Life in the Tears of God

It is simply not true, as the old saying goes, "There, but for the grace of God, I go". No. You are already there!

Your sister, your brother, is your Sacred Other!

This essential, dear, and radical truth is augmented by another: it is possible to, perhaps even one minute from now, to Kiss the Face of God!

There are two ways of making this discovery for yourself. The first, is to go, run!, on a thirty, sixty, or ninety day retreat... Somewhere far from your comfortable life. Take with you only two pages from the Gospels: copy them out by longhand, pen to paper. Copy Matthew 5: 1 - 11; and Matthew 25: 31 - 46. Carefully fold these words and place them in the pocket of your shirt, the one closest to your heart. Let them be your meditation, your concentration, your self-conversation, and your Sacred Acceptance of the Sweet Radical Word of God. Walk. Sit. Cook. Fast. Pray. Eat these words. Trust. You will encounter the naked, the compassionate, Face of God, awaiting your kiss...

The second way of making this discovery for yourself is this: go, run!, to a Soup Kitchen near to where you live: volunteer. Do not seek to "improve" anyone. Do not seek to "convert" anyone. Forget everything you were ever told about "sin". Do not recommend a "recovery program" to anyone. Chop potatoes. Wash the dishes. Shake hands of guests. Smile. Listen. Listen is the most important thing that you can do... and then like an oops! or a boo! ... it will happen: someone, perhaps a toothless old lady, perhaps even a drug dealer, will look at you and you will have your eyes opened! There, right there before you, will be standing one who will reveal to you the Face of God... you will recognize Her... you will, for the very first time, you will fall in love with the Divine Beloved, "hidden" as it were, in the Sacred Face of your sister, your brother...

You will know, you will know all the down into the well-springs of your DNA, that you have been granted entry into the Tears of God, and that it is from  within those tears, that you will be allowed to Kiss the Face of God... 

​[Here's a little secret, there are nearly an infinite number of ways to Kiss the Face of God: you can go to a forest that is being clear-cut, and sit, and listen to the cry of the trees. You can go to a river that is so polluted that you wouldn't dare to drink the water, and sit, and listen to the cry of the river. You can go to a Neo-Nazi demonstration, and sit, and listen to the wailing of history. You can go to a hospital emergency room, and sit, and listen to the cry of the children. Here's the thing: you, I, we are alive for the purpose of learning all of the how's and why's of love. We are here, for but a brief space of time, to learn that it is precisely (and only) in becoming a living-compassion and agent of justice, that we will discovery who we are, and more importantly, who "they" are!]

We are never so free, never so noble, as when we Kiss the Face of God... from within the Tears of God...

"We have been made by Love, for Love, to become Love." 
​                                   -- Simone Weil