A quote to ponder:

Life is not a problem to be solved, it is an adventure to be lived _ John Eldredge

Entering into the Sphere of Mystery is quite an experience, and much of the journey of the heart involves mystery _ as well as the breathless experience of reading that last piece. There is a real relationship between art and beauty along the journey of the heart, because only an alive heart can recognize and appreciate True beauty. It is far too easy to pervert a beautiful thing and devour it in selfishness. So much _ not all _ of pop culture is guilty of selfishness and devouring, which explains the large amount of drivel therein. Naturally, there are common denominators, which leads me to a great piece on Chuck Colson's site. The piece underscores good examples of unthinking and reminds me once again that much of what pop culture offers actually makes us dumb.

Sphere of Mystery

Upon a rainy night in April, i attack the city streets, each footfall of my scuffed, squeaky, urban, black, avant-garde shoes a pulsating rhythm over which the tempestuous melody of my thoughts and prayers rises and falls in a song of restlessness and passion as i wring my gloved-hands in due compliance with the angst, love, yearning and fear that bubble over from this cauldron of exhaustion, fraught for so long with terror of what might happen if i looked deeply into the dark chaos of the mystery of my soul and summoned the courage to reach in and allow the light to shine into that abyss, the closet full of skeletons of my panic and defeat which call to me with perversely wretched voices laden with accusation like the mad dog of regret biting at my heels as i run farther away only to find my tracks have been a large circle of confusion, error and dismay which keep me bound and to which i all too readily capitulate as though i were content to let this insidious web wrap around me fully and choke out that faint yearning to touch eternity and those near me as i shake my hands and shadowbox, the heavy mist falls thoroughly upon my spectacles, diffusing all light into a kaleidescope, a mosaic, blending my world into its truer form, with its impressionistic visage before me, fading away enough that i can begin to truly see reality, and thus i am becoming free.

A visit to xavier+, the site of Francis Mooney, reminded me of the great dangers of fear, in all its various guises. Fear of man, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, and on and on. Francis talks about Psalm 90 and the hymn O God our Help in Ages Past, which got me reading Psalm 90 today, as well as reading in I Sam 4, where we read about some abominable things happening in Israel. The common theme in Psalm 90 and I Sam 4 and the link to Francis Mooney get to the heart of fearing the wrong things and not fearing God.

Psalm 90 talks about the greatness of God, and about fearing him. The debacle captured in I Sam 4 is the result of Eli not being the priest he was supposed to be and letting his evil sons defile the temple. What a difference when men and women _ but especially men, in this case _ actually live as the men they are called to be.

One aspect of the journey of the heart is that it is very much a journey into authentic manhood _ or womanhood. How many times have we, as men, not "played the man". How many times have we, like Adam in the Garden, remained silent when we should have spoken? And yet others among us have, mistakenly, spoken and rushed into situations out of hubris, imagining themselves to be something they are not; misunderstanding their true strength.

To return to Francis Mooney's comments, what a difference if the Church, in dealing with the crisis of abuse now before it, still has within it some men who will stand up and be True Men, strong in Christ.