Into the Sacred Hills of Jade

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, August 30, 2018

And Jesus said to His disciples, “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.  If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.” – John 15:18,19

I am not sure I have ever been “hated”.  Oh, I have been criticized, rejected, ignored, abused, castigated, … but I am not all that clear if I have ever been “hated”.  But then again … I can’t imagine anyone hating Jesus, but they did back then, and nowadays I think many criticize, reject, ignore, abuse, even castigate His ways and His Way of life.  And Christ does take the time to reassure His disciples to not be intimidated when people hate you for remember they also hated me.

I find it intriguing that both those on the conservative and progressive ends of the theological spectrum often state that the other side is “too-worldly”.  And I think both sides may be right … they all have become too comfortable with worldly ways, only in a different selection of worldly ways.  But what IS this “world” of which Christ speaks?

Christ uses the term “worldly” as the negative counterpart of “heavenly”.   In a Venn diagram, this particular usage the two would not intersect though they might be viewed as similar circles but on different planes.  There exists a heavenly way and there exists a worldly way, and though they deal with the same experiences and interactions, they are not the same.  Christ confronted Peter when he logically and rather nobly declared that he would never allow or even permit Christ to be crucified by cautioning him, “Peter, you are thinking in a worldly way!”

I seek to live life as a pacifist.  {I am not sure that worldly nations can live as pacifists, but I now personally do… at least, desire to live so.}  And when I state this I am usually met with rather harsh argument against my way of life, sometimes criticized, rejected, ignored, on occasion, abused and castigated.

I believe that Love is the way to conquer the forces of evil.  And when I declare this … those who are dedicated to the norm of thinking common to the world, I have deemed me as foolish and other-worldly.  Yet … I believe this is the way it is done in Heaven so then I must seek to do on earth.

What are the worldly values that I see in we who follow Christ?  Sometimes I see greed being rationalized.  Sometimes I see prejudice being practiced in guise of holy cause.  Sometimes I witness cold-heartedness being called some form of justice.  Sometimes I sense malevolence and vindictiveness done in the name of God.  Sometimes I can feel the pulse of hatred beneath holy sounding words.  Sometimes I find law-and-order being dominant over grace and mercy.  And there other worldly ways … some of them in myself, ways I have yet to discern as not being in synch with heavenly ways.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

After this Christ journeyed on and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and Christ said to him, “Follow me.” And so Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;  I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:27-32

I call this encounter between Christ and the Pharisees, the Parable of Irony.  And now I will tell you why.

The Pharisees were a sect of Judaism that claimed to be “separated from the world”, though in irony, they clearly were not.  The Pharisees sought to keep themselves clean from the politics of the times, though in irony, they were indeed a political party.  The Pharisees considered themselves as being a force of righteousness, though in irony, they often displayed stark unrighteousness.

The tax collectors, like Levi, collected taxes, in particular the taxes demanded by the Roman occupation.  The Romans tended to use local people in their empire to do this work that apparently was ripe with corruption with the tax collectors receiving a “cut” of the revenues collected.  Probably, the Pharisees saw these tax collectors as being in collusion with the Romans and hence, they were unclean, they were sinners by way of their profession.

Levi is eager to meet with Christ, I assume to listen to His slant on the Judaic faith.  Levi seems eager to finally be accepted by having Christ honor his invitation to share in a meal.  Levi is wanting to heal of that which he has not yet learned its name.  That disease was the sinful symptoms of self-righteous and condemnation, found in the attitudes of the Pharisees.

“Why, Jesus of Nazareth, why do you a Rabbi sit down with unclean sinners?” So asked the Pharisees.  Christ answers, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”  The irony … the physician came to heal both the tax collectors and the Pharisees … and those who judged with a posture of self-righteousness, they were the sinners to which He referred.

The Pharisees were but the example of a problem throughout the history of the faith.   There have been and there are people who divide the world into We-the-Righteous and They-the-Sinners.  TheY fail to see in themselves the sin which only they can commit … the sin of self-righteousness.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Then Jesus said to His disciples …  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.   If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. – John 15:5-8

With my own ears, and not for the first time sad to say, I heard a well-dressed, well-coifed preacher proclaim … “The Bible says that you can ask for whatever you want and the Lord will make sure you get it!”  And the crowd applauded!

No, my Loved Ones, the Lord will not give you whatever YOU ask for, but rather the Lord will teach you for what you need to be asking.  IF … you remain in the quality of life which I have lived and IF … my words continue to teach you … you will learn what is it that you need to ask for … and it is THAT which  the Lord will give you.

If you are asking the Lord for a palatial home with gold fixtures, then that speaks of the nature of your heart.  If you are asking for a fancy yacht to entertain you and your friends, then that speaks of the nature of your heart.  If you are asking for a life of luxurious comfort and wealth, then that speaks of the nature of your heart.

But if you are asking for guidance in how to love your neighbor, or asking for assistance in providing for the poor, or asking for help with establishing the peace … then the Lord will provide.

If you are living within the quality of life that Christ did live … if the words of Christ are actively at work within you in your spiritual maturation … then you learn to ask for that which you truly need.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, August 27, 2018

Then Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s Well was there, and Jesus, tired out by His journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. – John 4:5-6

Here in this opening of the account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, I find a bit of theology, an aspect of what is termed Christology, the study of the nature of Christ.  It is but a detail, I assume to provide the reason why Jesus would sit by a well, but it reminds me of very human Christ was.  Jesus was tired, weary of His journey.

Yes, even Christ grew weary.  Even with all the Divine power at His disposal, His healing power, His transforming power, His miraculous … Christ grew weary like you and me grow weary.  Our humanity is graced with the image of God imprinted within with our souls and humanity is frustrated with the sinfulness to which we are so vulnerable; yet we are limited by our mortality … we can grow weak and weary.

Grant me a few moments of personal confession.  I grow weary.  I grow weary of growing physically weaker.  I grow weary of arthritic aches and pains.  I grow weary of my tremors.  I grow weary of injecting myself with medication throughout the day.  I grow weary of the nausea. But all that does not compare … with my weariness of the violence, greed, and vindictiveness in the world.  Yes, I grow weary of the gun violence.  I grow weary of the fearful and fear-provoking prejudice.  I grow weary of the oppressive exploitation of the poor.  I grow weary of wars and the romanticism of war.  I grow weary of this journey I make.

I grow weary of this journey I make … so more and more often, I must rest at the Well.  Here I catch my breath.  Here I quench the thirsting of my soul.  Here I wash away the dust on my feet.  Here I whisper the pray, “Lord, renew my strength.”  Here I pause … so that I might then continue on this journey that is mine to take.

Christ was very human in ways that we humans know.  He personally has experienced what it is like to struggle to live divinely with limits of human strength and endurance.  Christ was not “Superman”, but Christ was Divinely human, a way of life that by of His Spirit we also can be in our mortal and limited ways.  Christ did not come to earth to become Divine, He came to earth to become human to lead us to ways Divine.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Sunday, August 26, 2018

One Sabbath while Jesus was walking through the fields of grain,  His disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?” Then He said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” – Luke 6:1-5

Hundreds of times I have read this passage, but only of late I have gained a measure of clarity as to the emphasis that Christ is making.  The Pharisees are not the definers of what is the way to keep a proper Sabbath … nor are you and me the definers of what is the way to keep a proper Sabbath.  Yet the Pharisees tried with their nit-picking rules; yet people life us try with our self-indulgent desires.  But Christ taught that the Son of Man, the One who would come to administer (judge) the New Realm would be the definer.  Yet Christ did not make a new set rules but rather introduced instead a new quality of spirit.

Sabbath is to be a day different from all the other days in terms of an intentional quality of spirit.  Sabbath is not merely a day off but rather a day for spending holy time, set-apart from the world time, in what Rabbi Herschel described as a “cathedral in Time”.  Sabbath is a quality of Time where the clocks and the pace give way to the timelessness of heaven.  It is not about keeping rules of what is permitted and what is not permitted, but rather about entering into that “cathedral of Time”.

The Sabbath is a quality of Time which restores one’s strength and restores one’s peace.  The Sabbath is a quality of Time which has within it a loftier perspective and a wider vision.  The Sabbath is a quality of Time that allows Wonders to become a part of us and allows our souls to become part of the Wonder.  The Sabbath is a quality of Time when one can once again hear the breathing of God and the sighing of the earth.

An older saint, a grace-filled woman told me a story one day.  When she was a little girl she always had to polish the silver with her Monday on Sunday afternoon.  As one might expect, she would have rather be doing anything else but polishing silver.  But strangely, when she became a mother, she and her children did the same ritual.  The she said when Time brought into her later years … she began to correlate the polishing of silver on the Sabbath with the polishing of the soul on the Sabbath.

I find wisdom in that woman’s ritual of polishing the silver … time for polishing what is truly of worth in one’s life.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Saturday, August 25, 2018

“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your sins.” – Mark 11:25

Christ speaks of a correlation that is often overlooked, either by way of enthusiasm to offer cheap grace to people or for some reason of avoidance.  That correlation is that to be forgiven one must first forgive.  In the Lord’s Prayer it is phrased …”Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us.”  Yet, most often we walk around presuming and assuming that surely God has forgiven us while still carrying a grudge, a vindictiveness, a sense of debt against someone else.  Forgiveness does not operate in that way, at least Divine forgiveness … because “forgiveness” is not a one time thing but rather a way of life into which we enter.

To enter into the “state of forgiveness” is to live as a “forgiving soul now forgiven“.

Forgiveness is a way of life, a quality of spirit, a manner of grace.  Forgiveness is doing the daily laundry, cleansing and washing that of the past that ought be washed away.  The daily practice of forgiveness is to restore the linen to its pristine state.  Forgiveness is reaching that point where one can hear the laughter of the linen as it dances in the wind and the sunshine.

It is a very human vulnerability, this reluctance to forgive.  In so many cases, it even goes against what we take for common sense to forgive.  It sometimes feels unjust and, so many times, unmerited.  But if we are brooding a wound, an offense, a betrayal, a slight within us … then we are living outside the Realm of Forgiveness, not allowing the grace of God for which we yearn to be active in our own lives.  It is a false presumption and a risky assumption to believe that God will forgive us while we do not forgive others.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Friday, August 24, 2018

Christ then said to His disciples, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:33-35

Here we witness once again the command of Christ … “Love”.  He could have said, “Turn all that I have said into a myriad of laws,” but He didn’t.  He could have said, “Make sure you argue among yourselves the doctrinal claims,” but He didn’t.  He could have said, “Build powerful institutions to control the world,” but He didn’t.  No, His only commands were that we were to Love with a Love that was in the manner of His Love.

That turn of phrase, “Love just as I have loved you!”  It could be a mere statement that Christ did indeed Love His disciples, but more and more, I believe it is referring to the manner of His Love.  Love in the manner that I have Loved you.

We too often speak of Christian Love in a vague generality.  We often lump Christ’s manner of Love into the spectrum of love, somewhere along the line between affectionate love to stoic love.  We often tend to think of Christian Love  in terms of a reluctant liking of that which we do not like.  But what was the manner of Christ’s Love?

Christ’s manner of Love was gracious, always investing hope into the life of another and even into society.

Christ’s manner of Love was merciful, always healing the broken and restoring the wayward.

Christ’s manner of Love was empathetic, always sensing with deep understanding what was going on within the souls of others.

Christ’s manner of Love was specific and tangible, always touching the lepers, always providing the bread, always reaching out with a rescuing hand.

Christ’s manner of Love was self-giving, always sharing His heart and His soul for the sake of saving others.

But for me, possibly the most significant attribute of Christ’s manner of Love … was that it was humble and honest and heartfelt.

What are we as Christians and the Christian community to be known for?  I believe Christ said … “It would be Love in the manner I have loved you.”

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

Jesus replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides.  If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” – Matthew 15:10-14

The Pharisees, devout men who believed salvation was to be found in the retreating into the old way, law-and-order men in love with enforcing the rules placed on other people, self-righteous me, judgmental men, men who loved money, power and prestige, they hated Jesus for dared to challenge the moral center of their ways.  He called them hypocrites and they were offended.

They questioned why His disciples did not do the ritual washing of their hands before a meal.  And Christ answered to these critics, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”  Food comes from the outside and enters into  a person. but words rise out of the soul and into the world.  If I had been a Pharisee I too would have been offended, but if I were a man of conscience and self-examination, I would give His words much prayerful thought.  “From what well within me do my words do flow; what dark motivation gives rise to the ways I live; why am I blind to the sinfulness within me.”

It is a truth that Christ brings to us that the morally and spiritually blind cannot perceive their blindness and then those who follow the morally and spiritually blind end up sharing the tragedy of the fallen.  Those who are physically blind are keenly aware of their blindness and seek the help of a trusted guide, but those who are spiritually, morally blind, they become the blind leading the blind.

It has always been this way, in the time of Christ and throughout the centuries, this tragedy of the spiritually and morally blind leading blind followers to their demise.  And I witness this happening today, people blinded by wealth, fame, power, and the adulation of the crowd … yet who are skilled at getting people to follow them.

Each morning, each night, and whenever it comes to mind, I pray …”Lord, heal me of my blindness and enable me to see clearly.”

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  – Matthew 7:17-18

In the manner of stating a fact, Christ speaks of the nature of fruit trees and human beings.   A good tree produces good fruit; a bad tree produces bad fruit; and by their natures they cannot do otherwise.

Within this realm of good producing good and bad producing bad, wise souls have tried to teach me with a variety of sayings.  A farmer once taught me, “Do not do business with a man who kicks his dog.”  A wise business person cautioned me, “I never enter into a contract with a man who cheats on his wife.”  A wise mentor of mine once shared, “A liar can never be completely trusted.”

Integrity is a virtue that requires a multi-dimensional understanding.  Integrity requires to be measured in the breadth of one’s activities, not just here and there.  Integrity requires to be measured in the height of one’s activities, matters both small and great.  Integrity requires to be measured in the depths of one’s soul, in the motives, intentions, and determinations within.  And integrity also requires to be measured over the dimension of Time.

In college, I turned my ankle playing basketball.  It became swollen, rather painful, but with Time, the ankle seem to return to good health.  But as the years went by, I would have recurring problems with that ankle.  Then finally I had that foot and ankle x-rayed.  And lo and behold … they found a hairline, stress fracture in my ankle.  And because of that hidden fracture, my ankle had lost it integrity.  So often, this is the case … the fractures within, the hidden fractures, result in an ongoing lack of integrity.

A blessing of God’s Mercy and Grace is the ability to heal those hidden fractures.  When we take the time and make the serious effort to reveal our inner places to ourselves and to God, sometimes even to others … the integrity can be restored.  And when the integrity is restored … so then also can the goodness.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, listened to His teaching, and they ridiculed Him. So Jesus said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God. – Luke 16:14-15

Money, that human invention that makes more efficient the bartering of goods and services, seems to have become a living entity in itself.  Money transforms itself into power, status, influence, even a life-defining god that dictates the rules, values, priorities, hopes, even salvation of a lesser kind.  Money has become part-and-parcel of what it means to be human, for some it defines our worth, for others, it represents our desperation.

The Pharisees are portrayed as sticklers for keeping the details of the Law, yet seem to be oblivious to quality of spirit that the Law attempted to define.  Then here, almost as an aside, Luke characterizes the Pharisees as “lovers of money“.  Christ seemed to speak of heavenly virtues, ideals that seem so counter to the business of the world.  They though Him foolish this rabbi who taught a new form of economics for the people, the economics of simplicity, charity, sharing of resources for the sake of all.  So they ridiculed Him … and I find even today … those whose lives are filled with the love of money ridicule those who choose seek not prosperity and security in the gleam of gold and silver, but rather in the ways of living taught by Christ our Lord.

Some preach a prosperity-gospel that appears to be a rationalization of self-indulgence, even to the point of being evidence of God’s approval.  But I believe Christ preached a community-gospel, one that shared God’s blessings for the sake of those of us in need.  He believed in the nobility of the widow’s small coins but He cast out the moneychangers using Go for profit and for the building of lavish temples.  He believed in sharing what you have, no meager as it might, even a few loaves of bread and a couple fish, so that the community might learn the economics of sharing and how their security rested in the Love they shared in the Household of God.  He believed in paying taxes to Caesar but not surrendering one’s soul to Caesar.  He believed in traveling through life with no more than one needs so that one could share with others God’s Providence.

Oh, there will be many who if they read these words would call me “foolish”.  They might reject me, almost surely they would ridicule me.  But these devout “lovers of Money” … did the same to Christ.

Always in His Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz