Jan 16, 2022

  Living in Unconditional Love (45)

“Love flows from God to humans without effort:

As a bird glides through the air without moving its wings-

Thus, they go wherever they wish united in body and soul,

Yet separate in form.”

–Mechtild of Magdeburg

My wife Eileen died from esophageal cancer in February 2020 one year after being diagnosed, 60 years to the day that we met on Long Island. Then my brother Tom became ill, and I spent a total of six weeks being with him in Ohio, but he died in October 2020. My sister-in-law Sue Mahoney died from Covid-19 in January 2021. On top of it all stood the pandemic, locking everyone down almost two years, and still going strong from my viewpoint, as I wear my mask anytime I am out, unlike many.

`01/16/2022                                    This is a bitter cold day, four degrees as I write this on Saturday. We are supposed to get a good snow fall on Sunday/Monday, but we shall see. This has been a quiet week, recovering from the cold I had last week but finally feeling well. I tested negative for COVID, so that is not a problem. I went grocery shopping once and Mass on Tuesday, but other than that I have been in the house.

I am saddened by the world that refuses to accept reality and does seemingly everything possible to doom humankind to dreadful weather and possible doom in the future. Pretending that Covid is not a reality and refusing to wear a mask, extending even to one on the Supreme Court. Even the extreme racism pertains to almost half of our nation. While it is true that is improved over the past century, it is still disheartening to observe it being so blatantly displayed by so many.

There is little I can do for this world at this time of my life. I have played my part where I could and will have to do what I can from home. I trust that the goodness of humanity will eventually win out, and the kingdom of God will eventually come to our planet. The best time of the day is my 45 minutes to an hour quiet time in the mornings after breakfast. I can let the peace of God wash over me and sit in that cloud of unknowing that is here.

 

I have been asked who I see as God when I write to the Gentle One in my meditation at the end of the journal, and I think it is the Christ, the energy that embodies itself as the living universe that we live in. I see a light, a light that is within everything everywhere, the special time of the universe we live in. We do live in a unique time of the universe, one where the universe has aged to produce all the elements required to produce life, but young enough where we can see the universe in all its’ glory. The expanding universe will arrive at a time in the future where galaxies other than our own will no longer be visible, but right now all is visible, and we can look back to the very beginning of the universe and understand the wonderful sequence that has occurred that brought us to this time of wonder. The light that I feel as much as see is the living Christ that is everything, perhaps one can say the living body of God.

This is like what was spoken by Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi and called panentheism. that is, including the universe, not only the universe (pantheism).

Meditation

Gentle One, I rest in You. This is the quiet time of the year, and I have been blessed with warmth and good health. I am grateful for the life I have been given, especially for the 60 years with Eileen. That wonderful time of joy and life was a blessing I could not have foreseen back in the beginning. Life can be crazy, resulting in twists and turns that bring wonders to life despite periods of pain. Perhaps it is the pain that has allowed me to see the wonders of life; for all I am in awe and am so grateful.