Re: Fwd: [New post] The Loud and Clear Message that the TED Controversy is Sending
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Fwd-New-post-The-Loud-and-Clear-Message-that-the-TED-Controversy-is-Sending-tp7582434p7582472.html
We encounter him in the very poor. Jesus had a special love for them.
“What you do for one of the very least of my brothers and sisters, you do for me” (Matthew 25:40), we would like to confirm the truth of these words of Christ for our gathering in 2015.
We can encounter him when we look to the witnesses who rely on him.
Let us go, alone or with a few others, to meet and speak with a woman or a man whose life was changed by an encounter with Christ.
Or let us read together the life of a witness to the faith: Francis of Assisi, Josephine Bakhita, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero, Alexander Men, and many others.
They were all very different from one another, each one with their unique gifts. We should not try to copy them but to see how their trust in Christ transformed them.
They had their faults. But they all spoke to God in prayer, even if some of them experienced inner nights. Friendship with Christ made them free, and in this way what was best in them was able to flourish.
Third Proposal - Look for ways of relying on God
Believing in God, trusting in him, means relying on him. Having faith does not mean being able to explain everything or having an easier life, but finding stability and a starting point.
It means not being dependent on our successes or failures, and thus ultimately on ourselves, but on Another who loves us.
Nobody can live without something to rely on and so, in this sense, everyone believes something. Jesus invites us to rely on God, as he did and because he did. He teaches us to pray “Our Father in heaven.”
Silent worship nourishes reflection and understanding. But more importantly, it places us before and within the mystery of God.
Developing “Sabbath” moments, times when we stop and do nothing, offering our time to open a nearby church for a couple of hours a week, praying with others, joining the local Church each week to recall the death and resurrection of Christ...all this allows God to find a place in our daily lives.
In every human being there is an inner life, where light and shadows, joys and fears, trust and doubt mingle. Amazing breakthroughs can take place there.
When we know we are loved or when we love, when we experience bonds of friendship, or when the beauty of creation or human creativity touches us, it strikes us that life is indeed beautiful. These moments can take us by surprise; they may arise even in a period of suffering, like a light that comes from elsewhere.
In them we can see, in simplicity, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
In our day, when many experience broken relationships and unexpected changes in their lives, the relationship with Christ can provide continuity and meaning.
Faith does not cause our inner contradictions to vanish, but the Holy Spirit disposes us to live a life of joy and love.
Fourth Proposal - Be open without fear to the future and to others
The conviction of faith does not close us up in ourselves. Trust in Christ opens us to trust in the future and to trust in others. It encourages us to face the problems of our time and of our own lives with courage.
Faith is like an anchor that gives us a firm attachment in the future of God, in the risen Christ with whom it binds us inseparably. The Gospel offers no room for speculation about life after death, but it holds out to us the hope that we will see Christ, who is already our life.
Faith leads us not to be afraid of the future or of others any longer.
The trusting of faith is not naive. It is aware of the evil that is present in humanity, and even in our own hearts. But it does not forget that Christ came for all.
Trust in God brings to birth in us a new way of looking at others, at the world, and at the future—a way of looking that involves gratitude and hope, and attentiveness to beauty.
Trust in God frees us to be creative.
And then we can sing with Saint Gregory of the fourth century: “You who are beyond all things, what mind can grasp you? All beings celebrate you. The desire of all reaches out to you.”
- Four Proposals 2013
- pdf format
When we know we are loved or when we love, when we experience bonds of friendship, or when the beauty of creation or human creativity touches us, it strikes us that life is indeed beautiful. These moments can take us by surprise; they may arise even in a period of suffering, like a light that comes from elsewhere.
In them we can see, in simplicity, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives."
http://www.universalspiritcenter.org/community-gatherings/taize-experience/
Taize Experience 7 p.m.
with Rev. Sarah Hans and DevaVani
Taize at Universal Spirit Center is a healing experience for the greater San Diego community offering a place of love, connection and rest. Through music, silence, inspired readings and prayer, Taize participants deepen in knowing the Truth of their own Divinity.
Taize originated in the town of Taize in the Burgundy region of France. In the early 1940’s, a group of young men came together to chant, meditate and pray, as well as provide a sanctuary for countless people seeking shelter and safety. This community continues to gather today to worship and connect with the Divine, and its members are encouraged to live in the spirit of kindness, simplicity and reconciliation.
Love Offering
TAIZE 2013
Begins anew on Friday, January 11 at 7 pm. Join Rev. Sarah Hans and DevaVani as we enter a liberating new evolutionary paradigm centered on feeling and intuition. Travel in conscious company with us as we awaken to the energy and intelligence of living as the enlightened embodiment of a new earth.
RHYTHMS FOR A NEW EARTH
- Winter: Rhythms of Deepening - January 11, February 8 and March 1
- Spring: Rhythms of Seeding - April 5, May 3 and June 7
- Summer: Rhythms of Growing - July 5, August 2 and September 6
- Fall: Rhythms of Gathering - October 4, November 1 and December 6
Universal Spirit Center
3858 Front Street
San Diego, CA 92103
Rev. Kevin Bucy
Community Spiritual Leader
Office Hours:
Monday - Thursday 9am - 4pm
Except Holidays
Phone: (619) 291-4728
Rich: you never got back to me on Taize .. are you aware of the movement?-- Owen
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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