Kargador at Dawn

Kargador at Dawn
Work in the Vineyard

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Dhikr for the 22nd Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

 

Readings: Jeremiah 20: 7-9; Romans 12: 1-2; Matthew 16: 21 -27

 

Selected Passage: What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? (Matthew 16: 26)

 

Meditation: The Gospel challenges us to take a second hard look at our values and integrity. Our words and deeds have become so “flexible” and “ambiguous” these days.  We NO longer draw the line between values and belief we stand by, on one hand, and our words and deeds, on the other. We, too, have our price tags. The passage above tells us to draw the line between what we believe and our deeds. We cannot put our life for sale or barter it for anything! www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

 

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

 

Dhikr is an Arabic word which means REMEMBRANCE.

1st step: Write the text in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

 

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

The Death of Innocence

THE DEATH OF INNOCENCE


We pride ourselves on our experience, our sophistication, and our lack of naivete. And we are ashamed to admit that we aren’t experienced, that we haven’t been everywhere, and that we don’t know everything.


Innocence is identified with naivete and is generally looked upon either with condescension or with positive disdain. Lack of sexual experience particularly is stigmatized. We see innocence as ignorance.


Moreover, our culture extends this equation to faith in God. Most of the culture, consciously or unconsciously, believes that contemporary experience and present development and insight, have unmasked faith as a superstition, an ignorance, a lack of nerve, a lack of sophistication, a narrowness, a fear, and even a bias.


The common perception, especially among intellectuals, is that contemporary experience has brought about a collective loss of faith because, at the end of the day, faith is an ignorance that is cast out by a fuller experience. To believe in God is to be naive, however sincere.


The French philosopher and historian Paul Ricoeur, whom nobody could ever accuse of being naive, tells us that as adults, the real goal of our lives is to come to something which he calls “second naivete”. Real maturity is ultimately about revirginizing and coming to a second innocence.


This however is not to be confused with first naivete and natural innocence. We are born naive and innocent and the task of growing up is precisely to move beyond this childishness to adulthood. This is done, as our culture rightly intuits, by growing in experience and sophistication.


For a while, this is good. First naivete in an adult is not innocence but ignorance.


Unfortunately, our culture misunderstands that growth beyond the natural ignorance of a child. Becoming sophisticated is itself meant to be a temporary step. Our real task is ultimately to become post-sophisticated – childlike and virgin again. 

Jesus tells us that children and virgins enter the kingdom of heaven quite naturally. A world that prides itself on its adultness, sophistication, and experience might want to ponder that.


To read more click here or copy this address into your browser http://ronrolheiser.com/the-death-of-innocence/#.Xx8QkPhKg_8

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Wednesday, August 05, 2020

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Short Reflection for the 19th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

 

Readings: 1 Kings 19: 9. 11-13; Romans 9: 1-5; Matthew 14: 22-33

 

Selected Passage: When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once (Jesus) spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." (Matthew 14: 26-27)

 

Meditation: When we find ourselves in turbulent waters or when we are afraid, Jesus also appears to us in various ways telling us: “take courage, it is I and do not be afraid.”

 

Courage is one of the gifts of the Spirit.  For us to receive this gift, we need to TRUST the Lord. It is believing with our heart that whatever happens and whatever the challenge, the Lord is there at our side and he shares the load so we can dispel our fear, because with him we can carry our cross, too.

 

Visit: www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

 

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

 

Dhikr is an Arabic word which means REMEMBRANCE.

1st step: Write the text in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.