Into the Sacred Hills of Jade

April 2, 2018

THE ETERNAL SUNRISE 

What comes after Easter? 

“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” – Proverbs 4:18

What comes after Easter? Well, … more and more of Easter, for Easter is an

Eternal Sunrise that comes day after day until the fullness of Forever.

On Easter morning, the sunrise rolled ‘round the Earth, mile by mile, moment by moment, time zone by time zone, nation by nation. The Easter sunrise was not one moment but rather an ongoing moment, a slow yet steady bringing of Morning Light to the world, revealing in the Light more and more of the world.

The Easter Progress through human history is a process much like sunshine on a newly seeded barley field. With each new day, more sunshine is added to that patch of the Earth, beckoning the seed to grow toward the Light. Within that seed is the “instinct” to awaken to the invitation of the Light. And with each passing day, in the accumulation of sunrises, the empty barley field becomes a glorious harvest.

Easter is more process than event. Easter is more a process of growth and transformation than a one-day celebration. Easter is the Christian experience of being awakened each day by the ongoing call to take a few more steps toward that More Perfect Love, the Love that transforms by way of the bestowing of grace …. Day after day after day.

What comes after Easter? Well … more and more of Easter.
 
Always in His Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

APRIL 1, 2018

Easter Sunday … the celebration of a new way of Life, the Way of Christ alive within us and among us.  Easter Sunday … comes near every day here in the Sacred Hills of Jade, this Realm of dreams and possibilities, this Realm which exists on the frontier of all-things transforming, here at the edge of tomorrow.  And so I too on this Easter Sunday … begin once again in my beginning once more again.  I am Father Charitas de la Cruz, a name which translated means …“the Charity of the Cross”, a Jesuit priest having learned so much from my good Benedictine Brother, Anthony.

The distant hills have always beckoned me.  I believe the Lord has called me to be an explorer of beyond the fences of the settlers.  While many are cloistered in a colony within the world, I am a trailblazer for those who might follow.  I am a missionary into other cultures, not trying to convert them to the culture of my origin but to bring Christ to their culture, not to conquer or convert but rather to what I term …”to help them to experience “Christi-ification” of the world in which they live.  I am a missionary who journeys not to geographical places but to changing times.

So I pray that you will accompany me on my missionary journeys … to walk with me as a fellow pilgrim as we explore the Lord’s Realms of Possibilities and Dreams.

In service to my Lord,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

SOME ARE ORDAINED TO BE APOSTLES

With some churches, the clergy are called by the congregation to serve in their midst, while with other churches, the clergy are sent to serve in diverse places. What is meant by the concept of apostolic ministry?

“Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.” – John 17:17-19

Jesuit priests, such as I, are sent into the world to further establish the Church. This is why we refer to our mission as an apostolic mission … sent into the places where the Church is needed. We are sent often into the realms-yet-explored. This demands a willingness to let go of the comforts and security of home in order to establish new Christian homes and hearths where there none or too few. We are explorers beyond the frontiers, minstrels of the Gospel in places where the Gospel is seldom sung, interpreters of the Truth to the cultures beyond our own.

We who are sent are not comforters of the status quo, but rather the visionaries of what the future requires. We who are sent are not necessarily conquerors of cultures other than our own, but rather helpers for that culture to experience “Christ-ification”. We who are sent carry with us lanterns of Holy Light and not the swords of Holy Crusade. We are forever sojourners in this world.

I do believe that laity are both called and sent … called into a vocation that is tailored to their gifts, sent into the world to share those gifts. Who has the Lord called you to be? What has the Lord sent you to do?

Father Charitas de la Cruz

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TO SEE GOD IN ALL THINGS

Are the scriptures the only place where the ways and works of God are revealed?

“The Lord makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. The Lord waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. The Lord makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate-bringing forth food from the earth.” – Psalm 104:10-14

“To see God in all things” … it is both a credo and a mission statement for the Jesuits. Ignatian Spirituality so named after the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola. The Jesuit approach to Christian discipleship and Christian ministry is to look for God in all of Creation, in the lives of people, in the dynamics of culture, and in the course of history as well as in ongoing prayer and in the daily reading of scripture. When our eyes are washed by the waters of purifying grace and our hearts are intent about seeking the Presence of God … we can behold God at work in every place, in every moment, in every circumstance. God is everywhere, God is omni-present.

When one is, through much prayer, beholding life, one can behold the Divine dimension that so many other people who are too indifferent, too skeptical, too distracted cannot see. One can hear how thunder and whispering waters can carry the communication of God. One can see the Divine image that many people keep hidden beneath layers of acculturation. One can feel the pulse of God in the pulse of life. One can catch the fragrance of Heavenly Realms in the scent of the mountain pines.

This spiritual emphasis recognizes the Realm of God midst the realms of earth. This spiritual emphasis allows the mortal soul to view earthly existence in the spectrum of Heavenly Light.