comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth. The Spirit will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what He will make known to you.  All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what He will make known to you.” – John 16:12-15

NOTE:  Gendered pronouns always frustrate me.  There ought to exist a greater array of pronouns such as a pronoun that conveys personhood without the gender.  Though John and the Church refer to the Spirit in the masculine, in so many ways my experience of the Spirit seems more akin to what I have experienced from the feminine side of personhood.  But language has its limitations and we must be communicating as best we can.

It is as clear as it can be stated … “Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit still has more to say, more Truth to reveal, a further understanding to convey.  Yet … there is an expression of the Christian faith that confines Christ to the understanding of the first and second century and then at a certain hazy moment, Christ became silent.  I once clung to that premise for Christian understanding.  Builders of theology begin with that initial defined term … they call it “Biblical” but I find it is a false premise for it goes against the Biblical history itself.  From the dawn of humanity’s first encounter with God … God has a history of slowly yet steadily unveiling the Truth.  “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth, comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth …”

I pray I sense Christ is listening; when I listen in prayer, I sense Christ is speaking.  At least in my life, Christ still is teaching.  I ask questions of Christ in search of an answer; Christ asks questions of me in effort to draw forth a clearer thought.  Christ and I experience a Moment and then the Lord makes me pause … to reflect on that Moment.  Christ calls me to serve in an act of obedience and in my obeying a greater Truth is revealed.

My view of Scripture is that it is not a fence around the Truth but rather the center point of the Truth with our understanding grower ever greater as Time goes by.  So I learn from reading and reliving the scriptural history, and I learn from the life of ongoing, listening prayer, and I learn from the Spirit Christ has shared with humanity in this School of a More Perfect Love.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, October 1, 2018

When Pilate heard these words of the Jerusalem leaders, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement.  Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jerusalem leaders, “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.”  Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. – John 19:13-16

And so was the final step in the abandonment of conscience and principle by the chief priests, … “We have no king but Caesar!”  In that time and place, such a declaration was both heresy and treason.  But this is what happens when zeal and passion savages a conscience, the rage and the fear slaughters the soul.

So fearful of losing their control over Jerusalem to an inspiring rabbi from Galilee, their desperation lures them into an ungodly solution.  So accustomed to their cozy relationship with the Roman governor in charge of the occupation forces, they forced his hand to preserve their own survival.  So political was the moment that both Pilate and the chief priests abandoned all sense of justice for the sake of controlling the crowds.

This would not be the last time when supposedly holy men colluded with worldly powers to control the circumstance and the people.  Throughout Church history when politics and faith entered into collusion even for seemingly holy causes … corrosion began to eat away the soul, leaving but a loss of conscience  and innocence and a corruption of heart and ways.

Loved Ones, it is still happening.  Let not your conscience be intimidated by fear and rage.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruzw

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

September 30, 2018

Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”  Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” – Matthew 16:22-23

Peter is warned not to act as Satan acts, obscuring the truth, blinding the eyes, and conjuring delusions that make evil appear as something good.  And I sense, though this could apply to every generation, it especially applies to our own space and time.  The tactics of Satan are being used for supposedly holy causes.

We use violence and violent words to achieve that we determine as holy causes.  We use power to intimidate others rather than grace and mercy to transform others.  We use the blaming of others to exempt ourselves from responsibility.  We choose to condemn rather than confess.  We choose to conquer rather than make the peace.  We alloy the faith with Mammon and other worldly seductions rather seek the purity of angels Divine.

I see it al the time in these our times … people using the name of Christ in ways so far from the quality of spirit found in Christ.  Much like Peter did when he spoke so “nobly” about defending Christ from the crucifixion, we use worldly “virtues” to thwart the ways and wishes that flow from the heart of God.  We use military tactics, we use political tactics, we use business tactics to accomplish what we believe needs to be accomplished and we are oblivious to how those worldly tactics corrupt the holy within us and among us.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz