Who Am I?

“Who am I?”

Jesus asks.

“Who are you?”

is the same question.

I am not

my aging and failing 

body.

I am not

my fearful and judging

ego.

I am not

my fragmented and dualistic

mind.

I am

who you are.

You are

who I am.

Can you imagine that?

We share

the same

Deep Mind

of Christ,

our deepest

and truest Self,

Love made flesh

in me, in you.

Spiritual Hunger and Thirst

Proper 18, Year A, 2 August 2020

Matt 14:13-21; Is 55:1-3; Rom 8:35, 37-39

The Gospel story of the feeding of the 5000 is about many things.

• it is about the large crowd recognizing their need for Jesus, his healing presence and words of wisdom.
• It is about the miracle of so many people being fed with what seemed to be so little. 
• It is a foreshadowing of the Holy Eucharist, where Jesus breaks bread and feeds our souls. 
• It is a story about our need for God.

Having said that, bodily hunger and thirst are primal and necessary needs.

We notice our bodies when it needs food, and we eat to satisfy that need.

We notice when our bodies are thirsty, and we drink to satisfy that need. 

Yet, when you have eaten all you can eat, and drunk all that you can drink, if you listen closely, you will notice a deeper hunger and thirst that food and water cannot satisfy. 

The prophet Isaiah says “Thus says the Lord: All who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!…Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.” 

Isaiah is saying that, more than physical food, water and material needs, we have spiritual hunger and thirst. 

We are spiritual beings, and we are created to need God. 

Until you begin to recognize this spiritual or inner need, and to respond to it, there will always be something missing in your life. 

You cannot be complete or made whole without responding to your need for God, your need for Christ. 

St.Paul says in our reading today [read the passage] that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This “love of God” is our deepest need.

This “love of God” is our deepest hunger.

This “love of God” is our deepest thirst. 

It is how you are made.

It is how you are created. 

It is not negotiable. 

You can deny or repress this deep need. But that only makes you a fool, and it short changes you and those around you of the more of life, the more of love. 

So, for those of you who are spiritually hungry, come.

For those of you who are spiritually thirsty, come. 

Like the 5000 in our Gospel story, let us come to Jesus, who will open to us the Christ life, which alone will satisfy our deepest need       to        be       in         love.

Is Your Love Growing and Deepening?

Proper 15, Year A, 12 July 2020

Matt: 13:1-9

Liturgically, as a church, we are in the season of ordinary time, and the liturgical colour is green. Green is symbolic of growth. For us as Christians, this is a time for us to be growing or deepening spiritually.

It is a time for us to pay close attention to the words and actions of Jesus.

Jesus, of course, was a great teacher, and he spoke of the very deep truths of the soul, to the larger crowds, in parables, or stories, in order to invite understanding and experience of the ever emerging Holy Spirit, and how that Spirit of Love is to direct and form your life.

Jesus’ life and witness has everything to do with inviting spiritual deepening.

Deepening in awareness of the Divine Life that you are.

This deepening in spiritual awareness can’t be forced.

You have to be ready and want to walk the spiritual path.

You have to recognize and respond to your own yearning for the more of God, the more of Love.

Depending on where you are in your spiritual awakening, will depend on where you are in Jesus’ parable of the sower.

• seeds falling on the edge of the path that birds eat up.
• Seeds falling on rock with no depth for roots, so it withers right away.
• Seeds falling among thorns that get choked out.
• And seeds on rich soil that have a rich yield. 

In this parable of the Sower, Jesus, among other things, is inviting us into how to be more self aware: 

• aware of what is going on inside of us;
• Aware of the inner obstacles that keep us from connecting with God and every other;
• Aware of that which keeps us from growing in love.

That is the purpose and objective of our lives, to be in Love.

• to be in love with God.
• To be in love with life
• To be in love with yourself
• To be in love with everyone
• To be in love with creation
• To be in love with love. 

So begin to notice when you are not in love. 

Where is your seed falling?

On the edge of the path?

On the rocks?

Amongst the thorns?

Or is your seed falling on good and fertile soil of the heart?

Is your love growing?

Breath of Love: Pentecost

Pentecost

Christ

You are all in all

You are everything,

All that is.

All that is life you are.

All that exists

Exists in you.

To love is to know you.

To be loved is to know you.

Breathe your love deep into my heart.

Open me more and more to your life deep within.

As I have received your breath of Love

Free me to breathe out your Love.

Upon all that is before me.

Upon all that is around me.

Upon all that I see.

Upon all that I do.

"I am in you." A Homily for Easter 6, 17 May 2020

Easter 6, Year A, 17 May 2020

John 14:15-21

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments”

What are the commandments?

Love God

Love yourself

Love your neighbour

The commandments are not about moral codes, judgements on ourselves and others, nor are they about separation and condemnation. 

The commandments are about a relational flow of love that connects us to God, to each other, and to all of creation. 

“he will give you another advocate to be with you always”

The Holy Spirit. Or in other words, Love’s companioning Presence.

“But you know him [the Holy Spirit], because he remains with you, and will be in you.”

The Holy Spirit is not something external to ourselves, but something that rises up from within. 

“In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.”

How will we see Christ?

By learning how to notice Love’s presence in ourselves and and then noticing that same Loving presence in others. 

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you”

What Jesus has revealed to us is not an isolated Trinitarian relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus has revealed the pattern of all of our lives. And he invites us to follow him on this path of awakening to the enduring relational life of Love.

“I am in you and you are in me.” 

That is what Conscious Love does.

That is what God is doing.

In this time of pandemic and physical isolating, and all of the social and economic consequences that come with it, we are not to be full of fear and feeling alone.

As we learn the spiritual path of Jesus, we learn and practice going deeper than our fears and isolation. 

We can discover that there is in fact a Loving Presence within us, the Holy Spirit, and that we can not only be in relationship with this Loving Presence, but that we can become that Loving Presence. 

What a world in a pandemic needs right now is God’s Presence, Love’s Presence, your Loving Presence. 

Becoming Love: A Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, 10 May 2020

Easter 5, Year A, 10 May 2020  (Mother’s Day)

Today’s Gospel is an invitation to know more deeply who Jesus is; and as we know more and more who Jesus is, we come to know who God is; and as we come to know and experience who God is, we come to know our own deepest and truest Self. 

During this time of pandemic, physical distancing and economic uncertainty, many things are changing. We are missing our friends, our families, our church, and of being able to hold each other and simply enjoy each others presence. This is affecting us. We are uncertain about many of our institutions, organizations and businesses. This is affecting us. All of these things come and go as time marches on. But there is something that remains the same - our deepest identity in God, our “unbirthed” self, our “uncreated” soul, our divine self. And in our Christian context, it is Jesus who shows us where we have to go spiritually and how to get there. 

“where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father.”

As we come to know the real relational Love that we are, and as we surrender to that Love, we consciously “become” that Love. As we discover that deep Unitive Love, we awaken to our deepest identity. So that even in the midst of such social and economic upheaval as in this pandemic, we can become more grounded and secure in who we are.  

As Christians become more grounded in their deeper Love identity in God, the Church, even in a pandemic, can grow in spiritual depth and numbers. The Acts of the Apostles tells us how the early church was open to the Holy Spirit and grew in faith, love and good works.

Why was the early church growing? Because disciples of the Way  said “yes” in both their minds and hearts to the Love of Christ and saw and loved Christ in every person.

The early church cared for those in need. In addition to being excited about their new found faith, active caring about people also made an impact on what others thought about the early church. 

During this time of pandemic and physical distancing, how are you as a Christian reaching out to and caring for Christ in the other? Especially the vulnerable and marginalized? 

Even during this time of pandemic and distancing, this parish as a whole continues to reach out and connect in meaningful and relevant ways. What are you doing to help support the work of this faith community?

Today is Mother’s Day, a Mother’s Day like no other. A Mother’s day in the midst of a global pandemic. We remember the mother’s of young children who are trying to cope with a hectic life at home with no school, and restrictions around socializing. We remember mothers of older children and adults at home, and the challenges that it brings. We remember mother’s of adult children who cannot hold their adult children because of the Covid distancing restrictions. We remember older mother’s living at home alone or living in Seniors residences, who are isolated from their families. Every family is challenged this Mother’s Day in this season of Covid Pandemic. Let’s simply do what we can to connect and to love with much compassion.

Christ is Everything: A Homily for the 4th Sunday of Easter, 3 May 2020

Easter 4, Year A, 3 May 2020

John 10:1-10

Christ is everything! [say something of each]

“I am the bread of life”

“I am the light of the world”

“I am the Good Shepherd”

“I am Resurrection and the Life”

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”

“I am the true vine”

And in today’s Gospel “I am the Gate.”

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has to go through the gate first (whom the gatekeeper, God the Father, opens), before he can become the “gate.”

“Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

What does Jesus the gate open up to? Where is he inviting and leading us? 

Beneath the prison of our false and passing selves, and into the deeper flow of the relational life of the Trinity. Into risen and new life.

“I am the Gate for the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved.”

If you want Life, abundant, rich, deep, meaningful life…then you have to learn to live your life THROUGH Christ - “I am the Gate.”

What do we say at the end of the Eucharistic prayer? 

“THROUGH Christ, WITH Christ, and IN Christ”

When we are conscious of being IN Christ, it is WITH Christ that we enter THROUGH the Gate into the Life and Love that is the eternal flow of the Trinity.

Spirituality is about the life long transformation of our consciousness, of becoming aware that Life is THROUGH, WITH and IN Christ….and AS Christ. 

Taking the time to get to know Jesus as the Shepherd and the Gate is the Way to this loving realisation. 

It is the way to rich, deep and abundant Life.

It is the experience of Easter. Allelulia!