Saturday, August 6, 2011
Festival of the Transfiguration of Jesus

We are all complicit in and benefit from what Dorothy Day called  ¢â‚¬Å“the
dirty rotten system. ¢â‚¬  That ¢â‚¬â„¢s not condemning anybody; it ¢â‚¬â„¢s
condemning everybody because we are all complicit and enjoying the
fruits of domination and injustice. (Where were your shirts and
underwear made?) Usually the only way to be really non-complicit in the
system is to choose to live a very simple life. That ¢â‚¬â„¢s the only way
out!

Thus most of the great wisdom teachers like Gandhi, Saints Francis and
Clare, Simone Weil, Dorothy Day, Jesus and Buddha ¢â‚¬”lived voluntarily
simple lives. That ¢â‚¬â„¢s almost the only way to stop bending the knee
before the system. This is a truly transfigured life in cultures which
are always based on climbing, consumption, and competition (1 John
2:15-17 [1]). Once we idealize social climbing, domination of others, status
symbols, power, prestige, and possessions, we are part of a never-ending
game that is almost impossible to escape. It has its own inner logic
that is self-maintaining, self-perpetuating, and self-congratulating, as
well as elitist and exclusionary. It will never create a just or happy
world, yet most Christians never call it into question. Jesus came to
free us from this lie, which will never make us happy anyway, because
it ¢â‚¬â„¢s never enough, and we never completely win. Transfiguration is
just another word for utter transformation.

[1]:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%202:15-17&version=NIV;MSG;KJV

Adapted from Spiral of Violence: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
(CD, DVD, MP3)
http://store.cacradicalgrace.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NV-C-05&Category_Code=&Store_Code=CFAAC

Starter Prayer:
You desire to hold both heaven
and earth in a single peace.

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If you are inspired by Fr. Richard’s Daily Meditations,
please consider both receiving
Radical Grace, the publication of the CAC,
http://cacradicalgrace.org/resources/radicalgrace/
and visiting the CAC Mustard Seed Resource Center!
http://store.cacradicalgrace.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=NR&Store_Code=CFAAC