St. Augustine, centuries ago, experienced quite the re-conversion and returned to Jesus Christ for salvation. From that point onward in his life. Augustine kept his Holy Focus.
In an alternate Gospel reading for today's Mass, Matthew 22:23 seems clearly what I am to ponder in keeping a Holy Focus.
Jesus told His disciples after a series of woeful warnings to the scribes and Pharisees' hypocrisy and focus on externals even in religious laws and practices:
"...one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God
and by Him who is seated on it."
The past couple of days this pained, consecrated Catholic hermit is transitioning from the mind attending to details in fine-tuning the hermitage, readying it for whoever is next to dwell here--to a major lessening of attention to requisite finishing work and into vast swaths of contemplative pondering. And, with this freedom has come from the Holy Spirit several dire prayer intentions emailed, messaged, and phone-called, asking me to pray and in some cases also counsel those in great need.
The Lord is with us, always, and we are through, with, and in Him! Remain in His Love--Jesus asks this of us! It is simple enough to comply; we give ourselves to Christ in thought, word, and deed by simply accepting His love and offering ours--which is actually His love in us--back to Him.
In that love for Christ and remaining in His Love, and His Love for us, it seems inconceivable that we could have other than love for our fellow humans, creatures, and all of God's creation. However, we lose our Holy Focus rather easily, it seems.
As in Jesus' time on earth, it can be lost through a type of obsession with power, prestige, position as well as with the laws of the times--and it did not take long for the laws developed in the early Church to increase over the centuries and to divert Holy Focus in some instances, or to become a distraction, hamstringing some to swear more by that which is not the throne of God and He Who Is seated on it.
I know how easy it can be to drift into lesser than Holy Focus. We all are probably aware of having slipped into less than that which is love, light, and all things holy and which is of above.
This morning I received a call and am praying for a man, husband, and father to let go of resentments or whatever has gotten to him, so that he does not have a hatred for the family dog. The dislike has grown over a couple of years, and the man keeps at it--wanting to get rid of the pet. Granted, the little dog is not a highly intelligent breed and has a stubborn streak (does not obey commands impeccably), but he is a sweet little dog, easy to be around people, enjoys snoozing, and rather simple in needs and desires.
The caller and I discussed possible reasons for the man to have developed and maintained increasingly this dislike for the dog, and it will likely end with their giving the dog away--which is a sad end in some ways, although there will be any number of persons wanting this dog.
But what is most sad about the situation besides the dog needing to adapt to new people and place, is that the man will not have learned to overcome his resentment and unnecessary dislike, nor will he be stopped in what is rather an obsession that has more taken over his mind and core than will ever be a problem for the little dog.
Where is the Holy Focus? It is so far buried as to have nearly been forgotten by me, a Catholic hermit writing about it as an example of how easy it is for us to lose Holy Focus in our daily lives. Perhaps it is a matter, also, of how easy an obsession and dislike can be planted like a tiny bacteria within and then grow into a massive infection that takes all thought, heart, and spirit to deal with that of rather external disease and dis-ease. both.
And to this point, dear readers, yes, people have brought it to my attention that there is yet someone out there who has continued now for ten years to seemingly be smitten and obsessed with detraction from any angle imaginable. I am aware of it, I forgive the person, I do not resent in the least, but rather have compassion and commit to pathos and prayer.
Some of you have thought the person "crazy", others say "shameful", "envious", and "sick". I think not of any analysis, for does not trying to ascribe a label or reason to someone else's issues, just a means of the evil one to distract us from our Holy Focus in our daily lives and in the heart of our very souls?
Just as with the man who has developed an obsession and dislike of the little pet dog (of whom I consider to be one of the sweetest dogs and have often referred to him as "Lambie-pie" for his little face and muzzle have the appearance of a lamb's head), the only recourse is to have compassion for someone who allows a fellow creature to make him imprisoned by dislike and to be annoyed with any even remotely factual aspect. For it then leads to deceive self, justify self to attack and demean the object of personal issue.
Detraction and dislike held onto for any period of time simply is not holy in any manner; and the great sorrow is that it deprives the person of a Holy Focus. The man with the dog is a practicing Christian, the one who can't seem to let go of detracting me is a fellow Catholic. Yet there it is--on going obsessive dislike. Just see how we Christians can lose our way, by one means or another, and can keep up an obsessive dislike for days, weeks, months and then years? There is no way, truth, beauty or freedom in Christ in that form of imprisonment.
St. Augustine lost his Holy Focus, having been reared as a devout Christian by his holy mother, St. Monica. But thankfully, through prayer and love, Augustine returned to Jesus Christ and a Holy Focus, later on and in time for him to do much good for so many people and for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I ask you readers who have personally commented to me, to continue praying for the person who for whatever reasons (seemingly quite logical to that person), continues to be shackled by whatever personal dislikes and disgruntlements. You also do not need to let me know when the person erupts; it serves no holy purpose as it tends be reoccurring. Rather, pray with me that the person can let go and let God, so to speak, and return to Christ's inner peace and consistent Holy Focus.
I also ask you to pray for the man and the little dog, and his family. While it seems a small matter, the problem lies within the person, and without trying to analyze how or why a person can develop such an obsessive disgruntlement, no matter how logical the reasons might seem to the person him- or herself--it is no way to live as a Christian. It only makes the one obsessed be hindered and seem all the lesser or limited a follower of Christ.
This is also a good prayer for ourselves. It is a prayer for myself. And I ask you to pray for me, as well, in my time of transition from so much prayer in manual labor to be in prayer without the pressure of manual labor, as the Lord has called me into whatever is now and next.
"Next" is continuing prayer for the needs of so many hurting people and distressful situations in their lives, yet without my needing to pour my body into physical work to the degree it had become accustomed. Yes, it seems quite strange to not be in such solid ora et labora (prayer and work) and more so now in ora. I must put my temporal body into manual labor as it is requisite for my pain management benefit--but far less in urgency of an earthly time frame and temporal reason.
The Holy Focus remains, but it has gone through a honing of massive proportions. Yes, it is but seven weeks today that I could have easily been paralyzed or killed from the major smack of my body propelling through the air in the "flight from the stairway to heaven"--as I called the stairway my dear angel and I constructed in this temporal dwelling, the Te Deum Hermitage.
Gone is the need to have mental space allotted for remembering construction facts and figures, for figuring out detailed finishing work. However, I still call upon St. Joseph and Jesus and Mother Mary, and my Angel Beth, as Joseph and Jesus were carpenters, and Mary a mother. All were of earth and of Heaven, and it is our Christ who reminds us, explains to us, admonishes us thus:
"one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God
and by Him Who is seated on it."
God bless His Real Presence in us! Little children, let us love one another, for love is of God!
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