Hi I'm John a recovering Catholic. James Finley has allowed me to let go of old ideas and lots of baggage of my Irish Catholic upbringing. At 60 I have begun meditating daily. Dr. Finley's has been and is an inspiration to me. Nothing is being promoted, rather it's the attraction to his humility and spirituality. Thank you Dr. Finley John Wexford Ireland
John Smith thank you I am in the same category and age.Struggling to let go of all the nonsense that imprisoned me psychologically and spiritually. As a recovering Catholic I have to much to discover and learn patiently with humility.
Wayne and John, I don’t know why, but I’m moved to write to you both. I share your experience and journey, including admiration for Dr. Finley and Merton, both. They have been instrumental in helping me differentiate religion, scripture and faith. In these distinctions, I have recovered to the extent that I find God’s love and peace through the sacraments of my Catholic faith. There has been a whole lot of the dying and renewal Finley discusses in this reflection, and many years of fighting where all the above was leading me. There’s a book “When Everything’s on Fire” by Brian Zahnd (not Catholic) that kept me from tossing aside ALL faith. Wherever it might lead you, or not, this author nailed the incongruence experienced between the God I hoped for and the one presented to me by my parochial formations….a God that I wanted no part of. Peace and every good to you both!
I remember a few lines from "Desolation Row" Bob Dylan could be depressing but the Monk was right, it is the truth. One line I never forgot is: "Praise be Willows Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn, and everyone is shouting which side are you on?" Another line from a song of his: "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, and just for that one moment I could be you, then you would know what a drag it is to see you" The truth of this one was in Mother Theresa. She said how awful it would be if your neighbor came looking for Christ and all that is found in you, is you! Yet another one of Bob Dylan is about an apparently materially wealthy woman who finds herself abandoned and destitute thrust into the arena with homeless abandoned women such as myself only I never had to face the loss that this woman did, who could be the woman in Revelation Prophecy living in shameless luxury with all the pretty people. Maybe it is God who has abandoned her. I am very fortunate to have found God this way just as Isaiah said that God was Saying through him: "I let Myself be found by those who were not even searching for Me." Bob Dylan knowing she had a cruel future ahead of her sang: "No one ever taught you how to live out on the streets miss lonely and now your gonna have to get used to it, Oh how does it feel to be all alone, a complete unknown, with no direction home, like a rolling stone?" I love the Bible Proverb that Says: "Sweet is the sleep of the one of little means, but the one with many possessions cannot sleep for worrying about them." The day I learned that the True God loved me, my sleep became peaceful and warm with no nightmares, even outside in the freezing cold.
Hi I'm John a recovering Catholic. James Finley has allowed me to let go of old ideas and lots of baggage of my Irish Catholic upbringing. At 60 I have begun meditating daily. Dr. Finley's has been and is an inspiration to me. Nothing is being promoted, rather it's the attraction to his humility and spirituality.
Thank you Dr. Finley
John
Wexford Ireland
John Smith thank you I am in the same category and age.Struggling to let go of all the nonsense that imprisoned me psychologically and spiritually. As a recovering Catholic I have to much to discover and learn patiently with humility.
Wayne and John,
I don’t know why, but I’m moved to write to you both. I share your experience and journey, including admiration for Dr. Finley and Merton, both. They have been instrumental in helping me differentiate religion, scripture and faith. In these distinctions, I have recovered to the extent that I find God’s love and peace through the sacraments of my Catholic faith. There has been a whole lot of the dying and renewal Finley discusses in this reflection, and many years of fighting where all the above was leading me. There’s a book “When Everything’s on Fire” by Brian Zahnd (not Catholic) that kept me from tossing aside ALL faith. Wherever it might lead you, or not, this author nailed the incongruence experienced between the God I hoped for and the one presented to me by my parochial formations….a God that I wanted no part of. Peace and every good to you both!
Just the title on it's own 'Relationships as a practice of Humility' is a great pointer. Thanks F.J.
Thank you for this.
I remember a few lines from "Desolation Row" Bob Dylan could be depressing but the Monk was right, it is the truth. One line I never forgot is: "Praise be Willows Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn, and everyone is shouting which side are you on?" Another line from a song of his: "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, and just for that one moment I could be you, then you would know what a drag it is to see you" The truth of this one was in Mother Theresa. She said how awful it would be if your neighbor came looking for Christ and all that is found in you, is you! Yet another one of Bob Dylan is about an apparently materially wealthy woman who finds herself abandoned and destitute thrust into the arena with homeless abandoned women such as myself only I never had to face the loss that this woman did, who could be the woman in Revelation Prophecy living in shameless luxury with all the pretty people. Maybe it is God who has abandoned her. I am very fortunate to have found God this way just as Isaiah said that God was Saying through him: "I let Myself be found by those who were not even searching for Me." Bob Dylan knowing she had a cruel future ahead of her sang: "No one ever taught you how to live out on the streets miss lonely and now your gonna have to get used to it, Oh how does it feel to be all alone, a complete unknown, with no direction home, like a rolling stone?"
I love the Bible Proverb that Says: "Sweet is the sleep of the one of little means, but the one with many possessions cannot sleep for worrying about them."
The day I learned that the True God loved me, my sleep became peaceful and warm with no nightmares, even outside in the freezing cold.