Happy Feast Day Saint Catherine of Sienna

From The Dialogue by St. Catherine of Sienna:

“You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find, the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied. What I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light.”

Kings Point, New York ~ On the bank looking over Long Island 

Alone I sit, even though millions live so close

All alone on the shore, view of Manhattan and New York City

Thogsneck Bridge ~ The World Trade Towers that fell over seven years ago.

I came to this waters’ edge thirty-four years ago, two-thirds of my life has passed

Melancholy and hope invade my soul 

The sadness of worn out buildings that stretch to being dilapidated 

Remembering those I loved who have passed over, those who inspired my faith here

I miss you Father John Newton…Be with me as I celebrate Mass at the Chapel tomorrow.

Heave Ho, my lads…Heave Ho!Have a great week!

Love, Joy, Peace,

Ron Moses +

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy 50th anniversary of dedication today!

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy 50th anniversary of dedication today!

God is of many Colors!

 

 

 

   As I take in the sights, smells, touch, sound and beauty of spring I am alive in God’s love. God becomes the beloved for me. This beautiful fasciae flower was all around the Irish countryside. I even learned to drink her nectar. She seems to be singing and basking in life. There is so much we can learn about living from flowers. Be radiant! Be beautiful! Be exciting! Be amazing! Be colorful!

 

 

 

   I don’t always see at first the details of the flower until I snap a close-up of the beauties in my backyard. Then I see the glorious little intricacies of love in the picture. This is a “ground orchid” and she defies all assumptions. She loves the sun and is my most faithful flower in my garden. She blooms longer and more brilliantly than all the others. I love to sing to her. I gave one of these flowering plants to my spiritual director. I told Mary that her name is “Sofia” which means “Wisdom”. 

 

 

 

   In my homily this week, I asked the people which they most resemble. When faced with the boiling water of suffering, are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?  I have been all three, but I want to be a coffee bean.

 

   A carrot is hard and set in its way before it goes into the boiling water of suffering. But after it goes into the water, it becomes mush! This is when we know we are “right” or become very “religious”, but when the suffering comes, we become all stressed out and unable to accept our crosses. This only leads to mush.

 

   An egg is real fragile by itself. However, what happens if the egg is placed in the boiling water of suffering? Yep! In less than five minutes it becomes hardened. We call them “hard boiled eggs”! These are the people who have encountered horrible abuse or emotional torment and then become unforgiving and bitter. They are victims and fail to let go of the hurt. They are the ‘pleasers’ and ‘vulnerable’ of society. Our Blessed Mother Mary was vulnerable as an unwed teenage mother, but when she was thrown into the boiling water, she didn’t get a hardened heart. On the contrary, she allowed the sword to pierce her heart. She allowed her heart to transform the world. She was more like a coffee bean!

 

   An insignificant coffee bean when placed in a big pot of boiling water does what? It doesn’t seem to change as it ‘transforms’ the whole pot of water. It is like Jesus who bleeds and transforms the world by the blood from the pulpit of his cross. Just think of our flowers that are absolutely gorgeous in spring. They don’t look like they suffer much as the heat gradually rises by the days. They keep giving off nectar, aroma and beauty without cost to others. They transform the environment and even the mood of bees and me! But eventually the flower is spent and seems to wilt or disappear from sight.

 

   Jesus is like the coffee bean. He bleeds out his life like the picture of the Divine Mercy. Then he surprises us after we believe he has wilted and died. He enters our room and simply says, “Peace be with you!” His flower is eternal. “Come and drink!” he cries. And after we drink in the nectar, fragrance, texture and beauty of Jesus. Go and do the same! Be awesome! Be beautiful! Be eternal flowers of love!

 

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

WHAT HAPPENED?!

April 5, 2012 ~ Holy Thursday ~ Atlantic Beach

 

I flew into Jacksonville seven years ago today. I returned from a gruesome battle in Iraq. I did not feel welcome by my church or by my community. That big sign over the entrance, “Welcome Home,” was hollow for me. Of course this was my perception and may have had nothing to do with reality.

 

I could not find my home.

Here I am, still alone, a little lonely and no community I can call my own.

Physically and mentally I am really fine.

Even spiritually I am invigorated.

 

But I am experiencing being forgotten, just like Joseph after his brothers sold him into slavery and lied to their father that he was torn apart by wild beasts. Yes, of course I know that Joseph eventually forgave his brothers, and he knew in his heart that if they had not sold him and treated him so badly, they would have all perished. And maybe there is something of truth in my situation. However, as I go through this very difficult time, I know I must go alone and love those who may be persecuting me. Jesus on the cross says over and over, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” I pray I have the wisdom and courage to do so.

 

In many ways, I have been forgotten and discarded.

The people of God need something I have, but they don’t know it.

O Jesus, my God, my Father, my Friend and my Beloved

You came to bring us home but no one saw it,

…not even your closest friends and apostles

 

All that I need in this world is You alone

Nothing else will satisfy my longing

For justice, freedom and mercy

For wisdom, courage and comfort

For healing, wholeness and new life

 

I thirst and pant for you, Jesus

I hunger for your body and love

Fill my soul with your light and love

Inebriate my being with your blood

Calm my terror and fear

Let me hear you say,

“Do not be afraid!”

 

Pope John Paul II died seven years ago on Divine Mercy Sunday.

I was flying to Haiti just ten days after I arrived home

I was still at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, only a teenager

 when he was announced as the Pope to follow John Paul I

I learned of it in the small chapel and then saw him at Shea Stadium

 

It seems that my body is always traveling since then:

            Apartheid in South Africa

            Military coup in Liberia

Israel and the Dome of the Rock, Wailing Wall, and Holy Sepulcher

Watching the Exorcist in Italian

Korea and Panama

Hawaii and dashed dreams of marriage and family

Benedictine Monks

Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand

Hiroshima

Murderers and a court martial

Project Rachael

Australia, Puerto Rico and Cuba

Fatima and Rome

Haiti, Honduras, Bahamas and the Poor

Marines

The Poor in Spirit

Stewardship and International Conference and presentations

A horrific war in between the Tigris and Euphrates River

 

I am so unworthy, but here I am as your beloved

All I have is Jesus, Saint Augustine and ecstasy

O Jesus

O Father

O Mother

O my

Give me strength, courage and wisdom to endure my cross with dignity and love

Show me your wounds

May my wounds touch Your wounds

Allow me to walk with You

on this terribly and frightening Dark Night

Give me rest and food so I may lead your people home

Call me into our sacred wounds

 

I long to help you carry your cross, if only for a moment

 

Jesus ~ I am terrified and scared and yet hope is firm

            I love you

            I trust you

            I believe in you

            I need you

 

And You whisper into my heart and soul:

 

            “Ron Moses, I need you too.

            You are my beloved son, brother, friend and lover…my beloved”

 

Forgive me for doubting your mercy and touch,

so sweet and healing

Here I am…always…and in all ways

Show me the Way

            wow and o my

You have shown me the depths of your love.

I glimpse your smile and handsome beauty.

 

Good Friday ~ Morning ~ April 6, 2012 ~Queen of Peace rectory

 

Last night I proclaimed the Gospel

Jesus stripped himself and washed feet

The power in my voice came from God alone

            I was merely an instrument

I am called to do the same as everyone else is…

…to wash feet

 which in reality means to

cure the sick

raise the dead

drive out demons

and cleanse lepers

Be Good News

Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil ~ Moon Rising!

 

Not feeling well enough to go to the Easter Vigil at the church

The Easter Vigil came to me!

Moon rose at 9:11

Exhausted mentally, physically and spiritually

I rode my bike to the beach

Binoculars in hand…the moon filled my view

She looked like the Bloody Eucharist…Body and Blood

“Go tell them Ron Moses! Tell them I Am alive!”

 

 

Love, Joy, Peace…and Alleluia

Father Ron Moses +

Blasted by God’s Love and Warmth

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY: Enter into Holy Week!

Geranium Birth

Breathe in…
Breathe out…

I remember as a young boy practicing to serve at the Masses for Holy Week. It was a time to be in the present. I loved Holy Week. It was as if the whole world stopped. I didn’t really understand what was going on. The mystery of the whole week was exhilarating.

I have been reading all the stories about people who get real live bunnies for Easter. Once Easter is over, they want to return the bunny when they realize how much patience and care is needed. Although we don’t always understand what Holy Week requires of us in the year to come, we can’t return our Holy Week.

Seeking the Holy

I have been part of Holy Week services for over 40 years. Each one is so unique and challenging. I usually write a poem on Holy Thursday evening as the night crashes into Good Friday. I found my journal from 1994 when I was in Fuji Japan in the field with the Grunt Marines. It snowed and rained on Passion Sunday and Holy Week seemed quite unholy. I was miserable. However, my soul rejoiced and we ended up celebrating Easter Sunday under the cross below Mount Fuji as the sun was rising.

Holy, holy, holy

Good Friday

I think I know why
I am so far from home
even though I feel at home
The same Cross
And the beautiful children of God.

Good Friday

Steve Gammon, a minister of the Congregational Church
a person of God
a holy man
We shared in the empty chapel
stripped of everything
yet Christ still present
We shared how we reluctantly but willingly
ended up here in the wilderness per say

Then out to the field with Kilo Company about noon
They have been out since Palm Sunday
when we read the Passion of Mark’s Gospel together
This time there were many more men as we proclaimed John’s
I could only watch in awe
as you Lord drew them with cords of love
You, O Loving Yahweh, called them home
I became your instrument
and you blew through me
your life, your love
We were moved ~
inspired by your Son
Mount Fuji was spectacular
as was the open field and warm gentle breeze
You taught us and showed us how to be a little bit more loving
Praise You!
You indeed pitch your tent among
Us
Always
Wherever
Forever
I believe in You
Love Almighty
Creator of All
Breath of Life!

An evening service in the light of, and below the Cross
on which hung your Beloved Son

Forgive them

Who gave his life.
We heard the passion
Walked the Way of the Cross
And felt your loving embrace
We touched and knelt, kissed and bowed to your Cross
Jesus, you go a little further than we can and that is cool.

So here I sit after the service,
in the field with fifty or so in this chapel
with 25 or so and a rosary
It was this afternoon around three.
Once again you have shown your goodness and love and light upon me
Your majesty reaches to the ends of the earth,
even to the stones and trees
that seemed to praise you on my later afternoon run

I hear your words once again

“I have loved you with an everlasting love,
I have called you and you are mine.
I have loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you and you are mine.”
And I have burned in my heart at your presence.
Goodnight Holy Spirit
Goodnight Jesus.
Goodnight My Beloved!
Ron Moses +

God shines on us

May your Holy Week be the Best Ever.
May your heart rejoice in Our Beloved God of All Creation.

Love, joy, peace,
Father Ron +

Here comes the Joy!