Good morning, Digital Neighbors! Blessed and happy Sunday to all. While every day is a cause for gratitude, Sundays marinate in the fullness of gratitude for life and faith. Life is the greatest of gifts, since without it we simply aren’t. And to be is a great thing. Not often an easy thing, but nonetheless a good thing. Faith—at least mine, and hopefully yours—brings meaning, direction, and some path of fulfillment to life. I don’t need to find meaning in my life; it is already there, waiting to be seen once my blindness is removed, my deafness is healed, and my misguided seeking is called into focus.
My flock often hears one of my most common phrases: “No pedestals for the living.” All of us struggle with something in life; no one has a life untouched by sin and temptation. That doesn’t mean we can’t draw inspiration from others or be encouraged by their striving to live a life of faith—but we should not be surprised when others stumble and fall. If we are sincere disciples, our response should be prayer and helping them stand again. If we are citizens of the world, we will bleat out, “I told you so.” The world needs fewer citizens and more pilgrims passing through this life with eyes fixed on a more permanent and eternal dwelling.
Pilgrims are not indifferent; on the contrary, they know their calling to imitate the Master in His concern for neighbor. It is hard to be in the world without becoming “of the world,” and the more “of” the world claims of us, the less meaningful our life becomes. The of-ness of the world constantly draws us into its smallness, its emotionally fueled drama, and the limited horizon of immediate gratification.
Pilgrims and disciples are trying to untangle that web of deceit woven by the world and its brokenness. Again, there is no proclamation of perfection—just a desire and effort to see life as clearly as possible. Faith has never been an escape from life for me, but an invitation to respond to life with as much awareness, clarity, and humility as possible.
Well, enough rambling. Know that I pray for all of you daily when I pray for all those I know and love. Below is part of my morning offering that I pray upon rising as the day gets underway. The first part is lifted from the Lorica of St. Patrick; the second is part of my reflection on putting on Christ.
I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through a belief in the Threeness, through a confession of the Oneness of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me, God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me: from snares of devils, from temptations of vices, from everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and near, alone or in a multitude.
I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through a belief in the Threeness, through a confession of the Oneness of the Creator of Creation.
PUTTING ON CHRIST
May I have the eyes of Christ, that I might see with His clarity and insight.
May I have the ears of Christ, that I might listen with His compassion and understanding.
May I have the mouth of Christ, that I might speak with His honesty and integrity.
May I have the hands of Christ, that I might touch with His healing and presence.
May I have the mind of Christ, that I might choose and act with His wisdom and awareness.
May I have the Heart of Christ, that I might love with His courage and humility.
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
