everyone who asks, receives

Jesus assures us that whatsoever you ask, you will be given. The door you knock upon will be opened and what you seek, you will find. In the past I had understood this passage differently than I do now. I thought of it as simply an assurance that God would answer our prayers, especially if we are persistent. I thought of this as a passage that promised us that God would give us good things if only we asked for good things. This past week or so as I began to reflect upon it differently. I began to understand that Jesus is teaching us basic spiritual truths. I think Jesus is teaching us the truth that we both individually and collectively live the spiritual reality that we create for ourselves. If we seek peace, then we will find peace. If we seek love, then we will find love. If we seek fame, then we will find fame. If we seek financial well-being, then that too we will too often find. The problem is that each choice has its own consequences. We are living in a world that has been created by the consequences of the choices and actions that we have made both individually and collectively. Our world is the result of the choices and decisions we individually and collectively make.

I think we need to reflect upon what it is that we are seeking in our society and in our personal lives. Our corporations continue to grow and prosper while we have less and less time for each other. More and more of our lives are being consumed with maintaining our lifestyles and providing for our families. I wonder why that is. We live in a democracy where we the people make the choices about the kind of society we live in. Lenin is reported to have said that religion is the opium of the masses. I wonder if the opium of the masses isn't a little material comfort instead. What values will we compromise in order to maintain our standard of living? In Darfur hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. In the streets of Chicago children are shot as they walk down the street. In Iran 12 people were hanged for alleged crimes. In Afghanistan South Korean aid workers are murdered by those they were there to give aid to. In Iraq thousands have suffered and died in this alleged war on terrorism that seems so much worse than the war of terrorism. What is it we are asking for? What is it that we are seeking? What doors are we knocking upon?

I think this gospel passage has to be more than a source of comfort. It must challenge us too. Surely Jesus is not just teaching us to only ask for good things, even if they are good spiritual things, while we neglect everything else that is going on in the world. I don't think Jeuss is telling us that God will reward us for our self concern while there is so much suffering and injustice within the kingdom. No, I think that Jesus is teaching us that we can approach these daunting matters that confront us with confidence and hope. Peace is not a hopeless dream for the idealists of the world. It is not our destiny to kill each other. Our true human nature is not violence even if it at times it seems so. There really is another way and that way is the way of prayer. But prayer is not a selfish request line to God. Prayer is a time to reflect on the kind of kingdom that we seek instead of the kind of kingdom we live in. If we are to ask for God’s kingdom to come we must have an idea of what kind of kingdom we are asking for. We must begin with this idea of God’s kingdom and God’s justice when we pray. If we are to seek forgiveness, then we must give forgiveness. It is not possible to live in forgiveness while harboring hate and resentment. If we are to seek love, then we must live in love. We must start in prayer and then we must become that prayer which we pray much like our physical bodies become the bread that we eat. We become what we consume in our heart and our mind and our body. We are the result of our thoughts and dreams and the actions they give rise to. We can judge the kind of doors we are knocking on by judging the decisions we make on how we spend our time, our energy, our love and our money. Every choice we make is constantly being manifested in our individual lives and ultimately in our collective life. We are living the life we choose. We are responsible for our actions and the impact it has in our lives and in our society. If we are at war with each other, then it is because we have chosen to be at war with each other. The really good news for us is that regardless of how hopeless it might seem, the situation is never without hope. We can make different choices and it begins with the kind of prayer life we have. It always begins with prayer. Our hopes and dreams must be based on God’s idea of mercy and justice and not our own. It is God’s kingdom that we are to seek not ours. As we redirect our prayers to reflect these values, then our world will begin to change. It is not necessary to live in fear and hopelessness. It is not necessary to settle for a little television as the basis for our lives. Our lives can be meaningful and filled with hope and love. There are other options for us, and we can make different decisions about our personal lives as well as for our society. It begins by examining the values we have chosen and the direction we are headed. We must begin where we are at, then we must become aware of what it is we are asking for, and what it is we are seeking. We must reflect upon what kind of doors we are knocking on. Are we looking for purpose filled lives that are directed at facilitating the coming of God’s kingdom, or are we seeking a life that is built around securing our own kingdom? Jesus offers us assurance that the Father in heaven will give his Holy Spirit - his Holy Breath to those who ask. This breath of God will nourishes us and give us the strength to persist in prayer and build up our strength so we can seek not for our kingdom, but for the kingdom of God to come.

bases upon a reflection on Lk 11:1-13

After spending 11 years in prison Al Hallaq was tortured and crucified by the Abbasid rulers. There are many accounts which say that even under torture Al Hallaj was calm, detached and was willing to forgivee those who tortured him.

Before Al Hallaj was put to death he said:

Now stands no more between Truth and me
Or reasoned demonstration,
Or proof of revelation;
Now, brightly blazing full, Truth's lumination
Each flickering, lesser light.

Al Halláj was a legendary Iranian Sufi master who lived between 858 - 922 AD.

I do not cease swimming in the seas of love,
rising with the wave, then descending;
now the wave sustains me, and then I sink beneath it;
love bears me away where there is no longer any shore.
- (Diwan al-Hallaj, M. 34)



" For your sake, I hurry over land and water:
For your sake, I cross the desert and split the mountain in two,
And turn my face from all things,
Until the time I reach the place
Where I am alone with You."

To Reach God -Al Hallaj

"To Reach God From:Perfume of the Desert: Edited: Andrew Harvey

The Sunrise Ruby
In the early morning hour,just before dawn,
lover and beloved wake and take a drink of water.
She ask, "Do you love me or yourself more?
Really, tell the absolute truth."
He says, "There’s nothing left of me.
I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone, or a world made of redness?
It has no resistance to sunlight."
This is how Hallaj said, I am God, and told the truth!
The ruby and the sunrise are one.
Be courageous and discipline yourself.
Completely become hearing and ear,
and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.
Work. Keep digging your well.
Don’t think about getting off from work.
Water is there somewhere.
Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that is a ring on the door.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who’s there.

The Essential Rumi Coleman Barks

i search for signs of peace. i believe if you search for peace you will find peace. i believe if you ask for peace you will be given peace. In this day of violence where we are being taught to be suspicious of each other i have chosen to look for peace amongst those we are being taught to suspect. Below is a portion of a poem from a Muslim perspective on Jesus written by Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, from "Christ after the Crucifixion." Ironically Al-Sayyab was born in Iraq and lived between 1926 - 1964. So he is a fairly recent poet. One whose voice hopefully represents many people both Muslim and non-Muslim. I think if we are to be free of our suspicion, we will have to spend time at the feet of Jesus and listen to him. After all Jesus is a significant person that both faiths share in common. I think if we do seek Jesus we will find his presence amongst the crucified of Iraq and throughout the suffering in the middle east. If we are to experience peace in our time it will not be at the end of a gun, whether it be an Islamic fundamentalistic gun, or an American fundamentalistic gun. Freedom cannot be imposed on a nation any more than an ideology. I think we all share a hope for inner peace and freedom that is born of a common human experience. Often we express ourselves differently and we misunderstand and are misunderstood, but I believe we all share the same desire for expression.

I was in the beginning, and in the beginning was Poverty.
I died that bread may be eaten in my name; that they plant me in season.
How many lives will I live! For in every furrow of earth
I have become a future, I have become a seed.
I have become a race of men, in every human heart
A drop of my blood, or a little drop.

After they nailed me and I cast my eyes towards the city
I hardly recognised the plain, the wall, the cemetery;
As far as the eye could see, it was somethingLike a forest in bloom.
Wherever the vision could reach,there was a cross, a grieving mother
The Lord be sanctified! This is the city about to give birth.

a journey home

i searched frantically for the ever elusive more
more time and more space for more me
more clothes than those I can wear
a home with more rooms to isolate in
televisions and computers to numb my brain
whatever happened to appreciation for the earthworm and sparrow?
i leave for vacation lands in far away places
where the same sun sets and rises
on scenes no grander than those I leave behind
we pass in airports seeking new experiences
you seeking mine, me seeking yours
perhaps it would be better to know our own a little deeper
and just be a little more present with those more near to us
when will i learn how much is enough?
Here is enough to sustain an eternal life
with an infinity of joy and happiness
if only I will take a moment to be present with it.

i travel to distant lands, but I always return here to home.

there is need of only one

Based on a reading of Luke's gospel, Chapter 10: 38-42

I am mary the listener
content and in love.
i am martha the servant
anxious and jealous.
I am jesus the witness
steadfast and ever present.
listening aware I AM one
as he and his father are too
anxiously despairing
i am apart, separated by two

“you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.”

Based on a reading of Luke's gospel, Chapter 10: 38-42

Jesus lays bare the heart of the gospel to Martha and to us. What is this one thing that is needed? So often we hear this passage being explained as a comparison of the contemplative life with that of the life of service. At first glance it appears that Jesus is telling Martha that Mary has chosen well. It may even appear that Mary has made the better choice. When we first enter this scene we find Martha welcoming Jesus, but quickly burdened with service while Mary remains listening. Is it jealousy that has caused Martha to ask Jesus to rebuke Mary? Perhaps the lesson is about welcoming and what is required of welcoming. Welcoming is a spirit of receiving another with joy and being present with them. In today’s reading we find Martha welcoming, but quickly turning her energy to service. Has she denied herself the moment of presence and in return been denied the peace and tranquility that it brings? Does she serve seeking reward and recognition instead of finding joy in her service?

This story is juxtaposed in an interesting place in Luke’s gospel. The reading before is the famous story of the Samaritan found beaten along the road, and the passage to follow is Jesus’ teaching on how to pray. Again this relationship between service and prayer is found. If we search for clues in the story of the Samaritan to the answer regarding the question, what is the one thing there is need of, then we find the answer to be love. Love of God and love of neighbor. If we look to the Lord’s prayer reading we find that askers and seekers and knockers are rewarded for their effort. Those that ask, and seek, and knock are rewarded what they are looking for. We find the assurance that good things are given those who seek good things. In between these two passages we find Mary at Jesus’ feet listening, and Martha busy at work serving. It is not the listening that Jesus honors anymore than Martha's service that he denounces. Jesus is no more honored by one listening at his feet, than one serving. Jesus merely is the witness, the observer who states what is obvious. His statement is not a judgement. It is a simple observation that Mary finds the better part. She has found what she has sought and Martha has not, or perhaps she also has. We are rewarded according to what we seek. Seek love and be rewarded with love. Seek peace and find peace. Deny yourself and you are denied.

The one thing that there is need of is love. Service in the spirit of love is equally as fulfilling and rewarding as contemplation and prayer in the spirit of love. It is by being present that we learn to love and find the grace to serve. In welcoming we become present. We sit at the feet and listen carefully. But that does not mean listening is better than service, only the attitude must be the same. Our service cannot be in a spirit of self-denial which makes us bitter. It would be better not to serve than to serve in such a spirit. Our service must be as fulfilling as our listening because it must feed us as fully. We do not serve for the benefit of others. We serve because we are in need of service. There is no separation for Jesus between our neighbor and between God. In Mathew's gospel Jesus tells us that the least we have done to our brothers and sisters we have done to him. It is not an act of denial that is required. There is no reward for self denial, only for love and the reward is the gift itself. It is in love that we experience the divine whether we are in service or we are listening. If we are not being fed and nourished, then it is time to sit at his feet and listen.

The journey begins here and now. It must always begin here and now, there is no other place or time to begin. It must always end here and now too, there is no other place or time to go. We always were here in the now and always will be. We just didn't know it. The question for us must be what do we do with it? Will we try helplessly to escape back to a past that is too far gone, or run helplessly after a future that never comes. How will we define our moment, or should we call it a movement from the present moment to the present moment? A walking without steps.

Seeking for God or truth I find there is no truth, no God, but that is wrong too! Truth can only be sought, never found or possessed. Truth just is and its relevance is self explanatory -truth just is. An imposed truth is truth no more. To say there is a God is to suggest that there is something more, and to say there is no God is to minimize the significance of what there is. There cannot be anything more than what there is, but that is not the same as to suggest that there is less. There can be no other place or time for God other than the here and now. This is all there is, this present moment, this here and now, but It is enough!

Let the journey begin here and now, and let it end here and now. Let us travel to where we already are and stand at this pinnacle to gaze upon all of its beauty and splendor and wonder. It is enough!

Wonder Light, pure and simple you enlighten!
in vain I struggle to contain what you illuminate
to find that the illuminated cannot be contained
instead I find the enlightened is illuminated.

O Lord! May I not grasp for what is not,
instead be grasped by what is!