Tag: Love

Watch Out

Pope Francis concelebrated Mass last Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica with 11 of the 13 new cardinals he had created the day before. His homily was striking. Here are some excerpts:
“Advent is the season for remembering that closeness of God who came down to dwell in our midst…
“The first step of faith is to tell God that we need him, that we need him to be close to us…
“Let us make our own the traditional Advent prayer: ‘Come, Lord Jesus’…
“If we ask Jesus to come close to us, we will train ourselves to be watchful…It is important to remain watchful, because one great mistake in life is to get absorbed in a thousand things and not to notice God.
“Saint Augustine said: ‘I fear that Jesus will pass by me unnoticed’. Caught up in our own daily concerns (how well we know this!), and distracted by so many vain things, we risk losing sight of what is essential…Be watchful, attentive…
“Being watchful in expectation of his coming means not letting ourselves be overcome by discouragement. It is to live in hope. Just as before our birth, our loved ones expectantly awaited our coming into the world, so now Love in person awaits us.
“If we are awaited in Heaven, why should we be caught up with earthly concerns? Why should we be anxious about money, fame, success, all of which will pass away? Why should we waste time complaining about the night, when the light of day awaits us?…Be watchful, the Lord tells us.
   “Staying awake is not easy…Even Jesus’ disciples did not manage to stay awake…They did not keep watch, They fell asleep. But that same drowsiness can also overtake us…it is the slumber of mediocrity. It comes when we forget our first love and grow satisfied with indifference, concerned only for an untroubled existence.

“Without making an effort to love God daily and awaiting the newness he constantly brings, we become mediocre, lukewarm, worldly. And this slowly eats away at our faith, for faith is…an ardent desire for God, a bold effort to change, the courage to love, constant progress. Faith…is fire that burns; it is not a tranquilizer for people under stress, it is a love story for people in love!…
“How can we rouse ourselves from the slumber of mediocrity? With the vigilance of prayer…Prayer rouses us from the tepidity of a purely horizontal existence and makes us lift our gaze to higher things; it makes us attuned to the Lord…Prayer allows God to be close to us; it frees us from our solitude and gives us hope. Prayer is vital for life…
“There is also another kind of interior slumber: the slumber of indifference. Those who are indifferent see everything the same…they are unconcerned about those all around them. When everything revolves around us and our needs, and we are indifferent to the needs of others, night descends in our heart…
“How do we rouse ourselves from the slumber of indifference? With the watchfulness of charity. Charity is the beating heart of the Christian…being compassionate, helping and serving others…are the only things that win us the victory, since they are already aiming towards the future, the day of the Lord, when all else will pass away and love alone will remain.
“…praying and loving: that is what it means to be watchful…Come, Lord Jesus, take our distracted hearts and make them watchful. Awaken within us the desire to pray and the need to love.”


6 December 2020

Eye upon the Doughnut

One of my first tastes of philosophy was as a child, in a coffee shop/restaurant, reading this jingle:

As you ramble on through life, brother,
Whatever be your goal,
Keep your eye upon the doughnut
And not upon the hole!

I thought it was great. I still do, but if you try too hard to analyze it, you may miss what it’s saying.
It’s an overall advice to be optimistic rather than pessimistic, to focus more on what you have than on what you don’t. It’s like that riddle of folk philosophy, “Is the glass half-empty or half-full?”
A longer version of the same thought is an old joke about two twin brothers, one always the optimist, the other, the pessimist. One Christmas morning, their parents decided to challenge them.
When the kids woke up, they took the pessimist to a room with a beautiful decorated tree surrounded by presents. He burst into tears. “Look at the star on top of the tree,” he cried, “It’s crooked!”
They took his brother to an empty room with nothing in it but straw and manure on the floor. He clapped his hands in delight, and cried out, “Where’s the pony?”
Going back to the jingle, it’s actually a false dichotomy—the hole in the middle is actually an integral part of the doughnut, a ring shaped piece of baked dough.
You might say that the absences—the missing things—in our life and behavior are also an integral part of our lives.
Not being God, we’re not perfect. Except for a special grace of God, no human person is or ever can be perfect.
We’re all somewhat “doughnut shaped”. We’re all “holey” people trying to become whole and “holy” people!

In the church of the apostles, the great emphasis was on the overwhelming love and mercy of God. Those who embraced the teachings of Jesus didn’t go about bewailing how imperfect they were. On the contrary, they were joyful that they were pardoned for their failings and were now sharers in a new life. And, they eagerly looked forward to wonderful things to come!
Somehow or other, as the centuries passed, maybe because people were “born into” Christianity and took the good news for granted, an emphasis on personal sin and sinfulness gradually became a much more important part of prayer and religious practice.
And, of course, the more we focus on the negative side of our life and behavior, the more down and discouraged we’re likely to become.
It’s a trap! Of course we’re not perfect people. So, of course, we can always find things to bewail—and we can always find others to call attention to our failings.
Let’s face it, we have a very bad habit of keeping our eye upon the hole, and not upon the doughnut!
Here’s another curious thing. You hear others bewailing that people don’t go to confession enough, as in the “old days”.
The roots of the rite of reconciliation were to allow a complete defector among those who had chosen to live according the teachings of Jesus, an “apostate”, to be re-admitted to the Christian community.
Thanks be to God, if we’re getting better and better! Convert your “examination of conscience” into a litany of thanks for the so many occasions of God’s love and mercy!


8 November 2020

Be Children No Longer

I think St. Paul, were he living in our times, would have appreciated the 1976 film, “Network”, a satirical comedy-drama about the television industry.
The movie received widespread critical acclaim, four Academy Awards, and several other honors. The plot concerned the television industry and how more and more shock, violence, and fantasy improved audience share and ratings.
Television began as a news and entertainment vehicle, originally with only one or a very few channels. Nowadays, with hundreds of channels to choose from, both news and entertainment programs are competing for audience share and ratings—and they seem to be blending.
Often “news” programs seek to impact, titillate, and entertain, and “entertainment” programs, to include critical news.
And, of course, just as there are hundreds of channels, there are hundreds of differing points of view being broadcast in both news and entertainment.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Christian community in Ephesus, probably around the year 62, concerned about divisions and dissensions there, he counseled them:
“…to live a life worthy of the calling you have received, with perfect humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another lovingly. Make every effort to preserve the unity which has the Spirit as its origin and peace as its binding force.” (4:1-3)
He also warned them to think critically and not to be easily swayed by clever and persuasive speakers:
“Let us then, be children no longer, tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine that originates in human trickery and skill in proposing error. Rather, let us profess the truth in love and grow to the full maturity of Christ…” (4:14-15)

The dictionary definition of “doctrine” is: 1. a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated, as of a religion or government. 2. Something that is taught; teachings collectively. 3. a body or system of teachings relating to a particular subject.
But, by the way the word is used in Ephesians, I think it would include every wind and variation of news, propaganda, interpretation, explanation, opinion, analysis, statistics, and prediction that buffet each of us daily.
In that movie which Paul might have appreciated, the marketers of “news” would have understood what he meant by “human trickery and skill in proposing error”.
However, their defense might well have been that we’re a business; we have to be concerned about the bottom line. We’re not primarily teachers or preachers, we’re promoters. And, we need to be sensitive to the priorities of those who support us, who pay the bills.
If the priorities involve “truth”, then we’re for “truth”. But, of course, they might add, there are varieties and versions of “truth”, and we have a right to promote ours.
And, what would Paul say to that? Well, he already did: “Let us, then, be children no longer, tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine that originates in human trickery and skill in proposing error. Rather, let us profess the truth in love…”
Paul knew that “truth” can’t have varieties and versions, although perceptions of truth can. Because we don’t “know” something doesn’t mean it’s not real or doesn’t exist.
Grow up, Paul urges, “be children no longer…”


18 October 2020

Backstage

It’s only human to be curious.
After seeing a great performance—play, concert, dance—sometimes we really want to see the performer—the actor, musician, dancer, to see who he/she really is. We’re so impressed we want to learn more about the person who did such a great job.
The performance, of course, reveals a little about the performer, but only a little . . .
– every tweet reveals something about the tweeter.
– every speech reveals something about the speaker.
– every painting reveals something about the painter.
– every building reveals something about the architect.
– every lie reveals something about the liar.
– every loving act reveals something about the lover.
– every torture reveals something about the torturer.
No matter what, we never learn everything; in a way, everyone is ultimately a mystery.
As we see the cosmos, the whole universe, the earth, and all it contains, it reveals a little about their source, their origin, their maker, but only a little.
Overwhelmed by the vastness, the power, the energy, the complexity, and the beauty of it all, we want to learn more about their creation and their creator [or Supreme Being, Source, Maker, Begetter, Father, Mother, Parent—the names vary].
We don’t even know what we want to know! It’s like an insatiable hunger, and, no matter what we discover, we yearn for more.
St. Augustine of Hippo got it right when he said, “Fecisti nos ad te, Domine, et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te.” (“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”)

Notice Augustine said that it is our heart that is yearning, not our head.
Of course our head is yearning, too. We can’t help the restless questing to know, to understand, to comprehend, that is built into our very essence and being.
But the yearning of our hearts has a different dynamic. We can be constantly overwhelmed by beauty and wonderment, and the gratefulness and joy that they inspire. This, too, is built into our very essence and being.
It’s not that we are made for endless unfulfillment, never to know or to possess all, but the very opposite—never-ending fulfillment, never-ending finding, discovering, wonderment, gladness, and gratitude.
You know, the old Baltimore Catechism was right on target with its third question and answer. They really captured the essence of Augustine’s beautiful reflection:
Q. Why did God make you? A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.
However, the answer adds an important third purpose. The way we’re made, we can’t help but restlessly to seek to know more and more; we can’t help but to love and desire more and more . . .
But, it doesn’t work quite the same in the case of “to serve Him”. We do have some built-in desire for doing what is right, to do the will of God—but it’s weaker than “to know Him, to love Him”.
Beware the temptation! Remember what Jesus quoted, “The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”


4 October 2020

It’s Too Hard

In the Gospel According to John, at the conclusion of Jesus’ teaching about the bread of life, “. . . many of his disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’.” (Jn 6:60)
Probably your reaction and mine to this would be something like that of Peter’s, when Jesus warned the apostles just before his arrest that, “This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken . . .”
Peter protested, “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.” (Mt 26:31-33
Here’s a simple little test for you about some of the hard stuff Jesus teaches. Are you accepting and faithful about:
– Forgiveness. “. . . whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment . . . Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Mt 5:22-24)
– Non-resistance. “I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on [your] right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.” (Mt 5:39-42)
– Love of enemies. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust . . . be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:43-48)

– Detachment. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Mt 6:19-21)
– Priorities. “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt 6:24)
– Trust in God. . . .“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear . . . Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? . . . But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself . . .” (Mt 6:25-34)
– Non-judgmental. “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” (Mt 7:1-2)
Jesus summed it all up near the end of his life when he said,“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15:12-13)
This is a curious test to take, because it’s not over until you die. You know when you have passed the test with flying colors? When you have given all that you have and all that you are including your life itself!


19 July 2020

Cor ad Cor Loquitur

St. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, describes the coming of the Spirit primarily as a miracle of communication:
“And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” (Acts 2:4).
That would be astounding, since the apostles, the blessed Mother, and the others there were not linguists, Their native language was Aramaic, their ancient religious language was Hebrew, and perhaps they had a smattering of Greek since that was the “lingua franca” of their world.
But, as St. Luke adds, even more astounding was the fact that everybody who heard them speak heard them speak in their own particular language—and all this simultaneously!
It’s physically impossible to speak several languages simultaneously. But, the miracle was that each listener understood them as though they were speaking each one’s native language. They communicated effectively with everyone.
Communication is not merely a matter of the words themselves. It involves gestures, expressions, tone of voice, emotions. a kind of total projection of one person to another.
We can communicate without words at all! How often a hand movement, a smile, a tear, a touch, or an embrace speaks more than any word.
In case your Latin is not too good (or non-existent), the title above, an oft quoted expression, means, “Heart Speaks to Heart.”
The heart, of course, is the symbol of love, of the place where the fullness of love abides. And, love is the most powerful force in the world, the very essence of God.
With words or without words, but with love, we can powerfully communicate. Words may help, of course, but we can manage without them.

Often we tend to rely more on the head than on the heart, with verbal more than non-verbal communication.
We’re inundated with torrents of words most of the time. We’re constantly wrestling with their rightness or their wrongness, their truthfulness or falsity, and weighing their nuances.
But, the most powerful and effective communication is love—not speaking about love, not saying “love”, but loving!
It’s astounding—miraculous!—how powerfully you communicate when you really and truly love.
Love can involve wonder, thanksgiving, pleasure, satisfaction, and joy—it also can involve acceptance, endurance, patience, forgiveness, and even pain and sacrifice.
It takes courage and strength to love well. It can require sometime almost more than we’re capable of, almost superhuman strength! And Jesus is commanding us, his followers, to do it, to “Love one another as I have loved you!”
We can’t do it, it demands too much. True, sometimes it does, usually it does. To totally and completely love means to give of yourself and yours until there’s nothing left to give, including your life itself.
But, with the coming of the Spirit, with the infusion of divine presence, life, and love into our lives, with the help and grace of God empowering us, all things are possible.
The Pentecost experience wasn’t just for that small band of believers. It is repeated daily in your life and mine. The Spirit, the force, the strength of God’s love empowers you, too.
May your life always communicate love!


31 May 2020

Open the Doors

The church is the house of God.
How long is this going to continue?
When will the doors be open?
Why can’t we celebrate?
I need communion.
I need to be in touch. I can’t keep going if I’m always shut out.
Social distancing doesn’t mean no contact or relations, just not unwittingly harming one another.
For God’s sake, I need to find peace and joy, pardon and love. That’s why I go to church!

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Co 3:16).
How long is this going to continue?
When will your doors be opened?
Why can’t we celebrate?
I need communion.
I need to be in touch. I can’t keep going if I’m always shut out.
Social distancing doesn’t mean no contact or relations, just not unwittingly harming one another.
For God’s sake, I need to find peace and joy, pardon and love. That’s why I go to you!

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (Jn 13:34)
That means that I must do my very best to love all those with whom I am in communication.
That means that I must strive to love all those who relate to me.
That means that I must try to love all those whose lives cross the path of mine.
That means that I must be open to loving all those who seek to enter my life.
I wonder if the new commandment implies that as we have loved one another, so God will love us? (I hope not!)

It’s prudent right now that we should avoid large assemblies, including ones in church.
We don’t want to endanger the lives of others by unknowingly infecting them with something that can harm. And, we don’t want to be endangered by others who unknowingly may infect us with something that can harm.
But, for God’s sake, it’s not prudent at all — it even goes against all that we aspire to be and do, not to mention the commandment of the Lord — to avoid contact with and shut out of our lives all those who come to us in want and need.
I can live with the church doors shut, but I can’t live with the doors of your heart shut.
For God’s sake, I can’t live without peace and joy, pardon and love. That’s why I go to you!

“When the Son of Man comes . . . he will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Mt 25: 31, 34-40).

10 May 2020

(Available in
Spanish translation)

Whose Sins You Forgive . . .

In the book of Isaiah, 22:15-25, Shelma, the master of the palace, is rebuked by the Lord, and his office is turned over to Eliakim: “I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open.”
Eliakim is no mere doorkeeper; the key symbolizes the vicarious authority conferred upon him to act in the name of his king.
In the gospel according to Matthew, 16:19, after Peter’s confession of faith, Jesus says to him, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
In the gospel according to John, 20:20, when the resurrected Jesus first appears to the disciples he says to them, “Receive the holy Spirit, Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
St. Augustine, in his sermon quoted in the office of readings for the Solemnity of Peter and Paul (second reading), offers us a challenging interpretation of these gospel texts.

As you are aware, Jesus chose his disciples before his passion and called them apostles; and among these almost everywhere Peter alone deserved to represent the entire Church. And because of that role which he alone had, he merited to hear the words: To you I shall give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. For it was not one man who received the keys, but the entire Church considered as one. . . . For the fact that it was the Church that received the keys of the kingdom of God is clear from what the Lord says elsewhere to all the apostles [disciples]: Receive the Holy Spirit, adding immediately, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you retain, they are retained.

This means that all the followers of Jesus have a share in this authority to open and shut, to bind and loose, to forgive and retain, although not all exercise this God-given authority in quite the same way.
For the sake of order in the Christian community, some bear more such authority than others; some have the responsibility of exercising it more generally and publicly.
Does this mean, for example, that in the absence and unavailability of a priest in a parish any lay person can begin to “hear confessions”? No, in fact even a priest must be authorized and empowered to do so; he need ‘faculties” from the bishop or his delegate.
Could a lay person be so authorized and empowered? Our current sacramental theology and canon law does not foresee such a possibility. (However, just because there is no precedent for something doesn’t necessarily mean that it is not possible.)
One thing is sure. every Christian is empowered and obliged to exercise a ministry of mercy.
If my brother or sister offends me and then later regrets and repents what was done and seeks pardon, I have the power to forgive (open, loose) or retain (shut, bind).
If I exercise love and mercy, by forgiving I remove the burden of guilt from my brother or sister, a liberation. If I chose not to forgive, then I retain the offense, and he or she remains burdened by it. What would that say about me as a follower of Jesus?
Remember, among Jesus’ parting words to his followers were: “Love one another as I love you.” (John 15:12)
It wasn’t a recommendation, it was a command!


7 July 2019

A Very Attractive Universe

In 1915 Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity—a new insight and idea that changed our understanding of the universe in which we live. It was followed by other great breakthroughs in scientific thought, dazzlingly difficult to comprehend.
Science-Faction books and films have popularized many of these ideas, sometimes veering into fantasy or a kind of mysticism.
I’ve always had a fondness for the notion of “the force,” in the 1977 Star Wars film. In it wise old Obi-Wan Kenobi tells young Luke Skywalker that “It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”
The study of forces and energy is part of traditional physics, including, for example, gravitational, magnetic, electric, and intra-nuclear. The quest, the “impossible dream,” is to find the one theory that will embrace them all.
It’s hard to find simple words to explain the sophisticated theories of modern physics, but perhaps one of them helps: “attraction”—the idea that everything attracts everything else, one way or another.
Magnetism obviously involves attraction. The notion is so common that we even use the word “magnetic” to describe mutual relationships between persons.
Gravity can also be described as attraction. What “falls” to the ground is attracted by the earth. Less obviously, the earth is attracted to the thing that falls—but this attraction is negligible compared to the other.
Clearly the degree to which one thing is attracted to (responds to or moves towards) another has to do with their relative size, strength, and other qualities. In physics, the word “mass” is usually used.
In modern astronomy or astrophysics, a hard to imagine yet real fact is that even light can be “attracted” by an object with enough mass. So to speak, instead of traveling in a straight line light can be “bent” or deflected from its course.

This was a cause of misunderstanding in traditional astronomy. We presume that when light hits our eyes it has traveled in a straight line, and so we think we know exactly from which direction it has come. But, if its path is curved—think of a golf drive or arrow in flight—it’s much harder to know the direction of its source.
If everything “attracts” everything else, then everything is subject to a great variety of “attractions” or forces pulling it one way or another.
Even more bewildering, if everything “attracts” everything else, then everything is subject to an infinite (i.e. without limit) number of “attractions” or forces at any given moment.
And, to make things even more bewildering, the total amount of “everything” is constantly changing. Things are constantly appearing and disappearing, constantly “being born” and “dying.”
Fortunately,the “attraction” of many things is negligible even though they are real. But even this is relative. For example, the “death” of a star millions of light years away hardly affects us at all—but suppose it was our star, the Sun?
There’s a huge difference between viewing a snapshot and a video. Living things are constantly changing and developing. Modern scientific thinking realizes that everything is “in motion.”
Nothing is fixed. Everything is dynamically situated in a web of forces pulling it this way and that. In fact, everything and everybody can be described in terms of the forces, the “attractions,” affecting it. (And, don’t forget, among the most powerful forces is love.)
It’s a very attractive universe!


29 November 2015

What Is God Made of?

“What are little boys made of?” goes the nursery rhyme, “Frogs and snails, and puppy-dogs’ tails.” While, “What are little girls made of?” gets answered by “Sugar and spice, and all that’s nice.”
What is it made of? What makes it tick? Questions like these are asked by everyone, from little kids to research scientists.
However, just knowing the component parts of something doesn’t entirely explain what it is, what it does or how it came to be.
To make a cake, you need more than flour, eggs, yeast and sugar; you need to know how much of each ingredient to use, how they affect each other, and how to put them together in the baking process. The finished cake is much more than its ingredients.
Knowing details about arms and legs, head and torso, fingers and toes and their interconnections doesn’t explain a human person. The study of the constitutive parts of chromosomes, genes and DNA doesn’t adequately explain the growth and development of a living being.
Physicists are on a never-ending quest to find out what matter is made of, constantly discovering more and more minute subatomic particles. Even so, learning about the nature and behavior of individual particles doesn’t adequately add up to explaining the characteristics of an atom, much less of a compound.
The whole is always more than its parts. We know that intuitively, but it’s hard to explain precisely in what sense it is more. At least it has to do with the pattern of the arrangement of the parts, what holds them together, and their dynamic interaction.
The best explanation physical science gives—since it is primarily concerned with what is tangible and measurable—is the concept of force. Physicists study large and small forces, strong and weak forces, how they affect matter, how they hold it together —or how they blast it apart.

Philosophers and religious thinkers offer an explanation as well, but use different language. Their word is “relations.”
Everything and everybody can be described by their relations with everything and everybody else. Relations are an intangible, key “ingredient” of everything from subatomic particles to human society
The notion of relations doesn’t exclude the concept of force but goes beyond it. Relations include the forces of gravity, electricity and magnetism; they also involve the forces of conventions, customs and friendship
What builds and holds families, tribes, organizations and cultures together are relationships, the more spiritual the better. Blood ties, physical closeness, control and dominance are trumped by collaboration, teamwork, marriage and parenthood.
Some of our better modern developments involve establishing relations—for example, the World-Wide Web and internet, the use of mobile communication devices, greater opportunities for international travel, increased trade and globalization, the United Nations, the ecumenical movement and peacemaking.
Each of us grows and matures by building better and better relations and constantly improving their quality and depth — and so does each nation, country, church and organization.
The most important and strongest kinds of relations involve the most important and strongest force in the universe—love.
We are known and defined by our relations—and so is God. That’s why the answer to the question, “What is God made of?” is, simply, “Love.”




(Published as “Relations”
in one, 37:3, May 2011)