ILAH Experience

ILAH - Experience & Community Life (Intimacy, loneliness, alienation and hostility) Community is not so much a place, as it is a way, a journey, a pilgrimage… Jn 15:1-15; 1Cor 13:4-7; Gal 5:22-23; Ps: 2;,103; 111; 102; 69; 70; 109 The Four Words: a) Intimacy, b) Loneliness, c) Alienation and d) Hostility can summarize our (my) experience of Being Friends in the Lord in Communities… All these experiences are spiritual experiences which are open to me only because I am an embodied spirit… INTIMACY : an inward state of being positively affected by an experience. It may be an interpersonal relationship of being accepted, loved, encouraged, care-fronted, forgiven etc… The relationship can be between God and my own person, between other human persons and my own person… Intimacy seems to me to be a moment of being with another and enjoying it… Solitude = being alone but in a positive way… [I am alone with the ALONE] LONELINESS: being conscious of being alone in an uncomfortable/painful way… loneliness seems like a moment of being separated from others when I would like to be with them. Can we really believe that loneliness is good, even necessary? ALIENATION: State of being separated from the other/s… It may be an active experience (I alienate myself from the other); it may be a passive experience (the other alienates me in some way: I am alienated) HOSTILITY: Experience of enmity, unfriendliness and resistance… Hostility seems like moments of being against others and some way enjoying it, or of experiencing others being against me and not enjoying it( active and passive) I have to recognize that my life has moments of intimacy and moments of loneliness. I have experienced moments of hostility and alienation. Loneliness and intimacy seem like unavoidable moments of life for normal people. Hostility and alienation seem like unproductive human experiences, even though we may experience them often in our lives. The realization that my life has revelatory moments of intimacy and moments of loneliness and moments of alienation and moments of hostility leads me to the discovery of what it means to be human. My experience of finding God concrete is linked with entering fully and vulnerably into such moments of loneliness and intimacy, alienation and hostility. All these experiences can be creative and growth producing provided we take them to the Lord in prayer, surrender them to Him and allow ourselves to be touched and healed by the Lord. AMDG +++++++++++++ vmalpan@gmail.com

Religiosity

It's in the Bible There was a religious lady that had to do a lot of traveling for her business, so she did a lot of flying. Flying made her very, very nervous, so she always took her Bible along with her to read as it helped relax her on the long flights. One time, she was sitting next to a man. When he saw her pull out her Bible, he gave a little chuckle and smirk and went back to what he was doing. After awhile, he turned to her and asked, "You don't really believe all that stuff in there do you?" The lady replied, "Of course I do. It is the Bible." He said, "Well, what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale?" She replied, "Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that, it is in the Bible." He asked, "Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?" The lady said, "Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask him." "What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically. "Then you can ask him," replied the lady. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' vmalpan@gmail.com