Comments for Country Contemplative

Comment on Paradox of peace by Don

Don — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:48:37 +0000

I am on a short trip with family to the New Jersey coast today. Peace has found me lately and in the most unusual places. I felt very much at peace at Great Lakes last week. I felt as though I had come home. I even fell asleep under a tree next to the “grinder” I graduated from. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful memory. Thanks for your continued encouragement. I hope peace finds you today too. don

Comment on Paradox of peace by James G

James G — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:13:17 +0000

When I read it, I immediately thought of you.
I could also identify with it as a writer.
I hope peace finds you today.

Comment on Twenty-one years by Lee

Lee — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:19:27 +0000

I have 3 lasses - 25, 22 and 20.

They’ve kept me young, and I’ve learned so much from them.

Like how to braid hair!

Comment on Pass in Review by James G

James G — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:42:25 +0000

Blue and Gold will always run through our veins.
The Sea will always be an siren to us.
The fell of a ship beneath our feet our seductress.
To be young and answer the call of the Sea.

One old salt to another, enjoy the beauty of the moment and the memories of the past.

I will keep you both in my prayers.

Comment on Mystery makes us humble by brother Charles

brother Charles — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:20:08 +0000

I’ve done a similar thing as an examination of conscience from time to time. When I start to feel defensive in some situation I try to work back and ask my heart what it feels it needs to defend. Like De Mello wisely says, it usually ends up being an idol, some kind of pride or vanity or security that I have disguised as faith or ministry. This way I sometimes find and examine my failure to live holy poverty.

Comment on Merton and me by Don

Don — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:56:13 +0000

James, I’m glad you liked the writing. You’re important to me and especially when I was going to stop doing this. John, glad that you liked the writing too. I was never an atheist, but have been an agnostic and in some ways agnosticism is a very rational approach to God or a higher power. I think that the agnostic is actually an invitation to a direct or non-theological experience of God. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to theology or but I am re-thinking their importance at least for me. I’ve benefited a great deal from reading theologians or commentaries on theologians, but I’ve also benefited from sitting in quietly, first in Benedictine and Trappist monasteries and then later and presently in my own home. Herman Melville’s quote, “silence is the only voice of God,” has come to mean more and more to me each day.

Comment on Merton and me by James G

James G — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:47:33 +0000

Good to see the new Don is back.

Once we can describe something, we believe we can possess it.
We also forget that life is a spiritual journey of imperfection and it is the process that is important.
If I am spiritual fit, my God is with and that is all that counts.

I wake each morning knowing I am a sinner and need His love and forgiveness.

Comment on Merton and me by John

John — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:43:50 +0000

Don, to get here I followed your link over on Blogger. I am glad I did, I am pleased to find your excellent post on this topic.

In the for-whatever-it-is-worth category, the truth and significance of your post is illustrated in my own spiritual journey.

After being an atheist for 37 years, I became a Protestant evangelical in the Reformed tradition. For the next 15 years I was a serious lay student of theology. Then for the next 5 years I pondered the possible truth and then acknowledged the truth of the ideas you describe so well about the function of theology. For the past 2 years I have been first a Benedictine oblate novice and now oblate at a Catholic Benedictine monastery.

Ironically, this past Wednesday, I donated most of my small personal theological library to a local Presbyterian church.
My reading is now daily from “Benedictine Daily Prayer” (A Short Breviary), Maxwell E. Johnson, Editor, with the Monks of Saint John’s Abbey) and from the early Church fathers — books like “Saint John Cassian on Prayer,” translated by A.M. Casiday.

I always can feel and remember what it was like that first day when God burst into my heart and life about 22 years ago — the day I knew God, but didn’t know the first thing about theology. When I sit silently in my home today — with a small candle — praying the ancient divine office, I can very often return my mind to that first day.

Comment on Waking up by Lea

Lea — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:09:17 +0000

I love Anthony de Mello! I don’t know if I have the guts to wake up, but something tells me that what de Mello says is right.

Comment on Merton and me by Don

Don — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:49:29 +0000

Yes, I believe that is what I mean. Jesus said, “do not judge.” When we label there is a judgment involved. I don’t believe Jesus came to start a religion. The followers of Jesus have turned what he said into a religion, a dogma, a theology and many have called it heresy to think outside the box. Theology is abstract. It’s not direct experience. People in Twelve Step Programs have a direct experience with a higher power. Labeling or describing limits the power. Infinity cannot be described or measured. Reducing the love of God or the Creator to a set of laws, precepts or theologies diminishes everything. Don