How Can We See God In All Things?

I read this message from Richard Rohr the other day and it has been with me ever since.

Where have you seen God in the material world?

Either you see the body of Christ everywhere or you don't see it. There are finally no divisions. But that is a mystical seeing that connects everything universally.

God is perfectly hidden in this material world. And for those who have learned how to see, God is perfectly revealed. God shines through all things. You want to kiss trees and honor what is.

You are even brought to tears sometimes by the least of the brothers and sisters because the divine image shines through so clearly.
-Richard Rohr

Reading this, reminded of hearing Father Butler during our recent Scripture Study classes in May and June ask the class - "Where is God?" This was often followed by a sense of collective hesitation.

We all know the answer is everywhere, but why is it often so hard to say that? Or more importantly, to really believe that?

God is everywhere and in everyone. And as Rohr reminds us in the passage above, if we are not seeing God everywhere and in everyone, we need to keep looking. Correction - we need to try seeing.

The invitation, the command actually, to see God in all people places and things is something that most of us struggle with, and hopefully surrender to, at various times in our lives.

It is very easy to consign the things and so often, consign people that we do not like to some place or something else. I know that I can easily - far too easily - think of people that annoy me, situations that disturb me and so forth, that I would love to turn away from. Frankly, I stink at it.

The Gospel is very clear in its message about how we love and serve one another. That we must love our enemy. Love our enemy. That feels like a rock upon my chest! It stops me from breathing! How can I love my enemy?

However, if I am actually listening to, let alone actually following Jesus, then I must acknowledge that I am asked to see God in all things. All things. Which would mean seeing God very clearly in my enemy, thus transforming whatever I feel into love.

Deep sigh. That's hard work. And it is not optional, is it?

On the rare days that I can actually do this, I know that some of the most powerful acts of evangelizing happen...

In the place they might matter most - inside each of our own hearts.

Grace Moments by Dolores Martin

GRANDMA DO YOU SEE IT?

Recently, I was working in my side garden when I noticed my grandson looking out the window from our three season room. He came outside and exclaimed, do you see the heart? I had such a warm feeling in my heart that he noticed it. I replied, yes I see it and did you also see the little heart? He looked in amazement and said, WOW!!!!!!!!

A couple of weeks prior to this conversation, I looked out the same window and saw this huge heart in my lawn. I was talking to a fellow parishioner on the phone at the time and described what I saw. Anne told me that the heart was a message from George and she suggested many beautiful ideas on how to preserve this quirk of nature. OR IS IT A QUIRK OF NATURE?

At the time that I had spoken to Anne, the big heart was obvious. The little heart above it just came into view a week or so ago. This little heart will eventually be gone but the big one will remain.

You are probably wondering what I am talking about and is this lady hallucinating.

And now the story of how two hearts came into view.

I have over an acre of land as do the neighbors on either side of me. We back up into a forever wild area and a stream that flows from the Visher Ferry Preserve. We do not have fences between the properties. One lawn flows into the other and we compliment one anothers landscaping. Birds and wildlife are all around us.

There were several maple trees and a huge pine tree on the one side of my home. My next door neighbor suggested that the tree closest to his home should be removed before it became too big. It was a stately beauty and I had to ponder long and hard about removing this tree. What he said made sense. During some wicked storms, trees have toppled over and damaged properties. Better to be safe than sorry. There were more trees closer to my house and perhaps it was time for them to go.

My neighbor asked if he could have the trees for firewood and I agreed.

When the trees were removed and the slope graded, it was ready for a new design. I was going to seed the lawn. I was unable to seed the lawn right away because, the felled trees were stacked waiting for Bill to chop the wood. He was away. When he returned, my two neighbors with chain saws in hand worked hard to cut firewood. Sawdust was everywhere.

I had to leave for a few weeks and due to the wood cutting was unable to seed the lawn. I knew weeds would sprout up and discussed this with my neighbor. He told me not to worry, he would seed the lawn and get it started.

I told him that George and I always had a large vegetable and flower garden and that I would like to use some of the side property for that. He was going to leave an area large enough for a garden and seed the rest of the slope.

When I returned home, grass was starting to grow. Without a specific plan, John ( a young man who helps me maintain this property) and I set out to put plants in. John threw additional grass seed down closer to the house.

The big dirt patch was there for me to plant vegetables and flowers.

With the random seeding of the slope by both John and Bill, a huge heart and a little heart formed in the lawn as the grass grew in.

I have planted what George would have planted in the big heart.

George spent most of his time at home enjoying this three season room. He would look out the window while sipping his morning coffee. Now every morning, I sip my coffee while looking out at two hearts and feeling so blessed that George has found a way to brighten my day.

Pilgrim People

In the tradition of pilgrimage, hardships are seen not as accidental but as integral to the journey itself. Treacherous terrain, bad weather, taking a fall, getting lost---challenges of that sort, largely beyond our control, can strip the ego of the illusion that it is in charge and make space for true self to emerge. If that happens, the pilgrim has a better chance to find the sacred center he or she seeks. Disabused of our illusions by much travel and travail, we awaken one day to find that the sacred center is here and now---in every moment of the journey, everywhere in the world around us, and deep within our own hearts. -Parker Palmer

In our culture, our life and society we are all set up for comfort, convenience and routine. At work we are rewarded for it - process improvements, efficiency, productivity. We are so busy that we seek to make things more streamlined, easier, quicker.

That is not always a bad thing. It is not always a good thing however.

Sometimes the difficult, the painful and most inconvenient bring us around to the God within.

It is the Cross.

Poetry Tuesday - Shadow and Me by Donald G. Harmande

Shadow and Me

There’s some other self
Always in my wake
Another me existing, not fake,
Following every motion
And movement that I make.
Parodying, imitating never out of step,
Accompanying and heeding
Every single foot step.
Treading on my heels
Mimicking what I would do,
Escorting me alone but acting out as two.
What is this presence faithfully at my side?
It’s my shadow of persona to reside and to abide.


Donald G. Harmande