THE NEW COLOSSUS GONE BEGGING, I

[The following is a reprint of my blog of December 29, 2023.]

'The New Colossus' by Emma Lazarus

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

We come again to our need to recall the promise of America to the "wretched refuse" of other teeming shores.

Again, and yet again, we trample that promise without so much as a backward glance as we roll on...and who cares if we're going in the right direction? We're strutting our stuff, showing 'em how it's done...and who cares if we do not have a clue our own self? Throw another log on the fire.

I miss Kate Smith singing "God Bless America," and America standing with its hand over its heart and tears of gratitude in its eyes.

Father, forgive us for we know not what we do.

Thank you.

ON WALKING THROUGH FEAR IN FAITH, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of December 29, 2019.]

Blinding flash of the obvious (as I asked to be relieved of the bondage of self): I must release You from my bondage of self.

It was a great gettin' up morning when I realized that, for myself, fear is God in camouflage for nothing turns me to God faster than fear.

The hook, however, is that fear is not lifted. We must walk through our personal fear to God. Ah, but we do not feel the fear as we are walking through for He goes before us making the crooked places straight.

It is I; be not afraid. - John 6:20

Thank you.

ALL-IN-ALL...GOD, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of July 31, 2014.]

It is hard for me to remember and to hold onto the fact that my mind, body and spirit feel hindered right now.

I know not why, but I am blessed with the thought:

God-hungered
God-starved
God-fed
God-led

Thank you.

WE GO TO GOD FOR GOD

The bottom line is that everybody has enough.****Trying to understand it with your mind, you’ll never get it. -- Cynthia Bourgeault, "Daily Meditation," June 11, 2026

Trying to understand it, "it" being anything, with our mind alone will keep us stuck in self, and never truly understanding.

We go to God for God and that is all--ah, there is the clarifier.

Thank you.

FOR OTHERS...LOVE UNLEASHED, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of June 28, 2016.]

God's home is within us for others. God lives within us for others. His home is within my heart, my soul, my body and my brain for the benefit of others.

We can read, ponder and pontificate till our face falls off, but it is our works, our selfless works, our care and concern for other than self that brings us the unattainable by our self's efforts...we are gifted by grace.

Gifted by grace means we give up the struggle to make that happen. Or even to understand it...it is love unleashed.

The space in between knowing that and doing that is life itself. According to me.

Thank you.

INTENTIONAL...THE POWER OF PURPOSE

,,,, without intentional spiritual formation and maturity, power, fear, and spectacle will train the soul faster than truth will. -- "Richard Rohr Daily Meditation," April 15, 2026

There. The quiet word laid out in black and white. The quiet word being intentional. 

We intentionally go to God for God and that is all. That is not a blinding flash dropped from the Blue...that is on purpose...on purpose we go to God for God and that is all.

That on purpose is and has been for some 50 years now my sole goal...whether I gutbucket knew it or not.

For this I seek...freedom from self's fear and spectacle.

I go to God for God and that is all.

Thank you.

TO KNOW LOVE...THE PEARL BEYOND PRICE

The hallmark of this [kingdom] awareness is that it sees no separation—not between God and humans, not between humans and other humans. -- "Fr Richard Rohr Daily Meditation," June 9, 2026

From my eyebrows up, I get this. I think I accept it fully, but that brings me flat up against the fact that one has not "accepted" if one is left wondering, questioning, "how?" and "what does this really mean?" In particular: "How do I make this my own?"

Lately, I notice that almost every spiritually based question I have has but one answer: We go to God for God, and that is all.

Given the space, God can and will fill in the answer....it is our job and/or privilege to give God the space. We give over, give up, give in, and God has us in the palm of His hand. 

I have experienced the truth of those words a few times, but those few times have changed my life. 

Today, when I find me in a human-life quandary, I go to God for God which does not remove the quandary...better than that: my mind is peaced.

There, the pearl beyond price: My mind is peaced...and I know love.

Thank you.