Evidence of the Presence of God

My friend was a “Catholic Formation Instructor” for 14 Public H. S. Sophomores, at his parish, 15-years ago. The topic for their weekly Study was “Social Justice”. About half-way through their 1st Session, my friend asked, “How many of you attend Sunday Mass?” Only 1 hand went up.

How many of you have stood in line for hours to buy a ticket to see your favorite “Rock Star”? All hands went up. (The word “Worship” comes from the Olde English word “Worth-Ship”, meaning what we value most.)

My friend then said, “Allow me to tell you why I go to Sunday Mass. I Don’t go to get a “Tick-Mark”, for keeping a Commandment, to avoid going to Hell. That’s really a stupid reason to go. I go for the Consecration & Communion. At the Consecration, the Priest holds up the Host and says, “This Is My Body”, just like Christ said at the “Last Supper”.

God is the antecedent of the pronoun “You” in the above YouTube music video

The Priest didn’t say, “This is sorta, kinda-like my Body” or “This Represents My Body”. No. With great clarity and absolute certainty, the Priest says, “This is My Body”. Somehow (I don’t know how) God is present in that Host.

• · The same God that created everything, including making you, “in His Image & Likeness”.
• · The same God that sent His Son, Jesus, to become Man, and die to forgive your sins.
• · The same God that sent you The Holy Spirit, to give you the Gift of Grace – To enhance your reconciled relationship with God.
  

More Wonderful, is that same God is present in the Host that you receive at Communion. Then, you experience the presence of God within you.

• · The same Power & Wisdom of the Father – the Creator.
• · The same Mercy & Love of the Son – the Redeemer.
• · The same Peace & Joy of the Holy Spirit – the Giver of Grace.,
  

You experience all of that, when you receive Communion.

“Panis Angelicus” means “The Bread of Angels”.

Then, I want to share all that with my family and friends. Not by words. But by reflecting the experience of receiving God’s Love in Communion. Not by telling. But by being a better man. That’s the wonderful relationship between the members of the Mystical Body of Christ. It’s a Cosmic Collection of sharing “Lumen Christi” – the Light of Christ – with each other. Everything else is just so much rubbish. That’s why I go to Sunday Mass.

“I go because I Want to, because I Need to. Not, because I have to.”

Molly blurted out, “No one explained it to me, like that, before.”

The above music video expresses the functional definition of reflecting “Lumen Christi”, the “Light of Christ” to others.

Six weeks later, my friend asked, “How many went to Sunday Mass?” – 8 arms shot up.

That increase in Mass attendance is a tribute to the Holy Spirit opening minds, softening hearts, and touching souls. My friend merely made the effort to share his experience. The Holy Spirit did the “Heavy-Lifting” of changing behavior.

Occasionally, my friend will see Molly at Sunday Mass, with her mother & sister. If their eyes meet, they both smile. Their smiles speak volumes about the intervention of the Holy Spirit, in our lives, through Communion.

The YouTube music video below expresses the essence of Communion with God, and the communion with each other.

It’s reminiscent of God’s presence with us, beginning with the Birth in Bethlehem. MERRY CHRISTMAS – EVERYONE.

 

God Speaks to us in Different Ways – Not Just Through the Bible

My friend acknowledges that the Bible is the “inspired Word of God”. However, The Bible is not the “Only Way” God speaks to us. “Sola Scriptura” is wrong. God speaks to us in many ways: through the sciences of Anthropology, Astrology, Biology, Geology, Paleontology, etc. As Christ said, “If the disciples become quiet, the stones will cry out.”. God also speaks to us through Art, Music, Poetry, Sculpture, etc.

The following are detailed examples of God speaking to us in different ways:

Astronomers & Astrophysicists conclude: “If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision, we could never have come into existence. Earth’s location, size, composition, structure, atmosphere, temperature, internal dynamics, and many intricate cycles essential to life (i. e. the Carbon Cycle) testify the our planet is exquisitely balanced . These highly choreographed geological processes are precisely tuned for life, and point to a Designer with a purpose for mankind. Or, As Einstein astutely observed,”God doesn’t roll dice.”

Carl Sagan was ABSURDLY WRONG by pontificating that the earth was an “Unremarkable Rock” in the universe. (His Bias. Not Fact.)  Overwhelming concrete data points to: A highly choreographed delicate system of multiple, complex, interrelated dependencies unlike anything else in the Universe. An Extremely “Remarkable Rock”.

Biologists discovered “Intelligence” in the DNA molecule:

The Intelligence in the DNA molecule pays homage to the power and wisdom of an awesome, magnificent Creator. Or, as the title of Stephen Meyer’s book proclaims, “(God’s) Signature in the Cell:

“In a process known as Transcription, a molecular machine first unwinds a section of the DNA Helix, to expose the genetic instructions needed to assemble a specific protein molecule.

•  Another machine then copies those instructions to form a molecule known as messenger RNA. When that transcription is complete, the slender RNA strand carries that genetic information…out of the cell’s nucleus. The messenger RNA strand is directed to a 2-part molecular factory called a Ribosome…
• Inside the Ribosome, a molecular assembly line builds a specifically sequenced chain of amino acids. These amino acids are transported from other parts of the cell, and then linked into chains often hundreds of units long. Their sequential arrangement determines the type of protein manufactured.
• When the chain is finished, it is moved from the Ribosome to a barrel shaped machine that helps fold it into the precise shape critical to its function.
• After the chain is folded into a protein, it is then released and shepherded by another molecular machine to the exact location where it is needed.”

 None of the 7 Billion DNA molecules are alike It is mathematically impossible for this process to have occurred by “Random Chance”.

Paleontologists & Anthropologists and The Fossil Record & The Cambrian Explosion:

Darwin’s 1859 “Origin of the Species” postulated that there would be millions of “Transitional Fossils” of many mutations from one “Kind” to another, in the fossil record. The fossil record would be the ultimate irrefutable proof of Evolution. Without numerous transitional fossils, Darwin admitted that his theory would be False.

Paleontologists & anthropologists confirm that the dazzling display of thousands of fully formed fossils found in the “Cambrian Explosion” was created in a geological blink of an eye. This stunning variety of complex creatures has NO Transitional fossils, as required by Darwin.

The Cambrian Explosion gave rise to the sudden appearance of most of the major animal Phyla that are still alive today. These findings are absolutely contrary to “Darwin’s Tree of Life”. These animals, which are fundamentally different in their body plans, appear fully developed, all of a sudden, in what paleontologists have called, “The single most spectacular phenomenon of the fossil record.”

The Cambrian Explosion turns Darwin’s “Tree of Life” upside-down, because the major groups of animals come first, instead of last, on top of the tree.

“Biologist, Michel Behe’s book, “Darwin’s Black Box“refutes the evolutionary process of many small random steps, by the “Principle of Irreducible Complexity”: Irrefutable scientific confirmation of complex biological entities that can only function if ALL OF THEIR PARTS EXIST AT THE SAME TIME, i. e. the human eye, the human ear, etc.

Einstein said that “You cannot look at the human eye and not believe in God.“ The eye requires an intricate combination of complex parts to perform its function. Furthermore, even a complete eye is useless unless it belongs to a creature with the mental and neural capacity to process the information provided. Evolution allows only for small mutations and not this complex capacity all at once.

The ear is capable of sensory response to sound whose pressure at the eardrum is no greater than two ten thousandths of a millionth of barometric pressure. This pressure moves the ear drum about one hundred millionth of an inch. That dimension is approximately one hundredth the width of a hydrogen molecule.  Random chance cannot accommodate that precision.

The above YouTube music video captures the Essence of God’s Power & Wisdom expressed through Science.

Art expresses the Portrayal of God’s Creation, Forgiveness, & Reconciliation with Man

My friend reminded me that the Bible’s “Word of God” is one way to experience Cod’s Creation, Forgiveness, & Reconciliation with Man. For centuries, “Art” served that purpose.

Michelangelo’s magnificent Sistine Chapel portrayal of the “Creation of Man” – A powerful fatherly figure pointing His finger toward a perfectly formed man, who is pointing his finger upward toward the Father – captures the essence of man being made in the image & likeness of God.

Rembrandt’s poignant painting of the “Prodigal Son” –   A forgiving Father’s unconditional love portrayed by placing both of his hands (The masculine left hand & the feminine right hand) on the shoulders of a penitent, worthless son, under the harsh, self-righteous glare of an indignant son & brother – captures the essence of God’s unilateral, unconditional love for His progeny.  

Music as an Expression of God Singing to our Souls

Puccini’s Aria, “Nessun Dorma” is beyond brilliant. The genius to arrange the thousands of different notes for violins, cellos, French horns, kettle drums, and the multitude of myriad instruments of a symphony orchestra, in concert with the inspiring sounds from an Opera tenor, to create a harmonious crescendo that stirs the heart of God, is beyond mortal men’s imagination.

On a clear, cool night in Rome, under a thousand stars, with a 100-piece orchestra, the Three Tenors: Pavarotti, Carerras, and Domingo, sang Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” with the precision of one voice, and the power of a hundred. The end result was a thunderous finale, unlike anything heard before or since. If you listened closely, you could hear God’s applause among the hundreds’ standing in ovation.

Above YouTube Music Video Captures the Essence of the Blog Post Message

That performance was the secular musical version of God’s creative gift, blessing a rare few. Handel’s “Messiah” is obviously the spiritual musical equivalent.

A Sunrise and Sunset Reveals God to All

The Lyrics of the Above YouTube Music Video Beautifully Confirm This Blog Post Message: God Speaks To Us In Many Ways

The majestic, magenta of a sunset, the “Swings of Pleiades”, and the reddening of a rose can be enjoyed by all – inspiring different people, in different ways to recognize God’s Power & Wisdom, and Peace & Joy.  They allow all of us to know & love God.

The Bible is the best, direct guidance to salvation. It’s just Not “Sola” Scriptura – “The Only Way”. God opens minds, softens hearts, and touches souls in many ways for All of God’s Children to seek His Companionship: “As the deer pants for the flowing stream, so our souls thirst for the Living God.”

For millenniums, The Catholic Church falsely claimed that it was the Only Way to salvation. Catholics used their “Catechism” the way that Protestants use Biblical verses. God is much bigger than both. God created many ways to know Him, and to love Him and love others.

That’s the great Cosmic Mystery of the “Body of Christ” Billions of members, all different from each other, all with different talents supporting each other, through the gift of Grace, all valued the same, by God.

God speaks to all of His creation though His Gift of Grace. His Message is, “To Love one another, as I (Christ) Love You”.

The above YouTube music video expresses the “Amazing Grace” through which God speaks to us. God’s Grace opens minds, softens hearts, and touches souls to believe in Him,  enabling us to enjoy the companionship of God.

 

 

 

                                                                                                

                                                                       

                                                                                                                  

A Life of Participation with God’s Love –A summary of the “Letters of St. Paul”, by Richard Rohr  

The power and value of St. Paul’s letters is that they are a transformational experience of his relationship with God – participation in the Mystical Body of Christ – participation in a corporate personality bigger & stronger than himself.

Paul was a devout Jew, who strictly obeyed “The Law”. On the road to Damascus to arrest more Christians, he was blinded by a bright light and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” I am Jesus, the Nazorean.” 

N. B. The pronoun: “Me” was the life-changing distinction. Paul was persecuting people who believed in Christ. For Christ to make no distinction between Himself and those who believed in Christ, was transformational for Paul. Belief in Christ was the same as sharing the life of Christ – the same as Christ being in the life of the believer. It was the basis of Paul’s analogy of the Mystical Body of Christ.

We are acquitted of our sins by belief in Christ’s death. By belief in Christ’s resurrection, we are reconciled into the life of God. As worthless broken branches, we are re-grafted into the life-giving vine of God. As such, God’s love flows though us, to others. That is the wonderful dynamic of the Mystical Body of Christ. God’s unilateral gift of love to one part, is shared with each other part. There is a Corporate, Cosmic Unity to the Mystical Body of Christ.

More incredible, was Christ choosing Paul, a sinner (a hateful murderer), to be His “Apostle to the Gentiles”. Paul understood that he did nothing to deserve that selection, which led to his theme of “Grace”. (Grace is the Gyroscope for our soul.) Grace means free gift. We do nothing to earn it. Grace is not performance based. God loves us as we are – imperfect sinners. Paul states, “just as the first Adam separated us from God, so the second Adam redeemed us.” Our redemption was nothing that we earned by keeping Laws (Galatians). Keeping Laws and doing good deeds doesn’t make God love us. God already loves us, so He sent His Son, to reconcile us with Him.

Paul eschews the notion of meritorious “Ladder Theology” – that we climb to heaven by the performance of good deeds and adherence to Laws, to make us worthy of God’s acceptance. Our culture believes in Pavlov’s paradigm: Stimulus /Response /Reward: If we work hard, and produce good results, we get our reward. It’s a quid-pro-quo system based on performance & justice. Christ’s death & resurrection turned that paradigm upside-down. Christ knows we are guilty, and acquits us, anyway.

That universal forgiveness is counter intuitive to the performance principle. It is God’s unconditional love, not performance & justice, that hung on the Cross. Paul acknowledged the guilt and futility of “Ladder Theology” when he wrote, “When I what to do good, I don’t. And when I want to avoid evil, I do it anyway.” – (Romans). Paul’s transformation came from his experience of God’s love, not Paul’s worthiness.

Paul knew that the Old Testaments’ bi-lateral covenants were broken by humanity. Christ’s New Testament covenant is unilateral love. Paul wrote his letters without the benefit of reading the gospels, which were written later.

• Paul never knew about the thief, crucified with Christ, who said, “I deserve my punishment, because I led an awful life. You don’t deserve to be crucified, because you are a good man.” To which Christ replied, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.”
• Paul didn’t know that Christ prayed for His executioners, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
• Paul didn’t know that Christ told the synagogue official, whose child had died, “Be not afraid. Just have faith”, and the child lived.
• Paul didn’t know Christ’s parable about the “Prodigal Son” is about mercy, or the parable about paying laborers the same for different performance.

That’s the Paschal Mystery.

The hardest thing to accept is that God accepts us, “As Is”. God knows we are guilty, then acquits us, by Christ’s death. We become a “new creation” – children of God – heirs to heaven by Christ’s resurrection. As such, we will love God, and others, as much as we allow God to love us. Or the reciprocal, we will love God as much as we love someone else the least.

The dynamic of the Mystical Body is to allow the “vertical” Grace of God to flow “horizontally” through broken vessels to each other, whose love, in turn, flows back to God, and so on and so on. We share God’s love because we want to, not because we have to. We love God out of gratitude, not out of the fear of punishment.

This transformational conversion experience of living “In Christo” results in “suffering and death”. Paul speaks of dying to the old-self. The old-self is selfish. It’s petty and needy of admiration and affirmation though praise of achievement – through the acquisition of things. The old-self is defined by persons and things outside of itself. It’s fragile, because its validity is determined by changing life situations.

Paul turns that cultural notion upside-down. Our value comes from the life of Christ within us. We are made by God, and for God. Until we understand that, life won’t make sense. By dying to selfishness, we experience the presence of God within us, and live “In Christo”. The “old-self” is powerless against “Powers and Principalities”. The “New Creation” in Christ, triumphs. When we suffer reversals by rebellion (sin – “kicking against the goads”), we will gain renewal through participation.

Participation in the Mystical Body of Christ shares in the Pascal Mystery of Death & Resurrection, and of Loss & Renewal. By Christ sharing in our humanity, our humanity shares in His Divinity. Not by doing what is right, nor by knowing (Augustine wrote that Satan knows the creeds of the Church), but by experiencing the presence of God within us. The Mystical Body of Christ is a bunch of broken branches re-grafted into the life-giving vine of God. It’s the progeny of Christ’s unilateral covenant of unconditional love through the Gift of Grace.

The Sanctuary of our Soul experiences Christ’s Love by being in Communion with God through Grace.

As a result, we will keep Commandments & do Good Deeds by participating in the Mystical Body of Christ.

“Linking” the Opposing Forces of Time & Matter, and Eternity & Spirit

My friend was pondering the paradoxical, opposing forces of Humanity living in a world subject to the constraints of Time & Matter, while God lives as an Eternal Spirit. The analogy of different dimensions helped to understand the distinctions: Imagine if you lived in a world of Only 2 Dimensions: Length & Width, NO Height or Thickness.

Then imagine how you would describe an “Apple” passing through your 2-Dimensional World:

You would say, “An apple is 4-dots, then a series of expanding & contracting concentric circles, ending with a single dot.” Your description would be accurate, given the limitations of your 2-Dimensional World. But your description would be nowhere near capturing the actual essence of an apple.

Likewise, the same difficulty exists trying to understand Eternity (the constant present, with no beginning or end) from the perspective of the linear Time-Continuum constraint of intervals, from a beginning forward.

For example, imagine that Time is represented by a “line” written horizontally across a page from left to right: At the far left-side of the line is 1900. At the far right-side of the line is 2000. Then 9 vertical lines, equidistant from each other are between 1900 and 2000. They are marked as 1910, 1920 ,1930, and so on. That horizontal “Tine-Line” now represents the 10 decades between 1900 and 2000.

Eternity has no beginning, nor end. There is NO horizontal line progressing from one date to another date. There is just a constant NOW, an Eternal PRESENT, with NO Past, NOR any Future. We would have to turn that Horizontal Time- Line 90 degrees, which would be just a DOT, to represent the constant present. That’s hard for our limitation of only knowing “Time” to imagine

The same problem exists understanding the distinction between Matter & Spirit. Our body, and everything around it, is a collection of physical atoms. Our body and every thing else can be measured and described by the various arrangements of these basic atoms. In fact, the 7 Billion people on earth have 7 Billion different arrangements of the DNA molecules. Every thing else has their own specific identifying arrangement of atoms.

Conversely,  C. S. Lewis observed, “We don’t have a soul. We are a Soul. We have a body.” Furthermore, the Bible states, “We are made in the Image & Likeness of God.” God is a Spirit. A Soul / Spirit has No Atoms. A Soul / Spirit can’t be measured. Can’t even be seen. So, we assign anthropomorphic attributes to describe and understand God, a Spirit. The extension of the finite mind to comprehend an Infinite Spirit, God, is as futile as the limited 2-dimensional world trying to understand an apple.

All of our analogies fall pathetically short. All of our insightful extrapolations are wildly wide of their mark. However, somehow, somewhere inside of each of us is an awareness of a Power Greater than ourselves. So. there is a yearning from the Sanctuary of our soul within us to connect with the Spiritual Being that created us. (“As the deer pants for the flowing stream, so our soul thirsts for the Living God”)

The above YouTube music video is a tribute to the Creator of All Things

Grace is a gift from God that connects His creation of humanity to the bosom of God (Please forgive the anthropomorphic reference). That connection requires Faith. There is no scale, no yardstick, no microscope that can measure or see our soul or the Spirit of God. There is no algorithm or logical explanation to understand God, and His relation to humanity.

In the quiet stillness of the night, when the mind rests and the heart opens, you may hear God’s small voice say, “Let not your heart be troubled, for I am with you always. I sent My Son to die for your sins. Just believe in Me.” And you will rest in the palm of My hand. Now & forever.

That connection is an experience. It doesn’t come from keeping commandments, doing good deeds, or knowing Scriptural verses. The connection of the Sanctuary of our soul with God is a Relationship built upon:

• humility of creature to Creator,
• gratitude of sinner to savior,
• obedience of servant to Master,
• and trust that God is sovereign over all things.

This life-long relationship journey has many twists & turns requiring repentance, “To create in me a new clean heart.”  Grace serves as the “Gyroscope for our Soul” – seeking the companionship of God.

Above YouTube Video Captures the Essence of this Blog Post Message

The inspired Psalmist writes, “As the deer pants for the flowing stream, so our our soul thirsts for the Living God.” 

The solution to the Cosmic Mystery of “Linking” the Finite & the Infinite, of “Linking” the Material & the Spirit is to open your mind, soften your heart, and allow your soul to EXPERIENCE the presence of the Companionship of God within you: It’s a Phenomenal Experience of “Peace & Joy”. That’s the Gift of God’s Grace.

You don’t have TO DO ANYTHING. Just “Empty” yourself of Current Concerns, Past Regrets, and Future Worries. Just “BE” in a “State of Acceptance”. And the Sanctuary of your Soul will be awash with “Peace & Joy. Guaranteed.