Into the Sacred Hills of Jade

THE GRAVITY OF HEAVEN

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

When will Christ return?

“And let me assure you that I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20b

And yet … so many times He spoke of leaving this earth and then returning. An apparent contradiction? Maybe. But I offer it is a subtle revelation as to this idea of the Second Coming.

Some hold with scriptural argument that things will keep getting worse and, in the End, Christ will return to save us. Others hold with scriptural argument that the new Realm of God will grow and grow until Christ is evident in all aspects of the world, in this manner He has truly returned. But, of late, I have considered that this enigma of two understandings may instead be an insight into the process of the Incarnation being ultimately fulfilled in the coming together over Time both heaven and earth to be as one.

The metaphor that comes to mind is gravity. Gravity is that draws two bodies toward each other. From one perspective Christ in Heaven is drawing the ways of earth toward the ways of heaven; from the other perspective, Christ within us and among us is drawing the ways of heaven toward into the ways of earth. Thus, the Christ who is always with us is drawing toward us the Christ in His returning.

And what could this possibly and practically mean for we who live as Christ? We are not called to sit and wait for salvation to one day come … but rather we are actively a part of Christ-process of bring closer to each other, both heaven and earth. This is the process I call the “Christ-ification” of this earth whereby the ways of heaven become the ways of earth.

Always in His Service,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

THIS MATTER OF PROVIDENCE 

Of late, I have contemplated on the nature of Providence. To be specific, whether Providence is for some, me and mine in particular; or is it for some, those other than me; or is it for all of us? Is Providence earned or is Providence bestowed? Is the Providence I receive for me or for many than me?

Christ taught that sunshine and the rains fall also on fields other than mine. Grace and mercy shower down not just on me but for all to receive. Christ over and over called the people to share and in the sharing the seemingly too little becomes more than enough.

As I have roamed these distant hills far from home, I am always surprised how most cultures are eager to share. This sharing seems to be a sacred act among so many cultures. Sometimes I sense that is the sharing that makes sacred the places and the moments I travel in these hills of jade.

Yes, I believe sharing is at the heart of Love. I think of Christ sharing five loaves and two fish with the crowds. I think of Christ sharing the bread and the cup with the disciples in that upper room. I think of Christ that His Life would be the soul of our daily bread in His words, “I am the Bread of Life.” The sharing of Grace, the sharing of the Gospel, the sharing of God’s Goodness … yes, there is something sacramental in the grace of sharing.

Thus, Providence is made sufficient in the sharing. God shares with us and we share with each other; we share in a Holy Feast.

In His Service always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Is there no hope in a time of fierce division?

“The Lord shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war no more.”– Isaiah 2:4

Perceived destinies are neither surrender to fate nor excuses to do nothing, but rather destinies are the vectors of life’s course. “One day, some day” is not the mantra of those who do nothing, but rather the vow to pursue that worthy hope. Destinies are the ideals toward which we are re-forming reality.

e tend to skip over the first words of this visionary word from Isaiah, but those first words are most insightful about the ways of God. The Lord shall both judge what is right, fair, just, good between and among nations … and the Lord shall arbitrate or facilitate the just, fair, good and merciful resolution between and among people and nations. And the significance is that this Destiny for the relationship among people and with God should be shaping the present course of our human endeavor… to be homing in on the ideal still in its formation.

I have been blessed through the years for I have witnessed over and over the Presence of the Lord turning swords into plowshares in the human experience. These miraculous moments tend to come in times of crisis. Two people, two friends, two factions, two spouses, a parent and a child, they sit before me in a private place. The anguish begins to overwhelm the resentment, the Presence of the Lord begins to dissipate the resistance, and in a moment of tears, the swords are dropped, and the peace is restored.

I refer to it as the crisis of pride. It is an abandoning of a journey to nowhere so that they might take a course to Somewhere, that journey toward the Ideal, that journey to Divine destinies.

Always in His Service,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

Dispatches from Fr. Charitas

Monday, April 9, 2018

Christ warned His disciples and we who follow in their footstep. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)  Christ seems rather direct and emphatic with His words. It is one or the other. In the medieval imagery, the writers used the Mammon or the devil of covetousness. The devil, the one who tempts; covetousness, the desire to possess something belonging to someone else. Modern preachers I find to have not much to say about that vague commandment that is spelled out with so many in the Ten Commandments. I think we have not given it much thought, but maybe in our present times, we ought to give more. Can you recite the wording of that commandment? “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Sounds rather archaic, does it not? Yet … there it is. But how might one apply it to real life, the life we live each day?

Being a servant of Mammon and his ways … being a worshipper of money … what is the nature of that way of life?

Our culture does give reference to this understanding of Mammon when we use the words …” the Almighty Dollar”. Our culture does imbue money with power and prestige, liberty to do whatever one wants to do, even the measurement of one’s worth and success. Money is used to prove that those who have it must be more industrious and smarter than those who have less money. In a bit of irony … where once Christ referred to Caesar’s image on a Roman coin, now we in America place IN GOD WE TRUST on our American coins, though if you think about … it is not specific which god it is. We only presume … but a visitor from a far-off universe might first assume that the God was a deity that mints money, or the pantheon of god included Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and others. What if Christ were to have lived in our present American culture … would He have still asked whose image was on the coin?

Money is a convenient form of exchange, a means to trade one thing for another. Though we speak of the value of the dollar … it is not endowed with moral or spiritual values. Money seems to provide security … in certain ways, yes, in most ways, no. Money is often used to measure the “wealth” of a country. But the wealth of a country is vastly more than its money (or even it military). But we save government is a business, even that the church is a business … when neither of these is a business. Oh, it is wise stewardship to make effective use of resources … but government and church are not for the purpose of making profits or one day liquidating the capital gained by the enterprise when its work is done.

My Loved Ones, I have sat with the wealthy and I have sat with the poor … and the money has nothing to do with true nobility and genuine worth.

In His Service always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

CHRIST AND THE POOR

Monday, April 9, 2018

Who are the poor and why was Christ so concerned about them? “The entire crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all. Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” – Luke 6:19,20 

Not often are these two verses kept together and in sequence. We usually hear the quote beginning, ‘Blessed are the poor”. But when kept together, we observe the context … the large crowd pressing in on Christ and His disciples … the power flowing from Him … the excitement of the miraculous healings. And then, a detail often overlooked. In the context of this exciting success of the ministry … Christ looks up at His disciples and utters the words to them. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the realm of God.” We are the poor. We are not to be among the wealthy, but rather no matter our income … we are to identify with the poor; we are family with them and thus we share both our needs and our resources.

At another time, Christ told His disciples, “It is so difficult for the wealthy to enter into the realm of God.” To be wealthy does not help or prove that God is blessing you. But somehow to be poor, sincerely poor, thankfully poor, is helpful in beholding the emerging Kingdom. Somehow this emerging new Realm of God has the needs of the poor in mind.

Oh, we who are wealthy with money like to “spiritualize” this passage away. But I have come to believe that it is to be taken more literally than we tend to do. We who are wealthy are to identify and be concerned with the need of the poor. We who are wealthy can help the poorer members of our community and family. Our concerns are no longer about the wealthy but about the poor. And why? It was the Way of Christ and is to be the Way of the Christ within us and among us.

To be poor does not mean that we are impoverished but that we are prosperous in the compassion for those in need.

Always in His Service,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

Dispatches from Fr. Charitas

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Some are called to Apologetics, the defense of the Faith. I am not. I am called to Missions, the expansion of the Faith. Apologetics, in my view, defend the fortress of former understandings; Missions, in my view, venture beyond the frontiers to greater understandings. I am not defensive of the Faith, but rather expressive of the Faith; I am not confined to the past, but rather set free into the future.

I have come to believe that the work of a Jesuit missionary, possibly all missionaries, is to learn about both Creation and the Emerging Realms in places not yet explored. In one sense, we are on a teaching mission, but in another sense, we are on a learning mission.

Christ Himself grew frustrated with the scribes and teachers of the Law. They would NOT open their minds to the new possibilities for the Faith. They were defending what they had known and cared little about what they had not yet come to know. They refused to consider this missionary from the Father, a soul who was trailblazing God’s course for God’s people.

I have experienced the resistance of the Apologists. They are quick to “correct”. They are quick to shout, “Heresy”. They are determined to silence the frontier-voices. And like the religious-political powers of first century Jerusalem … their massive walls eventually turn to ruins that gather the dust of the passing of Time.

Everywhere I go in these distant realms, I find the Lord already at work. And when I am wise I learn so much about the ways and wishes of the Lord, ways and wishes I had not known before. 

I make camp each night at the frontier of tomorrow … and with the dawn I venture on.

In His Service always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

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Saturday, April 7, 2018

TO BE IN THE MINORITY

As a missionary into this land of jaded hills, I am among people who are much like me, yet somewhat different from me. When one is sent into a culture different from one’s own origin you are blessed by the experience of being a minority.

I was born in Canada, but more specifically in a neighborhood of English-speaking Canadians. On occasion, my family venture into a venue where there were many French-speaking Canadians. Though in my neighborhood they were referred to as French-Canadians, though few were born in France. When a French-speaking Canadian child came to our grammar school, the class thought it odd her French-Canadian accent. One day I was a store and all around me were French-Canadians and I wondered if they it strange my English accent. Once in a long while, we would see a person of Far Eastern descent and they seem so mysterious and otherworldly. My parents would speak of how the Jews were clannish though we were proud of our own Scottish clan; and people would refer to “Negroes” as “pick-a-ninnies” though I never did actually meet one.

At the age of nine we moved to Florida. And there I encountered a new kind of prejudice. And desiring to be one of the “white boys” I joined in their mocking disdain of people of African ancestry. Of courses … in those days … we called them “niggers”. Once again, I one of the overwhelming majority who looked down on those in the minority. And I have spent a lifetime in repentance.

Now I am a minority in the context of a majority … and I understand the anxiety of being in the minority. I keep asking …” What do they think of me?” I am so thankful … that in a rare exception … they allow me to be me and invite me to also be one of them.,

Always in His Service,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

Saturday, April 7, 2018

If indeed we are called to carry on with the mission of Christ, what would that mission be?

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” – Luke 4:18,19

Christ reads from a scroll in his hometown synagogue, the scroll of Isaiah the prophet. And with its reading, Christ declares His mission statement. And it is a bold mission, a seemingly impossible mission, a life and world changing mission, a mission that turn the course of the human experience. And it is ours if we choose to pursue it. But with so many Christians now and years past, we busy ourselves with less noble endeavors.

This mission begins with the Presence of the Holy Divine, the Holy Spirit. This is not to be merely a human endeavor but rather a Divine endeavor undertaken with human voice and hand. This is what makes our work, Holy Work, the activity of the Lord within it.

The Holy Work is about bringing hopeful, good news to the poor. It is about giving the time and the soulfulness to bring healing to those who live with broken hearts. It is about setting free the prisoners with restorative justice. It is about helping to see life and circumstance, history and humanity with clearer vision. It is about ending oppression in all its forms, many of which carry the license of cultural approval. The Holy Work is declaring that the Time has come for this world to change its ways.

If we truly do have the Spirit of Christ within us each and within us all … then this is our Holy Work.

In His Service always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

Friday, April 6, 2018

So much of the work of evangelism is the matter of translation. All my life i have read the scriptures, not in Aramaic, or Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin, but in English, at first in the English of Britain in the early 1600s, later in the Americanized English of the 1950s, and still later in the vernacular of our modern times. As a Jesuit missionary and as most missionaries of our times, I must translate the Gospel not only into the vernacular tongue but also in the vernacular of the culture. All preaching, if done effectively, is about translating the Gospel for the immediacy of the times, the culture and the circumstance. Though the Gospel does not change, its translation must adapt.

While the American Gospel adapted to rugged individualism and agrarian imagery,the Gospel in these hills of jade is adapted to communal endeavor and ancestral imagery. The story is the same but the sound of the syntax is different … at least, in these later years when the Lord helped us to discern the difference between colonialism and evangelism.

This process of translation never ceases, it must not rest lest the Gospel become imprisoned in the nostalgic past. So may tell me … “I love the old hymns!” And I respond …”No, you love the hymns that were once new in years past. The truly old hymns would be in Hebrew and most all the psalms. This is one of the reasons why mainline churches in America began to decline starting in the sixties (now fifty-some years ago). We clung to the past; we retreated into the past; we turned a great share of the American Church as a preservation of history rather than a heritage that still creating “new wood”. And because the “new, green wood” ceased to be accommodated, the great oak began to die.

We stopped translating the Gospel, not all of us but many of us. We began to speak in an ancient tongue that turned a blind ear to new inspiration. We desperate tried to preserve the former understandings and in so doing, we silently told God to stop Creating and Revealing. As science and other disciplines rapidly expanded our knowledge of how the universe and the human psyche work ..we sought to find our security in a changing world by living in the world of lesser knowledge, sometimes a world of superstition.

And so … with the reluctance of so many of the mainline Church … God called and is now calling for new missionaries into the world of present understandings and the needs of the time. The River of Life flows on … and too many got our of that river so that might settle in a time now past.

In His Service Always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz