Category Archives: Spiritual Journey

Running A Race With Your Eyes On the Goal.

Posted on by

Fr. William Meninger Homily_August 13, 2016 and  a guided meditation from Cardinal John Newman (Prayer used by Mother Theresa)

Homily

 The readings this morning are complicated and diverse so I would like to focus on just one important line from the epistle to the Hebrews. It is very relevant to the interest right now on the Olympic games. The imagery is that of running a race with your eyes on the goal. The author says, “Run the race that lies before you by keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus”. This, of course, is at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian. to be a follower of Christ. We must keep our eyes fixed on him with the purpose and intensity of an athlete striving for victory. What we sometimes don’t realize however is that we already have the victory, Christ has won it for us, we have simply to reach out and claim it as our own.

 Somebody has said that “the error of the past is the wisdom of the future”. This means that our failures, the times when we have allowed our eyes to drift from the goal, from following Jesus, should be an impetus and actually an encouragement supporting us in returning to that goal which is Jesus.

 We do realize, all of us, that the most basic and fundamental teaching of Jesus is one of love. Not just love of God, but like unto it love of neighbor. This is why Jesus would say that whatever we do unto one of the least of his brethren we do  unto him. And why St. John tells us that we cannot love God whom we do not see unless we love our brother and sister whom we do see. Richard Rohr reminds us that love is our very structural and essential identity. To live in conscious connection with the loving inner presence of God is to find our true self. Plato says, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy is when a man or woman is afraid of the light.”

 I would like to do something now that is a little bit unusual for a homily. I would like to bring us into an experienced connection, another type of communion if you will, with the love of Jesus, of God and of one another. I would like to take you through a brief, guided meditation. This meditation is a prayer written by the English theologian , Cardinal, John Newman. It is a prayer that Mother Theresa tells us she recited every day of her life.

 So I would ask you to sit as comfortably as you can, perhaps close your eyes and just for a brief moment try to be aware of God’s presence within you and about you, as Jesus said, where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them and the kingdom of God is within you. (Brief pause). And now with great sincerity, listen with your hearts and offer this prayer keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus.

 

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.

Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,

That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

 

Shine through me, and be so in me

That every soul I come in contact with

May feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

 

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,

So to shine as to be a light to others;

The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;

It will be you, shining on others through me.

 

Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,

By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,

The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

 

Amen.

 

—

May you be happy,

May you be free,

May you be loving,

May you be loved.

 

Father William Meninger

Contemplative Prayer and the Birthright to what is already within you

Posted on by
Contemplative prayer is the change that changes everything. It’s not telling you what to see, but teaching you how to see. And when you know how to see, you’re home free. You’re indestructible. When you know how to see in a non-dualistic, holistic way, you know that it is what it is both before and after any analysis. Reality still is what it is. When you learn to surrender to that, quite frankly, you’re going to be a much happier, transformed human being. And when you do work for change, your efforts will have a non-obsessive character to them.

The contemplative mind gives you access to your birthright, to what is already within you. When you discover and connect to this awareness, you will have the distinct feeling that you already knew this. Spiritual cognition is recognition. It’s knowing on a more conscious level what appears to have been known in the unconscious. Now you have the ability to humbly, quietly trust it, and even on occasion say what so many biblical characters and saints say, “God told me.” I know that can be a dangerous claim. If you put such power in the hands of egocentric people, they’ll mangle and misuse God-told-me kind of talk.

The gift of contemplation will be experienced as freedom, abundance, love, spaciousness, and grace. This entire experience of gratuity makes you fall in love with God. In fact, I would say that utter gratuity is one of the clearest indicators of any authentic God experience. But it also installs its own critique. When you know the real thing, you start developing a nose, an eye, and an ear for the false thing. You can recognize truly converted people. And you can smell people who are just using the church, sacraments, or priesthood to aggrandize themselves. For them it’s still all about “me.” When you move to the level of divine mind, the mind of Christ, you know it’s not all about you. In fact, it is all about God! And you will soon find yourself loving all that God loves–which is going to be an ever widening circle of realizations and loves.

At that point, you have been taken into the very life of the Trinity. You are already there, objectively, but most of us don’t know it yet. When you start flowing consciously and allowing the divine flow through you, you will share the experience of gratuity expressed by the Psalmist: “Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name give glory because of your mercy and faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1).

Reference:

Adapted from Richard Rohr, Transforming the World through Contemplative Prayer (CAC: 2013), CD, MP3 audio download

Richard Rhor Meditation June 29,2016

Suggestions for Reading Fr. Thomas Keating’s Books

Posted on by

Suggestions for Reading Fr. Thomas Keating’s Books:

1.The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation (Wit Lectures-Harvard Divinity School. (1999) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O and Ronald F. Thiemann. _A short invitation to begin a personal spiritual journey.

2. Open Mind Open Heart 20th Anniversary Edition (2006) by Thomas Keating. O.C.S.O _An introduction to centering prayer as the core practice of contemplative Christianity; a one volume presentation of topics covered on books 3 and 4 below.

3. The Heart of the World: An Introduction to Contemplative Christianity (2008) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O

4. Intimacy with God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer. (2009) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O

5.Invitation to Love 20th Anniversary edition: The Way of Christian Contemplation. (2012) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O – A more detailed discussion of the process of spiritual growth.

6.The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience. (1994) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O_A reflection of the Christian liturgical year from the perspective of contemplative Christianity.

7.Crisis of Faith, Crisis of Love. (1995) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O_ Scriptural reflections of the spiritual journey of contemplative Christianity

8. Meditations on the Parables of Jesus (2010) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O _Short Homilies on Jesus paraboles from a contemplative perspective.

9. Manifesting God ( 2005) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O _A more recent introduction to centering prayer as a spiritual transformation.

10. Fruits and Gift of the Spirit (2000) by Thomas Keating O.C.S.O _more or less a sequel to book 9.

(List suggested by Mary Dwyre)

Exploring Foundations of Contemplative Living

Posted on by

Dear friends

For me, it is a privilege to be working with the group that is planning the retreat led by James Finley and I am very excited to let you know with enough time. I would like to invite you personally to this event. The space is limited. For more information and registration go to http://www.stpauls-church.org/ or call (216)-932-5815

 Please, register early before is sold out.

Josefina Fernandez

FinleyRetreat_StPauls

 

The Path of Descent

Posted on by
Reply

Almasgiving, Fasting, Prayer

The Rohr Institute’s first guided library study!

Please check this website:
Explore three downward movements of the spiritual journey

Transformative Suffering

Posted on by
Reply

I am presenting a summary of the daily meditations that Fr. Rhor presented this week.

1. If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it. (Sunday)

2. Jesus is not observing human suffering from a distance; he is somehow in human suffering with us and for us. (Monday)

3. Don’t get rid of the pain until you’ve learned its lessons. (Tuesday)

4. Suffering is the only thing strong enough to destabilize the imperial ego. (Wednesday)

5. The cross is always unto resurrection. (Thursday)

6. Transformed people transform people. (Friday)

 

 

Spiritual Journey Stages by Richard Rohr

Posted on by
Reply

1. So many of our problems can be resolved if we understand that people are at different levels

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Levels-of-Growth.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=TBvmoPJ3-Gw

2.Growth is going somewhere, and the trajectory is toward union: union with God, with the self (of mind, heart, and body), with others, and with the cosmos.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Similarities.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=8FhjLw51rsE

3. Stage One: My body and my self-image are who I am.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-One–My-body-and-my-self-image-are-who-I-am-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=T9rkhVtduo0

4. Stage Two: My external behavior is who I am.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Two–My-external-behavior-is-who-I-am-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=9

5. Stage Three: My thoughts and feelings are who I am.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Three–My-thoughts-and-feelings-are-who-I-am-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=NH8dQV_S4aE

6. Without great love (and I mean great love) and great suffering, where there is a major defeat, major humiliation, major shock to the ego self, very few people move to Stage Four.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–The-Space-between-Stage-Three-and-Stage-Four.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=fE8eDJfT1cU

7. Stage Four: My deeper intuitions and felt knowledge
in my body are who I am.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Four–My-deeper-intuitions-and-felt-knowledge-in-my-body-are-who-I-am-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=1nekY7lB1nU

8. Stage Five: My shadow self is who I am

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Five–My-shadow-self-is-who-I-am-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=8WQZ12Vzkck

9. Stage Six: I am empty and powerless.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Six–I-am-empty-and-powerless-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=xO_x4uTbiqs

10. Stage Seven: I am much more than who I thought
I was.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Seven–I-am-much-more-than-who-I-thought-I-was-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=FFiydz5pFHs

11. Stage Eight: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30)

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Eight—I-and-the-Father-are-one—John-10-30–.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=ULgzEAjqC4c

12. Stage Nine: I am who I am.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Stage-Nine–I-am-who-I-am-.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=IHlJCHYNJ7E

 

 

 

 

 

Stages of Spiritual Development. Program Initiation.

Posted on by
Reply

At the beginning  of 2014, I was exposed to several articles and meditations  that make me think and ponder about the concepts of kindness, love, unitive consciousness, Divine Life, True Self, “My True Self is Love, great love and suffering as gateway to transformation and growth, non-dual thinking. I would like to to go deeper on this material during this new year. The links I present are  sample of the ones that stroke me the most. Fr. Richard Rhor is presenting a program through his daily meditations that will cover the stages of the spiritual journey. I am really interested to follow him through this year and offer my insights and experiences of my readings as way of enrichment.

My Religion Is Kindness

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–My-Religion-Is-Kindness.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=7haGT57pots

Mystical Experience or Unitive Seeing? by Cynthia Bourgeault

http://www.spiritualpaths.net/mystical-experience-or-unitive-seeing-by-cynthia-bourgeault/

Contemplation as Catalyst

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–Contemplation-as-Catalyst.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=hGDjG1R8J2Y

A Primer for Living a Whole Life (Introduction of the Richard Rhor’s program)

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation–A-Primer-for-Living-a-Whole-Life.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=W67fpi7M0j4