givenness.com

a givenness to the darkness of not knowing

Thu, 31 May 2012 23:35:36 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The darkness of not knowing.

“This lonely prayer, which Abraham Heschel once described as a share in the pathos of God, is the only way to true discernment.

To reach this wisdom which is more than talk and ideas, one must do more than talk and think.

The way to this knowledge is through the darkness of not knowing, and a living, shared experience of the poverty and helplessness of Christ as he is in the world.” Francis Martin, Touching God

….as He is in the world.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the darkness of not knowing.

a givenness not to hid in the hut

Wed, 30 May 2012 18:40:15 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Not to hid in the hut.

“Sometimes the prophet is so overwhelmed by the knowledge of God’s tenderness and live that the vision of man’s half-willed obtuseness, as he schemes, plans, manipulates, fears and hates right there before the face of God can cause a frustration beyond description:

“I wish I had a pilgrim’s hut out in the middle of the desert; then I could leave my people and just walk away from them.” (Jeremiah 9:11)

Sometimes the prophet is so identified with the sufferings of his people, in all their depth and mystery, that he must plunge into the very center of the pain in order to be with God:

“My God, my God, why have you left me?” (Psalm 22:1)

It is only from this depth that we can understand the power of the words of the prophets, words that are quoted by revolutionaries of every religion and no religion, words which contain the only force in the world great enough to overcome the power of hate.” Francis Martin, Touching God

….take the plunge.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW not to hid in the hut.

a givenness to the treasure hunt

Tue, 29 May 2012 23:05:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The treasure hunt.

“In the monastic tradition, someone who lived in solitude was considered an “ikon of freedom.”

Just as there are vocations which keep alive the poverty or preaching of Christ, or which embody his love for the church, so there are vocations which image the sovereign freedom of the Son of Man who often “in the morning long before dawn, got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there (Mark 1:35).

The freedom exercised by Jesus in the face of social convention and even death was an annoying scandal to most who knew him.

Jesus, who was a man for others, was primarily a man for his father:

“He who sent me is always with me.”

So too, in the Christian tradition, he who lives in solitude is not seeking an escape (if solitude is an escape why don’t more people embrace it?) but is searching for the treasure hidden deep in the field of his own heart: his own authentic existence as a creature open to the mercy of God and alive by the power of the resurrection.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…and went off to a lonely place.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the treasure hunt.

a givenness to the equal reward

Mon, 28 May 2012 21:29:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The equal reward.

“The story goes like this: “An old man once said, ‘There are three men, three of the brothers, and they live together. One is sick, and he can’t do anything; the other prays all day; and the third takes care of the first two: their reward is equal.”

Here is a similar story: A young man went to Abbot John and said, “What good thing must I do to be saved?

And Abbot John said, “Well, I heard that Abbot Anthony was asked that question.

And Abbot Anthony said to the young man, ‘Abraham was hospitable, and God was with him. Elijah lived alone, and God was with him. David wept for his sins, and God was with him. So whatever good thing that you see in your heart, do that, and God will be with you.’

You see how wonderful that is?

Basically, it’s purity of heart and this means searching for the Lord with all that is in me.

One man prays, another is sick, another cares for them both: they are all the same, they are all touching Christ.

Prayer is a desire for truth that is authentic enough to do something about it, and humble enough to wait.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…do that.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the equal reward.

a givenness to abhor closed doors

Sun, 27 May 2012 22:32:23 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Abhor closed doors.

“We still wait behind closed doors; fifty days (“Pente-cost”), fifty years, five hundred years, we are always waiting and hoping, but not really expecting.

It is the day we are always waiting for but never prepared for, the day of the great outpouring of fire-laden love, the day that ties all other days together.

Pentecost is actually every day, if we expect it; but, not surprisingly, this is the greatest forgotten major festival of the entire church year. Most come to church expecting no new outpouring, or maybe not even remembering an old one.

Yet it is Pentecost, the day of the great gathering in and the great sending out.

The Holy Spirit must get tired of waiting for us, always hiding behind our closed doors.” Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations

…we are always waiting for but never prepared for.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to abhor closed doors.

a givenness to the voluptuousness

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:59:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The voluptuousness.

“The voluptuousness of an orange, of a rose, of a beautiful piece of music, of a sunset, of a tantalizing meal, of the human body - the delicious symphony provided by our senses of taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing - does not go unnoticed by the creator of all voluptuousness.”

Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics

…God is voluptuousness and delicious. (Meister Eckhart)

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the voluptuousness.

a givenness to the swelling

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:43:51 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The swelling.

“How gently and lovingly you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.”

John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love

…from pain and passion.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the swelling.

a givenness not to exit stage left

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:42:44 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Not to exit stage left.

“What they want to know is, “Who is God?”

That’s what they want to know.

Well then,” you say, “How do I go about facing this fear within myself? How do I let myself hear the question people are really asking?”

Just go to the Lord and tell Him that you trust him.

Just say, “I trust you. I really trust you. I’m not even exactly sure where you are. You know my faith is so weak, but I trust you.”

Now you’ve done this before and you know what happens…

Every emotion inside of you says, “You liar! You don’t trust God at all!”

But that’s all right, just begin again, “You see that? I can’t even trust you. But I do trust you. I trust you so much that even though I don’t trust you, I trust you.”

You just go on.

“Lord, my spirit is saying it. The rest of me is so scared that I just want to get out of here. So by the fact that I don’t run, I’m saying that at least I’d like to trust you.”

And then you wait for this great crunching revelation of all your misery.

But God doesn’t care about that.

You don’t know where you’re sinful. You’ve got to count up the times you’ve had distractions and the times you’ve had bad thoughts.

He doesn’t care about that.

How can you know your sins if you don’t know God?

Don’t worry about your sins. For heaven’s sake, why do you think Christ died for them?

That’s no problem. The problem is to stay there and pray.

When you start knowing Jesus, then you find out what sin is.”

Francis Martin, Touching God

…so by the fact that I don’t run, I’m saying that at least I’d like to trust you.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW not to exit stage left.

a givenness the pour of the poor

Wed, 23 May 2012 20:11:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The pour of the poor.

“The things that afflict you as you search for God are the things that afflict the human race.

And that’s what you offer to the Lord.

And if it takes you fifty years just to have the great mystical breakthrough, blessed are you, because you have suffered with Jesus and His people.

Blessed are you, if you live without any great mystical insight and you love the Lord.

If we pray like that, they we stop worrying whether this is the right way.

When we stop worrying, then we each learn from the wisdom of all the holy people who have prayed before we got on the globe.

And they have left us great traditions.

But if we ever use any of those traditions as a way of escaping from a personal confrontation with Jesus Christ, we;ve had it!

And that is why it is dangerous to learn about prayer until you’ve prayed.

Because you do all these things and wait for something to happen. Instead of going before the Lord and just pouring out your heart.

Just go before the Lord and weep.

Is it for your sins? The world’s sin?

Don’t worry. Let God worry about it. What do you care?

Now you are not running from your fear, and you have something you know and can share.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…just go before the Lord and weep.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the pour of the poor.

a givenness to watering the desert

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:26:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Watering the desert.

“When a man has faced the desert created by the absence of those things he thinks he needs and has shed human tears as he loses them, then the desert becomes a garden and solitude the very source of human compassion.

The Byzantine Rite sings in honor of a holy hermit:

“Your abundant tears made the wilderness sprout and bloom, and your deep sighs of love made your labors fruitful a hundredfold: you became a shining star showering miracles upon the world.” (Troparian of John Climacus)”

Francis Martin, Touching God

…absence abundantly abloom.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to watering the desert.

a givenness to becoming a poor man shedding tears

Mon, 21 May 2012 19:24:17 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Becoming a poor man shedding tears.

“So you start to pray, then, when you begin to be detached and thus freed, see the way to find your identity, to find out who you are.

Now that is not a clear concept.

It’s an intuition.

A lot of us wait before we act - we’ve got to find out who we are, then we’ll know what to do.

But a person is an infinite mystery.

Think of the people you really love.

How do you know them?

You, yourself, are an object of your deepest intuition.

You can’t really know yourself.

When you start to feel your own inner reality - and this is a work of the Spirit of God - then you must persevere in prayer because you’re beginning to find yourself.

The whole process starts to mature.

You have an experience.

That experience is of your objective identification with the whole world, and every human being in it.

In your own deep heart you discover that all the pain and loneliness, all the sin and searching of the whole world, are part of you.

You don’t create this identity, you accept it.

Your “personality” is not some well-protected center of circumference and your “identity” is not a hard cool point in the universe that you can look at and admire and operate from: you have become a poor man shedding tears for the world because it’s you.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…you don’t create this identity, you accept it.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to becoming a poor man shedding tears.

a givenness to the ascension

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:32:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The ascension.

“Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” John 20:17

…tend to ascend.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the ascension.

a givenness to the irony of ironing

Sat, 19 May 2012 21:31:59 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The irony of ironing.

“Actually, we need something to hate, and that’s why we complain about structures.

It’s much easier than taking responsibility.

I’ve noticed that, in a community where we’re not overloaded with structure, it is the younger people who want the structure.

You get somebody who’s been seventeen years in the missions in Pakistan, in Israel, in the Yukon, and they don’t need a lot of structure.

If they haven’t made up their minds now to be Christians, no structure in the world is going to help them.

But the rookies, the young people…we’ll they take over the laundry and they say, “Now we’ve got to iron this way - this way and no other way.”

All of a sudden everything has to be organized.

Because, you see, we’re not free of structure until we’re free.

And that’s the hard thing.

We are meant in life to let the Lord draw us from unfreedom to freedom.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…we’re not free until we’re free.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the irony of ironing.

a givenness to the bending beneath

Fri, 18 May 2012 22:39:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Bending beneath.

“I am a tree

bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.”

John Mark McMillian, How He Loves

…why I will be as a tree.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to bending beneath.

a givenness to not hiding in the forest

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:21:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Not hiding in the forest.

“We’re all scared of pain, Jesus, and so were you.

But there’s something deeper that really frightens us!

It’s the freedom of being who we are.

We cling to so many things, so many people, in the hope that they will make us real.

Somehow we feel so alone, and then, when we hear the voice of God calling us, like Adam we go and hide in the forest.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…I hear you.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to not hiding in the forest.

a givenness to an identity crisis

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:44:20 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

An identity crisis.

“And what of me, Lord?

What is my name?

You promised that “to those who are victorious I will give the hidden manna and a white stone, a stone with a new name written on it, known only to the man who receives it.”

Where in all the welter of drives and images inside of me is my new name?

What is the voice of the Father saying?

Why are we so afraid to hear that name and accept the awesome reality of our uniqueness?

We assert “ourselves” in an orgy of rebellion and frustration, claiming the right to be free, and all the while we are haunted by the fear of losing an identity whose name we’ve never heard.

Somewhere in the depth of me, I’m real.

Somewhere, where the Spirit moves, crying “Abba”, my name is echoed too.

I accept that name, it is a new name, it is a reality that only begins to exist as I assent to it.

There is some aspect of God that begins to exist in a human dimension, is transformed from word to person, in that dim, vague, fearful act by which I assent to be what the Father calls me.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…haunted by the fear of losing an identity whose name we’ve never heard.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to an identity crisis.

a givenness not to wander on the edge of this cloud

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:40:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Not to wander on the edge of this cloud.

“I want Jesus to be great enough to give me security and small enough to be threatened by my manipulation.

But He is too great to be held by my mind and too small to force me.

This is my way of enlightenment.

Those of you who know this fire, from whatever point you have begun, know that if I walk away from this dark enigma in the name of some higher and more “mystical” way, I will wander on the edge of this cloud and never enter it.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…enter the enigma.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW not to wander on the edge of this cloud.

a givenness to the tongs that hold me there

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:54:13 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The tongs that hold me there.

“As a Christian, I can feel myself held as a piece of steel in the fire of purification.

The tongs that hold me there have two arms: the infinite mystery of Christ, and the shocking concreteness of his approach to me.

I can be tempted to avoid being held by either one of these arms by reducing Christ to a human philosophical discovery, or by exalting his abasement to the status of a show of power.

I am held then by a wisdom that is so great that my mind rebels at its foolishness, and I yearn for something more exalted and more tangible.

I am held by a humanness and weakness of God that I find shocking, and I yearn for such a show of power that I and those who behold me will be forced into acquiescence.

There are only these two arms of the tongs that hold me in a sacred fire.

The moment I know that these are the arms of Christ, I will rest in the full nothingness and radiant darkness of “knowing the love of Christ which is beyond all knowing.”

Thus, I search for and reverence Christ in everyone I meet.

When I see my brother, I see the Lord my God; and when I love my brother and share in his pain, I enter into the love of Christ and become an imitator of the passion of my God.

I touch God when I touch my brother.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…the infinite mystery and the shocking concreteness of his approach to me.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the tongs that hold me there.

a givenness to consider it not enough

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:49:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Consider it not enough.

Isaac of Niniveh gave this criterion,

“This is the sign of those you have arrived at perfection: if they were given over ten times a day to the flames of love of mankind, they would consider it not enough.” Francis Martin, Touching God

…over ten times a day.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to consider it not enough.

a givenness to the aptness of Augustine

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:52:00 -0700

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The aptness of Augustine.

“It is by this that we know love: he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren.

But if someone has the means of life in this world and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can the love of God dwell in him?” 1 John 3:1-17

“St. Augustine aptly remarks on this text: “So look where love begins.

If you are not ready to die for your brother, be ready at least to give of your goods.

At least let love pound at your heart, so that what you do comes not from pride but from the deep marrow of mercy; so that you are really concerned for the man in need.

For if you cannot give what you do not need, will you ever give your life for your brother?” Francis Martin, Touching God

…the marrow of mercy? To give what I do not need.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the aptness of Augustine.