"Let there be" @Return to the dust

The primary commandment God pronounced was “Let there be!”
and there came to be everything that is.
There are unique qualities of every galactic-bio-geo regions,
Each of them expresses wonderful mystery of the universe.
It is in our conscious celebration of these numinous mysteries,
we have diverse liturgies, festivals, music and dance, a cultural identity.

“Let there be” to exist, sustain, belong, heal and remain connected,
these diverse cultures, liturgies and God-concepts
God said “Let there be”

#returntothedust

Breath of life, nature faces @ Return to the dust

Breath of God was shaping the world in diverse forms, 

even millions of years before the life breath brought forth

the human dimension in the universe.

Before the word, the voice and sound, there was dream
Breath of life comes to the dream, and there is creation.

Open the hearts to that dream,
all those hearts that tie themselves to words.

#returntothedust

Priesthood in nature @ Return to the dust

We have not come into this world
We came forth from nature
We are one among the many diverse creatures
each manifesting specific dimension of the universe.
Human is one mode of the universe.
Each celebrates life, offers, and dies
sustaining and nourishing the whole.
The whole nature is priestly, with ongoing sacred rituals.

We are not a separate individual,
in Christ we are; each a specific manifestation of the Word.
Priesthood is one charism in the body of Christ.
We celebrate holiness, offer our life, and even die,
building and mutually nourishing the body of Christ.
The whole body is priestly, each living a sacred life;
Self-emptying, sacrificing, and life-giving.
What nature does spontaneously, we do in awareness;
What Christ did in his body, we do it in the body we belong to. 

#returntothedust

Together we see the face of God

"the whole universe together participates the divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better than any single creature whatever." Summa Theologica (Part I, q. 47, a. 1) 

Multiplicity is seen everywhere in nature, even in the experiences and expressions of human consciousness. The human mode of consciousness is part of a gradual process of the dynamics of the cosmos itself in the caring hands of God. The human mode is towards an inner-communion with the numinous mystery that also includes the mystery of human existence. The multiple forms of awareness and expression are seen although various spiritual disciplines, diverse forms of deities and worship, scriptures, mystical trends, and moral codes. 

The interior awareness of the numinous were rather developed within the limits of particular geographical context, and the then available mode of consciousness. They were inspiring interpretations to respond to their context. They effectively guided a specific community to participate meaningfully in the numinous they recognised.

India had deep mystical and metaphysical developments which demanded a specific type of psychic intensity. Chinese traditions recognised a Great Mystery in the vast cosmological cycles in which human was also a functional presence. The Japanese nurtured a spiritual simplicity and spontaneity which they learned from their sense of the aesthetic expression of the numinous in the natural world. The native Americans were aware of a Great Spirit that is present throughout the natural world and in the human heart. The power of the word of the great patriarch cultivated the consciousnesses of all powerful Word among the Semitic religions and made them People of the Book.
In all these traditions they had the first phase as a recognition of the numinous in the nature, the primary revealing agent. Then their experiences were given narrative structures and handed down to next generation by word of mouth and shared rituals. Next phase was to take a written form of what was handed on orally. By now they received a more defined form. However, a classical authority given to the text restricts all kinds of rereading and interpretations. 

The distinctive insights of each of these traditions were their deepest value. Only when they are seen in their relation to each other, a comprehensive vision or the complete beauty of the revelatory experience can be observed. In contents we may observe the differentiated forms of images, disciplines, liturgy etc, but in their mutual presence we may come to know the authentic revelatory process itself. It is important to see how a tradition brings the divine, the nature and the human to be present to each other. It is a revelatory nearness to each other. 

Desire for uniformity can be apparently beautiful, but it is possible only within a closed community. if we opt to do that it can lead to a sterility in the religious process.  Uniformity, of course, saves the challenge to meet differences, but it cuts off the tensions needed for creativity and openness needed for understanding the numinous being revealed in our time. Closed understanding and interpretation of a religious discipline, scripture, and ways of worship can only make divine human communication shrink. When we observe the wrongdoings within religions it is mainly because some individual began assuming this secluded vision of non-interacting and dominating vision of their religious traditions.

Rather, a healing can be experienced only by an openness which cannot be exhaustively understood or expressed in a single form. It is communion we all look for. Redemption, repentance, sanctification,  reconciliation are all in one way or the other indicate to this communion aspect. Moving further from atonement patterns we can also imagine about a communion in personal and cosmic terms. The concepts like logos, mystical body ... also have deep potential to be open for this communion in differences.

Courtesy: Thomas Berry, "The Earth: The New Context for Religious Unity"

Beatitudes from nature @ Return to the dust

"Pray for those who persecute you"?
Learn from nature!
We persecute her and do all evil against her,
yet she rejoices over her children and offer the best.

One part of the nature mourns, another part brings consolation.
Look at the new sprouts, we will have the strength of new hope;
we must have the openness to listen to the Word in the process of sprouting, flowering...

How will we become humble and meek unless we know the deepest humility seen in nature.
How can we be really satisfied in our hunger and thirst,
unless we know the nourishment the nature gives?
How will we be comforted?

Unless we understand the generosity of nature,
how will we understand true justice,
how will we learn true sacrifice without knowing the value of decaying in being generous?

We cannot enter the blessedness,
if we cannot learn the humility and gratitude the nature teaches.
There are limitations, hunger, thirst, death, and decay,
blessed is she because they are the inner capabilities,
to be open for newer and further forms.

Without the lessons form nature,
how will we establish peace?
If we cannot love the nature and learn from her whom you can embrace, and be in,
how can we expect to love God whom we cannot see?
#returntothedust

Word in us ... @ Return to the dust

What about the Word of God in nature,
the divine revelation in and to the community of all creatures,
the community other than human/including humans.
The Word of God is not outside,
it is at the heart of every tiny grain of minerals,
and at the speaking tongue of every star, plant and animal.
#returntothedust

Inner spontaneity ... @ Return to the Dust

It is not because of a law,
that seeds sprout,
flowers bloom,
and the birds sing.
It is from their inner spontaneity.
Where have we locked the capacity of our spontaneity?
Among machines? speed? religion?
Those who celebrate righteousness in the following of the laws and rubrics have killed this spontaneity.
return to the dust...
#returntothedust 

The womb where you truly repent @ Return to the dust

Enter into the womb of nature,
be filled with the dream of nature,
the noble desire, the gentle beauty,
soft touches of creation.

The womb where we all were formed and transformed,
richness of life, plenitude, fragrance, beauty is known,
without them we would never know a God of life,
it is there we are born, it is our life, our story.

Repentance is to see clearly what we are and how we are,
we are children and companions.
Rejoice and smile with flowers,
sing with birds, leap with animals,
shine with the stars,
mourn with the pain of nature,
renew the liturgy of the universe.
Return to the dust.

#returntothedust

Word within @ Return to the dust

Word is the soul of nature,
Word is at the heart of every tiny creature,
Great scientists, sages, artists gave their best works from the spontaneous presence of the Word within.

Can we listen?
It will produce fruits in us.
Then we begin to pray...
For, then, we know the care given to us,
then, we know how we must care,
then we know why and how we need to be grateful,
then we know we need to forgive.
To learn these primary lessons,
return to the dust.

#returntothedust 

Be spiritual as the nature is spiritual... @Return to the dust

New priestly rituals must take into account the rituals of every bit of creation, 

the sanctuaries of diverse bioregions, 

and the community of all creation.
Nature lives a priestly life
self-giving, regenerating
Not offering something for the sake of others,
but offering herself for the life of all
This priesthood is re-creational and celebratory;
decay and sacrifices bring forth or sustain life,
new life shows joyous colours and songs.
If nature had no spirit, how would it be inspired to offer?
how would it call all children for celebration
Together nature has a body, all in the world,
together it has a spirit which shows in diverse forms.
Sacrifice, in communion but in unique forms of every individual.
One shall not neglect the sacrifice of the least of these children,
if done, it is against the wisdom of nature, and the whole body suffers.
if one species suffers, it is the pain of all
if a species go extinct, it is a measure of death for all.
New priestly rituals must take into account the rituals of every bit of creation, 

the sanctuaries of diverse bioregions, 

and the community of all creation.
Be spiritual as the nature is spiritual...

#returntothedust

Return to Dust (06 - 10 March 2019)

(06 March 2019, Ash Wednesday) Return to dust
"Return to dust" is not a curse, it is a call.
Dust gives itself to others in flowers, fruits, minerals, bread, and in body. Thus, there is a sacramentality in it. Spirituality that does not value dust, and sees it as something to escape from, does not show the face of God. Return to dust, to find ourselves and to know the Christ being formed in us.
#returntothedust

(07 March 2019) Return to dust in gratitude
Earth seems to have bestowed on us the power of life and death.
It pleads today to chose life, that we and our descendants may live peacefully here.

Today we do not see the gradual process of fruition,
fruits, grain, oil, milk... are available in a shop.
This situation affects our spirituality also.
We don't have to be grateful to the shop...
let the children learn to say thanks to a banana plant when they have its fruits ... and many more necessary learnings to sense how we are dependent and need to be humble.
It is necessary before they begin to learn scripture verses, that they turn to dust in gratitude

#returntothedust

(08 March 2019) Laws of the dust
The dynamics of the earth processes are a law within
as an interior bonding, not an external imposition
in diverse forms, but connected to every other.
We approach her like an object,
mindless of the psyche of the earth.
The powerful eat up the resources,
and throw the children of the earth to hunger and shame.
Return to the dust
break the unjust economics
free the poor who are thrown out of their habitat
share the resources equally, nature gives it beyond boundaries
give back the shelters of the wild and gentle
cloth the body of the earth that is left naked, and skin torn...

Then, our own integrity will be restored, and human wounds will be healed.
our integrity is within the integrity of the earth.
To find ourselves,
return to the dust. 

#returntothedust

(09 March 2019) Rest time of Nature: keep it Holy

Time of rest has given way to night shifts, and extra duty,
exhaustion and waste was the result.
Nature has its own time and mode of rest.
It has its ways of production, distribution, recycling and disaster management.

Forcing the nature overwork bring exhaustion in many bio-regions
Keep the rest time and ways of nature holy.
See how it is, respect, and join it. 

#returntothedust

(10 March 2019) Fasting and Praying 

 It is worth knowing the history of ours and our family. It makes us aware where we are rooted, and why we are what we are. It offers a sense of belonging.

Earth has a history, of emergence, spontaneity and of pain
from being shaped from solar dust to bringing forth diverse life forms.
A story of change and creativity, death and resurrection,
but at every phase newer and wonderful forms came forth.

Today the earth calls her children, to listen to her story together,
all the children of the earth.
How she gave birth to all, and how she suffers today ...

Now is the time children must fast, from entertainment, consumption, exploitation ...
we ate, not for food but for enjoyment, at the cost of the earth
We must fast, and pray with the earth, " Be with me Lord in my distress."
To return to spontaneities
Return to the dust. 

#returntothedust

As Usual at the Fig Tree

"I waited for him,
I searched for him.
He came to me,
he said that he had seen me waiting and searching.
How could I miss him?
I could not recognise him because I did not expect him to be so familiar:" Nathaniel.

The day is as ordinary as any other day,
people are as familiar as of everyday
works I do are same every day
Joys and pain are just as of every day......
Yet amidst these he passes by, he sees me waiting and searching for him
he moves ahead because I am yet to be ready to see him in familiar forms

A ladder, a significant tree, a pole, a pyramid ....
symbol of a meeting point.
day is same, the moments are same, yet the meeting makes the difference
it is a meeting between my life and of God,
life known and its meaning,
life known and the life's mysteries.
Nazareth produces good fruits.

The waiting and searching
to recognise Christ
the Christ for me
and the Christ in me

Begin to love beyond boundaries and prejudices
to grow in favour of God and people.
May wisdom guide us
in order that the love may be actual in pour contact with God and people

____________________
See also കാത്തിരിക്കുന്നു അവനായ്, പതിവുപോലെ

'Jesus,' One who saves! What is in your name?

The name 'Jesus' is not a name made of J, E, S, U, S. The name becomes important and significant because it  refers to the person and function of Christ. Otherwise it would have been like any other name, just a name. 

Whether be called Jesus, Jesu, Yesu, Isa, Isho, Yezus, Hesus, Jisu, Yeshua, Jisos, Gesus, Yeshu, ... or Zishu, when called in faith they invoke the same person Jesus Christ. It is in response to the personal relationship to him we have him as the source of salvation, grace and truth. It is of no meaning to say that any one of the above name has accuracy or special effect. It is in our relationship with him we receive the efficacy of the name as powerful, sweet, loving... It is not to be imagined in any magical effect. His power, and our submission (every knee shall bow) need to be understood not in a political sense where he rules as a king. As logos everything depends on him for its very existence.

Jesus was named so, because he is the saviour. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Sin is not some 'thing' that can be taken away. It is absence of grace, so of life, power, light beauty...He is the saviour by giving us that grace, so life, power, light, beauty and strength. He came to give life (grace) in abundance. We who have a relation with him will receive grace upon grace. When we say about the blood of Jesus, again it is about the life that he has given to us. In any archaic  atonement ritual blood was very significant. As the blood is the symbol of life, the anointing we ask him of his blood is truly an anointing by grace. The pain and bleeding is not to create a pity feeling, but to affirm us of the strength of life poured into us.

We too are 'named' according to our character defined by the genetic, familial and cultural settings of our life. So touched by grace in that mode, we may have received a special anointing and a name. 'Jesus' is source of grace, who heals our wounds. We are named perhaps tenderness, consolation, joy, creativity, companion, strength and so on...

Word: Joyous and Passionate Care

How many caring hands we need to be grateful to...
those with gifts and with their presence.
Intimate and personal care,
most of them unseen
unrecognised and unidentified.

Grateful to the unknown yet caring mysteries of the Word
Care about every particular being
Care about its connection with others
Care about the whole body of beings
itself is the Word.

Care foresees emptying and death
yet it alone brings forth life
How many emptying must we be grateful for?

Care is a passion
a joyous passion, not a sorrowful passion
Care is the mystery of the Word
a sincere emptying..
there nothing dies, other than to live again
withers and falls to offer a world to something else.

God's hand..
Creating, moulding, healing and nourishing
emptying care in nature
Wisdom of care,
revealed only to the children of the earth.

The Word meets Flesh

At every weakness and pain of ours,
there is a nearness of Christ.
Only if we can believe that sincere closeness to our own deep emptiness,
we can understand the depth of the self-emptying of the Word...
to be a baby, refugee, labourer, victim, and failure.

Word among us the flesh
among the dry dust to lush green and conscious human
Word is in everything,
everything lives by the Word

Mary loved the Word so sincerely
that she could bring forth the Word in human form
The bearer, full of grace
the borne, fullness of grace and the source of grace.

He spreads the grace fountains
to every emptiness..
Flesh in its beauty and ugliness,
searches the grace streams...

There, in the sincerity of heart,
willingness to be receptive and open,
mercy and faithfulness meet
justice and peace embrace.
Truth shall spring from the flesh
joy and peace be born in us...

Grace streams flow into our hearts,
filled by the Holy Spirit,
our feels, thoughts, visions, words, touches will have grace contents.
We are born...

The Word becomes flesh, the moment of true Christmas.

Ref Ps 85: 10

God is My Strength My Song

Greater the preparation when great person is awaited....
A worthy preparation means that we also know really who is coming...

Preparations for the messiah...
Is the preparation of sufficient quality
Do we really know him? Will we recognise him if he is among us?

What  must we do? the people  asked John the Baptist
He was voice crying out in the wilderness,
"Prepare the way for the Lord"

He warned about the axe and winnowing fan
to look deeply into  the reality of our treasures...
with a sincere heart in absolute trust,

having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. 

Following all the commandments from childhood, 

one young man asked Jesus: 

"What must I do to inherit the joy of God?"

He was sincere in his question,

and so was his emptiness after having followed the Law.
Why was there no joy of God born in his heart?

It is a distance by option.

We can stop at what gives us a clean face,

where we would have already received the reward.

Scribes knew the Scripture,
they knew how to take advantage of it too,
yet they lost the messiah.

Preparations for the messiah...
Is the preparation of sufficient quality?
After knowing every verse of the scripture so well...
Do we really know him? Will we recognise him?

In Micah's words, "what does the Lord ask of you, but to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly before the Lord?"

It challenges our nominal performances, and put us into a bond where  the Word has to become a living and accompanying presence than a text; a voice crying out in the human conscience. There we have the sense "your Word is a lamp to my steps, and light to my path."

It opens the eyes of the blind, and the deaf begin to hear in sincere heart and absolute trust, having our hearts cleaned from an evil conscience.

This guiding presence is an inner strength, source of joy; 

for a person,  for a community, and for a family

God is in our midst, 

I (we) stand amidst my (our) struggles; 

God rejoices over me (us) with gladness, 

he renews me (us) in his love; 

he dances with joy as on a day of festival,

and he exults over me (us) with loud singing.

Zeph 3: 18, Is 42: 7, Ps 119: 105, Heb 10: 22, Mic 6:8, Lk 3: 10

Open the Grace-doors towards a Generation of New Innocence

Can we offer a new innocence to the next generation?

How will they remain innocent,

if our generation is not filled with grace.

How could we imagine of that innocence,

Sin-less or grace-filled?

This vision will determine the way we approach the reality of our life - 

the first will focus on sin removal and control of evils,

but the second will focus on the work of grace and trust in God.

Open the grace doors.
Closed within ourselves, are the self that we struggle with
struggle to be to the fullness of our own nature
 the need to be embraced by grace
emptiness, the void, the wound, the craving
the closed grace doors..

Open the grace-doors.

Just as the grace is allowed to enter
we enter into gratitude and praise...
there we may find consolation, peace and joy


"I will thank you for you have answered
and you are my saviour.
the stone which the builders rejected
has become the corner stone.
  this is the work of the Lord,
a marvel in our eyes." Ps 118: 21 - 23

They Continued Distributing Bread

Once again there was a multiplication of bread
It was a great excitement
bread, people, laughter....
Master went to pray
They continued distributing bread,
when it was less they bought and distributed...

Master said: "Father, why have you abandoned me?
I have none but you
into your hands i commend my spirit"

Advent: Rejoicing, yet still Preparing

The joy and grace of advent is of meeting and waiting.

The two carry us gracefully

we have met, yet we wait

rejoicing and preparing. 

During the season of advent we visit many houses, through the readings given to us. We witness the events that took place at Nazareth, Bethlehem, house of Elizabeth. From annunciation to the nativity scene we have a common home ie nature. 

The advent wreath reminds us of creation which primarily speaks of plenitude, life, creativity, beauty and joy. The creation manifests the wisdom of God. Creation is truly the first revelation of God.

Looking within and looking at each other, 

they long for the whole manifestation of what they were revealing about God in themselves.

The heavens proclaims the glory of God

and the firmament shows for the work of his hands.

day unto day takes up the story

and night unto night makes known the message

No speech, no word, no voice is heard

yet their span extends through all the earth,

their words to the utmost bounds of the world. Ps 19: 1 - 4 

There were prophets, kings, wise and holy men and women

Looking within and looking at each other, 

they long for the whole manifestation of what they were revealing.

They all know that they are not the Word, but a voice, a witness to the Truth.

Not just that Christ completes what was revealed in them, 

but he was what was being revealed.

Looking within the Christ revealed (in me), 

and looking at each other - in creation, other religions, culture (for the Christ yet to be known by me).

Both the creation and the human history open their silent cry, 

maran atha (Our Lord has come, Our Lord has been made known), 

and marana tha (Come Lord, yet to be known).

The two carry us gracefully,

we have met, yet we wait,

there is rejoicing, yet still preparing,

there is celebration, but it still asks introspection.

Facing a needed change without grace threatens,
and we assume a crisis, the end of days...
but, that end has to happen.

Watch yourself

you must realise the presence,

you must watch and prepare yourself too.

It is to stir the conscience.

The preparation is forming and transforming,
discernment and judgement.

We shall rejoice together...

Blessed be the Lord,

He has visited his people...

through the tender mercy of our God,

when the day shall dawn upon us from on high 

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 

to guide our feet into the way of peace. Lk 1: 68, 78,79
__________________
See also ഒരുക്കം: രൂപീകരണം രൂപാന്തരണവും 

Where Have the Angel Announced the Message? [to you]

If we speak of an experience of God, it is about how we realised an accompanying presence in our life and the impact of that presence in different walks of our life. A God experience or message and guidance from God does not happen in abstract, it is always in relation to our life context. What we think about God and our relation to God are intimately related to our common living, work, and habits. A spiritual feeling is very much filled with the demands of life, struggles and joys of life. They make the meaning, taste and fragrance to our religious imagination (here 'religious' does not mean anything to do with a religious custom or practice). Spiritual inspirations are an outcome of realisation of grace within the deep experiences, at times of strength and at times of strain. These encounters form deep and meaningful spiritualities. If we lose the taste of life, it is because we have separated the occupational and living context from their deeper involvement. Has farming land, fishing boat, lawyer court, administrative office, hospital, school or college, a building site, computer cab, space shuttle... got something to do with God experience? Or rather, do both our work and our life become too professional?

Awareness of a context, or an intense need alone cannot bring about a lasting and convincing experience. It asks for genuine reflection though it might be within a constant restlessness. The restlessness is not because life is a crisis or a misery, but because life does take its course between comfort and distress, joys and sorrows, anxieties and hopes, excitement and disappointment, moaning and celebrations. So the reflection also involves recognising the presence of Christ along the life path. It opens our eyes and ears that we could add values to and within our lives and what we do. What happens is a gradual transformation of ourselves.

Reflection, thus, will replace our life into our living environment with a new interpretation. It will provide us with significance and meaning of our life and everything of it. It is a guiding and encouraging presence, and so it offers direction to our lives. That is the personal revelatory voice from God. Revelation is a new awareness of why we are placed in a specific situation. It is through this in-depth awareness that we are made a prophet or even a messiah.

Just as there is a first moment of realisation, an encounter, of the accompanying presence of God, there is also an ongoing presence of that accompaniment. there is a bond that is born from the reflective and interpretive remembrance of this presence. It leads a way to celebration of that presence.

They are wonderful, but when do we do all these since we are struggling to find time even to live our life. We need to realise that a liveable spirituality begins from an awareness. That is why our own struggles and failures, greatness and celebrations do have something to contribute to our spirituality.

So let us consider the following:

Who are the people who are in immediate relation to me that deserve genuine attention and care?

What are the feelings involved? Closeness, care, warmth.... distress, anger, disappointment ... because not being able to fulfil them.

In the working field --

What are some implications and significance of my work and responsibilities? What is the contribution I make to the humanity through them?

What are the feelings involved in my work, in its achievements, struggles, conflicts, interactions with boss, subordinates, in-charge ...?

In the above what are the virtues involved or the virtues to be cultivated?

Which could be some symbols we could keep as meeting point between your feelings and God's assistance in our day and night? (just as we have water, oil, lamp, flower ...)

Can I feel the presence of Christ there? (in my intimacy, romance and rivalry, in my responsibilities, work, feelings, symbols I can find) Christ cannot be absent from there because it is logos that guide them all. It doesn't give a single general suggestion to follow. In one's own working field each one will have to identify the grace and meaningfulness in a significant way.

We must take these reflections, interpretations, remembrance and celebration. Write a gospel for your house, family, office ... because God is with us. 

At every walk of our life there is a salutation for us, 

"Blessed are you..."

"... and blessed is your fruit."

_____________________________

The religious texts show a pattern of religious behaviour of a community which had a common culture; eg., a community engaged in architecture, carpentry had a god who is a craftsman. Geography of the land also frames our imagination about the abode of gods. Ways of thinking about salvation/liberation are also within the social customs and practices. Today life has changed. A family or a village may not have a common occupation and culture. In belief systems we are in a multireligious and multicultural context.