Beware of Idols that we worship... they come in many shapes and forms! 

Are we making idols out of our rules and ways...?

Dhikr for the 22nd week of the ordinary year (B)

Text: “He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.' You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition." (Mark 7: 6-8))

Meditation: How easily do we make idols of our rules and ways…? They are NOT God’s…!

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Prophets for our time... Are we listening?

Prophets for Our Tme: Are We Listening?
by Dorothy C.Buck

When I think of Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Muhammad, the ancient Hebrew prophets, Abraham, Elijah, Moses then John the Baptist and Jesus, in fact the religious reformers and visionaries of all cultures and traditions in every age, one word overshadows all else. They knew how to listen, first to God, then to the voices of others in the world around them.

As Christians we talk of God “calling” us into relationship, of the prophets being “called” to speak publicly for God, to challenge and confront the ways that God's voice was not being heard.

In the Gospel according to Matthew John the Baptist is heard quoting the major Hebrew prophet Isaiah, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! ...A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” (Matthew 3:2, Isaiah 40:3)

Unless we listen to the prophets among us we are likely to wander farther and farther away from the kingdom of God's love into a maze of tempting cultural values and materialistic idols. We hear competing voices inundating our TV programs enticing us with more and more “things” we must have and that we are told will make us “happy”. Even cigarettes and an SUV are claimed to fulfill our longings for love and companionship, and more and more credit debt is the capitalistic means of achieving the successful consumer lifestyle that feeds our economy, but not our souls.

We have ample voices throughout our short history as a country who has warned us of the dangers of not heeding the call of the poor, of not feeding the hungry, offering a drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and welcoming the strangers in our midst. Now we are challenged, almost beyond our capacity to respond, by the fear of terrorist attacks and the distrust and hatred felt towards this country in many parts of the world. Are we listening?

Mystical Substitution - Badaliyya...

Louis Massignon's understanding of what he called mystical substitution traced back to earlier church traditions. The many saints who were often martyrs for their faith were said to unite their sufferings and death with the passion and death of Christ.

In the medieval church some extraordinary mystics felt called to pray to take onto themselves the physical and emotional afflictions of those who came to them for healing. These examples seem far from our contemporary experience of faith and appear exaggerated and foreign. Yet, Louis Massignon's vision of such immense love of God, even at the expense of one's own life or health, evolved into a profound and intense spirituality of compassion for others.

Being alive and becoming living bread for others...

Dhikr for the 20th week of the ordinary year (B)

Text: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." (John 6: 51)

Meditation: By partaking of the bread of Christ… do we become truly ALIVE and living bread for others…?

Charles de Foucauld - a Brother to all...

Fr. de Foucauld understood his mission as the "universal brother". This marked his life and witness from his arrival and his settling in Beni-Abbes in 1901. His foundation was called the khaoua" (the fraternity), because khaouia Charles is the "universal brother".

He always prayed that I may truly be the brother of all. And all the groups that have taken their origin from him have always been firmly determined to reach every corner of the world, desiring, like their mentor, to follow Christ who commanded his disciples "to go ... and make disciples of all nations".

Thus heirs to de Foucauld's tradition desire to become universal brothers/sisters like him. Wherever he/she may be, they witness to the universality of the love of Christ's Heart, so that it may be recognized in such a way that all can accept his Word and his Gospel.

A spiritual life centered on the Eucharist...

Charles de Foucauld wrote a text called the Directory for the use of all, priests and lay people alike, gathered under the title of the Union of the Brothers and Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

A personal return to the Gospel and a spiritual life centered on the Eucharist are asked of them, as well as a commitment to proclaim the Gospel in the way Jesus of Nazareth did: to live the Gospel wherever they might be. But de Foucauld hoped that Christians would live this spirituality where the Gospel was unknown.

From the heart of the Sahara he wrote: "Here there is a need for good people, good Christians of every profession, who would come into close contact with the indigenous people through a thousand daily activities".

Taught by God...

Dhikr for the 19th week of the ordinary year (B)

Text: “It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.” (John 6: 45)

Meditation: Do we truly allow ourselves to be taught by God…? Do we listen to God and learn from the Lord in our work and life…?

Rosa Parks - A Woman of Faith! 

Take Courage...

Text: "Jesus spoke to them, ‘Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Peter said to him in reply, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water'." (Mt. 14: 27-28)

Reflection: Hold on our belief that Jesus is with us...! As the song (Foot prints in the Sand) goes, when we see only one pair of foot prints in most difficult times... they are not ours... they are the Lord's... It is during those times that he carries us in his arms.

Dhikr for the 18th week of the ordinary time (B)

Dhikr for the 18th week of the ordinary year (B)

“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” (John 6: 27)

Do we toil for the food that endures… What is God’s seal on our work and life…?

Today, we remember the Nuclear Holocaust in Hiroshima... and on the 9th of August a second Atomic Bomb was dropped in Nagasaki. We pause in prayer not only to remember the dead and the victims... but also to manifest our resolve that NEVER again we shall allow such tragedies to visit the earth.

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DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...
Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1. Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…
2. Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips.
3. Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…

Taking offense at God...

“And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.’ And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.” (Matthew 13: 57-58)

Beware of taking offense at God and his/her prophets…!

Shining like the sun...

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” (Matthew 13: 43)