mystic

dare drink IT

then laugh aloud

harder and higher with each ingestion

each  swallowing

each gracious off'ring of the Word

communicate

be foolish with the thought-less

guide their spirits to The Holy Jokester

one will have thought thunder broke

                        as the iron gates twist and shatter                       

blessing the fracture of self-adherence

with tears gathering for healing

inviting all to dance

*Everything Depends

on being

             in

on eating

                   what is

                                                                          within

                          yet beyond

not being

            up

but down

                  wardly

                                                                          mobile

                                                                     -Jerry Schroeder, Cap.

*Reflections of Alan Jones:

  -...what we think about God determines what we think about ourselves.  The structure of human identity is dependent on how we view ultimate reality.

  -One of the places where the connection between what I say and what I do is celebrated and tested is in the life of prayer.  Prayer often provides the occasion when false connections are broken and new starts are made. Prayer is the process by which we become the friend of God the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

  -The question, "How does God experience me?" suggests a fresh way to look at ourselves and our way of being in the world.

  -If we are not open to wonder and to pain, then we deny ourselves any true interaction with another - this is the very stuff of soul making.

  -When we are frightened of experiencing others, something in the soul begins to die.  A capacity for wonder and a readiness for pain are essential for the life of the soul.  And the place where such capacity and readiness are fostered is in prayer.