Into the Sacred Hills of Jade

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Friday, August 10, 2018

John the Baptist’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, John sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So He replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.  Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” – Luke 7:18-23

It does not usually come to mind but Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, also had disciples.  Also, it is striking that John the Baptist is not absolutely confident that Christ is the One to whom John had proclaimed would come.  Even in people of great faith, even those ordained by God for a mission,  there can be moments of uncertainty.

Jesus reassures John’s disciples that He is fulfilling the messianic promise … restoring clear vision to the blind, strengthening the legs of the lame, cleansing lepers of that which caused them to be banished, enabling the deaf to hear what they have not heard before, reviving the dead and giving them new life, and bringing good news to the poor.  And it seems that the reassurance given by Christ was reassurance enough for John.

But I want to spend a few moments to contemplate that enigmatic phrase that concludes Christ’s words to John and his disciples, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” What exactly does it mean?  Why are these words spoken in that moment?

Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.  I sense it is placed here to reassure John’s disciples that He does intend to abandon the ethic and cause of their mentor, John the Baptist.  It is as if He were saying to them …”You were not wrong in following John but I am here to carry the mission forward to its fulfillment.  Steady your faith, do not become defensive in protecting John’s ministry, do not become jealous, do not become fearful, give it time … you will understand.”

An aspect of faith is the willingness to give matters their necessary time.  In God’s Realm, from the beginning of Time to the ending of Time, the wisdom and ways of God unfold.  God works most often in an evolutionary manner rather than a revolutionary manner, allowing the fullness of time to provide the harvest.

Loved Ones, do not let new insights and new possibilities frighten you … for the faith keeps unfolding as time goes by.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, August 9, 2018

When the crowds found Jesus on the other side of the Lake of Galilee, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “You are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of bread. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on Him that God the Father has set his seal of approval and authority.” Then they said to Him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” – John 6:25-28

The crowds were hungry.  Christ initiated a miracle of providence by sharing what he had with the massive crowd.  And now the crowd crossed the expansive lake of Galilee looking for yet another miracle … for the people in those times were hungry.  And to this hungry crowd, hungry for both bread and a measure of hope, Christ said … “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.”

The crowds were hungry for bread for these were hard times as the Roman occupation was depleted them of their resources through both taxation and exploitation.  And thus, this crowd was also desperately hungry for someone to liberate the land, a Messiah, a Savior, the Son of Man who would come to make things “right“.  And so as the crowd came to satisfy their hunger, Christ declared, “I am He, this Son of Man who comes to makes things right and to return your land to you.  But …”

Yes, Christ redirects their hope in a way they had not considered and quite possibly cared not to consider.  You must find your Hope that goes beyond daily sustenance, but rather you must set your Hope on that which goes on Forever.

“Give us this day our daily bread,” so Christ prayed and in remembrance and for the reason on the ongoing need, we pray today.  Yet, I believe Christ also provides us on a daily basis something I term, “the Sense of Forever” in our daily living.  In Christ, we are invited to join with Him in a way of life that is filled with the values and practices of the Heavenly Life, the Forever Life.  For Christ prayed and we do so in remembrance, “Your  Realm that is arriving but not yet fully arrive, Your wishes and ways that we are committed to fulfill, here on earth in the manner which it is done in Heaven.”  Or as is the more traditional wording …”Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Loved Ones, if we so choose … we can daily live with this sense of Forever in our hearts and in our loving, in our grace and in our mercy, in our sharing, in our giving.  We can abide within the radiance of Heaven … if we daily seek to feast on the Bread of Life.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

That day when evening came, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along. There were also other boats. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to His disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” – Mark 4:35-41

Like the disciples themselves, many people consider this a story about Christ calming the stormy waters.  But I am one who believes it is a story about the quality of faith that is not based on fear.  And why do I think this?

I see one of those details of emphasis in the beginning of the story.  The story requires the detail that Christ was sleeping on a cushion in the stern of the boat.  And while He was sleeping, the disciples were becoming fearfully distressed.  The storm was raging, the wind was howling, the waters were churning, the boat was shaking, yet Christ was sleeping.  The disciples, most of whom were well-experienced fishermen on these Galilean waters, were frightened, their souls churning with apprehension and panic.  So they waken Jesus in desperate hope that He will do “something” to save them.  So Jesus gets up and calms the storm.  Jesus then turns to His disciples and asks them a soul-searching question …”Why are you fellows afraid?  Especially you fishermen.  Surely you have survived storms such as this.  Have you no faith?”  But faith in what or whom?  Of course, the first answer is the watchful care of God, but I think that also He may be referring to their faith in themselves and in their experience.

Yet … like so many people … they seem to miss the lesson in the moment … for when they considered the power of Christ to settle the storm, it reads “and they were terrified” of such power found in Christ.  Fear replacing fear … but still no insight into the ways of faith.

Faith is often defined as trust … and it is, but I think that faith can only be defined as confidence.  And as I have both experienced and now still observe … so much of Christianity is still filled with fearful distress.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” – John 10:1-5

For the Jerusalem religious-political leadership, Christ’s growing popularity was disconcerting, a problem in the making.  Why were they following Him and not following their leadership?

Christ warns of false prophets, those who seem to be representing God, but somehow their words and their manner do not resonate with the timbre and tone of Christ’s Voice.  Oh, these false prophets are clever is the patching together of scriptures to build a seemingly shut-and-close case … but something is not right in the tone and timbre of the argument.  Oh, these false prophets know how to push the buttons and anxiety and fear, the buttons of zealotry and human passion … but something is not right in the tone and timbre of their fiery rhetoric.  Oh, these false prophets can recruit frenzied crusaders motivated more by unholy rage rather than holy reasoning … and again, something is not right in the tone and the timbre of their battle cries.

The most Christ-like and spiritual souls I know … have nurtured the grace that both listens for and listens to that distinctive, gentle, merciful voice of Christ, for they can discern which voice is truly imbued with the tone and timbre of a More Perfect Love.

Possibly this is why people in conflict shout their slogans so loudly … in an effort to drown out that one voice that often comes by way of whispers.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, August 6, 2018

Then Jesus said to Nicodemus, a teacher of the scriptures and a member of the Sanhedrin,  “and this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.  But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” – John 3:19-21

Nicodemus came and spoke to Jesus under the cover of night.  I believe he came as an emissary from the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of Jerusalem, either appointed or self-appointed to “check out” what this popular Galilean rabbi’s intent and beliefs.  What I find striking in the exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus was how ignorant of and blind to these essential teachings about the Jewish faith expressed in terms of spirituality.  To be born once more from above, to have the Spirit come seemingly from nowhere and pass through one’s soul, ideas that Nicodemus simply could NOT understand.

I sense with a bit of frustration, Jesus then speaks to Nicodemus about the scriptural concept of Light and Darkness.  I am sensing made all the more tangible considering the circumstance of this meeting in the moonlight.  The Darkness is secretive.  The Darkness is a place where evil  hides lest it be exposed by the Light.  The Darkness is filled with fears.  The Darkness can also a place within the soul where either unknown or frightening spectres hide.

Christ declares to Nicodemus …”My judgment is simply the work of the Light to expose what is happening in the Darkness.  To bring out from the shadows within human hearts and human societies that which is in truth evil yet hides within a cloak of religiosity and national pride.  Nicodemus, I speak in the Light of Day but you come to me in the cover of darkness.  Go back to the other members of the Sanhedrin and observe what evil will be done in the shadowy places.”

So much of our Christian witness is about bringing lanterns into the Darkness and inviting those hiding in the Darkness to come out into the Light.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” – John 14:5-7

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”  I am thinking that we tend to think of the words of Christ as a listing of three different ideas.  But more and more, I believe it is not a listing three different thoughts, but rather a description of a process.  Christ used this language of process when speaking of a field of grain … first the stalk, then the head, then the grain, and then the harvest.  One step precedes the other in a necessary sequence from the seed of faith to the maturity of the harvest.

The Way of obedience when followed teaches in so doing the Truth, the understanding the wisdom, the whys and the wherefores, and by gaining of this accumulation of wisdom you mature into Life that becomes itself a harvest of Divine Providence.   Out of the obedience to my way of self-giving Love you will gain the understanding of the wonder of the power of grace and mercy, and then eventually your initial obedience becomes a human life, Divinely formed.  This is how you come to know the Father … through this process of first doing what I do, understanding why I do it, and then living my Life as your own.

I call this Christ’s Process of Becoming, the Christ-ification of our mortal lives … this Way of Obedience that teaches the Truth about God and humanity that that helps us to know the Christ-ified Life.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Saturday, August 4, 2018

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

Clergy when in traditional vestments usually have a length of cloth draped over their shoulders.  This vestment called a “stole” is actually a symbolic representation of a yoke placed around a beast of burden.  It is the symbol of ordination that signifies that this soul now does the work of the Lord as a pastor and preacher.  Obviously, this is drawn from this passage in the Gospel of Matthew …”Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me … learn from teachings and the echoing of my teachings, learn from doing the work I send you now to do, learn from being obedient in the practice of holy Love, learn from the moments you will experience in my service.”

But today I focus on the words of self-revealing spoken by Christ … “for I am gentle and humble in heart”.  Christ confesses that His heart is gentle and humble, and then in extension, we who live of Christ also would have hearts that are gentle and humble.  But I find this is not always the case with people … even people like me.

I am gentle of heart … a gentle touch, a gentle word, a gentle manner, a gentle breeze … to be not harsh or violent, overly stern or heavy-handed…

I am humble of heart … an honest awareness of self, neither haughty, boastful, nor arrogantly proud, the posture of a servant, a deference to the value of others …

Yet … some expressions of the Christianity instead promise worldly riches and honors, fame and celebrity, harsh condemnation, and heavy-handed ways.  They turn the humble King who was Christ into self-indulgent and sword-wielding crusader.  They cast aside the qualities of humility and gentleness so that they might vault themselves into realms of self-glorification.  Oh, they rationalize it, explain it away, even denigrate these qualities of humility and gentleness … and thus abandon the spirit of the One who teaches by sharing the work of the yoke.

Learn from me, Christ pleads … but, too often, we learn from everyone else but Christ.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Friday, August 3, 2018

Why do you see the speck in an other person’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?  Or how can you say to another person, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of an other person’s eye. – Matthew 7:3-5

A teaching of Christ so needed in our time and circumstance because it seems to have been near forgotten.  Too much time is spent judging and far too little time, confessing.

Christ emphasized two aspects of our human frailty, the matter of hubris and the matter of hypocrisy.  We are vulnerable, too many times almost helpless, to the temptation of boastful pride and the temptation to hide our reality beneath projected persona.  We easily think we are the righteous cause when in truth we ourselves are also the righteous concern.  We can easily identify the sins of others, yet are near-blinded to our own sins.  We become captured by pride and become encased within hypocrisy.

Christ’s voice seems mixed with both tears and anger when He confronts the hypocrisy of the self-declared holy ones.  He sounds frustrated and concerned.  “You are so intent of pointing out the sins, the lacking, the failures of other people that you are not able to recognize the sins, the lacking, the failures in yourselves.  You lack the humility required to live the life of authentic holiness.”  The holy life of person is made near impossible without the practice of honest humility.

Yes, we are a culture corrupted these matters of human hubris and hollow hypocrisy.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, August 2, 2018

… Jesus began to show his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.  Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” – Matthew 16:21-23

Christ seems rather harsh with Peter.  How was Peter to surrender to the sense of fatalism!  Why must this be?  Yes, Christ seems rather harsh with Peter, especially when Peter is expressing his loyalty and devotion so nobly.  Yet … Christ is rather abrupt and confrontive of Peter, “No, Peter, you following the ways of the Deceiver, using declarations of noble cause to thwart the wishes and ways of God.  You are thinking like the world thinks and not how heaven thinks.”

That would the struggle of Peter in the days ahead and the years ahead as leader of the Early Church, to learn how to deal with life, people, and circumstances not as worldly common sense and worldly cleverness would do but as heavenly discernment and heavenly wisdom might do.  And why is this so critical to Christianity and the Church?  In this new Realm of God in which heavenly ways merge in the ways of humanity, the way of thinking, the way of choosing, the way of living, the way of being and doing is significantly different.  And deeply ingrained worldly habits, well, they are resistant to change.

After a lifetime of Church meetings, I found that worldly ways of thinking were predominant over heavenly ways of thinking.  It seemed the waters of their baptism had merely touched the surface and had not even moistened the well-learned worldly ways within.  When issues arose most often with most members … they retreated to worldly understandings.  And to be fair, I myself have often been as Peter, approaching life with earthly ways rather than with heavenly ways.  The worldly ways of doing things and seeing things even experiencing things is so much a part of us.

We are not so much to be “converted” but to be “transformed”.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.  “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.  “Crucify him!” they shouted.
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” – Mark 15:9-14

And the chief priests, in order to influence the Roman governor, stirred up the crowd  to create the illusion that all wanted Jesus crucified.  It is an ancient tactic and a contemporary tactic, this stirring into a frenzy the like-minded crowd.  It is a tool in the toolbox of the Deceiver, to foster a delusion that the frenzied crowd is fair and just.

Merely a few days before, another crowd shouted “Hosanna! Lord, save us!”  They were rejoicing with possibilities of hope fulfilled.  Why were they not heard when Pilate asked for the will of the people?  Obviously, that crowd was hand-picked by the chief priests for the sake of conjuring the delusion that this was the will of the people.

Loved Ones, be careful when you are surrounded by the frenzied, like-minded crowd.  They can, by way of the inner dynamics of frenzied crowds, tempt one to turn over one’s soul, one’s mind, one’s heart to a delusion and distortion of the truth, a favorite maneuver for those who wish to deceive.

So I have learned not to not follow the crowd, but rather to follow the teachings of Christ and the quality of spirit with which He lived.

Always on Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz