#Diarmuid O’Murchu

[suziegallagher]

Preparing the soil

Removal of Weeds Before Digging Introduction and Definition of Spiritual Accompaniment Nutt set out to define Spiritual Direction (Spiritual Accompaniment) and did not accomplish this.[1] However Barry and Connolly have a helpful definition, We define Christian spiritual direction, then, as help given by one believer to another that enables the latter to pay attention to God’s personal…

[fierysword]

This call to birth the Christ within us is as ancient as first century Paul, who wrote of being in labour until Christ is born in us... Contemporary writer Diarmuid O’Murchu cites the words of the thirteenth century Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart: "What does God do all day long? God lies on a maternity bed, giving birth all day long."

Reflecting on Meister Eckhart’s image, O’Murchu continues: "This is a metaphor we have known as a spiritual species for thousands of years… The Great Goddess of our Paleolithic ancestors was perceived as a woman of prodigious fecundity, birthing forth the stars and galaxies, the mountains and oceans and every life form... God, the great life-giver in the pregnant power of creative Spirit, is probably the oldest and most enduring understanding of the Holy One."

O’Murchu concludes that: "We are called to become co-birthers with our birthing God of the ongoing evolutionary re-creation of God’s world in justice, love, compassion and liberation."

When we say yes to our call to give birth, we are embracing a lifelong partnership with the Holy One of “prodigious birthing”, a responsibility [that is] intimately engaged with the ongoing renewal of the universe. There will be suffering, there will be hard work, but there will also be times of ecstatic joy, tasting our oneness with the Love at the heart of life.

Wait, this explains why Christ said that whoever does God's will is his mother (Mark 3:35). And we are his siblings because we are all children of the same God.

[ronirvine]

The Trap of Respectability

The Trap of Respectability

Respectability is not a step upward toward Success, Rightness or Righteousness. Respectability is a step downward toward Conformity, Sameness, and Blending into the herd. “Following Jesus is not a respectable religion, and I suspect it was never meant to be. It is a call to truth, justice and liberation for those oppressed, excluded, and disempowered.” (Diarmuid O’Murchu) Throughout the 12…

[ebouks]

Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding

Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding

Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding Diarmuid O’Murchu [O’Murchu, Diarmuid] Categories: Religion – Spirituality Year: 2010 Publisher: Orbis Books Language: english ISBN: W3N3NQEACAAJ File: 84 MB

[lindawinsllow]

Quantum Theology

Diarmuid O’Murchu’s invitation to explore the intersection of science and religion. Quantum Theology published first on http://thaiamulets888site.blogspot.com/

[egcarlos]

Hope

“When it feels like my dreams are so far, Sing to me of the plans that you have for me over and over again” Switchfoot I often forget sometimes that I majored in Theology for my bachelors almost 7 years ago. I’ve been going to the Newman Center at Wayne State University for Catholic Mass most Sundays now since I’ve moved and seeing those undergraduate students attend Mass, especially listening to the choir, it just reminds me of the ‘good old days’ back at Benedictine University. It was a Catholic University, but I was able to get a pretty well-rounded education on not only Catholic thought, but also ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue. The four basic 100 level courses were the Theology of Freedom, Theology of Justice, Theology of Love and Faith and Science.  I had a lot of fun in those classes and it was such a breath of fresh air to get stress relief from some of the heavy science classes I was taking for entrance into medical school. Despite my path now as a family medicine resident, I believe that the time I spent in undergraduate rummaging through not only books on organic chemistry and cell biology, but also on Diarmuid O’Murchu, Ronald Rolheiser and Gustavo Gutierrez was formidable into who I am today. Regardless to how I’ve changed and how my views have changed on the Catholic Church, I still find that sacred time to go most Sundays. It could be more so out of habit, but deep down my belief in ‘God’ to whatever that may be or whatever that amounts to is central to who I am today. Deep down, there’s nothing I can do, but believe that there is something purposeful about this universe; that each and every person born into this world is significant, whether or not they or we realize it or not. Regardless of whether or not one believes in Jesus’ story, the very significance of the story or ‘myth’ of ‘God’ coming to earth as a person, to experience everything people experiences, such as happiness, peace, love, joy, sadness, anger, humiliation and pain places significance into the story of the flesh; it means that those who have flesh, those who experience the life of a human being is significant because ‘God’ placed significance on it. At the very least, it’s a beautiful story; at the very most, it’s the meaning of a person’s life. Coming to the Advent season; the season of hope in most of the Christian Churches, it’s a time of ‘watchful waiting’ and preparing. There are so many things that I am unsure of in my life right now. Most of my colleagues are looking for jobs, interviewing and signing contracts, while I am kind of in a limbo right now as I await the response from Doctors Without Borders. I just had my interview last week; while it was generally a positive experience, they did inform me how they are having a hard time moving physicians in their pool to designated missions and that most people are usually taken after their second time applying. Regardless of the outcome, I am hopeful. I am hopeful, despite some struggles, some sadness and my usual frustrations as a resident doctor in the US healthcare system. I am hopeful because I am alive, and I have the chance to do something great for the people around me. I am hopeful because hope is alive, despite the pessimism, cynicism and negativity that exists in our world right now (and sometimes myself). There’s nothing else I could do but believe and have hope.

[henleybeachchurch-blog]

Reflection on Mark 10:46-52 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Why do ‘many of them’ (many of us) scold this blind beggar named Bartimaeus and tell him to ‘keep quiet’ when he knows Jesus is passing by and he keeps singing out ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me’?  Then counter to that, we see others come to Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, and say ‘Courage – get up he is calling you.’

Many of our institutional churches still teach a static, individualistic and rewards based religion.  If you do all the right things you will be rewarded with ‘heaven’ when you die.  It seems to be all about doing the right thing for me.  It is about ME getting to ‘heaven’.  We just keep doing what the institutions often tell us to do and think all will be well.  This is little to do with what Jesus taught/teaches us on so many levels.  Too many to cover here.

Bartimaeus wanted to see AGAIN.  He knew he was blind; he knew he couldn’t see (spiritually).  He knew he had lost something and he wanted it back.  When we foster a static, individualistic and rewards based religion, there must come a time when we too have the same cry as Bartimaeus.  Such a rigid religion will always keep us small, ignorant and fearful.  So, we can blindly hang onto what we think will keep us safe.  Those telling Bartimaeus to ‘keep quiet’ where the fearful ones, the ones who were afraid to rock the boat, afraid of what it might ask of them, afraid to break free of their prison, afraid to LISTEN to whatever it was that Jesus might say to them.  Give me my safe, blind and ignorant beliefs, and don’t rock my safe little self-made boat – do not dare DISTURB us!  

All of us have or will experience this fear in one way or another in our life time.  Will we have the ‘courage’ to come to Jesus and ask to ‘let me see AGAIN’?  Will we have the ‘courage’ to listen to Jesus’ question to us:  ‘What do you want me to do for you?’  This is not about living a static religious life.  It is about embracing the future as a Communion of Love, with every other human being, with our Earth, with our Universe. This Communion of Love is a Cosmic Reality. This Communion of Love is always about the Whole, it is never just about me – that makes no sense – it is nonsense.  And this Communion of Love is forever unfolding, forever becoming, forever calling out to us: What do you want me to do for you?  This Communion of Love is always about the unfolding future, what we have come to know in recent decades as evolution – evolutionary theology.

Diarmuid O’Murchu an Irish MSC priest, in his book Rediscovering God in Our Great Story – EVOLUTIONARY FAITH (2002 – Page 22) says this: ‘As reflective human beings with hopes and dreams in our hearts, our most profound questions are not about the past but about the future.  Whereas the past indicates where we have come from, it is the future that inspires and motivates us.  In fact, it is a future that lures us forward, propels us into being creative, dynamic creatures.  And the reason is based not on some illusive or escapist spiritualism, but on, I suggest, the very driving force of evolution itself.  Evolution is biased toward the future.  It is the future rather than the past that gives evolution its foundational meaning.’

Daniel O’Leary in An Astonishing Secret says this: ‘Evolution is not some distant background to the human story; it is your story – the slow, painful love story of your conception in the heart of Love.  Brian Swimme says, ‘We awake to a universe permeated with love; we spend our time learning how to become this love.’ And Richard Rohr believes that ‘love is the energy of the entire universe, from orbiting protons and neutrons to the orbiting of planets and stars.  This indwelling love is a wounded love, forever calling to us with urgent cries.  And deep in our DNA we belong to the stars, the trees, the galaxies.  We belong to one another because we have the same source of love; the love that flows through the trees is the same love that flows through my being….We are deeply connected in this flow of love, beginning on the level of nature where we are the closest of kin because the earth is our mother.’ Page 205

Anthony de Mello in his little book AWARENESS begins the book with these words: ‘Spirituality means waking up.  Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep.  They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, the die in their sleep without every waking up.  The never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence.  You know, all mystics – Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion – are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well.  Though everything is a mess, all is well.  Strange paradox, to be sure.  But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare.’

These three authors challenge us to ‘wake-up’.  Bartimaeus woke up and he saw that ‘all is well.’  Don’t we all want to truly know this?  Why do we resist the call of Love?  Why do we hang on so tightly to our narrow and asleep lives? Why do we so often close our hearts to the ‘lure’ of Love inviting us to truly live and embrace a future built on this Communion of Love? Why do many of our religious institutions insist on keeping God small?

Are we the ones who tell those around us to ‘keep quiet’ and not rock the boat – to let us stay asleep in our ‘nightmare’?  Or are we the ones who tell those around us to take ‘Courage’ and ‘get up’ – in other words ‘wake up’?  Jesus asks each of us today:  What do you want me to do for you?  What will our response be?

© Annemarie Reiner

[bookreviewsrus]

Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding by Diarmuid O'Murchu - A review

Dates -  2015 - 22nd July 16th July

Book Number of 2017 - 30 of 65

Synposis -

Adults today seek spiritual meaning in ways very different from previous times. They seek adult answers to adult questions & wish to be part of the dialogical process that helps to unearth deeper truth.

My thoughts

This book took me the better part of 2 years to read. Not because it was long, but rather because it was complex and challenging. I started with this book and then stopped on several occasions because the density of the ideas and concepts at times overwhelmed me. There was talk of morality, religious belief, philosophy, ecology and a whole lot more. 

The subtitle of the book is Growing in Wisdom and Understanding and maybe when I started to read the book, I needed to have a little more of both before I could reach the end or more likely I had to be reconciled with my own religious dilemma before my mind was at peace to read and understand the book. 

Throughout O’Murchu, talks about the concepts of Conventional Inhertied wisdom, Embedded Codependence and Adult Empowerment,suggesting that you should level up from the first to the second to the third and it is being in that third state of empowerment is were the reader should try to live their life. 

As I read this book, I found it hard to believe that this had been written by a Catholic priest, it felt like at times,that the narrative would turn into that of a Happy humanist, but at the last moment, the text would be brought back towards the orthodox position, as if the author was playing with fire but yet at the end came back into line, Maybe the most interesting thing about this book, is that the O’Murchu in a couple of hundred pages manages to sweep through so many different topics, yet still comes back to the core idea that in order to grow in faith that you have to leave your childish ways behind you. 

For all of the interesting messages in the book, nothing hit home to me as a fundamental truth that I needed to adopt, maybe because I knew for all of the fine words in this book conventional inherited wisdom would always rule the day and the hope of a more nuanced view was to be left trailing in my prior history and that of the church. 

Would I recommend it - no 

[freewhispersmaker]

Explain the dangerous memories of Jesus, how it challenges religious literalism and fundamentalism

Explain the dangerous memories of Jesus, how it challenges religious literalism and fundamentalism

Explain the dangerous memories of Jesus, how it challenges religious literalism and fundamentalism, his challenge to cultural status quo, challenge to exclusive ideologies of empire and wealth with radical inclusivity and justice. How is this pertinent to our own social situation? 3-5 pages

Using only: Diarmuid O’Murchu,. Christianity’s Dangerous Memory: Rediscovery of the Revolutionary Jesus,…

[lindawinsllow]

Quantum Theology

Diarmuid O’Murchu’s invitation to explore the intersection of science and religion. Quantum Theology published first on http://thaiamulets888site.blogspot.com/