MY LORD
May 9th As you can see, if you have surfed your way to this website, my purpose here on earth is music and writing. Truly they are my passions. If you then managed to find this obscure corner of the website I guess you might wonder what is going on. When I started this site, they gave me a .org URL destination. That rather concerned me at first. I'm going to promote music here. As time went on I developed this site by guess or by golly, and I saw a chance to make that .org destination make sense. I could tell the people who manage to reach this out of the way place, this tiny dot on the huge cyber landscape, what it is that is my deeper concern, what we all should take some time each day to dwell on, that road which is more important by far than the music and the words. I wanted to get my priorities straight . God is first. Always. He commanded it, He deserves it, and every day we all need to remind ourselves of this. His love for his children is such that we should be glad to repay him for our blessings. My wife is second. This is the way to a strong marriage. God first, my partner second, me third. We include his strength to support our weaknesses. We ask his help and guidance every day. We are always rewarded.
I know this is not an easy perspective in this modern age. We are blasted with Me, Me, Me, consume, succeed, (at all costs). We are told we are little gods and goddesses, all we need is power, and cars , and narcissism, and the heck with anyone who gets in the way. Obscenity is taken for granted, rude behavior is encouraged, disguised as humor, rationalized as, "I am more important than you, my time is more important than yours. I'm going to cut you off in my SUV without using my blinkers because you are inconsequential in my eyes." We are so inundated with this message that it is difficult to step outside of it, into the silence, stop and reflect, listen to God's voice in silence and meditation. Many of us have never heard it. We don't know we have access. We don't know that God is in and through, and a part of each and every one of us, his children. He speaks to us. In the silence, in dreams, through his ministers, and the word. There is no true happiness in this worldly madness, this self love. We grope our way through new age cures, pseudo sciences, secular philosophies, and we refuse to acknowledge God, the only answer. C.S. Lewis, an atheist until the age of 45, spoke about his coming to know God. He said it was only when he realized that every question on this earth had the same answer, God. He then gave his heart and soul, freely, to God. Freedom only comes with servitude. It is only in devotion to God that we find true love in our hearts.
So this little ministry is just a place of gratitude. A place to put into words the most important thing in all of our lives. God created the music along with everything else in this universe, for our use, to make a joyful noise. Although we may not always play spiritual songs of praise directly to Him, all of our music is a prayer, a worship, stating, thank you God for giving these gifts.
If it directs our minds towards God, how can it be wrong.
We are talking about larger issues here. Are you a child of God, or not? "This is the only answer" said the voice, crying in the wilderness.You are dealing with something here which knows no bounds. There is no scope too large.
There is a voice crying in the wilderness. It says, "Are you a child of God? Are you part of God's plan? I am talking about the big issues here. Accountability. There will come a Passover morning, an Easter morning, when God will not pass over. He will come. It's not going to be about the Easter bunny. You will see judgement on that final morning. How do you stand with your brothers and sisters here on earth? Do you treat them as you would like to be treated? Do you love them as you love yourself? Do you see God in the least of your brothers and sisters? Do you love God with your whole heart? With all your being? Is the Holy Spirit at work in your life?
I am the voice crying in the wilderness. I say our God is a kind and loving God. He will give his children everlasting life. We will be one with Him. Have you felt his presence in the stillness? You will be one with Him now, on Earth, if you surrender. He is in your very soul, your being. You are a part of Him. Let go of the sorrows and unrest you carry in your heart. Let Him heal you. There is a lightness of being, a freedom like none you have known. Offer up the tough decisions to Him, then rest in His grace.
I am the voice crying in the wilderness. Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew ch3 vs1 Make ready the way the of the Lord. Make straight His paths." Matthew ch3 vs3
It is not easy to think of the consequences of turning our backs on God. Of denying the Creators master plan for the universe. The truth is separation from God. An eternal separation.
I don't know if Hell will be lakes of fire, an eternity of burning. I know that an eternity without the presence of God, an eternity of darkness, with no hope and no light-- that is what you will face.
"Repent. Make ready."
Why do we not say, fear of the Lord, anymore? Because we do not fear him. We do not even think of Him anymore. We've had generations of cynical comedians, and lost soul journalists who make the subject a triviality.
So, we don't fear. We just go about our every day lives and tell ourselves that we are moral people and we aren't hurting anyone when we don't believe. And we believe it. We have a moral compass but it is not centered on God. it is centered on ourselves because we have been telling ourselves that we are the center of our existence and we need to take care of #1 and we tell beggars, "Get a job!" and we can't give Him any time on Sunday morning because that is when we play golf or drink coffee, or read newspapers and surely that doesn't hurt anyone does it.?
No. It doesn't. But if you do not give the Lord who created you, and Loves you, and makes your existence possible- if you give Him nothing, no praise, no gratitude, you are hurting yourself. And you need to fear the Lord. You do not know Him. You do not acknowledge him.. Do not stand apart from the One whom you are tied to as Father and all creation, all one in him.
This universe was created. By Him. It is not just something that evolved through chance from the Big Bang. Evolution occurs, yes, everyday, but it is God's hand at work, not chance playing out in the species. Your evolution as a human will not be complete when you die. There will be another place for you to go.
I think of the sayings of our Lord, and it occurs to me that the one thing he said which most upset the Pharisees in the Sanhedrin, the words which really sealed His fate, which led to the cross and resurrection; were these-
"The first commandment of all is, Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is one God. You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul. With your whole mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. On these commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Mark Ch. 12 vs 29-31
They took His words to be a betrayal of Moses. They could not see that in these two simple commandments all the others were contained. They did not want to give up vindictiveness, and separateness, for simplicity and forgiveness. Jesus was talking about everyone. All the children of God. Jew and Gentile. This was simply too vast and different for them to even imagine. This would mean treating the Samaritans with respect. Forgiving people who had obviously violated the laws of Moses.
Unthinkable. How could something so simple be so difficult? No- he had to die. This was way too radical a departure for them.
As it is for us today. Still just as radical a concept. Treating that guy at the office who is such a goof off with compassion? No way! That jerk ahead of us in line at the grocery store- surely he cannot be one of God's children.
So we try to radiate just a fraction of the love that Jesus had, the love that produced cures, and drove out demons and made some people want to walk in faith and hope and love like Him.
What Jesus is saying here is the Golden rule, known to the ancients long before Jesus's day combined with something radically new- treat my neighbor as myself- whoa now! that is too much. Well, Jesus asks us to see the divine in every child of God, as he does. It's not easy. It can bring ridicule, it can open us up to scorn and danger. We follow the truth the way and the light.
May 10th God is not the cause of war. He can never be. It is mankind. Mankind has such a limited vision. We cannot see. So we have animosity towards our brothers and sisters here on Earth. We use our concept of religion as a weapon, using God's name as we deprive others of their rights, and deprive ourselves of God's blessings.
Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Holy land. Any place where God's children battle in the name of religion. All alike. All wrong in God's eyes. No different.
The angels were among God's first creations. They differed from us in that they had complete clarity of vision. They could see all the implications and ramifications of every situation. So when they decided they were equals with God, they fell, just as Adam and Eve did. The difference was their complete vision. We as men will never have that, and so we must trust in God. If we set ourselves up as judges, or little tin gods, we are doomed. When Lucifer fell, he could not be forgiven, because he knew fully well what he was doing. We can be forgiven. Seventy times seven times. Every day. 24/7. A thousand times a day. Let God do his job. Do not judge for Him, or in his name.
But we must remember, Jesus always said, "Go- and sin no more." He did not say, condone this bad behavior. Support this disobedience, accept these rude manners, show no respect. Compassion, with detachment.
Have you ever heard of the Jesus prayer? It comes from the desert fathers. Those early teachers of the way. "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner." A thousand times a day. they used it like breathing. Breathe in, Lord Jesus. Breathe out, have mercy. This short beautiful prayer is a connection to God, a prayer for forgiveness. It is valuable in cutting through the distractions in our everyday life. I use it instead of the old, "count to ten" when I am tempted to be angry or impatient with someone. WWJD
March 27th. I remember the fascination this time of year had for me, when I was an Easter- Christmas Christian. You know them. They are the people in your church who only darken the pews twice a year. I had a background of strong teaching, I had a deep and abiding love for the faith, but in my mind I was still off on some mystical search for-- what? I didn't know. I suppose I thought some deep, hidden truth would suddenly pounce on me, unaware, and my eyes would be open. You can wander up and down a lot of extremely interesting dead end streets this way. I was brought back into the fold by my son. They say our children teach us, it is true. He decided that he wanted become a catechumen. a student of the teachings of the church. I took him to classes all of the fall and winter. I began to talk to the pastor and deacon, not questioning, moving toward a way of being I had never really left, moving the clouds away. My son received his first Communion, and Confirmation on Holy Saturday, at the Easter Vigil service, that traditional time in the church for the catechumens to be brought into the communion of saints. Such a beautiful liturgy. The power of the sacraments truly is God's greatest gift. This service is among the most powerful experiences of the church year. The faithful wait outside the church door, and light candles from the paschal flame (The Easter candle, kept lit all during the year) of the year before. The pastor knocks on the door of a church that has been stripped of all it's finery, the statues and icons covered in purple, "Let us in." We form a procession into the dark church, our candles the only light. There are readings from the old testament, and the new. Then the catechumens are brought forward for Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation. This ancient cycle of community, the children of God coming together in preparation for the miracle the next morning, is truly moving.
Three years later I was married. I had been alone for a long time. I was afraid of commitment. I had only known relationships that were human experiments, succeeding or failing on the strengths of the people involved. Doomed from the start, most of them. The ones that do succeed are still fraught with conflict, because as people we need to intrude with our foolish pride, we need to dominate, manipulate, control. When I came back to the church, I knew that only one kind of relationship would work for me. A life together totally committed to God, with a woman who could be my faith partner, who knew how to offer up hardships, who knew how to call upon God for help, and most importantly, who knew how to let go of things we could not change, offer them up, and let them go. I found her. We are one. Put this in place in your life. You days will be full of more joy than you can imagine.
May 3rd At work we have a lot of young people who come through, transient in their ways, society having changed their work ethics and the comfort zone that companies provide. Some of them notice the Bible on my side table, or hopefully, the way I treat them as children of God, and we enter into discussions about faith. Several of these young people were brought up in an evangelical setting. One young man said to me, "Catholics are Christians? I didn't know that." What had this young person been told.?
We all have our dark past. We ask for grace and receive it. We let go and let God.
One elderly man said to me, a blunt, well rehearsed statement, "Catholics don't read the Bible." Well, I still have my Mother's Bible. It's well worn pages, and the fact that I remember her showing me the pictures in it since I was a baby, remind me.
I left the roman church to be a Protestant. I realized this was were I needed to be, to acknowledge what I had been all my life.I do love it so- the rituals, the history. the incense and the candles, the vestments the music- I played some of the first guitar masses in the Omaha area. Catholics could be unconventional, I love their fish fries, played music at their parish carnivals, sat in the stillness, alone in an early morning sanctuary, lighting a candle in front of the altar of St. Joseph.
Several of them had expressed shock when the conversation drifted around to being saved. They always quote the same line of scripture, "I am the way, the truth and the light, no one comes to heaven except through me." I love that passage but it means something different to me evidently. I ask, "What about Hindu's, Jew's, the nation of Islam, native American's?"
"Oh, those are false religions."
"But, there is only one God. Is he not theirs as well as ours?"
Quote again. I say, "The Jesus that I know would never turn anyone away who had a relationship with his father. He will judge us, yes, but the kind and loving Jesus of the Gospels would not turn away a devout person. What if a jeep carrying missionaries was traveling across Africa. It breaks down right outside a village. A man dies before he can be saved. He goes to judgement and Jesus says, "Gosh. Too bad they had car trouble." No. Our savior looks into our souls and sees either dark or light. What are they teaching these people? Exclusion. A sorry, way of looking at their fellow men. If you are in a congregation that teaches some people will be saved and others not, based on creed or color- leave. They are selling you a false Christianity.
One young man, who believes by the way, that Christians who worship on Sunday are damned, told me that I was a pagan because I had been raised in the Roman church, that Easter was a pagan holiday. God, look down on these well meaning but misguided souls and show them that your light is too big to fit into these small parameters, you are all encompassing and blind to this pettiness.
I have to stop myself. "They are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for their enlightenment. Pray that they will work as one to remove our divisions. You are not their judge." Angry responses will never teach them the truth. Let them see how God's world is big enough for every one. How telling another Christian "I know your ways are wrong," is like trying to be God. Judgement. That us for Him, alone. Amen
May 15th The supreme Court has just ruled that the students of a small town in Iowa, quite near here, will not be allowed to sing the Lord's prayer at the commencement ceremonies. One family was uncomfortable with it. Perhaps they are uncomfortable with that money in their pocket that says, In God we trust. Do you think they will give it away, perhaps starve until congress passes a law saying, "The currency will now say, In man we trust." I take no comfort in that. I've seen how we humans can botch things up. People feel the values of the ages are an anachronism. This "One nation under God, indivisible" will eventually become quite divisible if we continue to follow the rules of mankind, if we allow Godless pride to make important decisions.
America was the great experiment. We took the values inherent in our faith in God, his commandments and built a society around them. This society. This was the basis for the great melting pot we are, "Liberty and justice for all." Some will argue, "Well, we never got it right." We are human. Our founding fathers grand idea was to bring God into the mix. With decisions based on the word of God, we could not go wrong. I still think we may follow in the steps of the Romans. A ruler pronounces himself God. Isn't that what we do when we are so selfish that we cannot look out for, or see our brothers and sisters, those in pain, the hungry, homeless, uprooted from their homelands, those willing to do the jobs we will not, those just different from our perception of ourselves?
I saw a woman at a public gathering recently proclaim herself a "goddess". She obviously was prepared for idolization if any came her way. There will come a time when she stands before her Creator. What will she say then? "I was just kidding around."
Where are the values of humility, kindness, and compassion? Our society needs to re-instill these values in ourselves and our children. Turn off the T.v. Visit an elderly neighbor. Prepare a meal for a pregnant mother. Volunteer at the soup kitchen. Reach out to your brothers and sisters. Let God back into your life. Let God back into our country. Oh, His country.
Do you find it hard to relate your experience with the Holy Spirit to the people around you? I know I do. Although I know that I should never hide my beliefs, although I am happy to be a child of God, sometimes I am quiet, knowing the people I am spending time with are uncomfortable with spirituality. Is this wrong? I know that I have pushed people away from the truth by being too overbearing. Sometimes it is better to teach by example.
I was playing golf with a neighbor. I knew that he had been raised with spiritual teachings. We avoided this subject for quite a while. On the back nine I finally asked, "So, what do you believe?"
"I never really bought in to the religious thing. When I die I'm just gone."
"And you are O.K. with that?"
"It's just the way it is to me."
I thought about this. There was no way I could reach this man. And he is a good man, a grandfather, husband; good neighbor. "Well, I have felt the Spirit move in me." I felt no more explanation was needed. I believe that in order to feel God, we must be open to Him. If we do not admit to any possibility of his indwelling- it will probably never happen. I say probably, because 1. I do not know the mind of God and 2. If the Holy Spirit wanted to make it's presence known to this man, it would be done.
We have a couple down the street who are very ambiguous about their spirituality. You can not get a read as to what they believe. I keep the subject available, yet I do not try to bring it up. Is this wrong? Should I just lay all my cards on the table, running the risk of alienating them? Evangelizing at the wrong time is sometimes worse than saying nothing at all.
Will you, gentle reader, judge me? Am I to judge another person? When I reach this point with a friend, an acquaintance, anyone; I let go, and let God.
May 16th What would I like people to say about me when I am gone? Not any time soon, I hope. He had a gift for sharing. He learned to love. He knew God and talked to Him everyday. He loved the river, the fields of grain, the fencerow plum thickets in the autumn of the year.
May 17th I was asked whom I admired most in the world. I thought for a minute. You don't rush into a decision like that.
1st- Jesus. Simple. For always. Same answer in 3rd grade at Holy Family on a paper we reluctantly wrote. "But," my friend said, "I meant someone alive today."
"I feel he is alive today. I feel like I saw Him in every face I saw today."
"O.K."
So, the heroes are the people I see every day. Living simple lives of courage. They are the people in your parish, doing good works. the people on the street who would stop and give you a hand. Mothers, fathers, the hard workers who keep the faith when times get tough.
An individual? Perhaps Desmond Tutu. he gives me a great sense of peace.
My Lord, sometimes I forget to think about You, when I reach a moment of weakness.
In the valley of shadows, I forget to pray for guidance. I forget to kneel upon the ground.
I need to remember that what small balance I get, is only His to give. He gives it to all His children. Blessed are the ones who recognize it, and have the grace to receive it.
My wife and I watched a wonderful movie last night. Black and White, made in 1943, won four Oscars including one for best actress, Jennifer Jones. We were amazed that she was 23 years old when she made this film, and had two small children at home. She captures 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous perfectly. She was typecast for the rest of her acting career. It is a marvelous performance, a beautiful film, (the cinematography; striking shadows on walls, shadow people running on river bluffs) Lost best picture to Casablanca. Well, if you have to lose to someone- that's not bad company.
Anyway, at the start of the film there is a brief quotation, "With Faith , no explanation is necessary. Without, no explanation will suffice. " Eloquent. True.
I meet Christians who are angry, and divisive, I meet Atheists with the same anger, I listen to how similar their arguments are, and how they will never realize it until they let go of something. Pride. A dear friend of mine, an Episcopal priest told me once, "Do you think Jesus would sit in a room full of people and say, "O.K., we're sure about you, (pointing) and you, and you, and ...yes, you. But you, over there, we're not sure about you." He made no distinctions.
The film's most poignant moment is when an elderly nun tells Bernadette how much she has hated her over the years.
Bernadette's simplicity and quiet faith made a mirror which forced her to look at the sadness and anger in herself. She had tried to release this hatred as spite, finally in this scene she heals with love, the true healer, inspired in our hearts by the Savior of this world.
If all you are thinking is worldly thoughts, think again. Go inside. Leave the external world. Think of the Easter cross. No Corpus Christi. Center your mind. Think of Lord Jesus. This reality is larger than earthly things. Much larger. Think of Him risen. Risen in glory. Think of His disciples, sitting at His right hand. Take joy in thinking of the Church risen. We can put too much emphasis on Christ crucified- Our Lord moved past His suffering.
Would you call dreams, messages from God? Communication? I believe that tapping the subconscious, learning to go into deep meditation and following these impulses, is a means of establishing a tie with God. Opening our hearts and souls to the presence of our Almighty father within us. Letting Him speak.
We need to be careful, however. There is a trap door in our minds that lets fallen angels in. They use this door into the subconscious. Their havoc starts small, but it can build. Recognize it for what it is. The deceiver has no power over you. He can only use coercion and guile. Send him out. "Get thee from me Satan." It still works. Do not allow him to get a foothold.
The father of lies can block your effectiveness as a Christian if he can deceive you into thinking you are nothing more than a sin-sick product of your past.
In the afternoon of a stressful, hectic workday, I feel myself tiring. I used to stoke the fires of my anxiety and anger to get me through the final hours. I would act out and blame. Now I let God carry me through. I know He won't mind. That way I won't hurt anyone's feelings, including my own. You will have no guilt, caused by hard words.
That is guilt you know. Reaching the end of the day and realizing you have blown your cool and jumped on someone. No apology. Don't let the day end that way. Promise not to let it happen again, and to apologize the next time you see that person.
Oh; and apologize to yourself, for being too hard on yourself. We are only human. we make mistakes. God forgives them, 24/7
Thank You for this serenity, dear Lord. I am never alone. I am never in a situation which thinking of You does not resolve.
When we ask for faith we ask for simplicity. We should not complicate this humble gift. We become, as our Lord, like the birds of the sky, the flowers of the field, the little children.
One of the most fascinating moments in the Bible comes in the Gospel of John, chapter 18 verse 38. Pilate said unto Him, "What is truth?"
Pilate was a hard man. He came up through the Roman legions, campaigning; he had looted cities in the far corners of the empire. He thought he knew the truth. The truth for him was power.
When he looked into the eyes of the Lord, he saw the way, the truth and the light.
For a moment, he was taken away from all that he had known and saw that beautiful freedom-- He could look deep into the soul of this Nazarene. He saw he was not bound to that earthly courtyard. It was too much for him. He said, "I find no fault in this man." He gave our Lord to the mob.
We all must make this same decision every day of our lives. "What is truth?" the truth hurts. It might mean giving away wealth and power to avoid corruption. It may take all the strength you have to turn your life around. So do we grasp it and then, like Pilate, realize the enormity of this freedom, the simplicity, the total forgiveness, the surrender and joy- and realize, "This will shake my soul to its foundations." I think that is what Pilate saw. A road that was true, yet required change in every facet of his being. He had not the strength. Have we? We can ask His help, something Pilate could not do.
All those years it was about survival. staying afloat. There was no time for degrees. All the small stuff was a diversion from the desperation of survival. I look back from the relative safety of age, and it's a huge blur, pushing and bending; with bright spots, certainly, mostly accompanied by music; but without God's light, without His love, without that sacred trust-- it is just survival.
Attitudes of repose- All questions have the same answer, so as you peruse and search, procrastinate and wallow, as the blind alleys you walk through accumulate, think lofty thoughts. Rise from the dust. The answer to every question is on high. Elevate yourself. He is the one who waits for you.
If you never hear God's call--
check the people around you. You need people who are in touch with Him. Do not withhold your friendship from the godless, but do not spend too much time around them, it will try your faith.
check the noise and racket you are exposed to. The modern world with all it's rapid fire images,
distraction, the media onslaught, the loud music, neon splendor, high speed lightning, taken in small portions they can feed our imaginations and keep us informed yet selective, if you become immersed in this culture you will not be able to discern God's clear call to prayer. To offer adoration.
All through the Old Testament they cried out for the Spirit. And He came. But he was not yet complete. It took the Messiah. The second Adam. Lord Jesus fulfilled the Holy Spirit. He died for that fulfillment. He died for you and me. He died to make wholeness on this tired planet.
The Lord God sowed the seeds of His divine love here in the universe so long ago. He made each atom a seed, a universe unto itself. We are all made of stuff that has been around since the beginning of God's time. There is no matter apart from God's creation. His predestination created what you and I are, all of his creation will come to Him in time. Now we watch for a sign. It will come on Passover, Easter Sunday. The sign will come. Do you feel it? Do you feel it coming? We'll see a sign of judgement, resurrection.
Someone far greater than us, our Creator, sowed billions of seeds in the universe. He let them blow where the 4 winds would take them. This is our free will. We must use it to know Him.
I got a kick out of a statement made by Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura. He made the statement that a belief in God leads to intellectual stagnation. He must have arrived at this conclusion based on the knowledge acquired wrassling in the WWF, or maybe it was time spent in Hollywood. Please. We children of God have heard this rhetoric before. Who has he been reading? Great Christian authors like Thomas Aquinas, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis--- figures like Ghandi, Einstein, our nations founding fathers? They are not thinkers on a par with Ventura, obviously. He has time to meander intellectually though all kinds of eclectic stuff without having God's truths interfere with the old wool gathering.
I can't imagine what the voters of Minnesota see in this guy. (You Lutherans, what's up?) To put a man in office who doesn't have a spiritual bone in his body? Why do I feel that if I told him this stuff in person he'd want to wrassle me?
I pray for this guy. I hope whenever I hear his name that a door will open for him.That a light will shine for him.
" I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I that it be kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you think that I came to give peace upon the earth? No, I tell you, but division. For henceforth in one house five will be divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against his father; mother against daughter and daughter against the mother; mother in law against her daughter in law and daughter in law against her mother.
What does Jesus mean here? He could be talking about my family. We have members who haven't spoken in years, whose truth is as a lie, who have anger and hatred from some old wound that they perceive was caused by you. He is saying patch up the ruin of the past, let it go, ask about the future in prayer, change yourself in it, then let that go as well. Now is the time. "The Eternal Advent," work in this moment to heal and reach out.
Jesus reminds us again that becoming part of Him, his Baptism, will make us enemies, as it did Him. "My yoke is easy and my burden light" - yes, but that is a divine promise and we live in the world of human broken promises- we must live with mankind in all his frailty, deceit , and trial. Do not judge people, do not presume to change people who need to see with the eyes of the divine. That denial is the "divided house" Jesus speaks of.
"Therefore I say to you, that every kind of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this world or the next. The great forgiver, Jesus puts himself aside, the servant again, and tells us that the Spirit is what is important, because it is by the indwelling of the Spirit that Jesus's words make sense, and the burden is light. I think of this passage when I hear a Christian unloading on someone from another faith tradition, or see someone who has no spiritual beliefs at all- Jesus means it is all about the Creator, the way the truth and the life lead to the Creator through the Spirit, the divine we embrace. Make every day a Pentecost. Let the Spirit of the Creator, the Maker shine in your life. Then you will not feel the need to judge and criticize someone else whose ideas do not match yours- not every ones path to the next life is the same. Jesus speaks to us as a brother, he wants us to join him, in the Spirit. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me." We can have the same relationship with the Holy Spirit.
