"Be ye holy..."

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sawman said:
reen,
I am sorry for the loss of your mother. My wife lost her mom last October.
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Please give your wife my condolences, Tom, in the passing of her own mother.

I pray for all for whom this Mother’s Day will be the first when Mom is not here.
Though a blessed release from suffering, and joy that my mother is with Him,
yet in a simple human way it hurts for Mom not to be here.

reen
 
sawman said:
Yet I am grateful for the hope of more years, as I see how far astray my earlier years have left me. God’s mercy does often come through suffering. It seems to be a purgation and an opurtunity for acceptance. How many times I’ve declared that I don’t want this from God, or that. Now that I’ve lived this long I can see with my own eyes that He does not change. He wants this for my life, He will have it. He wants that for my life, He will have it. Blessed be the name of the Lord! May your will be done! The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh, blessed be the Lord. May I always be willing to accept with good will and confidence in His abiding love. Trusting Him has taken me a long time to learn. So a long life is a mercy, a chance to learn the ways of heaven.
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I hear you, sawman, and I do understand what you are saying.

Even as young as age 18, I comprehended much of the meaning
to be found in a poem written by Francis Thompson.

After another 46 years, I finally understand, fully, what Thompson said.

In his poem, God speaks these words.

'Strange, piteous, futile thing!
…All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.

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All which thy child’s mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting…
-Psalm 103

reen
 
reen12 said:
“Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the Lord delivers him.”

A friend pointed out the above verse this past week.

I have come to the peaceful realization that most people are ‘just,’
in the biblical sense - or we try to be, without even thinking that we are striving to be
that particular thing: ‘a just man’ or ‘a just woman.’
In what manner God delivers us we cannot often know until much later in life,
and maybe not even then.

God sings the warp and woof of our lives. Every once in a while, one catches a note of the love song
that He is singing for each of us. In the call of a bird, or a night wind, or the sound a breeze makes.

God knows that the ‘just man’ sins ‘seven times a day.’
If we could relax in His love - knowing that He loves us with the love of a divine Father,
not a human father, how more peaceful our days would be.

It is of great help to me to think of what is said in the book of Leviticus.

"Be ye holy, as I the Lord your God am holy.” (Lev 19:2).

Notice that this is not a call to be perfect. It does not inculcate depression -
as 'Be ye perfect…" may do.
“Be ye holy…” because God is holy - is like a child standing in his/her father’s shoes.
They are way too large for a child to fill them, as his/her father does.
And God knows this.

It will only be when we are in His presence that we will know how many many times in life
He cared for each of us, with us all un-noticing.

reen12
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Dear friend

I enjoyed reading that. It comes from much experience and insight. Thanks;)

God bless you and pray for me please:thumbsup:🙂

John
 
Oh my goodness. I was heading in the right direction and didn’t know this. http://bestsmileys.com/nono/9.gif

I thought that I would advance the concept of holiness as becoming ‘whole.’

Then doesn’t the dictionary tell me - this very evening - that ‘holy’ comes from a
Middle English word - via the Old English *‘halig’ - *which is
further derived, apparently, from the Old English “hal” …meaning ‘whole.’

Now the task becomes to relate ‘whole’ to that of forming a ‘gestalt.’

God set His world in motion, forming a gestalt. An ‘organized whole.’

Man and woman had hardly set up in Eden, when by their actions
they shattered this sacred gestalt. This Eden.
Now I know why - in Judaic thought - the concept of
*‘tikkun olam’ *is of such critical import.

Tikun olam is ‘the repair of the world.’

We repair something when it is broken.
The gestalt “Eden” has been shattered.

God gives us the sacred task of helping in
the repair of this broken world.
To help make a whole again - by being holy, as God is holy.

To seek wholeness in our little part of His world,
by helping to repair that which is broken…
both in the world around us, and that which is
broken in the human heart.

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reen
 
Our Father - Who art in heaven, may Thy Name be held holy.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth - as it is so done
in heaven.

Doing His will is to be like Him in His utter holiness,
through our own minsicule efforts to repair that which was broken
and remains broken, from the dawn of human life.

Efforts to heal and to repair - to make *whole *again -
are expressions of the holiness to be found in doing
His will.

I think that it was Chesterton who indicated that
a love of the local is what fits one to love the whole of the world.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta surely knew this.
She urged us to look about in our own little part of
His world - noting that which needed to be done for
the least of His sons and daughters.

monroegallery.com/showcase/images/MotherTheresa.jpg

newcatholics.com/library/protestent/faith/mother.jpg

Mother Teresa knew all about ‘tikkun olam.’
The repair of the world.

For once we engage that which needs to be healed
and made whole, we become like Him.
"Be ye holy, as I the Lord your God am holy.” (Lev 19:2)

He heals the broken in heart
and binds up their wounds.

…Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.

-Psalm 147

reen12
 
Yes I agree to move within one’s own sphere of influence, To touch the lives of those we naturaly have communion with. Family, friends, co-workers, folks here on CA, those we share the road with, and most difficult of all for me those with whom I disagree, especialy about politics.
I think fundamentaly, God designed us to be a part of a bigger body, he wants us to “work out” holiness in relation with others. This also includes Him as well. I think, if we are open, He shows us what and how and when.
Thanks for your insight, although I am not to sure if I understand Gestalt.
Thank you reen
Tom
 
sawman said:
Yes I agree to move within one’s own sphere of influence, To touch the lives of those we naturaly have communion with. Family, friends, co-workers, folks here on CA, those we share the road with, and most difficult of all for me those with whom I disagree, especialy about politics.
I think fundamentaly, God designed us to be a part of a bigger body, he wants us to “work out” holiness in relation with others. This also includes Him as well. I think, if we are open, He shows us what and how and when.
Thanks for your insight, although I am not to sure if I understand Gestalt.
Thank you reen
Tom
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quote: sawman
Yes I agree to move within one’s own sphere of influence, To touch the lives of those we naturaly have communion with. Family, friends, co-workers, folks here on CA, those we share the road with…
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I surely agree, Tom. And I also agree that God will show us
what we are to do - once we leave off thinking that we have
all the answers, or even part! of the answers. http://bestsmileys.com/nono/9.gif

It is the little things that we can do on an average day
[God spare me from the mindset of ‘an average day’]
such as saying hello to an elderly person in the supermarket,
who may live all alone. You might end up being the sole person
who acknowledges their existence today, right there in the
midst of the produce section of the supermarket.
The light of heaven lights up the carrots and the broccoli,
the apples and avacados, as food for the soul is provided
for another, by merely affirming their existence and
easing their heart, maybe.

St. Therese of Lisieux had her ‘little way,’
and Brother Lawrence came to have his own
little way of staying in the presence of God through
the many hours of the day - despite a plethora of
tasks that he was called upon to attend to during the day.

[It’s hard for someone like me who endures high levels of anxiety
and a kind of pastel agoraphobia, to be zooming about in
the midst of people. But I do so, and I ask God to be with me.]

For those of faith, there is, in fact, no such thing as an ‘average day.’
All is suffused with the light of heaven, as we move about making a living,
caring for family [near and far,] and maybe enjoying some rest and quiet.

Brother Lawrence would understand.
He thanked God for every tiny reality in his life.
He offered praise to Him Who has made all things -
when he was reminded of such, as he wended his
way through the day.

gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=9134&pageno=2

As a matter of fact, I’ll bet that Brother Lawrence well knew the verse:

“This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

-Psalm 118

reens
 
reen,
Thank-you for that link to Bro. Lawrence’s story. I read a few pages, and he reminds me of what I’ve been up to lately. Only he is much more refined and advanced than I am.
This such a funny thing. Bro. Lawrence is “advanced” in becoming simple.He is refined at becoming small. The “little way” is really the attainment of the Greatest of all things, union with our Lord. To be united with Him daily and continuously is a goal that is worthy of my entire life’s efforts. yet, it is called the little way. Because it is little, young, innocent, fervent, and trusting. It is like being a child, in the most innocent of ways. To talk to Him and think of Him all day as we “do” our tasks and chores. To all we meet and think of and pray for and worry about. To attain that closest of communions with Him is what I want and strive for. I think that striving is the right word too. Shedding all the distractions and allurements of the world, all the misconceptions we were raised with or allowed ourselves to be distracted with, requires effort and a level of desire that is hard to match to any other undertaking. St. Paul speaks of atheletes, but I used to be one and although there is some resemblance, there is no comparison.

“Be ye Holy” A growing and developing love for and with Our Lord. Through and with all those He has given to us in our lives. I sometimes wonder at my epithaph, will I even have one? Will others know me for my love of God and my fellow men? Did he love his wife? did he love his children? Did he love his co-workers? St. John lays great store by “Did he love”. It’s scary. Very hard core. Yet he was the “beloved” disciple.

Pray, and you shall be drawn into prayer. The more I seek Him the more He shows me Himself. Blessed be He!
Blessed be You, O Lord our God, in the firmament of heaven!
Praiseworthy and glorious above all forever!
 
sawman said:
…This such a funny thing. Bro. Lawrence is “advanced” in becoming simple.He is refined at becoming small. The “little way” is really the attainment of the Greatest of all things, union with our Lord. To be united with Him daily and continuously is a goal that is worthy of my entire life’s efforts. yet, it is called the little way. Because it is little, young, innocent, fervent, and trusting. It is like being a child, in the most innocent of ways. To talk to Him and think of Him all day as we “do” our tasks and chores…
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You have a gift, I think, sawman, for stating something wonderful, with both brevity and clarity.

As you wrote:

quote:sawman
…yet, it is called the little way. Because it is little, young, innocent, fervent, and trusting.
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Yes it is trusting. It is *all about trust. When you said ‘fervent’ I thought of
enthusiatic. *
comes from the Greek ‘en theos’ - literally ‘in God.’] Isn’t that cheering?

I think that this is why no day is an ‘average day’ - because how can it be,
when we swim in a sea of His graciousness?

Young children are so often all happy and excited about a new day.
Their nose is brand new, so all aromas are new, and food tastes so good,
and look how we can walk and run!

If we can maintain a childlike heart, even when we have trouble making a set of stairs,
it doesn’t matter at all.

reen
 
If we could consider humility for a moment.

Humility is integral to holiness.
[Brother Lawrence speaks of humility…]

Yet with regard to humility, I have little tolerance for the mindset of Thomas à Kempis,
expressed in a work that he wrote in the 15th century.

If he’d only stopped maundering on about how he was an ‘abject worm’
he might have had more time to ease the soul of some elderly shopper,
in whatever passed for a marketplace in his time.

… I am the very poorest of Thy servants, an abject worm,
much poorer and more despicable than I know or dare to say. …
-Thos. a Kempis

No, Thomas. God made you a man not an ‘abject worm.’

Poor Thomas à Kempis.

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If he hadn’t spent so much time considering his spiritual ‘image’ *aka *‘abject worm’] -
and doing a daily inventory of sorts… with regard to how he further qualified for ‘abject worm’ status http://bestsmileys.com/nono/9.gif
  • he might have had more time to be just plain happy.
Besides, the worm helps aerate the soil, so oxygen has someplace to go, thus helping plants to grow.

I say horray for the sturdy worm.​

I think it possible to say that humility = reality. Why? Because God is Truth itself.
And truth is that which conforms to reality.
True humility means to accept the truth of God’s precious gifts to each of us,
and to thank Him for the natural gifts that He gives to us, as we are born into the world at a time of His choosing.

Happily, genuine humility is integral to holiness.

Humility is the acknowledgment that our next breath comes from Him.

reen
 
Friday 8:26 PM EDT

When I login, I’m seeing a post that I wrote and posted Thursday night, EDT.
So I’m posting this to see if the post is recognized, at 8:29 PM on the East coast.

reen12
 
“If we can maintain a childlike heart, even when we have trouble making a set of stairs,”

You wrote this a couple posts ago and it threw me for a loop. I know that you were refering to going up or down a set of stairs, but I had just recently finished a deck with a couple of complicated staircases involved. I was actualy, making an appointment with my client to get a final payment. So I was literaly just past having had “trouble making a set of stairs” ! Funny. I felt like that story of St. Joseph, were he made a set of beautiful stairs for some nuns in need. I like that story. I like St. Joseph too!
Thank you again reen for your insight and sharing your thoughts about humility. I too do not understand the kind of spirituality that speaks of worms and wormliness. I read stuff like that, but I do not “get” it. As you say, God is reality, and all truth must conform to Him. For He is Truth itself. As I live and breathe He only allows me to see myself in a way that my poor sinful nature can absorb. He never overwhelms me with my sinfulness or unsuitability to be near Him. He is always kind and gentle and addresses my wounds with utmost care. He never exposes me to ridicule or sarcasm. He always finds a way for His light to reveal just what needs revealing today, so my poor eyes can see. I pray that I never turn away from His graces to stay near and do better.

I am not a bad man, but " who can compare to Yaweh?" I do not stack up with so many who have gone before me. That is ok, too for I am His now, and He will do with me as He will.

Tom
 
sawman said:
…I am not a bad man, but " who can compare to Yaweh?" I do not stack up with so many who have gone before me.
That is ok, too for I am His now, and He will do with me as He will.
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sawman, 24/7/365 I think:
How could I possibly be pleasing to God? http://bestsmileys.com/sad/4.gif

And as I thought about this, it made me think of my
favorite saintly person from the past. The Hasid, Reb Zusia.
A while back I started a thread on the Reb. I borrow from that thread now.

One day, Reb Zusia felt sad. He wished that he could
please G-d as Moses did.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a106/reen12/Zusiasittingonarockwithalittleredbi.jpg

Then, Reb Zusia thought some more - and then he brightened.

“But if I was Moses, then G-d wouldn’t have His Zusia.”

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a106/reen12/SmallerdrawingofZusialookingoutt-1.jpg

reen
 
There is a similar tale, to the one posted above.

Reb Zusia looked worried, one day.
He looked as if he were carrying a heavy burden,
with no place to lay it down.

Those who loved the Reb were anxious to offer comfort,
for whatever was weighing on his heart.

One of them asked Reb Zusia why he looked so troubled.
The Reb said:

“I am thinking of the time when I shall appear before *Ribbono shel Olam *
and the heavenly court.”

One of his followers was mystified, hearing these words.
He said to Reb Zusia:

“How can you fear judgement? You have led a holy life.”
“If anyone has cause not to fear, it is you, Reb.”

Reb Zusia sighed, and remained silent for a time.
Finally, he unburdened his heart.

“There is a question that I fear that I will not be able to answer.”

Now his followers were really worried. If Reb Zusia could not
answer a question-put to him by Hashem and the heavenly court,
how would they ever be able to answer?
What could it possibly be?

Zusia looked at them, sadly.

"Will it be said to me: ‘You were not expected to be like
Moses, in his wisdom, nor like Abraham, in his courage.’
But, tell us:

‘Why were you not more like Zusia?’

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a106/reen12/Rebzusiaholdingabook5d.jpg
I have given much thought to that which Reb Zusia said.

reen12
 
reen,
It is true that God made each of us for a reason. When I look at my life and see how far astray I’ve been from His will I am tempted to lose hope. It is pretty obvious that I’ve not lived my life according to His will for much of it. Now and for some time now I have been in His will that does not “make up” for the years of disobedience and hositilty. What will I say on that day?I am sure that He was hoping for some great things from me. And now? I shall do my best to make this part of my life pleasing to Him but I don’t think that is how He sees us. I read somewhere that we are not just our present selves, but the accumulation and accretion of all of our time of existence. So we are seen as an entity that incorporates our whole existence. Of course I am sorry and have regret over the part of my life that I wrecked but that does not make it not done. There is also this; I am who I am because partly of who I’ve been. Who I am is a person who loves God with his whole heart and strebgth and will. Partly I’ve become this person cause of my past experiences. I can only guess at what I’d be like had I never steped out of His will for me.

When I was a little guy, I used to sing orchestra music to Him. I would stomp up and down the driveway composing glorious music for my audience. A command performance if you will. When I would finsh I could hear applause and cheering too. you know, like “Bravo!”. That little boy is me too. I can see him in who I am now. So when He wants to know why He didn’t see more of me, I know that He didn’t see more of that boy or the man he would have become.

The Lord has me now. The admixture of everything that makes me who I am. I am happy to know Him. I will be happy to be with Him forever.

Peace, Tom
 
sawman said:
reen,
It is true that God made each of us for a reason. When I look at my life and see how far astray I’ve been from His will I am tempted to lose hope. It is pretty obvious that I’ve not lived my life according to His will for much of it. Now and for some time now I have been in His will that does not “make up” for the years of disobedience and hositilty. What will I say on that day?I am sure that He was hoping for some great things from me. And now? I shall do my best to make this part of my life pleasing to Him but I don’t think that is how He sees us. I read somewhere that we are not just our present selves, but the accumulation and accretion of all of our time of existence. So we are seen as an entity that incorporates our whole existence. Of course I am sorry and have regret over the part of my life that I wrecked but that does not make it not done. There is also this; I am who I am because partly of who I’ve been. Who I am is a person who loves God with his whole heart and strebgth and will. Partly I’ve become this person cause of my past experiences. I can only guess at what I’d be like had I never steped out of His will for me.

When I was a little guy, I used to sing orchestra music to Him. I would stomp up and down the driveway composing glorious music for my audience. A command performance if you will. When I would finsh I could hear applause and cheering too. you know, like “Bravo!”. That little boy is me too. I can see him in who I am now. So when He wants to know why He didn’t see more of me, I know that He didn’t see more of that boy or the man he would have become.

The Lord has me now. The admixture of everything that makes me who I am. I am happy to know Him. I will be happy to be with Him forever.

Peace, Tom
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There are so many things that I might say, sawman, in reply to that which you have written.

How could I understand? - if I did not share in moments lost, grievous sins committed,
opportunities for good that I passed by - much as those who chose to pass by the
wounded man on the road to Jericho? These are first thoughts that I offer,
grateful to you, Tom, for helping me to clarify the past, forgiveness, and that which
God intends.

If all of our sins and offenses were likened to dead and destoyed flowers
  • in His forgiveness, should we not turn toward the new Garden offered by our Creator?
Fresh and bedewed plants, raising their faces toward the Son…
is that not what God wills for each of us? A new Eden?

"For lo, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone…

Arise, My beloved, and come…"

Song of Songs: 2

reen
 
The Divine Author keeps His little human authors most aware of their weaknesses
and limitations. I find that I posted a mixed metaphor, above -
due to my now aged head, which becomes more tired more quickly.
Yet all that I could think of was God ‘making all things new.’

So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
[2 Corinthians]

As to the new creature that we are to become - and are in the midst of becoming -
Christians may look to the Book of Revelation, wherein God says:

“Behold, I make all things new.”
-Rev. 21:5

For the myriad ways in which we have failed and sinned, God knew this would be,
before the world was made. Even our sins - in our youth and beyond - God will
make use of.

Dieu écrit droit avec des lignes courbes…

“God writes straight with crooked lines.”

And thank God that He does.

reen12
 
"24 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. 26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. 27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season; 28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground. 31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works— 32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke. 33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. 35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord! "
Psalm 104

Blessed be the Name of the Lord! This is too deep for me! I have been renewed and re-created. I have been dismayed and seen my end in the dust of the earth. His mercy endures forever! Blessed be He! He makes all things new! Thanks be to Him.

This thread has been a blessing to me. The reflections and thinkings are multiplied and multiplied. I cannot keep up with the marvels He has shown me in the past few days. I am so thankful! Thank Him and bless His Holy Name! Amen!
Peace and love
Tom
 
I just thought of something - with regard to past sins, human weakness and limitation.
[The person whom we might have been, and the person who - in reality- we are.]

I’ve always interpreted the words of Jesus:

‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest…’

as having to do with the responsibilities that we carry, day in and day out.
The hardships that we may be burdened with, year after year after year.
But what if a given person feels burdened by their very self?
It’s hard sometimes, or many times, to be a human being.

Why the same sins? Why the perpetual confrontation between
what we would be and who, in reality, we are?

Is this the burden that Christ offers rest from?

Is He, in fact, more merciful and understanding toward each of us, than we are to our own self?

reen
 
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