Into the Sacred Hills of Jade

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

January 26, 2019

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.  All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. – John 10:7-10

Most often the sermon text drawn from this teaching simile of the Lord is “Whoever enters by me will be saved…” , but rarely do I hear an emphasis on the rest of the sentence … “and you will come in and go out and find pasture.”  In these mellow years of reflection into which I have arrived, I have come to understand this to be a subtly stated definition of what it means “to be saved”.  We gain the liberty and we gain the ability to venture forth from our security in the Lord’s care to go exploring for fresh, green pastures, realms that nurture the abundant life.  By way of gaining liberty from fear we can all the more flourish.

Years ago I adopted a dog that had been caged for most of its life.  By the way the dog cowered when I approached her, I assumed she had often been abused.  When I arrived home with her, though the gate to her crate was always left open, she stayed near hidden in her crate.  Her fearful appraisal of the world kept her imprisoned in the ways she had known.  But as the days passed, she slowly and tentatively ventured out from that crate.  And I remember the night and the moment so vividly.  I was reading in my worn-out, brown easy chair, when I saw her venture our her crate and then take a few cautious steps toward me.  Those first cautious steps turn into a run and she jumped into my lap, her tail wagging with joy.  It was as if she had finally broken free of the shackles of her fear and discovered the joy of kindly love.

I have come to realize … that the salvation which Christ offers… is a breaking free of the shackles of fear.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

When the Sanhedrin heard this testimony of a number of the apostles, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.  But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men.  For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared.  After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered.  So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail;  but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”  – Acts 5:33-29

The book we title The Acts of the Apostles begins with a number of cautionary stories for the early Church.  This discourse by the famous rabbi, Gamaliel, is a lesson in wisdom and discernment.  With any new movement of the Faith, with every fresh expression of the Church, there is resistance, and if the resistance is passionate enough, the Something New is under the threat of persecution.  But wise and discerning Gamaliel counsels a better and truer even godlier form of scrutiny … “Let these men be … if this is merely something of Man it will eventually fade away … but if it proves to be something of God it will endure.  Do dare risk being persecutors of a new way authored by God?”

Christ was crucified out of fear that turns into hatred by the holy-devout.  Centuries later, Martin Luther was declared heretic by the holy-devout.  Not long after in the formation of my denomination of origin, John Wesley had the doors of the Church of England slammed in his face.  Over and over, unbelievable so many times over …  the conservative holy-devout has failed to follow the counsel of the wise and discerning Gamaliel.  The power of former has sought to rid itself by the troublesome new way of thinking.

What is merely of Man, what is merely momentary flash in the pan, what is that which will soon pass for a lack of heavenly ordination, or what is the next mile in the coming into being the True Realm of God?

Are we among those sitting in judgment as a present-day Sanhedrin?  Or are we among those apostles accused?  If we follow the advice of a respected man of God … we will allow the test of the passing of Time.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, January 24, 2019

(I have been absent for a few days as I transferred my files to another computer.)

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”– John 9:39-41

As a man of devotion, these words of Christ haunt me.  They penetrate to the core of my being, this examination of my vision.  The Pharisees were believers.  The Pharisees were quite devout in their manner.  The Pharisees were steadfast in their devotion to the old tradition.  The Pharisees were seeking a return to a more conservative faith in hope of inspiring the coming of a messiah.  The Pharisees were student of the scriptures.  The Pharisees were orthodox in their doctrine.  The Pharisees sought a purity of the faith.  The Pharisees were absolutely convinced that they represented the true faith.  And yet … in their claiming that they saw the Truth they were found to be instead … found blind.

This passage is a caution to the zealots of righteousness.  In that zealotry that claims that only our way, our causes is right, so often the zealot is blinded by his or her own self-righteousness.

What causes this Pharisaic blindness?  Lack of humility.  Lack of openness.  Lack of a self-searching examination of one’s own authenticity and inner integrity.  Lack of confession that leads to a correction of course.  And so as a devout man I must ask the Lord …”Am I a blind Pharisee of my particular kind?”

So often, I cannot figure out why so many people seem blind to the forces of evil at work. So often, I cannot understand why so many people seem blind to the higher possibility.  Yet … if I dare to ask those questions, I must ask myself in the hearing of the Lord … “Am I in certain ways blind?”

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Friday, January 18, 2019

Again Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12

Christ as light of the world,  what metaphor best serves to explain?  A candle, an oil lamp?  Something we carry with us so help journey through darkness.  A lighthouse, a beacon?  Something we guides us around the dangers hidden within the darkness.  A sunrise to forever cast aside the darkness?  A pole star that orients us in our traveling through the darkness?  Maybe each is needed; maybe all is needed to try to appreciate what it means that Christ is the light of the world.

Of late, from a perspective of looking back over a lifetime of light and darkness, I believe for me, and it may sound quite odd to most, the metaphor that is most apt for my experience is “fireflies”.

“Fireflies”.  When I was a boy, a rather lonely boy, possibly one gifted with a contemplative peace found in solitude, I loved watching the fireflies in a summer night as they played in the field just beyond the fence.  I would lean on that fence and just marvel at the pulsing, tiny lights as they danced in the night.  Yes, I even captured a few in a glass jar so I might hold in my hands the “magic”.  But I always soon set them free for imprisoning any form of life felt wrong to me, even then.

“Fireflies”.  Years later, and I have told this story of my own version of Paul’s  Road to Damascus experience.  Deep into one of my darkest nights of chronic depression, I took a midnight stroll on a country lane.  It was a stroll in which I talked over with the Lord if the emotional pain was too much to bear.  Again I paused at a fence that enclosed a farmer’s pasture.  And it was dark.  The moon and stars dimmed by an overcast of dark clouds.  But when the dark was at its darkest, that pasture near exploded with fireflies.  The field was aglow and my soul soon after.  And since that night, when I am in the darkness and in the darkest of times, when I pray my soul is comforted by angelic fireflies appearing.  I think it is a blessing that the Lord sent to a lonely, contemplative boy … this glowing of light, these glowing stars, these fireflies that convince me that even in the darkness, the Light is present.

Christ declared, “I am the Light of the world.”  I also believe Christ is the Light in the Darkness waiting to appear.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

January 17, 2019

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, He proclaimed, “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 7:37-39

A process is here expressed, a process regarding the flow of the living water, the flow of the Spirit that enables the human and the Divine to be One with other.  The thirsty come to Christ and drink from the flow of the River of Life, His words, His manner, His values, His quality of soul, His way of bringing about the peaceable Realm.  And it is as if this cup of cool water serves as the priming of the pump, then this same Spirit, these words, this manner, these values, this quality of soul, this way of bringing about the peaceable Realm serves to quench the thirst of the world.

Living water flows.  It as if the flowing is what makes comes alive.  It is the movement of the Spirit and all its qualities from God to Christ to us to others that causes the wonders and ways of God to abundantly flourish.  This Living Water is not mere thought.  It is not a moral code etched in the cold stone.  It is not rules and the enforcement of rules.  It is not the logic of a theological system.  No, the Living Water is Life itself, the Life Divine infused into the flow of human history.

I have experienced this flow of Divine Life by way of human fountains.  They loved with a quality of Love that refreshed the very vigor of my own life.  They were Beautiful souls who were deeply human, yet in their humanity something Divine was at work.  I only pray that a few others might experience that wonder flowing through me.

Loved Ones, allow the Spirit of the Lord turn your life into a fountain of Life, sparkling and splashing and satisfying our mortal thirst.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, January 15, 2018

But after Jesus brothers had gone to the festival, then Jesus also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. The Jerusalem authorities were looking for Him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” And there was considerable complaining about Him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.” Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jerusalem authorities.  – John 7:10-13

The crowds were of a divided opinion about this traveling rabbi from Galilee.  Some thought Him a force for the good of God and the good of the people; others thought Him to be surely a deceiver, a prophet of false hope.

Why such controversy about a man as good and godly as Christ?  Like today, the crowds had disparate opinions about exactly what IS “good and godly”.

For some, Christ was the hope of a liberation from the Roman occupation; for others, Christ was a dangerous voice who might arouse the fury of Caesar.  For some, Christ was the herald of coming glory; for others, Christ was the harbinger of even further oppression.  For some, Christ was the champion of the poor and the outcast; for others, Christ was an agitator of the restless and frustrated crowd.

Yes, it is a question people have tried to answer in often disagreeable conflict … just what IS “good and godly”.

As for my own soul and conscience, I find the “good and godly” is imbued with the qualities of love and grace, equitable justice and bountiful mercy, hope and a vision for a better tomorrow.  I find the “good and the godly” is not conjured by fear but rather brought forth by compassion.  I find the “good and the godly” is self-serving but rather self-sharing.  I find the “good and the godly” is not rewarded by earthly treasure but rather by heavenly treasure.  I find the “good and the godly” is not a spirit of vindictiveness and vengeance but rather a spirit of forgiveness and peace-making.  I find the “good and the godly” to be in the quality of spirit as found in Christ and not in the quality of spirit as found in the Crusaders.

Loved Ones, like me, you are among those who stand in the crowd forming our opinion as to who Christ truly is.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, January 14, 2019

Now it was the Sabbath on that day.  So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”  But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’”  They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?”  But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. – John 5:9b-13

Jesus heals a man.  The Jerusalem leadership is concerned that he was breaking a rule, a nonsensical rule about what it means to work on the Sabbath.  The man healed walks and Jesus walks away, while the rules-makers debate on whether this is proper or not.

So often, we, the devout, lose touch with the essence of what is good and godly and, in turn, makes us lose touch with what is humane.  Rules beget rules and the rules come with their punishments, but so little is added to the “good”.  Oh, we practice diligently the restraint of the evil, like those rules-makers at the pool of Bethesda, but adding to the good, well, the rules seldom accomplish such a virtue.  Rules and punishments are part and parcel with the other; and thus the essence of the good is neglected.

A man is healed and he is thankful.  A man heals and he is thankful.  But the religious of the day, the keepers of the rules, they choose to assume the role of judges.

Loved Ones, it is key to purer and mature spirituality to not lose touch with the essence of good and the godly and the humane.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Saturday, January 12, 2019

So 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.  A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Could I a drink of water.”  (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (At that time, Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) – John 4:5-9

Devout Jews and devout Samaritans, separated from each other by way of long-standing resentment, and though, living in close quarters, also resentful of the other.  So Jesus, a Jew, breaks a taboo and asks a Samaritan woman for a cup of cool water to quench His thirst.  Did He no remember how the Samaritans collaborated with the enemy centuries ago?  Did He not respect the honor tradition of His people?  Did He not keep alive the ancient hostility?  Whatever the answers to those questions this He now knew … all of this history had now devolved into prejudice.

Most prejudice is germinated from some experience in the past.  Often a specific negative experience with a certain individual in a certain circumstance mutates into a generalized characterization of all people in a certain distinguishable subgroup of humanity.  Other times, prejudice is something inherited without ever being questioned as either valid or still valid.  Most times, prejudice is a warped way of making one self better than others.  But Christ in a most casual encounter at a well … dismissed the folly and sinfulness of ethnic or class prejudice.

Christ offered His humanity to a fellow human soul, a human soul who understood the nature of thirst and of how thirst much be quenched.  Then Christ communicated that He would no longer participate in this deeply set social prejudice.  And then Christ drew her into sharing a common hope, the anticipation of a Messiah finally arriving.

I have found that prejudice is often practiced and affirmed by many of the zealous devout.  And this prejudice is often assumed and embraced by many of the barely devout.  It is a human frailty of our humanness, this penchant for harboring resentment even ancient resentment to the point where it becomes a societal bigotry.

But there are those who are deeply devout and humbly so, believers who have allowed their faith to more fully mature, who like Christ seek to end this lineage of prejudice by their no longer participating in its sinful madness.

Yes, my Loved Ones, I find prejudice is the creation of a festering resentment, a resentment that is often not even recalled.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Father Charitas de la Cruz

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Friday, January 11, 2019

The Passover was approaching, and Jesus traveled to Jerusalem. In the Temple being operated by the Sanhedrin under the auspices of King Herod, He found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”    – John 2:13-16

We usually call this dramatic moment in the Gospel (set here at the beginning of the story by John) the “cleansing of the Temple”.  But more accurately I believe it was “the protest in the Temple”.  As the events of Passion Week would demonstrate … the Temple and its leadership were not cleansed at all.  But Christ in His act of protest focused His primary concern … the pressure to raise money to build the overblown Temple Project, built more for the glory of the Herodian Dynasty than for the glory of God had slowly compromised and corrupted the religious leadership of those years.  Money, much money, had to be raised by any means available and other concerns, such as providing for the poor and bringing hope to the demoralized spirit of the people, … were set aside.  This, I believe, was the Christ’s intent in this protest.

I find that there are those sensitive, spiritual souls that are in touch with the essence of what is truly good, truly of God, truly according to conscience.  And I find there are many others who try to avoid acting by the higher conscience by investing much rationalization in justifying their yielding to lesser ways that fall short of the good, godly, and of purer conscience.   We build overblown Temples and when we do make ourselves slaves to their debt and their upkeep.  We build overblown temples of power and prestige and when we do we make ourselves slaves to win-at-all-costs desperation.

I use a phrase quite often  … I believe it to be true … “For the sake of a certain cause, the greater cause is sacrificed.”

Loved Ones, be not tempted by visions of worldly glory, prestige and fame.  Loved Ones, be not tempted to keep up with Joneses in castles of desperate debt.  Loved Ones, be not tempted by hubris and pride that makes one minion of boasts once made.

Christ reminded us by His protest that a temple is a place for prayer … a place where the rich and poor mingle in community, a place where the teacher and the seeker learn from each, a place where old and young link hands in immortality, a place where God is present in the midst of humanity.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz