‘Spiritual questions are more important now than ever.’ -Harari
April 9, 2019
Fr. Richard Rohr: ‘My colleague and Episcopal priest Cynthia Bourgeault writes about this in her book The Meaning of Mary Magdalene:’
Today, within the mainstream of Christian sacramental practice we have indeed forgotten much of what our wisdom forebears once knew. Most Christians are still familiar with anointing only in its most stark and literal form, as the sacrament of “extreme unction,” administered shortly before physical death. While the ceremonial use of anointing for healing is on the increase (and this is a positive trend), even within these healing circles most people are unaware of the tightly interwoven threads that connect this action, through Mary Magdalene, to redemptive love and rebirth into fullness of being. They would be astonished to discover that anointing has not only something but everything to do with bridal mysticism and that it is not physical death but “dying before you die” that is its primary field of reference. To reclaim anointing in its original context would make it the sacramental centerpiece of a whole new vision of Christianity based on spiritual transformation and the alchemy of love.
Center for Action and Contemplation
March 28-31
‘The quantum, the subatomic, the elemental, and the very minerals of the earth.
The very waters that fall upon the earth, run through our rivers, our bodies, and fill our oceans.
The plants, the trees, all living and growing networks that root into this earth.
The animals in our skies, in our oceans, on the land, all creatures great and small.
Human beings: every race, nationality, status, equality, or gender–ALL human bodies.
The angels and the spirits, those that move in the unseen realms and in other dimensions.
The great planetary bodies, the galaxies, and the whole cosmic mystery.’
God loves things by becoming them. -Richard Rohr
No despair of our can alter the reality of things, nor stain the joy of the cosmic dance, which is always there.
-Thomas Merton, 1915-1968
Your religion is not the church you belong to, but the cosmos you live inside of.
-G.K. Cheserton
“Once we know that the entire physical world around us, all of creation, is both eh hiding place and revelation place for God, this world becomes home, safe, enchanted, offering grace to any who look deeply. I call that kind of deep and cals seeing ‘contemplation.'”
-Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ
“Have I not told you that I am in the spirit as the spirit is in me? It is man who sees only poverty, for he sees with the eyes of the master of the world. But where man sees poverty, the spirit sees only abundance. What the spirit sees, I see, and what I see the spirit sees, and what the spirit sees, is.” -The Gospel of Thomas
For Richard Rohr, there are six simple claims that order the fullness of his finest book “The Universal Christ: How A Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe.”
- Christ is not Jesus’ last name. It’s a word used by the ancients to talk about the anointed one, and the Reality and flow of love in the universe found from the very beginning of time.
- We might then “accept being accepted”– that we are fully loved and embraced as we are, not because of who we are or what we do.
- See Christ in every thing. And not just fun, ecstatic parts of life — but in the depths of grief and pain as well.
- Start with original goodness. Why do Christians so often talk about “original sin?” It’s not even in the Bible. And in fact, the Bible starts with a story about how every thing and every one is good, good, good, and very good.
- Love is the meaning — it’s the underlying energy that powers the universe and available to each and every one of us as a divine flow.
- And, a sacred wholeness, which includes even the negative aspects of life’s way — typified in the Christian story as the cross.
“Jesus of the People”, artist Janet McKenzie
The Christ Mystery is indeed “the way, the truth, and the life,” but this is not about a religion or group one can join (which is how we have heard it), but rather a mystery of Incarnation that can be experienced by all, and in a million different ways.
-Richard Rohr, Oneing
“I think New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world that I have every had.” -D.H. Lawrence
Guns & Suicide
CITY LAB
‘A new study finds conclusive evidence that states with stricter gun-control laws have lower rates of both murders and suicides. (Nearly 2/3rds of U.S. gun deaths are suicides.) We covered an earlier study that found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had higher rates of teen suicide. Research by one of us (Richard) has found that states with stricter gun-control laws have fewer gun deaths. And a meta-analysis of more than 130 studies across 10 nations found strong evidence of the same.’
IDAHO
Idaho is consistently among the states with the highest suicide rates. In 2016, Idaho had the 8th highest suicide rate in the U.S. with a rate of 20.8, 50% higher than the national average. (The rate is 2017 increased to 22.9%.)
https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/Portals/0/Users/145/93/2193/Fact%20Sheet_September%202018.pdf
THE 3 GUN-CONTROL LAWS THAT WORK BEST IN THE U.S.
‘It’s not just that gun control works—and it does, according to the study—it’s that particular kinds of gun-control measures are significantly more effective than others. In fact, three types of restrictions are most effective, individually and in combination, in reducing the overall homicide rate. They are: universal background checks, bans on violent offenders purchasing guns, and “may-issue” laws (which give police discretion in issuing concealed-carry permits).’
Cindy Pelletier of Alpharetta, Georgia, looks over a semi-automatic handgun Kimber Micro Bel Air, a .380 ACP caliber, during the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., January 22, 2019. Picture taken January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Steve Marcus – RC11FD810250
‘Certain kinds of gun-control measures have more public support than others. For example, a large majority of Americans support universal background checks, including a whopping 97 percent of people in gun-owning households. Meanwhile, just two-thirds of Americans and roughly half of people in gun-owning households support assault-weapons bans.’