I have a new Google Account, "desconbluz54".  I'm trying to figure out a way to move this blog over there but it may be a while.  Thank you for your support and I'll post back as soon as the blog has been moved.

Best,

BEN

Daily Meditation: The Peaceable Kingdom

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Monday December 10, 2012    The Peaceable Kingdom All of creation belongs together in the arms of its Creator.  The final vision is that not only will all men and women recognise that they are brothers and sisters called to live in unity but all members of God's creation will come together in complete harmony.  Jesus the Christ came to realise that vision.  Long before he was born, the prophet Isaiah saw it: The wolf will live with the lamb, the panther lie down with the kid, calf, lion and fat-stock beast together, with a little boy to lead them. The cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like the ox. The infant will play over the den of the adder; the baby will put his hand into the viper's lair. No hurt, no harm will be done on all my holy mountain, for the country will be full of knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9) We must keep this vision alive.     Comment on this Daily Meditation. Click here to join our online discussion of Creative Ministry Nov. 21st to Dec. 29th.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

The Turning!

It's a steamy 102F in sunny Sacramento today, and for the 6th straight day I am thanking G_D my landlady installed Central A/C. I miss my bike and my VW Van but it's too damned HOT!

I've been working on my financial statement, my bills and getting things ready for my next meeting with the retirement folks at work. It's real. My current life is ending, and as of right now all will be new. The enormity of that fact is hitting me. Yet I am more excited and alive than I've been in the last several years. It's not often when something occurs in your life which upsets the apple cart and rolls you down an entirely different hill! I will remember July 2012 as that time!

I look around my house, and see my comfortable life around me. I see my books, my sound system, my "man-cave" recliner and big ol' SONY TV. It's easy to forget what just happened but then I snap back to now and start looking for boxes and bag's. Dr.Ben is going to RULE Freecycle these next few weeks!

I've got 40 weeks, give or take to my planned departure for New England. Less than a year! As Hunter S. Thompson is reputed to have said:

"Wow! What a ride!"

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Daily Meditation: Being Blessed

This morning, after my 40th High School reunion in CT, I feel so blessed.  Funny this turned up in my in-box!  High School was long ago and it's good to get a reality check!

BEN

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Saturday July 14, 2012  Being Blessed Jesus is the Blessed One.  When Jesus was baptised in the Jordan river a voice came from heaven saying:  "You are my Son, the Beloved;  my favour rests on you" (Mark 1:11).  This was the blessing that sustained Jesus during his life.  Whatever happened to him - praise or blame - he clung to his blessing; he always remembered that he was the favourite child of God. Jesus came into the world to share that blessing with us.  He came to open our ears to the voice that also says to us, "You are my beloved son, you are my beloved daughter, my favour rests on you ."  When we can hear that voice, trust in it, and always remember it, especially during dark times, we can live our lives as God's blessed children and find the strength to share that blessing with others.   Comment on this Daily Meditation.  Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Daily Meditation: The Wounded Healer - By Henri Nouwen

This, then is the passage which brought me to Henri Nouwen over 15 years ago.  I was sitting through m first round of chemo at Dana Farber and wondering what life held.  A Jesuit from work at BC brought me this little book. This was my first glimpse of a true goal for my living. 

BEN

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Sunday July 8, 2012      The Wounded Healer   Nobody escapes being wounded.  We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.   The main question is not "How can we hide our wounds?" so we don't have to be embarrassed, but "How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?"  When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.   Jesus is God's wounded healer: through his wounds we are healed.  Jesus' suffering and death brought joy and life.  His humiliation brought glory; his rejection brought a community of love.  As followers of Jesus we can also allow our wounds to bring healing to others.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Daily Meditation: Making Our Lives Available to Others

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Sunday April 29, 2012      Making Our Lives Available to Others   One of the arguments we often use for not writing is this:   "I have nothing original to say.  Whatever I might say, someone else has already said it, and better than I will ever be able to."  This, however, is not a good argument for not writing.  Each human person is unique and original, and nobody has lived what we have lived.  Furthermore, what we have lived, we have lived not just for ourselves but for others as well.  Writing can be a very creative and invigorating way to make our lives available to ourselves and to others.   We have to trust that our stories deserve to be told.  We may discover that the better we tell our stories the better we will want to live them.     Comment on this Daily Meditation. Discussion on The Wounded Healer begins May 30th. Please join us!   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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"The Catholic Dictionary"

"The Catholic / Episcopal Dictionary"

AMEN: The only part of a prayer that everyone
knows.

BULLETIN: 1. Parish information, read only during
the homily.  2. Church air conditioning. 3. Your
receipt for attending Mass.

CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows
the rest of the congregation to lip-sync.

HOLY WATER: A liquid whose chemical formula is
H2OLY.

HYMN: A song of praise, usually sung in a key three
octaves  higher than that of the congregation's
range.

RECESSIONAL HYMN: The last song at Mass, often
sung a little more quietly, since most of the people
have already left.

INCENSE: Holy Smoke!

JESUITS: An order of priests known for their ability
to found colleges with good basketball teams.

JONAH: The original "Jaws" story.

JUSTICE: When kids have kids of their own.

KYRIE ELIEISON: The only Greek words that most
Catholics can recognize besides gyros and
baklava.

MAGI: The most famous trio to attend a baby
shower.

MANGER: 1. Where Mary gave birth to Jesus
because Joseph wasn't covered by an HMO. .
2. The Bible's way of showing us that holiday
travel has always been rough.

PEW: A medieval torture device still found in
Catholic Churches.

PROCESSION: The ceremonial formation at the
beginning of Mass, consisting of altar servers,
the celebrant, and late parishioners looking for
seats.

RECESSIONAL: The ceremonial procession at
the conclusion of Mass led by parishioners trying
to beat the crowd to the parking lot.

RELICS: People who have been going to Mass
for so long, they actually know when to sit,
kneel, and stand.

TEN COMMANDMENTS: The most important Top
Ten list not given by David Letterman.

USHERS: The only people in the parish who don't
know the seating capacity of a pew.

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Daily Meditation Henri Nouwen: The Spirit of Jesus Listening in us

As Chaplains or, in my case also as a family member of two people with serious illnesses, listening is a strong component.  As a Chaplain, it is the root of all we do.  And it is how we bring the Christ to others.

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Monday March 12, 2012    The Spirit of Jesus Listening in us    Listening in the spiritual life is much more than a psychological strategy to help others discover themselves.  In the spiritual life the listener is not the ego, which  would like to speak but is trained to restrain itself, but the Spirit of God within us.   When we are baptised in the Spirit - that is, when we have received the Spirit of Jesus as the breath of God breathing within us - that Spirit creates in us a sacred space where the other can be received and listened to.  The Spirit of Jesus prays in us and listens in us to all who come to us with their sufferings and pains. When we dare to fully trust in the power of God's Spirit listening in us, we will see true healing occur.   Comment on this Daily Meditation. Journey with us this Lent. Reflect on COMPASSION.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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"Fat Darrell Sandwich" Health eating for this first Spring day!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/fat-darrell-sandwich-recipe/index.html

Mmm mm good, y'all!

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Daily Meditation: Dressed in Gentleness Fr. Henri Nouwen

"Gentle" is good.  Gentleness is not weak.  I need to try to be strong in gentleness.

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Tuesday February 7, 2012        Dressed in Gentleness   Once in a while we meet a gentle person. Gentleness is a virtue hard to find in a society that admires toughness and roughness. We are encouraged to get things done and to get them done fast, even when people get hurt in the process. Success, accomplishment, and productivity count. But the cost is high. There is no place for gentleness in such a milieu.   Gentle is the one who does "not break the crushed reed, or snuff the faltering wick" (Matthew 12:20). Gentle is the one who is attentive to the strengths and weaknesses of the other and enjoys being together more than accomplishing something. A gentle person treads lightly, listens carefully, looks tenderly, and touches with reverence. A gentle person knows that true growth requires nurture, not force. Let's dress ourselves with gentleness. In our tough and often unbending world our gentleness can be a vivid reminder of the presence of God among us.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.    Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Daily Meditation: Being Merciful with Ourselves Henri Nouwen

For a few people in my life, and likely for me it's a time in inner reflection and solitude.  This speaks to that time.

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Thursday February 2, 2012    Being Merciful with Ourselves   We need silence in our lives. We even desire it. But when we enter into silence we encounter a lot of inner noises, often so disturbing that a busy and distracting life seems preferable to a time of silence. Two disturbing "noises" present themselves quickly in our silence: the noise of lust and the noise of anger. Lust reveals our many unsatisfied needs, anger or many unresolved relationships. But lust and anger are very hard to face.   What are we to do? Jesus says, "Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). Sacrifice here means "offering up," "cutting out," "burning away," or "killing." We shouldn't do that with our lust and anger. It simply won't work. But we can be merciful toward our own noisy selves and turn these enemies into friends.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.    Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Forgiving in the Name of God - From Henri Nouwen

Given some of the turmoil I am reading about tonight, this is worth reading.

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Saturday January 28, 2012         Forgiving in the Name of God   We are all wounded people. Who wounds us? Often those whom we love and those who love us. When we feel rejected, abandoned, abused, manipulated, or violated, it is mostly by people very close to us: our parents, our friends, our spouses, our lovers, our children, our neighbors, our teachers, our pastors. Those who love us wound us too. That's the tragedy of our lives. This is what makes forgiveness from the heart so difficult. It is precisely our hearts that are wounded. We cry out, "You, who I expected to be there for me, you have abandoned me. How can I ever forgive you for that?"   Forgiveness often seems impossible, but nothing is impossible for God. The God who lives within us will give us the grace to go beyond our wounded selves and say, "In the Name of God you are forgiven." Let's pray for that grace.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.    Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Daily Meditation: Finding Solitude from "aloneness" - Henri Nouwen

This was especially helpful to me during a time a few years ago when I needed to sort things out.   Turning my heartbreak and loneliness into contemplative "solitude"  allowed me to listen for, and discern the new path I needed to take.

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Wednesday January 18, 2012      Finding Solitude   All human beings are alone. No other person will completely feel like we do, think like we do, act like we do. Each of us is unique, and our aloneness is the other side of our uniqueness. The question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness or whether we allow it to lead us into solitude. Loneliness is painful; solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.   Letting our aloneness grow into solitude and not into loneliness is a lifelong struggle. It requires conscious choices about whom to be with, what to study, how to pray, and when to ask for counsel. But wise choices will help us to find the solitude where our hearts can grow in love.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.    Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Daily Meditation: Care, the Source of All Cure - Meditation by Fr. Henri Nouwen

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Sunday January 8, 2012       Care, the Source of All Cure   Care is something other than cure. Cure means "change." A doctor, a lawyer, a minister, a social worker-they all want to use their professional skills to bring about changes in people's lives. They get paid for whatever kind of cure they can bring about. But cure, desirable as it may be, can easily become violent, manipulative, and even destructive if it does not grow out of care. Care is being with, crying out with, suffering with, feeling with. Care is compassion. It is claiming the truth that the other person is my brother or sister, human, mortal, vulnerable, like I am.   When care is our first concern, cure can be received as a gift. Often we are not able to cure, but we are always able to care. To care is to be human.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.    Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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New Layout

I'm not thrilled with Google's new layout. It views fine on Google CHROME but nothing else. I also post many of these entries on my Livejournal Blog, "Dr. Ben Views from a Rectory". (I rent an old RC Rectory as my home)

It can be found here:

http://drben54.livejournal.com/

Daily Meditation: Letting Go of Old Hurts

This refection is very timely.  It is at Holiday gatherings that old hurts come up and people, who once were part of these gatherings but are no longer due to some real or imagined offense, can take up an inordinate amount of conversation.  Old wounds, some decades old are ripped open and the old "hurt" is back.  Forgiveness is hard.  For me this Holiday season,  it was hard hearing a well-liked colleague from my previous job was retiring and relocating.  As I was "pushed out" of that job, it was hard for me to face the people once more who did the "pushing" in order to say goodbye to my friends.  Thinking of this today,  I was so happy to read this meditation from Fr. Nouwen.

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Friday December 30, 2011       Letting Go of Old Hurts   One of the hardest things in life is to let go of old hurts.  We often say, or at least think:  "What you did to me and my family, my ancestors, or my friends I cannot forget or forgive. ... One day you will have to pay for it."  Sometimes our memories are decades, even centuries, old and keep asking for revenge.   Holding people's faults against them often creates an impenetrable wall.  But listen to Paul:  "For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation:  the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.  It is all God's work" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).  Indeed, we cannot let go of old hurts, but God can.  Paul says:  "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's fault against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).  It is God's work, but we are God's ministers, because the God who reconciled the world to God entrusted to us "the message of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19).  This message calls us to let go of old hurts in the Name of God.  It is the message our world most needs to hear.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.    Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Hangover Remedy from Garrison Keillor (Taken from today's "Writer's Almanac podcasr"

Today is New Year's Day. If you are suffering from a hangover today, you aren't alone. The chief culprit is dehydration caused by the diuretic effect of ethanol, which can lead to shrinkage of brain tissue, and that causes headache. Alcohol irritates the lining of the stomach, causing queasiness. Other symptoms are caused by the toxic by-products of the liver's detoxification process. For something so common, hangover is poorly understood by the medical community, and quack remedies abound.

Hangover remedies probably evolved hand in hand with alcohol consumption. Pliny the Elder counseled Romans to eat fried canaries or raw owl's eggs. Ancient Assyrians tried to assuage their anguish by consuming a concoction of ground bird beaks and myrrh. Medieval Europeans consumed raw eels with bitter almonds. The Chinese drank green tea, which seems benign enough, but their neighbors the Mongolians ate pickled sheep's eyes. The Japanese ate pickled plums. Then there's the Prairie Oyster, introduced at the 1878 Paris World Expo: it's a raw egg (with the yolk intact), mixed with Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Puerto Ricans took a preventative tack: they rubbed sliced lemons in their armpits before drinking; In India, they drank coconut water, and there's some merit to that, because coconut water is rich in electrolytes and it helps with the dehydration.

Then there's the "hair of the dog" approach. In the 19th century, an Italian named Bernardino Branca developed a potion called Fernet: rhubarb, aloe, peppermint oil, and opiates. As a bonus, Fernet also cured cholera, or so Branca claimed. It's still available today, minus the opiates. Some people swear by the Bloody Mary: tomato juice mixed with vodka and a variety of spices; Hemingway's variant was tomato juice and beer.

A literature review in the British Medical Journal concludes that there is no reliable way to treat or prevent hangover after over-imbibing. The Algonquin Round Table writer Robert Benchley came to a similar conclusion: "A real hangover is nothing to try out family remedies on. The only cure for a real hangover is death."

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