From Within Us Resides...

Did you ever wonder what was in the embers of an ash?  Why do we return to that which we once where?  Are we so grounded to this reality?  From where does the Phoenix truly rise?

These are things we ask ourselves throughout our lives here on Earth.  The more we seem to grow beyond our boundaries, the more we try to return to a more simplistic lifestyle.  Kids are constantly asking parents were they came from and how they become to be who they are.  It is true that many of us dodge this point until they are of age, but many of us are beginning to acknowledge that this explanation doesn’t suffice as an answer, especially to the most innocent of us.  Questions arise and we seek answers.  Maybe the solution is not something for us to solve. 

Did you ever wonder why our physical beings fall out of touch when we pass on?  We cannot feel the warmth of a gentle hand, the caress of a kiss or the look of a familiar face.   This bothers many of us because we do not have infinitive proof of life past death.  We only have that leap of faith to take us to that place within ourselves that we have reserved for such a presence.  Our children refer to them as ‘angels in our heart’.  Perhaps that is the simplest but most wonderful of all of the explanations. 

We shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus leaves us with mysteries rather than facts.  To believe without believing, to sense without sensing and to love without loving is not in His nature.  There cannot be dark without light, day without night, body without spirit.  We are all part of a greater universe and cannot exist without each other.  This inter-connection is what God gives to humankind, whether we are stewards to His glory or not.  Even our most revered scientists cannot explain cause without effect, thought without reflection, and for each action an equal and opposite reaction. 

We all begin and return to the same point in life.  Ashes are a symbol when we are all created and again reborn.  They are a living organism, made up the same basic elements as are we.  Children look at them and see shapes as they do when they look at the sky.  Explain to them that everything is in constant motion.  God is everywhere at all times.  He is in the food we eat, in the books we read, in the cars we drive, in the white of those same clouds and in a simple tear.  He is most importantly in our hearts and minds, so whatever we create; we are taking a part of Him with us.

Images of life are all around us.   Inanimate objects such as photographs can seem to take on a life of their own.  We look at a family album and experience emotions we thought buried deep within.  We look at the pictures and the sights, smells, feelings and memories come flooding back.  But how can that be, these are just paper and cardboard, how can they do that?  Remember that they too came from the earth and are endowed with the same spirit as we are when we are born.  We exist because of the existence of Christ.  We smell, we touch, we feel, we laugh, and love very much in life as we do in death.  We are all one in Christ and His spirit is in each and every one of us.  Remember, we are not owners but only stewards of this world.  It is not for us to second guess the nature of reality.  Remain faithful.  Realize that, like the Phoenix, from the ashes we are born, from the fires of life we are forged, and to the earth and to Heaven we return.

May the wind be at forever at your backs and may you feel the gentle breath of the Holy Spirit.  May His peace be with you, always.            

From the words of Saint John the Evangelist (14:1-6):

Let not your hearts be troubled.
You, who believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house there are many mansions.
Were it not so, I would have told you,
because I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I am coming again,
and I will take you to myself,
that where I am, there you also may be.
And where I go, you know, and the way you know.