Will the Real Multiverse Please Stand Up?

Ever since I encountered the concept of a multiverse years ago I’ve found it quite intriguing. My first real exposure to it was in the ‘Bright Empires’ series by Stephen Lawhead. In this five volume tale the lead character Kit Livingston stumbles into the realm of the multiverse via ley travel. I found the story to be an entertaining romp through various alternate terrestrial histories which though complex was actually easy to read. Even on my second time through (this time on Audible) I am finding it enjoyable.

My first deep dive into a multiverse.

I also found the recent film ‘Everything, Everywhere, All At Once’ very entertaining and even a bit thought provoking… but more in the vein of a strange acid trip or perhaps being absorbed into a Salvador Dali painting than anything else…. a bit surrealistic to say the least.

I’ve come to understand that the idea of a multiverse in one form or another is centuries and even millennia old. Over more recent decades it has fallen in and out of favor with astrophysicists from what I can tell. Some people would say it was only hypothesized to explain how our universe came to be and how life could possibly occur on our planet against impossible odds. 

Whatever the reasons for the idea, whether ancient or more current, it doesn’t ruin the fun of imagining a multiverse for me. I am still very much enjoying my second time through Lawhead’s series in any case.

This morning however, I was wondering if there might actually be a more complex and infinitely more interesting multiverse to consider.

I’ve been on vacation with my beloved for over a week now and this morning we were on the train to Groningen here in the Netherlands and I was saying my prayers. It was then that I felt a strong surge of  good will for my fellow passengers… perhaps I was channeling a bit of God’s love and light for them… I don’t know.

Sort of like the train ride to Groningen, Netherlands
this morning where a new and more interesting
concept of the multiverse grew in my mind

At that moment the thought struck me that every one of the persons around me is in fact a compact universe of sorts. In my mind at least, every person is a seeming boundless array of light, energy, spirit and matter with thoughts wizzing around and through it all… a tiny microcosm of our known universe in a way. Every person has a whole complex history that affects everything within them all at once whether they admit it or not. Every person is absolutely unique, unrepeatable and irreplaceable… and in my cosmology, infinitely loved by their creator.

In such universes, just like the stories of things long ago in a galaxy far, far away, actual battles are continuously raging. Some of them may seem insignificant, like what to wear or who to call on any given day. But some battles are life and death decisions which affect the flourishing or withering of multiple universes. Each universe (remember we are talking about an individual person here) has complex battle lines drawn between decisions for good or ill within them. 

What if every person that existed were actually a
Compact universe that intersected other universes
Like so many bubbles… a multiverse worth considering.

As they interact with other universes, they consider thoughts outside themselves to adopt or reject as their own. Some universes intersect more or less permanently and share thoughts continuously like two bubbles intersecting. Imagine a cluster of bubbles intersecting and multiply it by the number of humans that have ever existed and you get a glimpse of the most amazing multiverse imaginable.

Now add the multiverse of the spirit world with the Holy Trinity and all the angels both faithful and fallen and you have an astonishingly dazzling site indeed. Perhaps now you have a model that actually explains the complexity and beauty and at times, yes, terror of our existence.

As for me, I tend to see things this way with an unabashedly optimistic hue. No matter how complex reality may be, I believe in a personal God who is madly in love with each person and would do anything, including becoming one of us and being killed by us in order to prove his love.

The more grim things may seem for the moment, I remind myself that the darkest hour comes before the dawn. This version of the multiverse will not be here long. It will be renewed beyond our wildest dreams for a truly good and beautiful existence. This is what is meant by the beatific vision. May we all catch it and believe in it in spite of this present darkness.

Do all you can to catch the beatific vision.

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My Necessary Focus

Time for a true confession. I have been the opposite of a news junky most of my life. My father was often baffled by my lack of interest in ‘what was going on in the world’ and would ask me why this was. I couldn’t explain it at the time, but looking back I see now the pattern of an empath, someone who absorbs and reacts to things around them with big feelings.

John Coffey helped me realize how being
An empath can have a deep impact on your life.

It was after I saw The Green Mile and identified with the empath on death row that it started making sense to me. I don’t claim to have any of the healing powers John Coffey had of course, but I could relate to being able to feel the pain and misery of others… to a fault. I know that my few forays into the news feeds of my teen and tween years elicited so much pain in my heart that I learned to simply avoid it altogether. Like John in the Green Mile, it was just too much to bear. 

None of this really changed over the next few decades of my life. I sampled news at times to try to be a responsible and knowledgeable citizen only to become overwhelmed and avoid it again for long periods.

Then, a few years back I encountered Fr. Jim’s “Praying After The Evening News: The Evening News As an Agenda for Prayer”. Having recently entered into the more ancient strains of my faith tradition, I was being overwhelmed with just how deeply broken and twisted our world is. I encountered even greater amounts of mercy and compassion in the midst of all this than ever before. At the same time, I was distressed at being able to perceive more clearly the degree of our demise, our rushing towards oblivion like lemmings to the sea.

Fr. Jim’s Booklet helped revolutionize the way I read
the news and became a slightly more informed person.

Fr. Jim’s booklet was an excellent step in the right direction, dated though it was. It posited simply using the headlines to pray not just generally for the situation, but also for one soul, one family in that situation to receive special grace and attention. This felt right and good however I was still being overwhelmed by the absurd amount of so-called news out there to consume and the ridiculous varieties of media slant that went along with it.

“This felt right and good however I was still being overwhelmed by the absurd amount of so-called news out there to consume and the ridiculous varieties of media slant that went along with it.”

Fast forward a few years to a session with my counselor. I told her of my predicament regarding my efforts to stay somewhat current and informed. She recommended the Reuters daily email and I jumped on it. This was perfect for me as it seemed slightly less biased than most news outlets. I could read the twenty or so headlines, pray, and perhaps click on one story of interest without getting so overwhelmed.

All of this was a step in the right direction for me, but alas there were deeper issues and more layers to peel.

I still found myself easily obsessing over how people did the most atrocious things, eliciting my anger which sometimes slid into rage. Being in recovery from multiple addictions, I knew that it is insanely stinking thinking to believe that the enemies of truth are ‘out there’… I knew that the battle line between good and evil run straight down the center of every human heart. No exceptions… including my own.

That fact didn’t stop me from getting angry at others however and obsessing over how I would correct or fix them.

What to do?

With no other ideas coming to mind, I started praying to have the same loving heart that Jesus had. It was then that I found there were centuries old devotional prayers of this exact nature (I’m a little slow on the uptake… all those Sacred Heart of Jesus icons and prayers I’d seen all of my life and was clueless what they meant). I began incorporating them into my daily prayers before Mass.

Call me clueless… I never knew this image
Went along with centuries old prayers of people 
Longing to have the same compassionate heart
That Jesus has… I never said I was quick on the uptake.

It helped. I began being a little less judgmental and resentful towards others.

But then one day something just clicked when I stumbled once again upon this beautiful verse:

“When He saw the throngs, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were bewildered and harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
- Matt. 9:36

This verse has been a fulcrum point for me, a turning of the tide.

I have found that I desperately and continuously need Jesus to save me from being overwhelmed with not only my own brokenness, but also the brokenness in individuals I encounter and the twisted thinking and hard heartedness I see every day in my news feeds. 

The key is, I’ve realized that in order to move forward, I need to channel HIS compassion towards both myself and others, because frankly I have none of my own most of the time.

I must remind myself to see everyone compassionately (including myself) like Jesus does… we are all sheep without a shepherd, harassed, distracted and bombarded with a thousand negative messages an hour in our social media obsessed world.

As I crawl forward in learning to channel his compassion and mercy I find it helpful to remember the following thoughts as well. If I do so it is easier to find the good in myself and other people and gently bless and encourage them and myself.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”
-Phil. 4:8

“Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth.”
-Col. 3:2

“…keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
-Hebrews 12:2

“We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be seen don’t last, but the things that can’t be seen are eternal.”
-2 Cor. 4:18

As powerfully good as focusing on Jesus and his compassion may be, merely thinking about it is not enough for me… I must consume him. I must become one with him. He is the ultimate manna that came down from heaven, the bread of life:

“He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
-Deut. 8:3

“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
-John 6:48-58

So, as an empath in my 61st trip around the sun, I’ve found a way forward through the barrage of daily negative messages about humanity that have otherwise threatened to overwhelm me. I have found a way to more consistently channel Jesus’ love to others without the extremes of burying my head in the sand or becoming obsessed and overwhelmed with our brokenness.

I am finally finding a way to join the dance, little by little and at times even see through Jesus’ eyes.

This beautiful song from Spielberg’s ‘The Prince of Egypt’ encapsulates that notion.

Baby steps.

I am grateful.

Remember, all produce on the farm is freely given

and never for sale. All donations to the farm

are tax deductible as we are a registered 501(c)(3).

If you've been blessed by our produce and would

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Alternately, you may send a check to: 

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PO Box 36

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Redemptive Suffering Part III: Crazy Love

Over lent I was blessed to use the devotional created by Susan De Bartoli, "Carry the Cross with Padre Pio".

My lenten devotional this year

I wasn't planning on this lent being a foray into a deeper understanding of redemptive suffering, but apparently God had other plans. This book was given to me freely at the Parish where I attend daily Mass.

Add to this the video of The 21 that was shared with my by my friend and my required classroom assignment of "He Leadeth Me" by Fr. Walter Ciszak and you can see that perhaps the Lord was intentionally leading me to consider how love and suffering mix.

Love and suffering do mix linguistically at least. Take the word 'passion' for example. Its Latin roots indicate suffering, as in "The Passion of The Christ". However our current use of the word is more about our love for something or someone. We are passionately in love or I may have a passion for helping people find freedom from addictions.

Dig a little deeper however and one learns that love does crazy things, and I'm not just talking about the antics depicted in the much loved rom-com "Crazy, Stupid Love". Consider rather the extremes that Ivy goes through to save the life of her loved one in “The Village”: A girl blind, chased by a malicious being, traveling through a forest to fetch medicine to save a loved one’s life.

Ivy demonstrates CRAZY love in
M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village”

Consider what Ivy’s father Edward says about the love that drives Ivy to do such an astonishingly brave thing:

“She is more capable than most in this village. And she is led by love. The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.”

It is the same crazy love that impelled Christ to embrace the Cross, scorning its shame. Indeed, millions kneel before such a demonstration of love daily even today. Consider the words of Pope Benedict XVI on the matter:

On the Cross, God’s eros for us is made manifest. Eros is indeed — as Pseudo-Dionysius expresses it — that force “that does not allow the lover to remain in himself but moves him to become one with the beloved” (“De divinis nominibus”, IV, 13: PG 3, 712). Is there more “mad eros” (N. Cabasilas, “Vita in Cristo”, 648) than that which led the Son of God to make himself one with us even to the point of suffering as his own the consequences of our offences?

Dear brothers and sisters, let us look at Christ pierced in the cross! He is the unsurpassing revelation of God’s love, a love in which eros and agape, far from being opposed, enlighten each other. On the cross, it is God himself who begs the love of his creature: he is thirsty for the love of every one of us.—Pope Benedict XVI, Lent 2007, “Love Letter” 

(From an excellent article in Aleteia, I highly recommend it.) 

Then Fulton Sheen goes even further than St. Augustine on the issue and calls the cross of Christ a nuptial bed! What on earth is going on here?

Applying this to Padre Pio, who exhibited the stigmata for fifty years of his life, I've come to see him as more than just an extreme ascetic. He was so deeply in love with God and with Jesus on the Cross that he wanted to be one with him even there.

Insane? Yes, some would assert so. After reading some of the quotes from his writings I'm not sure myself.

But then there are these beautifully lucid and lovely quotes extracted from the same writings:

“This heart of mine is Yours… my Jesus, so take this heart, fill it with your love and then order me to do whatever You wish.” -p. 13.

“Remember that God is inside of us when we are in the state of His grace, and outside of us when we are in grievous sin; but His angel never abandons us. He is our most sincere and trusted friend even when through our fault, we sadden him with our bad behavior.” -p. 16

“You must speak to Jesus with the heart, besides with the lips. Indeed, in certain cases, you must speak to Him only with your heart.” -p. 38.

“Let us always keep before our eyes the fact that here on earth we are on a battlefield and that in paradise we shall receive the crown of victory; that this is a testing-ground, and the prize will be awarded up above; that we are now in a land of exile while our true homeland is in Heaven to which we must continually aspire.” -p. 41.

“How could the Mother of Jesus, who stood at Calvary’s foot, offering her Son for our salvation, not be present at the foot of the mystical Calvary of the altar?” -p. 46.

“May the Most Holy Virgin, who was the first to practice the gospel perfectly and in all its severity, even before it was proclaimed, spur us on to follow closely in her footsteps.” -p. 46.

“In our thoughts and in confession, we must not dwell on sins that were previously confessed. Because of our contrition, Jesus forgave them at the tribunal of penitence. It was there that He faced us and our destitution, like a creditor standing before an insolvent debtor. With a gesture of infinite generosity, He tore up and destroyed the promissory notes which we signed with our sins, and which we would certainly not have been able to pay without the help of His Divine clemency.” -p. 50.

“Follow the Divine Master up the steep slope of Calvary, loaded with our cross, and when it pleases him to place us on the cross…let us thank him and consider ourselves lucky to be honored in this way, aware that to be on the cross with Jesus is infinitely more perfect than merely contemplating [Him] on the Cross.” -p. 56.

“In all the events of life, you must recognize the Divine will. Adore and bless it, especially in the things which are the hardest for you.” -p. 71

“Let us, therefore, love to quench our thirst at this fountain of living water and go forward all the time along the way of divine love. But let us also be convinced that our souls will never be satisfied here below. In fact it would be disastrous for us if, at a certain stage or our journey, we were to feel satisfied, for it would be a sign that we thought we had reached our goal, and in this we would be deceived.” -p. 98.

“Don’t be afraid, then, that iniquity, will triumph over virtue. Iniquity will crush itself and justice will triumph.” -p. 129

“Your tears were collected by the angels and were placed in a golden chalice, and you will find them when you present yourself to God.” -p. 134.

“The enemy of our salvation knows only too well that peace of heart is a sure sign of the divine assistance, and hence he lets slip no opportunity to make us lose this peace. We must therefore always be on our guard in this respect. Jesus will help us.” -p. 138

“The more you are afflicted, the more you ought to rejoice, because in the fire of tribulation the soul will become pure gold, worthy to be placed and to shine in the heavenly palace.” -p. 146.

For me at least, these beautiful insights offset the more distressing passages, like the one where Jesus instructs angels to inflict suffering on some souls while being tender to others. Susan the author sums that passage up:

“In a divine vision, Jesus interacted with three suffering individuals: one received close comfort, another endured indifferent treatment with humility, and the third remained steadfast despite severe affliction. Jesus explained that their responses reflected their spiritual states: one needed affection, another encouragement, and the third was deeply devoted despite affliction.” -p. 134

As a follower of the little way of St. Therese I am the one needing affection and encouragement most of the time (see a prayer inspired by St. Therese’s here). After my journey through some of Padre Pio’s letters this lent however I am starting to understand how crazy love can cause us to desire to suffer with our loved ones and the God we love who suffers in a lovesick way for humanity.

Remember, all produce on the farm is freely given

and never for sale. All donations to the farm

are tax deductible as we are a registered 501(c)(3).

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What Books are in the Bible?

The issue of what books belong in the Bible has come up numerous times as I've chatted with folks who are curious as to why Catholics and Protestants differ on which books really belong in the Bible. I've never stumbled on a better article than the one inserted below from the March/April 2018 edition of the Parable Magazine. I post it here for my future reference and educational purposes which after all is the mission of the farm.

Dear Father Kerper: : A few months ago I joined a Bible Study group at my parish. I brought my grandmother’s Bible, which is called “The King James Version.” Some people said that I should not read it because it expresses Protestant doctrines, not Catholic ones. I’m confused. How can there be Catholic Bibles and Protestant Bibles? I thought all Christians use the same Bible.

[An interesting fact to be noted here before the answer given below, "The King James Version" referred to in the question above originally included the same books as the Catholic Bible. See this Wiki article.]

Your last comment is right on target: Sacred Scripture is essentially the same for all believing Christians. While this unity exists perfectly in the New Testament, Christians have never fully agreed about the contents of the Old Testament. Here’s what happened.

As God’s relationship with Israel, the Chosen People, moved forward through the centuries, always becoming deeper and more mature, written accounts of it multiplied. From the outset, Israel recognized Moses as an especially close and faithful friend of God. As such, the Israelites naturally regarded the writings of Moses as “inspired,” meaning that God had truly spoken through Moses. The Torah, which consists of five “scrolls” closely associated with Moses, is indeed the “original Bible,” and was quickly accepted as the Word of God.

With the passage of time, more sacred writings appeared, such as the historical books, psalms, and prophetic writings. For the most part, religious authorities had little trouble separating the truly inspired texts from questionable ones. This process gave rise to the “canonization” of Scripture, the formal act of declaring that specific books originated with God.

Among the Jewish people, the preeminent authority resided within the Council of Jamnia, a group of prominent rabbis who met in 90 AD. After much discussion, these rabbis ruled that only books written in Hebrew, used for many centuries in worship, and linked with credible Jewish figures would henceforth be regarded as inspired.

This decision undermined the practice of early Christians, who relied on the Greek version of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. In effect, the rabbis declared that seven Old Testament books revered by Christians were not inspired at all, but merely “edifying.” The rabbis demoted Wisdom, Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees. These books came to be known as the “deuterocanonical” books or Apocrypha.

By and large, Christians continued to regard the excluded books as inspired, though some prominent Christian scholars, notably St. Jerome, sided with the rabbis. St. Jerome’s position, which dates from 390 AD, was mixed: he denied the inspiration of the books because they were not in Hebrew, yet continued to quote and venerate them as if they were actually inspired. Contrary to St. Jerome, St. Augustine thought the language of the text mattered not at all. Rather, he asserted that the frequent and widespread reading of the books at Mass indicated that the Church regarded them as truly inspired. The bishops of Northern Africa, much influenced by St. Augustine’s very strong views, formally endorsed his position at regional Councils held in 393 AD, 397 AD, and 418 AD.

In the 16th century, long after St. Jerome and St. Augustine had been dead, the so-called Protestant and Catholic Bibles emerged, each set against the other as dangerously wrong. In effect, however, the differences were really quite minor. Much more important, of course, was the issue of authority: Who, in the end, can reliably define what is and is not inspired by God? The Church! We must always remember that the Church existed before the Bible. Indeed, the Church selected the contents of the Bible, winnowing through many ancient texts and settling on the very few that reliably express the Word of God.

This brings us to the matter of using “Protestant Bibles” in Bible Studies and personal prayer. To be frank, “Protestant Bibles” are simply “Catholic Bibles” minus the seven deuterocanonical books. Moreover, no English translation, even the best, ever succeeds in getting the Greek and Hebrew perfectly correct. Hence, becoming familiar with other translations, especially the monumental King James Version (KJV), can enhance a Catholic’s own love and understanding of God’s Word.

And we must also remember that the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, a so-called Protestant Version, has been used in Catholic worship for many years and comes in two editions: one with the deuterocanonical books and one without. Likewise, the New Revised Standard Version is now widely used among Catholics and is approved for liturgical use in Canada.

I strongly encourage you to keep studying Sacred Scripture, experiencing it as a great unifying force among Christians rather than as a battlefield over a few points.

Fr. Michael Kerper is the pastor of
St. Patrick Parish in Nashua, NH

Remember, all produce on the farm is freely given

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are tax deductible as we are a registered 501(c)(3).

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use the 'Donate' button below to pay it forward. 

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It Happened on THIS DAY...

A LOT of things have happened on March 25th down through the millenia, but tonight at the Palestrina Mass the homilist started with the fact that on this day in 3019 of the Third Age, Gollum absconded the One Ring and fell into the cracks of doom, defeating Sauron. It turned the tide for good to triumph over evil in that age.

March 25, 3019 T.A. (circa 6,578 years ago today)

That is why in 2003 A.D. the Tolkien Society designated March 25 as Tolkien reading day. 

That isn't however why I was at Mass tonight. Tolkien would have been at Mass on every March 25th as well because it has been celebrated as the day the Archangel Gabriel came to Mary, aka the Annunciation. 

Tolkien was a devout Catholic with a deep devotion to the Mother of God. It was absolutely no accident that the day God took on flesh (a fulcrum day if ever there was one) is the day Tolkien decided to place the destruction of the One Ring.

March 25, 1 A.D.

Interestingly, March 25 is also seen by many as the day that Jesus was crucified.

March 25, 33 A.D.

And perhaps the day Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea.

March 25, circa 1440 B.C.

And perhaps the day that Isaac was offered on Mount Moriah.

March 25, circa 1890 B.C.

Needless to say, today is marked in very bold letters as a tide turning day. Some say Lucifer fell on this day and that Adam was created on this day as well.

Uncanny, isn't it?

This means something...

...and it’s important.

Remember, all produce on the farm is freely given

and never for sale. All donations to the farm

are tax deductible as we are a registered 501(c)(3).

If you've been blessed by our produce and would

love to make sure others get blessed too,

use the 'Donate' button below to pay it forward. 

Fiscal Transparency / Produce Distributed

Alternately, you may send a check to: 

Photon Farms, Inc.

PO Box 36

Grandville, MI 49468-0036

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Redemptive Suffering - Part II

I didn't have any real big plans for this lent. Simple tightening of Wednesday/Friday fasting rules, a commitment to cut out unnecessary spending and give more money to people in need that I encountered was about it. So I suppose it was God who decided to help me focus in on the idea of redemptive suffering. He did this by dropping a few deep meditations on this reality into my lap. 

One of them I mentioned already in a previous post, a short film that my friend Rob shared with me on the 21 Coptic Christian Martyrs of 2015. This short (13 min) film is a brilliant work of art and devotion. It is tastefully done, sparing us the graphic details of their beheading and instead focusing on the steadfast faith of these men devoted to Jesus and committed to forgiving their persecutors to the very end, echoing Jesus words: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

What prepared me for receiving this film was an assignment for my upcoming summer course, the fourth installment in my pursuit of a spiritual direction certificate from Divine Mercy University. In preparation for this class I was assigned to read Fr. Walter Ciscek's book "He Leadeth Me".

It just so happened that it was released on Audible on March 11 so I listened to it during my commutes and gym work outs over the past ten days. What a blessing this book has been to me!

Growing up I had been taught almost nothing about the reality of redemptive suffering. It wasn't a buzz phrase in the circles I traveled in my first five decades. Turns out that it is a very common phrase in Catholic circles, so I began hearing reference to it over and over once I entered the Orthodox and Catholic faith walk over twelve years ago.

Even Fr. Mike Schmitz has a quote on it!
(Fr. Mike's Bible in a Year and Catechism in a Year
Podcasts have gone viral - I'm half way through them)

But NOTHING has demonstrated this reality as well as this book by Fr. Ciszek has. I am so grateful that he took the time to share his experiences as a prisoner in the Russian Siberian work camps with the world. It has helped me finally get a grasp on linking two core Christian concepts:

1. Complete surrender to God's will moment by moment.
2. The fact that God's permissive will may allow us to suffer with Christ.

I have been slowly learning the first, but have been a bit clueless and reluctant to embrace the second. 

Fr. Ciszek's excellent recounting of his experiences and thought processes have impacted me so deeply. His writing evokes several words and phrases, allow me to list just a few that come to mind:

• Heartfelt
• Sincere
• Nuanced
• Loving
• Deep
• Insightful
• Tender
• Theological
• Philosophical
• Devotional
• Brutal honesty toward his own faults
• Compassion towards others and their foibles
• Humility
• Thorough
• Kind
• Non-combative
• Factual
• Patient explanation
• Refusing to demonize or horribalize others
• Seeking the good in others
• Sacrificial service of others
• Not trite or cliché
• Genuine

I can now say without a doubt that I know how to frame my own sufferings better, small as they may be compared to Fr. Walter's. 

Perhaps reading a synopsis of his experience here would help you want to take the deeper dive into his writings. 

His wiki page is here and is a bit more thorough.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to put their own suffering and the suffering of humanity in general into a more hopeful perspective.

Many blessings, hope and light to you.

Remember, all produce on the farm is freely given

and never for sale. All donations to the farm

are tax deductible as we are a registered 501(c)(3).

If you've been blessed by our produce and would

love to make sure others get blessed too,

use the 'Donate' button below to pay it forward. 

Fiscal Transparency / Produce Distributed

Alternately, you may send a check to: 

Photon Farms, Inc.

PO Box 36

Grandville, MI 49468-0036

***Phone Browsers***

Contact Farmer Fred by clicking the ‘View Web Version’ 

link below. A form will appear in the right column 

when you do this which you can fill out to email him.

Father Forgive Them

It seems that this lent is destined to be focused on what it means to suffer. Can human suffering be redemptive? I'll be pondering that in the next post or two this lent.

The 21 Coptic Martyrs

My friend Rob shared the video below. It rounded out my understanding of the event of February 15, 2015 depicted in the icon above. The takeaway for me is this: not to hate those that persecute and kill us but rather to pray for them as Jesus did in his suffering:

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

Remember, all produce on the farm is freely given

and never for sale. All donations to the farm

are tax deductible as we are a registered 501(c)(3).

If you've been blessed by our produce and would

love to make sure others get blessed too,

use the 'Donate' button below to pay it forward. 

Fiscal Transparency / Produce Distributed

Alternately, you may send a check to: 

Photon Farms, Inc.

PO Box 36

Grandville, MI 49468-0036

***Phone Browsers***

Contact Farmer Fred by clicking the ‘View Web Version’ 

link below. A form will appear in the right column 

when you do this which you can fill out to email him.