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Everything that Breathes

Canadian Goose, McLane Creek Nature Trail, Capital State Forest, WA

Praise him with trumpet sound;

  praise him with the lute and harp!

Praise him with the timbrel and dance;

  praise him with the strings and pipe!

Praise him with sounding cymbals;

  praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord! ~ Psalm 150:3-6

The Psalms is the prayer book of Israel, the prayers that Jesus read. They are honest about the human condition, are honest about God, and are honest about our need for God. Often modern readers get turned off on the graphic descriptions of war and hostility in the Psalms, but I recommend reading these ancient prayers in an allegorical or analogical way. For instance each and every one of us; fights a battle if only in our minds and hearts, has to overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable, has to examine our conscience and ask God for forgiveness, and perhaps most of all has a reason to praise our Lord for blessings. The psalms is a great book of prayer that covers almost all conditions of the human experience, so take a minute and let God talk to you in the book of Psalms.


Love is a Gift

Sunset, Cayucos, CA USA

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

“Certainly as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (John 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (John 19:34)” ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est #7


Freedom is Turning Toward You

Western Gull, San Simeon, CA USA

Today’s understanding of freedom, to do whatever one wants, whenever one wants, caves a person’s world in on one’s self, making the person captive to the never completely fulfilled desires of pleasure, power, prestige and security. The biblical understanding of freedom is a freedom toward the love of God and away from selfish desires, leading to true freedom. A true freedom to love others and enjoy, and understand, all the beauty around us for what they are, God’s creation, not our possession. Trusting in Christ, in what he has said and what he is asking of us, leads to true freedom. A freedom in God. A freedom each person was created to enjoy.  

Power, Love and Self-Control

Sunset, Cayucos, CA USA

What does power, love and self-control look like? In nature it might look like a beautiful sunset but what does it look like in humanity? Look at the crucifix. Read the gospel accounts of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus asks us to take up our cross and follow him, to be like him, full of power, love and self-control.

For nearly two thousand years Christians have set aside six weeks of prayer, fasting and sacrifice, a time called Lent, to focus on following Jesus, taking up their cross, and become practitioners of power, love and self-control. Easter is coming. Jesus is inviting you to follow him, to be like him.


My Secret Heart

Long-billed Curlew, Morro Bay State Park, CA USA

King David was said to have a “heart like God” (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22).  Yet David, the boy that slayed Goliath, the king that danced before the arc of the covenant, fell far grace.  David went from defeating Israel’s enemies in battle to laziness, to adultery, to murder in a short period of time.  How did David fall so far, so quickly?  Was it pride? Was it power?  Was it selfish pleasure?  Psalm 51 is ascribed to having been written by David after he was confronted with his sin of going to Bathsheba and then killing her husband, Uriah.  David’s words in Psalm 51 show an understanding of our need for a prayerful self-examination, an examination of our secret heart, least we fall from the Lord.   

Mother

Elephant seal mother with baby, California USA

“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and laughs at the days to come. She opens her mouth in wisdom; kindly instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband, too, praises her.” (Proverbs 31:25-28)


Worship

Evening Sun, Pueblo West, Colorado USA

Three wise men came to worship Jesus so many years ago.  Why do you suppose they came to worship him?  Why do we worship him?  Is it to gain favor?  Is it because God needs our worship?  Or is it perhaps, as St. Augustine said, because we need to worship him as we are “restless until we rest in him”.  And perhaps also it is because it is the just thing to do, to pay homage to the one through whom the universe was created.

Thank you Lord

Sunset, Olympia, WA USA

Thank you, Lord, for etching your love for me upon my heart.

Thank you, Lord, for passionately walking this earth and rescuing me from sin and death.

Lord, help me to show my love for you in how closely I follow you and how I treat others.


Oneness

Western Red Cedar, Olympia National Park, WA USA

The oneness of God is the oneness of perfect love. God desires us to join him in the oneness of love by emulating his compassion for others. “The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3: 16-18)

No Anxiety

Double-crested Cormorant, Tumwater Falls, Tumwater, WA USA

Paul was a prisoner in Rome when he wrote these words.  Paul knew all too well about hardship; having been stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, stranded and hungry, all for the gospel.  In text below St. Paul gives us a way of understanding and living that allows us to see hope in the face of adversity. 

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” ~ Philippians 4:4-9


Love not Power

Small Western Red Cedar with limbs wrapped around Douglas Fir, Squaxin Park, Olympia, WA USA

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

As St. Paul explains, “And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13: 2) So let us imitate God by our acts of kindness, generosity and forgiveness.


Seeking God

Chinook salmon, Tumwater Falls, WA USA

Salmon were born to return to their spawning waters, just as man was born to be with God.  As St. Augustine said to God of man, “you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”  So let us seek God with all of our hearts and not rest in our love of God and neighbor until we reach our heavenly home where we will behold the One that is love itself.

The Mystery

Great Blue Heron at sunset, Hogum Bay, WA USA

The mysteries of our faith are shrouded in beauty, allowing beauty to speak of their truth.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race” ~ John 1:1-4

So with hope all Christians, who are part of the mystical body of Christ, can join St. Paul in saying…

“yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.


The Mighty River

Yellowstone River as seen from the lower Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, USA

My pulse was 31 bpm as I staggered through the emergency room door. Dizzy, shaking and delirious, I looked about me, the ER was packed, full of brokenness, full of beauty. Humanity in a raw form, beautiful people made in the image and likeness of God, but terribly broken, but cared for and loved.

Sickness, removes our veneer and exposes our vulnerability. It is a humbling process. I had never truly been sick before. In my mind, when I became sick, I knew I would find comfort in my relationship with our Lord, which I did, but in a way I did not expect.

My heart felt broke, I searched for breath, my mind wandered and I could hardly pray. I felt like I was struggling to hold on to life. Comfort in prayer was not possible and as looked up to our Lord I realized what I could do, I could be a light in the darkness. I could love my neighbor. Love is an act of will, given by the grace of God, to love the other, as other.

So I directed my will from my sickness, which I could not control, toward loving those doctors, nurses, caregivers and friends that were accompanying me. In doing so, I did find comfort, the comfort that only God, the one that is love itself, can give.

While I was sick my mind often wandered to our Lord and what he must have felt during his passion but it also wandered to the first chapter of the book of Luke. A young, peasant girl, with her dreams and plans, suddenly encounters the reality that God’s plan for her life is different than she expected. With tremendous faith Mary responds with her fiat, “May it be done to me according to your word.” All peace and freedom lies in that statement.

Notice; however, what the mother of our Lord does next, she goes to the aid of her older kinswoman who is about to give birth. Mary loves. Living faith is to trust in God’s providence and then work with the situation you have been given, in love.

I am out of the hospital now and feeling fine. Thanks be to God! I have learned from this experience and hope these words might be of help to others.


Rich Soil

Wildflowers, Mt Ellinor, Washington USA

Like a farmer that nourishes the soil, let us nurture our souls so that we might yield fruit “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold”.  Let us trust in the Lord and his love for us.  Let us remain humble, focused on loving God and neighbor.  Let us grow in passion for an understanding of the word of God and participation in his sacraments.  Let us grow in virtue including the virtues of fortitude (patience, endurance and courage), temperance (moderation of our desires for worldly things), justice (giving someone or something what is rightly due), and prudence (the wisdom that guides our daily decisions).