Thursday, August 30, 2007

"We cannot breath out what we have not first breathed in"

“Listening is a spiritual act far more than acoustical function. Expensive and sophisticated amplification equipment does not improve listening, it only makes hearing possible. Mouths speak in order that ears may hear. The hearing that begins as a physical function becomes a spiritual response. When it does not, the problem is diagnosed as “heavy ears” (Isa. 6:10). Johannes Horst thinks that it was significant that in the saying about hewing off hand or foot or plucking out the eye (Mark 9:43-47) there is nothing about maiming the ear. “The ear is indispensable because of preaching.”

Marshall McLuhan made the arresting observation that nature has not equipped mankind with earlids. But we compensate for nature’s oversight by developing selective listening. We come to Christ to have our deafness cured.

Psalms are answering the God who has addressed us. God’s word precedes these words: the prayers don’t seek God, they respond to the God who seeks us.

Presumptuous prayer speaks to God without first listening.

Our core-being is expressed in language that follows the rhythms of our life, inhalation and exhalation. We cannot breathe out what we have not first breathed in. The breath that God breathes into us in daily Pentecosts is breathed out in our prayers. “

Eugene H. Peterson
“Answering God:
The Psalms as Tools of Prayer”


For behind all seen things lies something vaster;
everything is but a path, a portal, or a window
opening on something more than itself.

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

This Praying Of Mine

I don’t know what my prayer accomplishes, but I find it helps with connections. In the most direct sense, if I find myself thinking of Aunt Sally or the pre-schooler across the street in prayer, I feel connected to them somehow. And, while it might not help Aunt Sally’s cancer or the pre-schooler’s lack of drug-free parents, I still feel it’s genuinely useful. Praying keeps me connected.

It’s about one of the few things I can say I “believe” in: that we are connected to one another by invisible threads. More than just sharing the same time and space and reality (of which I often have doubts,) there is that mutual energy, that common breath among us, that goes beyond what the five senses recognize. And I tend to think that energy----both positive and negative--- flows back and forth on those unseen threads---- Kind of like the internet without the pictures of kittens.
I guess I believe that my praying is not just an inside thing, but affects what is around me: Again, not miracle working or problem solving, but a strengthening of that connection thing. The brain is constantly aglow with synapses firing and relay switches turning on and off, reminding me to buy groceries, but also reminding me of a beautiful piece of music. To jump from a “lobe” to a “globe” is not that hard. Philosophers and physicists have been talking about this for decades.



Thursday, August 23, 2007

"Litany of the Rivers of Love" Organ Solo, 2007 --(10 mins.)

"The company of the saints be mine this night, that I may dream of the rivers of love." ----J. Phillip Newell





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Monday, August 20, 2007

Shakuhachi (Bamboo Flute) Duet



My first year in Chicago I hailed a cab. When the driver found out I was a musician,
he said,"Do you know what a shakuhachi is?" When I told him I did and had heard several masters live, he got all excited and said he was taking lessons on it. When he pulled over at my stop and I was exiting he said, "Look!" And from the front seat he produced a bamboo flute and proceeded to play a lovely little melody. "Good Night to ya" and he drove away.

Renaissance Sculpture


A profile relief, "The Young St. John the Baptist," by Desiderio, is part of an exhibit featuring the sculptor at the National Gallery of Art.

Photo: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Polo Museale Fiorentino, Florence



A portrait of Jesus Christ and Saint John the Baptist as children.

Photo: Musee du Louvre, Paris



"Jerome in the Desert," 1460-1464, a marble panel by Desiderio.

Photo: National Gallery of Art/Widener Collection

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Thom's Psalms:#32, "That All May Be One"

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“That All May be One”
(Homage to Warren Zevon)

Once we shared so much,
We shared the human touch;
Now we’re spiritless and tired.
Hear us, precious Jesus,
Now we come in pieces;
Some assembly’s required.

REFRAIN: Lord, thy will be done, that all may be one,
One with everything.
Like a hot dog on a bun, Lord Jesus, make us one
One with everything.

You who fed so many
Without even a penny,
Changed water into wine miraculously;
You who calmed the winds that blustered,
You who blest the crowds you mustered.
Yoo Hoo! I’m talking to thee.


Composer's Note:This was written in response to a competition sponsored by a church musicians organization for an original hymn entitled "That All May be One", the theme of their convention. Inspired, I worked with the well-explored connection between "god" and "dog", bringing in a mention of Zen-like unity, while making an obscure reference to a favorite joke about a buddhist buying a hot dog at a ball park. Unfortunately I missed the deadline.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

"Forty Hours"

Video of Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament




At our parish, we have decided to revive the custom of “40 Hours”, wherein the consecrated host ----we call it “Jesus”-----is placed in a stand on the altar (“exposed” for public viewing) for 40 hours. It is simply setting aside an amount of time and an inviting place for private prayer along with community worship.
We want to encourage in people a certain reverence for and closeness to God’s presence in our lives. I recall when I was growing up, churches were actually open most of the time, and people going by, either on errands or to and from work, would pop in for a short “visit’------ a few moments of quiet time, not so much to talk to the spirit as to listen to its whisperings in one’s heart.

It’s a different era now, but I feel we’ve forgotten how omni-present (and by that I mean always now) the Creator/Redeemer/Spirit is in our lives. I think it’s a good idea to remind ourselves of that, and I hope “40 Hours” will do that.
Under “SPIRITUAL BROWSING” on the left of this page is a link to “40 Hours at St. Nick’s” which will tell you more.

Also, here's a video on one of the most ornate "Monstrances" (the stand for the sacrament) that I 've ever seen ("La Custodia" of the Cathedral of Valencia Spain.)

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Two Knock-Out Punches


This last Saturday at a Quincianera, the Latino coming-out rite for 15 year old girls, the first reading at mass was from Ecclesiastes, that wonderfully cynical font of wisdom. The selection was fitting for the occasion: the writer telling us to enjoy the sunshine of youth, for it will not last long. Then, after a few jabs at the futility of life, he lands the haymaker ----Quit knocking yourselves out trying figure life out because

Nothing Makes Sense!!!

Three words that disarm all who try to sell us on answers and “The Secret” and “The Road”: life does not make sense. It’s not suppose to. So sing praise and give thanks to the creator of this marvelous non-rational senselessness!! Wisdom does not mean having the answers.




Sunday’s New Testament reading was from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. [I’m not a big fan of Paul, as I feel a lot of what’s wrong with the institutional Church finds its seeds in Paul’s persona and writings. In the campaign against James and his followers, Paul was a regular Karl Rove.] Paul tells the people that, having “died with Christ”, they must bury their old ways .After a few jabs against Idolatry and adultery, he hits them right between the eyes:

“You Must Stop Lying To Each Other!”

How many times have I turned off the T.V., following messages from the political and marketing worlds, saying to myself, “When will they stop lying to us?” But what a liar I am, also. Not only with words, but with actions and facial expressions and apathy. After a millennium, the idea of honesty is still a radical –to the bone- idea.

Suppose all took that commandment seriously and suddenly stopped
lying to each other. Period. It would be a brutal mess for a while, but once the dust settled, and honesty did become the policy, how different our relationships would be!!!!

Relax. For thousands of years of politics and religion, lies have masqueraded as wisdom. It’s not going to change. That would make sense, and, as we all know: Nothing Makes Sense!!!