Dhikr for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40)

Meditation: The Love of God and Love of Neighbor remain the basic ethical measure of our words, thoughts and actions. We should not behave and think like the Pharisees and Scribes who multiply laws yet are lacking in the real measure that counts…

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.

The Uncovering of the First Veil...

--From the Persian Kashf al-mahjub--
by Data Ganj Bakhsh, al-Hujwiri, from Ghazna in Afghanistan (d. in Lahore between 465 and 469 AH/ 1072 and 1077 CE)

CONCERNING THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD (ma'rifat Allah).
The Apostle said: "If ye knew God as He ought to be known, ye would walk on the seas, and the mountains would move at your call."

The MA'RIFAT of God is of two kinds: cognitional ('ilmi) and emotional (há1i). Cognitional knowledge is the foundation of all blessings in this world and in the next, for the most important thing for a man at all times and in all circumstances is knowledge of God, as God hath said: '' I only created the jinn and mankind that they might serve Me (Quran, 51:56), i.e. that they might know Me. But the greater part of men neglect this duty, except those whom God hath chosen and whose hearts He hath vivified with Himself.

True knowledge or "ma'rifat" is the life of the heart through God, and the turning away of one's inmost thoughts from all that is not God. The worth of everyone is in proportion to true knowledge, and he who is without "ma'rifat" is worth nothing.

Theologians, lawyers, and other classes of people give the name of true knowledge (ma'rifat) to right cognition ('ilm) of God, but the Súfi Shaykhs call right feeling (hál) towards God by that name. Hence they have said that true knowledge (ma'rifat) is more excellent than cognition ('ilm), for right feeling (hál) is the result of right cognition, but right cognition is not the same thing as right feeling, i.e. one who has not cognition of God is not an 'arif (man of wisdom) but one may have cognition of God without being as 'arif. Those of either class who were ignorant of this distinction engaged in useless controversy, and the one party disbelieved in the other party.

Dhikr for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Text: He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied, "Caesar's." At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." (Matthew 22: 20-21)

Meditation: The usual distinction of what is God’s and Caesar’s usually comes to mind with the above passages. But the real challenge posed by the Gospel is to discern God’s will in our life and act truthfully according to His will…

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.

Sacred Heart

Peace!
Today is the Feast of St. Margaret Mary. In her letter, she reminds us anew that from the Sacred Heart three streams flow endlessly. The first is the stream of MERCY for sinners. The second is the stream of CHARITY that helps all in need especially the poor and those in difficulties. The third is the stream of LOVE for friends...

There are three important things in life... Mercy, Charity and Love. She adds another value... She says that what is important above all is to have Peace of Heart...!

Dhikr for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Text: 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' (Matthew 22: 8-9)

Meditation: The Parable tells us of God’s invitation to ALL! One caveat though… that is finding ourselves NOT WORTHY TO COME… BEWARE!

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.

Dhikr for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Text: "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.” (Matthew 21: 32b-33)

Meditation: The truth of our claim lies in doing… We become God’s children by believing in Jesus and doing what he commands us...

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.

Dhikr for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Text: “Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20: 14-15)

Meditation: Heaven is NOT the fruit of our merit… It is the fruit of God’s mercy and generousity. We do not fault God for saving all… Do we?

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.

Dhikr for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross – Sept. 14th

Text: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3: 16)

Meditation: Jesus in the Cross fully revealed God’s universal salvific love… “By his Holy Cross, we have been redeemed…”

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.

The Concept of Walâya

One of the most fundamental dimensions of Walâya is beautifully summarized in the following hadîth qudsî:

(God said:) "For Me, the most blessed of My friends1 is the person of faith who is unburdened (by possessions), who takes pleasure in prayer, who carries out well his devotion to his Lord and eagerly serves Him in secret. He is concealed among the people; no one points him out. His sustenance is barely sufficient, and he is content with that.... His death comes quickly, there are few mourners, and his estate is small."2

Now the living presence of the "Friend of God" or walî (pl. awliyâ'), in one manifestation or another--whether it be Muhammad and his Family or certain Companions, any of the earlier prophets, the Shiite Imams, or the many pious Muslims who have come to be recognized posthumously as "saints"--has for centuries been a central focus of popular religious and devotional life in much of the Islamic world.3 But the true walî, as this hadîth stresses, is most often publicly "invisible" in this life, outwardly indistinguishable from many other normally devout Muslim men and women. And even after death, for those awliyâ' whose mission of sanctity or "proximity" to God (walâya) has become more widely recognized, the mysterious reality of their ongoing influence likewise remains invisible to most people, revealing itself directly only at the appropriate moments in individual, highly personalized means of contact: through dreams, visions, intuitions and spiritual acts of Grace (karamât) or special blessings that only appear to "those with the eyes to see."

Thus this famous hadîth suggests two basic considerations that should be kept in mind whenever one encounters the written works usually associated with Islamic "mysticism". The first point is that with rare exceptions such texts were not originally meant to be studied by themselves. Usually they were understood, by their author and audience alike, to be only secondary or accessory means to their aim (and often their source): the awliyâ'--taken in the broadest sense, including the prophets and Imams--and the gradual realization of that spiritual condition of walâya, or "closeness to God", embodied in such individuals.4 The second, closely related point is that such "mystical" writings in their original context--and especially those works written in languages other than classical Arabic--were often quite inseparable from the whole range of "popular" religion, from the faith so diversely lived and practiced by the mass of the Muslim population (in contrast to the versions represented by the Arabic traditional religious sciences and the claims of their learned urban male interpreters). In fact in many regions of the Muslim world that faith was originally spread and inculcated almost entirely by such popular "mystical" writings and their even more widespread oral equivalents, or rather above all by the saints and other religious teachers who conveyed (and often created) both that literature and the music and other forms of spiritual practice that typically accompanied it.

If one keeps both those essential points in mind, it is easy to understand the practical and historical reasons behind the profusion of personalities and spiritual methods, symbols, practices, and beliefs that one discovers already in the lives of the classical exemplars of Islamic mysticism in Baghdad and Khorasan in the 3rd century (A.H.). But those same considerations also help us to appreciate the deep sense of disillusionment and failure, of something gone profoundly wrong, whenever the spiritual dimension of Islam has come to be identified with any particular, exclusive set of such historical forms.5 That recurrent realization was summed up in the frequently echoed response of the Khurasani mystic al-Qûshanjî (d. 348/959) to a disciple's naive
question "What is Sufism (tasawwuf)?":

"(Today it's) a name without reality; but it used to be a reality without a name."6

Whether name or reality, the unavoidable problem for students of religion is that there is still so little accessible literature that one can rely on to provide either of these essential contexts for understanding the wider religious functions and meaning of the many written--and the far more extensive unwritten--forms and expressions of Islamic mysticism.

------
1 awliyâ'î (singular walî): i.e., those who are "close to" God, probably alluding to the famous Qur'ânic verses 10:62-64:"...the friends of God, they have no fear and they do not grieve...theirs is the Good News in this lower life and in the next (life)...that is the Tremendous Attainment".. The same Arabic term--which also carries significant connotations of "protector", "guardian" and even "governor"--also appears as one of the more frequent Names of God (at 2:257; 3:68; 45:19; etc.). In most branches of Shiite thought it is one of the many Qur'anic terms taken as references to the spiritual function of the Imams, while in later Sufism--most elaborately in the thought of Ibn cArabî and his successors--the term is usually understood to refer to the particular spiritual state of proximity to God (walâya) shared by the divine Messengers, prophets (anbiyâ') and saints, besides the different spiritual functions that distinguish each of those members of the spiritual hierarchy.

2 This hadîth is included, with minor variations, in the canonical collections of Tirmidhî,
Ibn Mâja, and Ibn Hanbal.

3 Throughout this short paper it should be kept in mind that the English word "saint" (and its equivalents in other Christian contexts) is quite inadequate to convey either the centrality or the fluidity of the implicit associations and spiritual connections which are typically perceived in
Islamic devotional contexts. This is particularly true in prayers at a specific shrine, or within a given Sufi path - between the divine al-Walî and the wide spectrum of human and spiritual exemplars or “theophanies" (mazâhir) that are typically available to each individual Muslim or local community. And even within Islamic religious scholarship, the learned theological explanations of these central popular devotional practices (in terms of functions like wasîla,
shifâca, wilâya, and the like) usually depend on drawing firm distinctions and conceptual boundaries that scarcely reflect the intimate spiritual realities of actual prayer and devotional life.

4 While the different actual roles of various types of mystical writings and their interplay with oral traditions and teaching in pre-modern contexts are discussed in more detail below, we should add that many of the same points are also relevant to the transmission of many other (non-"mystical") forms of Islamic tradition and learning, including especially the oral transmission of hadîth, which continued for centuries beyond the more limited domain of their usage within the narrower sphere of Islamic law (fiqh).

5 A typical sign of this phenomenon recurring in different contexts throughout Islamic history is the characteristic progressive socio-linguistic devaluation of technical terms once used to refer to "mystics" as soon as the practices or institutions connected with those forms of spirituality have become popularly "corrupted" (from the perspective of different elites).

6 The dictum is repeated in two of the most famous Persian works on Sufism, Hujwîrî's (d. ca. 465/1071) Kashf al-Mahjûb (tr. R.A. Nicholson, London, 1911, p. 44, where the name is given as Fûshanjî), and Jâmî's (d. 1492) biographical dictionary, Nafahât al-'Uns (ed. M. Tawhîdîpûr, Tehran, 1336 h.s./1957, pp. 255-56), apparently based on a more direct account in the earlier Arabic Tabaqât of Sulamî (d. 412/1021).

Dhikr for the 23rd Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

Text: “Again, (amen,) I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about
anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my
heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18: 19-20)

Meditation: There is the call to gather in his name – to break bread,
to pray and to act – together! The Church is, precisely, this assembly
in his name…

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.

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

Text: 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… words that have become so “flexible” and “ambiguous” these days where everyone seems to have a price. Tsk tsk tsk!

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.

Dhikr for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Text: He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16: 15-16)

Meditation: Today, we, too, are being asked who we say Jesus is to us… Our answer determines our faith and values we stand by…!

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.

Dhikr for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Text: Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour. (Matthew 15:28)

Meditation: Great FAITH WORKS MIRACLES!!! BELIEVE…

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.

Dhikr for the 19th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

Text: 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…”

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.

Reflection for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Text: (Jesus) said to them, "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves." (Matthew 14: 16)

Meditation: The challenge of the Gospel today is the fact that Jesus tells us directly to act and give food to the hungry.

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.

Dhikr for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Dhikr for the 17th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A): Parables of the Kingdom

Text: "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13: 44)

Meditation: That treasure is hidden in each one of us… The real challenge is to find it and let it flourish and shine before all…

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.

Parables of the Kingdom

Dhikr for the 16th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

Text: “Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn’.” (Matthew 13: 30)

Meditation: Meditating on the weed and the wheat, we pray that we become the wheat and not the destructive weed that is destined for burning…

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.

Understanding the Meaning of DESERT in our Journey....

by Bapa Eliseo "Jun" Mercado, OMI

For the three Semitic religions, the desert is a common MATRIX. It is no accident that the spiritual traditions of the three above monotheistic religions are rooted in this very harsh condition. The desert is a vast arid and inhospitable land and no amount of glamour and romanticism even from the ancient “spiritual writers” can change its cruel and harsh realities.

As a young religious, I had always wondered why our religious life had its deep roots in the desert. I tried to fathom this mystery by actually venturing into the harsh desert of Upper Egypt in 1981. With a guide I visited the caves of our ancient and venerable Desert Fathers. There I sat in one of the caves to simply get a physical and spiritual “touch” of the environment that gave birth to a spirituality tied to the beginnings of monasticism. The caves showed many crude stone carvings of crosses made by people that tried to “find” God in the desert. Being brought by a tradition of touching holy and sacred grounds, I began milling around and touching the cross carvings in the walls as I relished the memories of the holy men and women who lived in these caves.

It was there that I discovered the meaning of asceticism. There was no way to survive the desert without being ascetic. The desert’s harsh environment imposed a regimen on life that reduced needs to the barest minimum. The very environment, i.e., the desert, had become the “enemy”. In such a place, one would readily discover that the sole reliance would be on God. Discipline and ascetical practices were introduced to reduce want and needs, understood then as the “tools of the devil”. An ancient Arabic saying goes this way: “anyone who ventures into the desert and comes out becomes either a saint or a fool”.

The desert is one of the powerful symbols in Islam. The prophet Muhammad was often drawn into the cave of Hira in his search for the true God. It was in one of his journeys into this cave that the first revelation (Sura 96) was made. The experience with the “divine” was so moving that tradition celebrates the event as the “night of power” (laylat-ul qadr) during the month of Ramadhan (the 9th lunar month of the Islamic Calendar).

The first revelation is an invitation to “Read” or “Recite” (iqra) in the name of God, the Lord of creation. The strong emphasis on the invitation to “recite” shows that the initiative in the journey to God is begun by God. It is an invitation to a relationship that begins in the acknowledgement of God’s Lordship (Rabbika) thus a true worship (‘ibadat) of God necessarily must begin with being God’s “reader” or “reciter”. In time, through faithful “reading” and “recitation” of God’s word, the reader becomes “nearer” to God and this would bloom into “friendship” (Siddique). The person who is close to God becomes a friend of God.

The first revelation in the desert is an invitation to become a “reader” in the midst of that harsh and cruel environment. A reader responds to a call to life. Here we hear the echo of Psalm 95: “Today, listen to the voice of the Lord: do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did in the wilderness”.

The voice of God is an invitation to read and recite (iqra) that God is a mighty one and the Lord over all the gods. It is a call to listen to God and to be taught by Him. In chapter 96 (Sura) the reader proclaims that it is “thy Lord who taught by the pen and taught man that he knew not”. It is an invitation to abandon all the idols of the world and cling to the one Lord for unto Him is the Great Returning!

The desert is also a powerful symbol of detachment from the cravings of the more mundane aspects of human beings, that is, comfort and good life. Though legitimate good life is never considered “forbidden” (haram) in Islam, yet a sort of counter movement is occurring within the community through the examples of men and women who are “passionately” taken by God. These “spirituals” under one or more shayks invite people to a much simpler life style that reduces dependency on many things. In fact early ascetics in Islam were also attracted into the desert for reading and meditation of the Qur’an while waiting for the disclosure of the hidden meaning of the word of God.

Dhikr for the 12th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

Text: “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10: 29-31)

Meditation: Have NO fear! Trust in the Lord. Believe that we are worth more than many sparrows.

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.

Dhikr for the 11th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

Text: “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9: 36)

Meditation: It is tragic to see crowds milling around with no direction and hope… and the shepherd is no where to be found…!

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.