Volume 6 Issue 2 ~~March 9, 2003
Food for Thought
Now listen and see if the words of Scripture
do not agree with what I have said. The Lord was passing by and
crowds were following him. His miracles gave proof of divine power.
and a woman cried out: Happy is the womb that bore you, blessed
is that womb! But the Lord, not wishing people to seek happiness
in a purely physical relationship, replied: More blessed are
those who hear the word of God and keep it. Mary heard God's word
and kept it, and so she is blessed. She kept God's truth in her
mind, a nobler thing than carrying his body in her womb. The truth
and the body were both Christ: he was kept in Mary's mind insofar
as he is truth, he was carried in her womb insofar as he is man;
but what is kept in the mind is of a higher order than what is
carried in the womb.
The Virgin Mary is both holy and blessed, and
yet the Church is greater than she. Mary is a part of the Church,
a member of the Church, a holy, an eminent-the most eminent- member,
but still only a member of the entire body. The body undoubtedly
is greater than she, one of its members. This body has the Lord
for its head, and head and body together make up the whole Christ.
In other words, our head is divine-our head is God. Now, beloved,
give me your whole attention, for you also are members of Christ;
you also are the body of Christ. Consider how you yourselves can
be among those of whom the Lord said: Here are my mother and my
brothers. Do you wonder how you can be the mother of Christ? He
himself said: Whoever hears and fulfills the will of my Father
in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. As for our
being the brothers and
sisters of Christ, we can understand this because although there
is only one inheritance and Christ is the only Son, his mercy
would not allow him to remain alone. It was his wish that we too
should be heirs of the Father, and coheirs with himself.
Now having said that all of you are brothers
of Christ, shall I not dare to call you his mother? Much less
would I dare to deny his own words. Tell me how Mary became the
mother of Christ, if it was not by giving birth to the members
of Christ? You, to whom I am speaking, are the members of Christ.
Of whom were you born? "Of Mother Church," I hear the
reply of your hearts. You became sons of this mother at your baptism,
you came to birth then as members of Christ. Now you in your turn
must draw to the font of baptism as many as you possibly can.
You became sons when you were born there yourselves, and now by
bringing others to birth in the same way, you have it in your
power to become the mothers of Christ.
--St. Augustine of Hippo, from Sermon 25
Every day we are changing, every day we are
dying, and yet we fancy ourselves eternal.
--St. Jerome (Letter 60:19)
While we were standing together at the back of the basilica, there was suddenly a tremendous gust of wings. Sparrows and pigeons were continually flying around, but this gust of wings was mighty and different. We looked up, and there, high above the narthex was the unmistakable, compelling face of a barn owl. Again and again, it flew and paused, frantically crashing its white body with terrible hopelessness against the dusty windows. Every so often it would fly the whole length of the church, only to soar up again into another barrier of light. I cannot describe how unbearable it was to follow the flight of that bird, knowing that we were quite incapable to give it its freedom. There were holes and spaces, if only it would see them. Each time it failed, the pause and the stillness became longer, and the fearful despair of the bird felt greater.
We left. . . . We couldn't bear to be there. Later, the whole experience haunted me. The gaze of that particular bird is so involving. I suddenly thought, what if God witnesses in every man a divine spark, which flies within us blindly, like that bird, crashing in terror, punched and pounded from wall to wall, blinded by obstacles and dust, and yet, God knows, that there is a way for natural freedom and ascending flight. What anextra- ordinary pain that witness would be.
-- Jennifer Lash On Pilgrimage
- Saint Benedict on the Freeway: A Rule of Life for the 21st Century, Ware, Corinne
They say that love is a red rose, but why so?
Facets so complex, petals falling here and fro.
Lasting but for days, producing fruit in gentle summer rain,
seed to blossom all anew, the cycle all sustained.
But the rose does last when pressed, but more fragile is it then.
Held with care and tenderness, it cares not where it goes or when.
Beauty the only fruit, that now it gives;
but mourn not it's passing, for as long as it is loved, it lives.
The flower fades, so Isaiah said;
but with love nothing is ever dead.
So remember love is never dead, it comes it goes it is reborn,
and may love so find you each night and evr'y morn.
-DWF
I came to the conclusion long ago, after prayerful
search and study and discussion with as many people as I could
meet, that all religions were true, and also, that they all had
some error in them; and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold
others as dear....
-Mahatma Gandhi
The platypus is no doubt one of nature's most unsightly and confusing creations. It's a mammal, yet it raises its young from eggs, which it lays in a nest at the end of a burrow dug deep inside river and stream banks. It has a bill like a duck's, yet the rest of its body, covered in a soft woolly fur, resembles a beaver's and, like the beaver and the duck, it spends most of its feeding time in or under the water.
The platypus is native to Tasmania and eastern Australia where it forms a vital part of the ecosystem. The platypus has no natural enemies 'but are unfortunately sometimes captured as biological curiosities, although the practice is forbidden by Australian law.' (Encyclopaedia Encarta.)
But, the platypus is only ugly and a perplexing biological curiosity when it's seen for what it's NOT! It's not a schizophrenic or mentally disturbed beaver believing it's a duck or visa versa. Neither is it a combination of the two: one part duck and four or five parts beaver. It's a unique and a complete creature in its own right. It is wholly and totally platypus--- just the way God and nature intended it to be! And, seen as such, it's exceptional and, thus, beautiful in its own right and in its own environment.
-Dirk J. van der Merwe, UNIQUE CREATURES, VEGETARIANS AND OTHER CONFUSING THINGS
"The worst things that happen do not happen
because a few people are monstrously wicked, but because most
people are like us. When we grasp that, we begin to realize that
our need is not merely for moving quietly on in the way we are
going; our need is for radical change, to find a power that is
going to turn us into somebody else."
-WILLIAM TEMPLE, Christian Faith and Life
I pray that each of us will make every effort
to love and trust our Lord. Your God is for you. Don't be under
the bondage of struggle and strife. Let the Words of Love which
Jesus taught us be your reality. Learn to rest in the certainty
of God's Grace and Love.
-Rev. Sylvia Pennington, Ex-Gays? There Are None!
" All things are within me, and onself- examination, I find no greater joy than to be true to myself. We should do our best to treat others as we wish to be treated. Nothing is more appropriate than to seek after goodness."(Meng- tzu,7a: 4)
SAINTS AND SINNERS
When some fellow yields to temptation
And breaks a conventional law,
We look for no good in his makeup,
Oh, Lord, how we look for the flaw!
No one asks, "Who did the tempting?"
Nor allows for the battles he's fought.
His name becomes food for the jackals-
The saints who have never been caught.
I'm a sinner, O Lord, and I know it.
I am weak, and I blunder and fail,
I am tossed on life's stormy ocean
Like a ship that is caught in a gale.
I am willing to trust in thy mercy,
To keep the commandments thou'st taught.
But deliver me, Lord, from the judgement
Of the saints who have never been caught.
--UNKNOWN
Back Issues:
(Note 3.1-5.1 are former Integrity/Calgary newsletters)