Tag: grain of wheat

• Zephaniah 1: De-Creation – Part VI

  
  

  Zephaniah 1: De-Creation – Part VI

  Saturday, April 13, 2024

  At that time I will explore Jerusalem with lamps . . .

  When we begin to believe that our own simple actions of justice will have no effect on the world, then we will know that we are losing heart; yet Paul reminds the Corinthians, and he reminds us, that when we are weak, then we are strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10) On Good Friday, we descended into hell with the Savior and returned with him. We took the tiny light of hope the Spirit enkindles in us, and today we go into the world.

  We de-create ourselves when we become willing to stumble and fall so that we might rise and grow in Christ. We discover the power of God when we submit ourselves to the Creator’s authority so that we might turn and return in the Spirit. In this Eastertide, we take the flickering flame of Christ’s love and nurture it, so that we might go into the world as wounded healers. You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5:14)

  

  We remember that grains of wheat must die before they create new life. Jesus says: I am telling you the truth: a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains. (John 12:24) In this Eastertide, we allow God’s love to de-create us so that we might live again.

  We tend to the light that lives within; we surrender to God; we offer all that we have, and all that we are so that we might be remnant for God. For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it. (Matthew 16:25) On this Good Friday, let us explore these verses and reflect on the inversions before us. And on this day, let us be Remnant for God.

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  Images from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1bUUn2AMSqM and https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/the-wave-sheaf-offering-a-ceremony-foreshadowing-salvation

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  April 13, 2024

  2 Corinthians 12:10, grain of wheat, John 12:24, Matthew 16:25, Matthew 5:14

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• John 12:24: The Mystery of Resurrection

  
  

  John 12:24: The Mystery of Resurrection

  Monday, June 20, 2022

  Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

  This is perhaps the most difficult of mysteries to comprehend. Richard Rohr, OFM posts this meditation on June 7, 2015. When we reflect upon it today, we begin to discover what it is we already have forever. We begin to understand this mystery that is reckless, real and eternal.

  “Jesus himself exemplified and also taught us the path of descent, which Christians have often called ‘the way of the cross.’ The path downward is much more trustworthy than any path upward, which only tends to feed the ego. Like few other Christians, it was Francis of Assisi who profoundly understood that.

  “Authentic spirituality is always on some level or in some way about letting go. Jesus said, ‘the truth will set you free’ (John 8:32). Once we see truly what is trapping us and keeping us from freedom we should see the need to let it go. But in a consumer society most of us have had no training in that direction. Rather, more is supposed to be better. True liberation is letting go of our false self, letting go of our cultural biases, and letting go of our fear of loss and death. Freedom is letting go of wanting more and better things, and it is letting go of our need to control and manipulate God and others. It is even letting go of our need to know and our need to be right–which we only discover with maturity. We become free as we let go of our three primary energy centers: our need for power and control, our need for safety and security, and our need for affection and esteem.” (Rohr)

  When we allow the seed of our old selves to pass away and die we find that we are reborn into a newness of peace that blossoms amidst turmoil and anxiety. When we allow ourselves to let go to fall down the well of our former self, we discover that the dreadful bottom we fear hitting is the very narrow gate of life that we so earnestly seek. This is a mystery that we will want to explore. In and with Christ, it is a mystery that we experience daily.

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  Compare different versions of these verses and listen for the promise of this mystery of resurrection. 

  For more from Richard Rohr, visit his site at: https://cac.org/richard-rohr/daily-meditations

  Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of Saint Francis (Sounds True), CD. This simple tri-part distinction has been affirmed by many psychologists in many different ways, and is also used by Fr. Thomas Keating in his understanding of the entrapment of the human person.

  Richard Rohr, OFM, posted on June 7, 2015 at: https://cac.org/richard-rohr/daily-meditations

  Image from: https://www.theursulines.org/2017/04/16/the-empty-tomb-2/

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  June 20, 2022

  falling down the well, grain of wheat, John 8:32, Richard Rohr, St. Francis, The Narrow Gate

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