Richard’s Daily Meditations

LOVING THE TWO HALVES OF LIFE:
The First Half

The first half of life should lead one to become a better law-observing
Catholic or whatever one ¢â‚¬â„¢s tradition might be. Yet staying in the
first half of life too long gives the ego so much satisfaction that the
vast majority of people remain there, as if it were the whole point.
Laws serve us well at the beginning and everybody must go through this
stage and internalize these values. But as Paul says, laws are only the
 ¢â‚¬Å“nursemaid ¢â‚¬  (Galatians 3:24 [1]) to get us started. The fact that we
have not taught this makes me think that history, up to now, has been
largely  ¢â‚¬Å“first half of life. ¢â‚¬  God did not create us to obey laws but
to attend a banquet. Jesus makes that absolutely clear.

[1]:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%203:24&version=NIV

In the first half of life we are creating our  ¢â‚¬Å“container. ¢â‚¬  The
second half of life begins when we discover the real contents that the
container was meant to hold! Jesus is saying the same thing in Mark
2:22 [2]: in order to hold the new wine we need new wineskins, and if we do
not create new wineskins, we lose the wine and the wineskins both! Do we
have a big enough container to hold all that God has created, and all
that God is doing in us? The second half of life container can hold much
more than structures and laws. It begins to enjoy the wedding banquet
itself.

[2]:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%202:22&version=NIV

Adapted from Loving the Two Halves of Life: The Further Journey (CD, DVD, MP3)
http://store.cacradicalgrace.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SP-C-38&Category_Code=&Store_Code=CFAAC

See also Fr. Richard’s latest book,
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
http://store.cacradicalgrace.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CFAAC&Product_Code=SP-B-05&Category_Code=NR&Product_Count=0