Category: Current Events

Things are a’changin

Forgive my poor allusion to Bob Dylan’s great song (which I think is at least as appropriate now as it was in 1964). It’s probably worth hearing again:

Speaking of change, though…

After two-and-a-half years of working on this blog – and enjoying every minute of it – I’m starting to think about what I could do differently; how can I share what’s on my heart and mind more effectively, more faithfully?

I’m not talking about making it commercial or more glitzy and I’m not interested in “going viral.”

But could I make Becoming Flame something better, more engaging, a better help to folks who are looking for conversation and encouragement on their journey through and toward Life, toward God?

I have some ideas I’m working on and will share once they are ready. But I’d like to hear your thoughts, too: how could Becoming Flame be more useful to you or to people you know?

Thank you for reading – it’s a joy to know that what I share here makes a difference.

Grace and peace to you…

Tags 1964, blogging, Bob Dylan, protest songs, seeking God, seeking life

Current Events Other Writings

Half the civilized world

Passage from No Man is an Island by Thomas Merton about telling lies

How is it that our comfortable society has lost its sense of the value of truthfulness? Life has become so easy that we think we can get along without telling the truth…
But the whole world has learned to deride veracity or to ignore it. Half the civilized world makes a living by telling lies. Advertising, propaganda, and all the other forms of publicity that have taken place of truth have taught men to take it for granted that they can tell other people whatever they like provided that it sounds plausible and evokes some kind of shallow emotional response.
No Man is an Island, Thomas Merton, “Sincerity”

Merton published this in 1955. Yes, 1955. Television in its infancy. No internet.

The attack on Truth that is relentless now has been relentless since the very beginning, the Deceiver saying in the Garden of Eden, “Did God really say…?”

Deceit pits us against each other, makes us see each other as deceivers, as enemies. It causes us to pronounce judgement on each other. Our compassion is throttled by fear for our own well being, that we are somehow being tricked or scammed.

But we all have a common Enemy, the one whom scripture calls “the father of lies.” Why he hates us, I don’t understand; but he does.

I can’t help but think that if we could remember we all have this common Enemy; if we could all embrace the wondrous news that we also have a common Friend and Ally, who came to bear witness to Truth and who gave himself up to rescue us and secure us forever in his Kingdom of Truth…oh, if we could remember and embrace these things, what a difference it would make!

Come, Spirit of God, Spirit of Jesus, Come!

Tags deceit, Jesus Christ, kingdom of heaven, lies, No Man is an Island, propaganda, scams, Scripture, Thomas Merton, truth

Current Events Other Writings

Love included

Post author By dw
Post date July 1, 2020
No Comments on Love included

The “truth” that makes another man seem cheap hides another truth that we should never forget, and which would make him remain always worthy of honor in our sight. To destroy truth with truth under the pretext of being sincere is a very insincere way of telling a lie.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island, Sincerity

If love is not in the truth I tell, then I’m not telling the whole truth.

Not telling the whole truth reveals the truth that I am not whole.

That I am not whole means I am part of the problem.

When Jesus says Repent, he asks me to own up to that.

Then he says, Follow me and I will make you whole, part of the solution, able to tell the whole truth, love included.

Tags love and truth, No Man is an Island, repentance, sincerity, Thomas Merton, truth telling, whole truth