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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. While it focuses on Christian teaching, I pray persons of varied faiths will find inspiration here. Indeed, "God" can be whatever image helps us trust in the Sacred, by whatever means Grace touches us each. Please share this ministry with others, and I hope you return soon. There is a new offering daily. And to be placed on the daily OneLife email list, to request notifications of new writings or submit prayer requests, write to barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
Blessings,
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox, MDiv, MFT, PhD
Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader, Spiritual Counselor, Chaplain
Brian encourages support of the 4-Star Christian organization Compassion, which supports children worldwide; for more see www.compassion.com .
OPENING PRAYER
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the bread of angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and supersubstantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delight of taste; let my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, upon whom the angels desire to look, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst after Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the richness of the house of God.
*Prayer of Saint Bonaventure (d. 1274).
For the complete prayer, see www.feastofsaints.com .
LISTENING TO SCRIPTURE
6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God — his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.
*I Corinthians 2.6-7 (NLT)
8 The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
9 How can this be? asked Nicodemus.
*John 4.8-9 (GNT)
3 Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world.4 Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him.
6 Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! 7 For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God,8 which he gave to us in such large measure!
*Ephesians 1.3-4, 6-8 (GNT)
RECEIVING SACRED TEACHING
Christianity is a a path of Mystery. Christian Mysticism is most literally simply the affirmation and living out of the mysteries of the true Church, the Gospel.
When we say we believe in God, we plunge ourselves into the most profound mystery.
*Benedict J. Groeschel. Meditations from the Oratory: Praying with the Creed. Groeschel refers to the beginning of the Nicene Creed: "I believe in one God ...," and the Apostle's Creed, "I believe in God...."
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The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty of which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.
*Albert Einstein. Quoted in Lincoln Barnett. The Universe and Dr. Einstein.
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Far from repudiating Christianity or regarding it with suspicious eyes because of its mysteries, we ought to recognize its divine grandeur in these very mysteries. So essential to Christianity are its mysteries that in its character of truth revealed by the Son of God and the Holy Spirit it would stand convicted of intrinsic contradiction if it brought forward no mysteries. Its Author would carry with Him a poor recommendation for His divinity if He taught us only such truths as in the last analysis we could have learned from a mere man, or could have perceived and adequately grasped by our own unaided powers.
I would go even further: the truths of Christianity would not stir us as they do, nor would they draw us or heaven to us, and they would not be embraced by us with such love and joy, if they contained no mysteries.... A truth that is easily discovered and quickly grasped can neither enchant nor hold. To enchant and hold us, it must surprise us by its novelty, it must overpower us with its magnificence; its wealth and profundity must exhibit ever new splendors, ever deeper abysses to the exploring eyes.
*Matthias Joseph Scheeben. The Mysteries of Christianity.
QUIETLY RESPONDING
1) Do you have times when you feel awe and surprise at a mystery of the Christian faith? A sacrament? A rite? Explain.
2) Do you feel threatened when someone questions a central tenet of the Christian faith, a tenet you hold dearly? Explain.
Blessings! In Christ!
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox
June 14, 2009
barukhattah@embarqmail.com
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian K. Wilcox, of SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis. Brian is an ecumenical spiritual leader, open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at barukhattah@embarqmail.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*Contact the above email to book Brian for Spiritual Direction, retreats, or workshops. You can order his book An Ache for Union at major book dealers.
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