Satan and the Devil

 

Let’s be honest, today the devil is either naively ignored as some dark superstition from the past, or is falsely attended to, as some underworld force that can throw little girls into mustard-spitting convulsions, as in the infamous movie, The Exorcist. Indeed, most people today do not even believe in the devil, either as a person or a force. What is to be said about the devil?

 

The kingdom Jesus preaches is about coming together 

 

The gospels name the forces of hell in two ways: sometimes they speak of the devil (diabolus) and at other times of satan (satanus). Are the terms synonymous? Not exactly: Diabolus means to divide, to tear apart; whereas satanus, most curiously, means almost the opposite, it connotes a frenzied, sick, group-think that accuses somebody or something. In essence what the gospels tell us is that the powers of hell, satan and the devil, work in two ways: sometimes they work as the devil by dividing us from God, each other, and from what is best within us. Sometimes they work in just the opposite way, as satan. Here they unite us to each other but through the grip of mob-hysteria, envy-induced hype, and the kind of sick unity that makes for gang-rapes and crucifixions and excommunications.

 

And at the root of both lies the same thing, envy. It is no accident that, among the ten commandments, only envy has two inscriptions against it. Jealousy is the devil’s tool and Satan’s weapon. Through envy, the devil works at dividing us from each other. From envy we get the kind of paranoia, jealousy, sense of being wronged, and bitterness that divides families, communities, churches, and whole nations. The devil tears us apart. Satan, using the same weapon, works differently. As Satan, envy unites us so as to put us into the frenzied, mad pitch of the lynch mob, the crowd hell-bent on crucifixion. Satan uses envy to pit the crowd against an outsider. 

 

In Jesus we see the opposite. The first word out of his mouth (“metanoia”) is a word uttered against the power of the devil: be un-paranoid, do not let envy and suspicion divide you from each other, God, and what is the best inside yourself! Everything else Jesus says and does is intended precisely to lead us beyond division, bias, segregation, and being apart from each other. The kingdom he preaches is about coming together (the opposite of the devil).

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that our hearts are not writhing in a paranoia and a jealousy that tears us apart from each other, and crowds writhing in a sick energy that wants, in God’s name, to spill some blood. Rather, bring us together as a family, a church, a nation that seeks a spirit to be compassionate, generous, humble and kind.

 

Crazy Act of Love

First winter storm in Buffalo had the Buffalo Bills postpone their playoff game. In my neck of the woods, outside my windows, East Bethany looked liked this.

                            

One week later, Southtowns in Buffalo got six feet of snow while our farm received three foot. However, our outdoor feral kitty Mittens disappeared. Susan made kitty igloos insulated from the cold and provided food and water.

 

But Mittens decided to look for better shelter. About 500 feet from the kitty igloos is an abandoned shed where he likes to hangout.

The only one problem. It’s 500 feet from our house and there was three feet of snow deep blocking his path back to the food and water.

 

This is where ”kitty love” or shall we say a “crazy act of love” comes to save the day. I get out the snow shovel and start digging a path from the kitty igloos to Mitten’s winter storm shed.

 

 

You may want to ask yourself when was the last time you went outside the box and did something really special for someone.

 

 Perhaps, you bought a boatload of food and took it to the local shelter. Or, maybe you visited a friend or relative in a nursing home to let them know that they were still on your radar. If you got a story, forward a text or email and I like to hear it.

 It was one shovel at a time, snow was heavy and deep but I knew Mitten’s needed a path so he could find his way back to the kitty igloos and grab some food and water.

I wonder how many times in your lifetime you have gone out of your way to really show your love and that you care. God everyday gives you a breath and have we offered our thanks. Mitten’s I’m sure is hiding inside his winter shed, but the path leads him back to food and water.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who busted their hump for 20 minutes to let someone know that you really love and care for them. If no one noticed your sweat and tears, then let me offer my thanks for your unconditional love.

‘When you do good deeds, don't try to show off. If you do, you won't get a reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to the poor, don't blow a loud horn. That's what show-offs do in the synagogues and on the street corners, because they are always looking for praise. I can assure you that they already have their reward. When you give to the poor, don't let anyone know about it. Then your gift will be given in secret. Your Father knows what is done in secret and will reward you.” Matthew 6: 1-3.

Hear God Say "I Love You":

 

What exactly does that mean, to pray affectively? You must try to pray so that, in your prayer, you open yourself in such a way that sometime —perhaps not today, but sometime— you are able to hear God say to you: ‘I love you!’ These words, addressed to you by God, are the most important words you will ever hear because, before you hear them, nothing is ever completely right with you, but, after you hear them, something will be right in your life at a very deep level.

These are simple words, but they capture what we ultimately try to do when we “lift mind and heart to God” in prayer.

 

In the end, prayer's essence, is simply this: we need to open ourselves to God in such a way that we are capable of hearing God say to us, individually, “I love you!”

 

This might sound pious and sentimental. It's anything but that. Don't be put off by simplicity. The deeper something is the simpler it will be. That's why we have trouble understanding the deep things, be they of science or the heart.

 

Anyone can understand what's complex, but we have trouble grasping the principle of relativity, the concept of being, the concept of love, and things about the nature of the God, for exactly the opposite reason. They're too simple. The simpler something is, the harder it is to wrap our minds around it and the more we need to make it complex in order to understand it. That's true too of prayer. It's so simple that we rarely lay bare its essence. It has ever been thus, it would seem.

On the morning of the resurrection. Mary Magdala goes looking for him, carrying spices with which to embalm his dead body. Jesus meets her, alive and in no need of embalming, but she doesn't recognize him. Bewildered but sincere, she asks Jesus where she might find Jesus (something, I suspect, we do often enough in prayer). Jesus, for his part, repeats for her the question he opened the gospel with: “What are you looking for?”

 

With deep affection, he pronounces her name: “Mary”. In doing that, he tells her what she and everyone else are forever looking for, God's voice, one-to-one, speaking unconditional love, gently saying your name. In the end, that's what we are all looking for and most need. It's what gives us substance, identity, and justification beyond our own efforts to make ourselves lovable, worthwhile, and immortal. We need to hear God, affectionately, one-to-one, pronounce our names: “Cheryl” “Julia!” “Kern!” ‘Ted!” “Steve” “Brad!” Nothing will heal us more of restlessness, bitterness, and insecurity than to hear God say: “I love you,” 

 

Lord I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we say the same thing to God: “I love you!” In all long-term, affectionate relationships the partners have to occasionally prompt each other to hear expressions of affection and reassurance. Prayer is not meant to change God but us. True. And nothing changes us as much for the good as to hear someone say that he or she loves us, especially if that someone is God.

 

Follow Your Bliss

                                             

 Author Joseph Campbell often talked about "following your bliss." I heard of a bus driver in Chicago who does just that.

He sings while he drives. That’s right... sings! And I don’t mean he sings softly to himself, either. He sings so that the whole bus can hear! All day long he drives and sings.

He was once interviewed on Chicago television. He said that he is not actually a bus driver. "I’m a professional singer," he asserted. "I only drive the bus to get a captive audience every single day."

His "bliss" is not driving a bus, though that may be a source of enjoyment for some people. His bliss is singing. And the supervisors at the Chicago Transit Authority are perfectly happy about the whole arrangement. You see, people line up to ride his bus. They even let other busses pass by so they can ride with the "singing bus driver." They love it!

Here is a man who believes he knows why he was put here on earth. For him, it is to make people happy. And the more he sings, the more people he makes happy! He has found a way to align his purpose in living with his occupation. By following his bliss, he is actually living the kind of life he believes he was meant to live.

Not everybody can identify a purpose in life. But when you do, and when you pursue it, you will be living the kind of life you feel you were meant to live. And what’s more, you will be happy.

While, some people may label me as a retire Catholic, I prefer to believe that bringing comfort to people in times of great trauma or photographing the first snowfall of the year in Reviresco (our perpetual nature preserve) is what I am meant to live.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they hear the voice of God calling into their hearts and encourage them to be a living example of generosity and compassion to all in need of Our Lord’s saving grace.

 

We Can See God in Other's Eyes If We Learn to Look

 

We are fostering two black orphan kittens Musta and Noir. Musta and Noir are special young cats needing special families. Their names mean ‘black’ in Finnish and French. Musta and Noir are litter mates. They were very sick as tiny kittens and have been overcoming the results of that in a foster home. Now, at 6 1/2 months old they are ready for their forever homes. They could be adopted separately, but would also love to go together. Either way, they would like homes with at least one other companion animal, a cat or a cat-friendly dog.

Musta loves to play with wand toys, watch hockey or dog shows on TV, play with water from a faucet or spring toys, or explore nooks and crannies. Noir loves to play in the water, chase spring and wand toys. While Musta is captivated by TV, Noir prefers to sit on laps, and will greet you by flopping on her side and looking up charmingly for a pet. They are no longer kittens but ten weeks old and need a good home.

I often sense that God looks at me through their placid, loving eyes. Perhaps that is because they are typically with me when I am praying.

This is equally true of other creatures. We can see God in their eyes if we look. But few other creatures give themselves so readily to us as our pet companions. They seem content just to look upon us.

For me, our foster kitties are icons of God’s love because I know, at least in my head, that God looks at me in the same way. God is content to gaze upon us in peaceful love and acceptance.

In our woundedness, we do not look each other in the eyes for long. We are too skittish for that. It makes us too vulnerable. If only we were as simple as cats or as wise as God, then we could gaze in peaceful love and acceptance.

We celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, his “shining forth.” The Magi followed the star, but I wonder which was brighter, more intense: the star or the eyes of the Baby Jesus?

If you have met a baby’s eyes, you know that they, like innocent animals, look at us with such serenity, such acceptance. It is easy to sense something of heaven in their gaze. They say that eyes are portals to the soul. If we could look into adults’ eyes the way that we do with pets and wee ones, what might we see?

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we look into one another’s eyes and we see the love of God.

 

Musta and Noir are currently in foster care. At the time of adoption, the kitten will be at least 3 months old, up to date on vaccines and spayed/neutered. If you are interested in more information, please email us at info@vol4animals.org.