PARADOXICAL

I am a confirmed skeptic. I am not so sure whether there's indeed no God.

posted by Resty Odon  # 4:23 PM 0 Comments

WEEKLY FOOD FOR THE SOUL batch 139

**
letter to a friend
who thinks he is an atheist
or does not really know
if he is one yet is heralding
and is proud of it

nobody can prove God exists
because God is of the heart
not of the mind and 'proof' is of the mind

the experience of God, being of the heart
is beyond intellectualization
beyond logic and the mind
the experience of God requires a 'leap'
from the intellectual to the spiritual

that is why God's existence
can never be proven to intellectuals
He can only be 'felt' through the heart

you can go through the labyrinth of logic
to the most intricate reasoning
but He will always be elusive to the mind
you may feel that you can lord it over the earth
with your neat logic and argumentation
that - ah He does not exist
because no one can prove it
or 'belief is not reality but imagination'
but i am sorry belief is so real to me

the bible scholar knows biblical history
to the last grain of data, the year, the writer,
the evolution of writings, the era, the upheavals
he can argue well, articulate well
this is all vanity, intellectual vanity
'vanity of vanities all things are vanity'
the scholar still needs to make a leap
to really 'know' God because
TO KNOW GOD MEANS
TO HEEL HIM IN YOUR HEART
NOT STUDY HIM IN YOUR MIND

that is why
TRUE WISDOM IS OF THE HEART
NOT OF THE MIND

once you find Him
throw your intellectual caution to the wind
because you have reached the eye of the storm
another dimension beyond the mind
beyond your imagination

in the experience of God
you will begin to understand
how He is invisibly hovering above you
as you wander through the vast desert

in your thirst
he will invisibly give you
safe passage to an oasis
you need no effort no maps
He will veer your tracks
because you are with Him
i know it is hard for you to understand this

it is my faith that forms my destiny
my destiny with Him and in Him

the most astute biblical scholar
he thinks with his mind
and has forgotten how the heart
can think better, farther, deeper

THE MIND COMES TO ITS REAL SENSES
WHEN IT LISTENS TO THE HEART

i feel your realm is cold and arid
but i am only guessing
i may be wrong
i really do not know
perhaps you have your brand of warmth
against the winter that descends upon us all
i too have my cold arid days
but the Lord is my warmth
against the severest blizzard

it is hard to reach out to you
because you have made up your mind
but not your heart
and i do believe you are missing so much
about life in your intellectual cycles

i write not to sway you to my perspective
rather i merely point out
the chasm that separates us
a chasm that only
a simple effortless 'leap' of the heart
can bridge

your friend
eastwind [x888]

posted by Resty Odon  # 6:40 PM 0 Comments

From my personal viewpoint, I find litanies like this very beautiful. God is a great writer!

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,...
Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother,...
Heart of Jesus, one with the eternal word,...
Heart of Jesus, infinite in majesty,...
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God,...
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,...
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,...
Heart of Jesus, aflame with love for us,...
Heart of Jesus, source of justice and love,...
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,...
Heart of Jesus, wellspring of all virtue,...

Heart of Jesus, worthy of all praise,...
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,...
Heart of Jesus, treasure-house of wisdom and knowledge,...
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of God,...
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well-pleased,...
Heart of Jesus, from whose fullness we have all that we have received,...
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,...
Heart of Jesus, patient and full of mercy,...
Heart of Jesus, generous to all who turn to you,...
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,...
Heart of Jesus, atonement for our sins,...

Heart of Jesus, overwhelmed with insults,...
Heart of Jesus, broken for our sins,...
Heart of Jesus, obedient even to death,...
Heart of Jesus, pierced by a lance,...
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,...
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,...
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,...
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,...
Heart of Jesus, salvation for those who trust in you,...
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints,...

posted by Resty Odon  # 7:21 PM 0 Comments

From Word Among Us, Sept. 2004

Today’s feast has a long history in the church. St. Helena’s discovery of the true cross was first celebrated on September 14 in A.D. 365. It was held in the church that Helena’s son, the Roman emperor Constantine, built over the site of Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus. The observance of this event spread quickly among Christians throughout the world, and in the seventh century this feast – coupled with another commemorating the restoration of the relic of the cross which had been seized by the Persians – was named the Feast of the Triumph, or Exaltation, of the Cross in the Roman calendar.

Though the ancient world shuddered at the thought of death by crucifixion – a horrific and shameful form of execution – Christians honor the cross as both the sign of Jesus’ suffering and the trophy of his victory over Satan, sin, and death. We revere the cross because through it we have come to know Jesus’ great love for us, and through the wounds that it inflicted, we have been saved and healed. As Rupert of Deutz, a twelfth-century Benedictine abbot, movingly proclaimed:

“We venerate the cross as safeguard of faith, as the strengthening of hope, and the throne of love. It is the sign of mercy, the proof of forgiveness, the vehicle of grace, and the banner of peace. We venerate the cross because it has broken down our pride, shattered our envy, redeemed our sin, and atoned for our punishment.

“The cross of Christ is the door to heaven, the key to paradise, the downfall of the devil, the uplifting of mankind, the consolation of our imprisonment, the prize for our freedom… Tyrants are convicted by the cross and the mighty ones defeated. It lifts up the miserable and honors the poor. The cross is the end of darkness, the spreading light, the flight of death, the ship of life and the kingdom of salvation.

“Whatever we accomplish for God, whatever we succeed and hope for, is the fruit of our veneration of the cross. By the cross Christ draws everything him. It is the kingdom of the Father, the scepter of the Son, and the seal of the Holy Spirit, a witness to the total Trinity.”

***

“We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

posted by Resty Odon  # 4:59 PM 0 Comments

mark Me in your heart
for love is as stern as death
as relentless as hell
as fiery as its fury
deep waters and floods
cannot quench love
yet if one were to give
all possessions to gain love
one would be scorned and mocked

song of songs 8:6-7 [a3]

**
return to Me all you who have left Me
in stealth and silence
you are My prodigal sons
in the farthest nooks where you go
I am there seeking you still
in the longest time you are gone
I wait for your return with eagerness

you cannot escape My mercy

eastwind [a4]

posted by Resty Odon  # 6:19 PM 0 Comments