Reclining Buddha at White Sands–similar to the one that enthralled Merton at Pollonaruwa, Sri Lanka.

The reading from Exodus exposes a constant problem for the Israelites. They lived among peoples who worshipped a multiplicity of other gods while they claimed to believe in the one true God, Yahweh. The fact is that people who belong to a particular religion always live among those who follow other gods. Tribal gods abound. Perhaps, Yahweh was once a Canaanite war god who once had a female goddess consort; however, patriarchy slowly but surely moved the divine feminine into the background. One stunning example in the Christian tradition is how Mary of Magdalene, the first apostle of the resurrection, centuries later became a prostitute who had been forgiven by Jesus.

True religion must always make a place for the divine feminine. We are fashioned in the image of God—male and female. Richard Rohr writes:

Most of us know that God is beyond gender. When we look at the Book of Genesis, we see that the first thing God is looking for is quite simply “images” by which to communicate who-God-is (Genesis 1:26-27). God is not looking for servants, for slaves, or for people who are going to pass loyalty tests. God is just looking for images—“images and likenesses” of the Inner Mystery. Whoever God “is,” is profoundly and essentially what it means to be both male and female in perfect balance. We have to find and to trust images that present both a healthy feminine face for God and a healthy masculine face for God. Both are true and both are necessary for a vital and loving relationship with God. Up to now, we have largely relied upon the presented masculine images of God (which closed many people down) while, in fact, our inner life is much more drawn to a loving feminine energy. That is much of our religious problem today, and I do not believe that is an exaggeration. Continue reading →

Spring Training 2013

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life. (Jn. 5)

Jesus speaks of eternal life. All too often eternal life is seen as something that is up there and out there—something that will come as a reward after we have suffered through much. If the existential philosophers and theologians taught us anything, they taught us that eternal life is life lived fully and responsibly. They focused on their lived life experience here and now. Continue reading →

Avalokitesvara – the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Wisdom (White Sands Buddhist Center, Mims, FL)

All life comes from the Creator God, the God who created the universe and each one of us. The Temple is the dwelling place of God. God’s glory, God’s shekinah,God’s presence  fills the Temple and flows out as living water giving life to everything in its path, as Ezekiel says. God’s glory, God’s healing power fills the cosmos and our very hearts. We are the Beloved with whom God is will pleased. God lavishes life, grace, and living waters upon us. Our Prodigal God gives life lavishly. Jesus understood this when he said, “I have come that you may have life in abundance”—extravagant, lavish and loving abundance. Continue reading →

A koan to ponder

Thus says the LORD:

Lo, I am about to create new heavens

and a new earth;

The things of the past shall not be remembered

or come to mind.

Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness

in what I create;

For I create Jerusalem to be a joy

and its people to be a delight;

I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and exult in my people.

No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,

or the sound of crying;

No longer shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;

He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,

and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.

They shall live in the houses they build,

and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant. (Is 65:17-21) Continue reading →

Yesterday, having seen a local news report, we traveled up the road to Mims, Florida. We finally found the White Sands Buddhist Center. Diving up a pine, oak, palm lined and curvy dirt road we emerged into an open place and beheld the larger than life statue of the Buddha. As we drove up the road, a sense of peace fell over me. I was preparing to share in some of what Merton encountered in Sri Lanka.

In a large circle surrounded by granite benches with Buddhist virtues carved on them, was saw a towering staute. This is a statue of Avalokitesvara – the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion and Perfect Wisdom. According to the Lotus Sutra, the Bodhisattva has 32 different embodiments to assist sentient beings in times of difficulty. Thus, this statue has a height of 32 feet. This statue, made from granite, was dedicated to the White Sands Buddhist Center by Dharma friends in the U.S. and around the world. The statue was hand-sculpted in Vietnam, and placed here on February 24, 2012. Continue reading →

Stay calm on the Surface; paddle like hell underneath.
c. J. P. Mahon, 2013

Hosea is one of my favorite books of the Bible. Hosea is madly in love only to be betrayed before an ultimate reunion with his beloved. He sees the rhythms of his life as the rhythm of Israel’s life with Yahweh. He is the first to apply the symbolism of marriage to the Yahweh-Israel relationship. Religion and spirituality is all about relationships.

Hosea started his prophetic mission in a time of prosperity but things were heading south. Assyria was on the rise and Hosea’s Northern Kingdom was on military alert. In order to stave off the Assyrian threat, the kings tried making treaties with Egypt. Continue reading →

Ibis
c. J. P. Mahon, 2013

Coming out of our pre-Vatican spirituality, it is difficult not to follow Ayn Rand instead of Jesus. A sense of community and justice was severely lacking in much that passed for spirituality in those days. It was about “me-and-Jesus.” WIFM (What’s in It for Me) was the rule of thumb. What must I do to save my own soul and gain eternal salvation at some near or distant point in the future.  There was no concept that the Kin-dom is here now and is still coming.

Overriding  the concept of morality was the ever present obsession with sex as dirty. My friend, former teacher, mentor, and moral theologian par excellence, Daniel Maguire of Marquette University, has written his memoirs. His sense of Irish mirth leads us to deeper theological understandings. The second chapter deals with Augustine and sex and how the church has always obsessed with pelvic morality. Sex was not a joyful participation in God’s creative activity. It was dirty. Sexual intercourse with one’s spouse was all right as long as you did not take any pleasure in it. (Augustine also said you could kill the barbarians at Rome’s walls if you had love in your heart.) Do what? Unfortunately, we know the excessive preoccupation with matters pelvic has led the church into the present crisis. The book, A Merry Memory of Sex, Death and Religion, takes its title from a statement by G. K. Chesterton, “Life is serious all the time, but living cannot be. You may have all the solemnity you wish in your neckties, but in anything important (such as sex, death, and religion), you must have mirth or you will have madness.” I hope Dan’s book will lead us away from madness into mirthful understanding of life’s great realties. Continue reading →