From Temple of Doom to a Temple of the Spirit

 Do you not realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7)

My battle with my body began at the ripe age of 14. "Have you weighed yourself lately, you look like you may have put some weight on?" Ten pounds in fact. It was that moment that the enemy wedged himself into that opening and created for me an identity where I measure myself by a number on a scale. In two months there is a different number of measure that will settle upon me. 50. Yes, I am turning the big 5-0. A moment where many people allow the enemy to come and whisper lies and wreak havoc. Thank the Lord that this approaching number and measure are not controlling my mindset.

“'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. '” — Jeremiah 29:11.

This promise of our Lord has become an internalized truth for me. This morning my morning contemplation with the Holy Spirit (something I affectionately refer to as 'free association') brought to me the delivered truth of this promise. This past weekend I spent sixteen hours toiling in our garden. Not putzing, toiling: bending, stooping, pulling, pruning, digging, mowing, sweating, sweating, sweating).  This morning the Spirit reveals a beautiful truth; I am sore but standing. Let me share some context. It has been over 20 years since I have been physically able to engage the garden the way I did this weekend. I have lived a life of physical kerfluffles. At 30 I blew a disk in my neck and back. It took 2 years before I could even begin weeding the garden for short durations. At 33, a torn meniscus. 38? A dislocated patella with microfracture of my femur. At 42 I tore my deep abdominal muscle and hip muscle and repeated that injury 3 more times over the next 2 years. At 45 I broke my foot and at 46 tore the ligaments in the front of my shoulder. 48 brought Covid down to bear on me, twice. The enemy may continue to lie and divert me with the number that flashes on my bathroom scale but the victory goes to the truth that the Holy Spirit reveals this morning: "Do you not realize that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit?" I'm finally beginning to!!! Believe it or not, the above litany of ailments have not required any surgical intervention. This is a miracle! I am physically stronger than I was when I was 30, 35, 40. That is a miracle! God is good! Amen! If we are baptized, we are indeed temples of the Holy Spirit. Period. How He resides in us is the game changer. We can keep Him locked away in some inner sanctum while we run around trying to maintain control. OR, we can set Him free. Truth and reality are unchanging, "You are a temple of the Holy Spirit." The experience of that truth is subject to change based on how we choose to live that reality. Up until a few years ago my perceived age exceeded my biological age, my litany of ailments limited me regularly. The Holy Spirit was locked away. 

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:36)

Five years ago I went from being baptized with the Spirit to being baptized in the Spirit. By God's grace I unlocked the inner sanctum and set the Spirit free. I am in capable hands going into this next milestone. Spend some time in free association with the Spirit. Let Him show you ways that His indwelling Spirit has allowed you to be a living miracle. 

The Moment of True Independence

Genesis 3:17-18 “Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it

All the days of your life.

18 Both thorns and thistles it shall [a]bring forth for you,18 Both thorns and thistles it shall [a]bring forth for you, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow now is the day of salvation” (Proverbs 27:1) 

Matthew 6:34 is “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” 

Jeff and I have spent the Fourth of July weekend celebrating freedom and independence by submitting to the slavery of our garden. Jeff and I are excitedly looking to the future. His retirement approaches now in a measurable countdown way. Our future plan is to transition fully to Kingston and to sell our home in Green Bay. We have been spending more time, energy, and resources at Kingston "preparing the way." Our garden in Green Bay has suffered the sin of looking too heavily to the future. As I stooped/squatted and pulled out hundreds of raspberry plants (admittedly earlier this week, a precursor) I recalled my warning to Jeff years ago to perhaps not plant something that is so invasive. Ten quickly become twenty, twenty become forty, and years later they are everywhere. I pulled raspberries from under the apple tree, the path, the vegetable garden, the rose garden (which was more raspberry than rose), the main perennial beds, and even the front of the house. 😠 Jeff and I battled far worse thorns as we tackled the rugosa roses and their die back limbs. Jeff cut down the magnolia that did not return this year after 20 years of beauty. I cut down the sumac, oak, black walnut, and walking stick tree; all self seeded where I deemed them an eyesore. The remains of the daffodils were removed, the iris cut back, along with the early daisies. Don't even get me started on the sundrops even though I have indeed started on the sundrops (the lesson of the raspberry applies here, this time I am the guilty one). Jeff set to replacing 2/7 broken fence posts which gave me the opportunity to thank the Lord again for answering the prayers of a desperate disciple who prayed, arms outstretched, in the midst of a gathering storm to please spare the fence; we didn't have time to fix it yet. This morning I started my prayer time in the garden. I had been choosing to pray inside most of this year as the sight of my garden discouraged me and made me feel trapped. As I walk and pray in my garden with the Lord, He points out to me that I have been neglecting the present moment for the future moments. We must remember that our future, down to our next breath is simply a figment of our imagination, truly out of our hands. The future is in God's hands and no matter how we expend time, energy, and resources, we do not control it. While our future is in his hands,

“'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. '” — Jeremiah 29:11

our ability to encounter the Lord and fully enter into His plans for us, lies in the present moment. Walking in my newly tended garden, my spirit blooms with the appreciation not of where I think I am heading, but the blessed moment of where I am. Being present to the present helps to release us from future slavery. This moment, with Him, is where true freedom and independence lie. The garden of our souls must be tended day by day. We do not have the luxury of kicking it down the road to tomorrow. 

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Now if you will excuse me, the untrimmed hedges and remaining sundrops beckon. May you live this Independence Day dependent upon the love and provision of the Father, Amen. 

Lost Causes

Luke 9:58-60 Then He said to another man, “Follow Me.” The man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You, however, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 6:25, 32-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I enter prayer tired, preoccupied, and easily distracted. My first attempt to enter into prayer is outside on my patio, usually a place of peace, not today. I wander inside and follow an impulse to go to my bookcase searching out a book I had meant to reference. Strike two. I sit in debate. Quit now? Attached to my kitchen counter in a neat row are five post it notes. On them is my ‘to do’ list by Wednesday. My month-long reflections on Ignatian Spirituality kick into gear. Rule 7: God is giving me all the grace I need to get through this moment. Rule 8: Endure, be patient. I light a candle upon my kitchen table and wait. “Let the dead bury the dead.” The Spirit whispers, [Lost causes]. My house is a lost cause. My garden is a lost cause. Menu planning and grocery shopping are as well. Laundry? You guessed it, lost cause. 

(Ecclesiastes 1:2)Vanity of vanity it is all vanity.

I resemble a pinball machine this morning with both my mind and my body bouncing about. This morning the Lord discipled me in focus, in docility, and in persevering in first things first. My post-it notes remind me of what earthly things I am obligated to, but the Father reminds me that they are, in a sense, a lost cause. They represent priorities that do not place Him first. They pull me away from what should be my primary focus:

(Psalm 118) Today is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

(Lamentations 3:23) His miracles are new every morning.

Today I rejoice over the small victory I accomplish with His grace. I did not give in and get on with the ‘meat and potatoes’ of my daily ‘to do’. 

Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.

You Lord are the real ‘meat and bones’ of my day.  Help me to identify lost causes. Help me to not ‘throw in’ to [lost causes]. Help me to hear You when You pass by and say, “Follow me.” I trust in You, and through You, and with You, that “all these things will be given to you as well.” 

(Song of Solomon 1:4) Draw me away! We will run after you.

Equal and Opposite

 For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton's Third Law of Motion)

Father forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)

Stop judging that you may not be judged (Matthew 7:1)

Let the one among you without sin cast the first stone (John 8:7)

 Who would have thought that the semesters of Physics that I endured in high school and college would lead to such theological contemplation, well probably God. I thank the Lord for opening up the nature of relationships with the laws of nature. In my quiet prayer time, an old wound surfaced. It was a judgement verbalized against one of my children, a shot to the heart. Our last quarter of the year at school was "Inner Healing." I am much better equipped to handle these choppy waters as they arise. Jesus does not place painful memories in our path to wound, but to heal the wound. Admittedly I did not jump right to inner healing, I made the human leap many of us so often do. I replayed the conversation in my head then searched out my "opponents" weaknesses until I had the perfect retort back. I sat and savored the possibility to be able to use this ammunition. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Words wound whether that be the intent or not. Words so often spoken to defend, justify, convince, whatever the reason, have the capability to do great harm. Once they travel from our mind to our tongue, once launched they cannot be taken back. Once they have hit their mark, the equal and opposite reactive forces begin to build, readying for counterattack. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Jesus placed upon the cross by the unfair judgement of men teaches us the greatest lesson in mercy against unfair judgement, anger, fear, hate, jealousy. Stop judging that you may not be judged, is the law of physical nature being applied to human nature. What we launch, we are asking to have launched back upon us. The back and forth shelling of judgement over time creates breaches in relationships. Just as in physical nature, in human nature oftentimes the only thing to stop the sequence is an outside force. That force is the indwelling spirit of Jesus given to us at baptism. Jesus is the force that can give us the strength to step back, there He can tend our wounds and prevent further damage. From His vantage point I am able to loosen my anger, I am able to ask for the grace to forgive. Words of judgement technically placed Jesus on the cross, but the reality is that it was the sum total of sin. He took all that in and on, a volley of all evil and He did what no other force in existence could do. He created a truly equal and opposite reaction: resurrection, forgiveness, and redemption. 

Commitment and Accompaniment

Matthew 6:9-13

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

God has repeatedly placed Ignatian Spirituality upon my own path of formation over the past 8 months or so. It is the forefront of deep contemplative and imaginative prayer within Catholic Spirituality. My Spiritual bucket list includes a formal silent Ignatian Retreat at some point. I am a prayer geek. God's revelation to us was completed in the Living Word of Jesus Christ. This is what we call 'Public Revelation'. Jesus told His disciples before the ascension,

I still have much to tell you, you cannot bear to hear it yet. However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears.

Nothing new can be added to God's Word, but that does not mean that it does not continue to unfold and enlighten us in new ways. This is the realm of 'private revelation'. This morning's Gospel is possibly the most memorized and repeated scripture in history. It is easy to gloss over. That is what I did upon my first reading. Enter Ignatian Spirituality. If you are looking for God's Word to speak intimately to you, you can't stop after just one reading. After allowing myself some distraction, I returned to the Gospel. And nothing happened.

The end.

Just kidding. Obviously if I am posting, you know something happened. Enter [Commitment and Accompaniment]. In reality in my moments of distraction I realized that I entered today's Gospel without my usual opening commitment prayer to 'set the stage'. The Spirit shows me that in fact, the Our Father, is a commitment prayer. "Our Father", we are declaring our identity and God's identity, we are committing to our relationship. We submit ourselves within that relationship when we emphasize "Thy", not "my". "This day" places us in proper frame of mind for prayer, we [become present to the present which allows us to enter His presence]. "Our daily bread" first establishes our dependence upon our Father's provision and second remaining in today, the present. Our Father is in the present, not in stockpiling for the future. To learn to live this is to learn to live another tenet of Jesus, Matthew 6:34 is “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” The call to forgiveness follows provision. This is fitting, for without God's provision, His grace, we would not be able to forgive others. This too should be a "present" activity. Daily. Just as we are not called to stockpile provisions, we are not called to stockpile sin, hurt, anger, or resentment. Here I recognize the wisdom of the Ignatian practice of the Daily Examine. The Holy Spirit does inspire one turn of phrase for me today. "Lead us not into temptation" becomes, "Walk with me through temptation". This is what a Father does. He cannot take away what has become inherent, but He does accompany, encourage, counsel, and fortify. We cannot do this alone. The 'Our Father' becomes now a commitment prayer of daily accompaniment. And as all prayer is intended to be a two sided conversation, so too with the Our Father. For within our lines of the prayer lie the echos of the Father's promises of answer. Jesus would not give us a model that the Father would not honor. God implores each of us, "Truly make me your Father and I will provide you what you need." Finally, the finish, "deliver us from evil." I think many may feel a broken promise here, given how often it is spoken, and the reality the world reflects day in and day out. "Deliver us from evil" is not synonymous with "Deliver us from pain, suffering, trials, disappointments." Jesus' own words above confirm this. The promise is to deliver us from ultimately being delivered fully to evil. It is a promise to keep us in 'the family', saving us 'a seat at the supper table', that when this earthly life passes, we shall indeed be seated with our Father and Brother at the banquet table of heaven.