{"id":16225,"date":"2017-12-04T09:30:02","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T14:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16225"},"modified":"2017-12-04T09:40:55","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T14:40:55","slug":"truth-is-known-by-its-fruits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16225","title":{"rendered":"Truth Is Known by Its Fruits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ikcFezmuazA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM  Interfaith Friendship<\/p>\n<p>Truth Is Known by Its Fruits<br \/>\nMonday, December 4, 2017<\/p>\n<p>If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. \u2014Martin Luther King, Jr. [1]<\/p>\n<p>Different religious traditions can engage in dialogue with one another in a true spirit of ecumenism. Dialogue can be fruitful and enriching if both sides are truly open. . . . Peace will be a beautiful flower blooming on this field of practice. \u2014Thich Nhat Hanh [2]<\/p>\n<p>The Perennial Tradition includes truths within Catholic, Franciscan, Episcopalian, Calvinist, Lutheran, and other Christian denominations and orders. It also embraces wisdom within Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. In fact, if we\u2019re honest, each of these faith traditions share something in common with Christianity. We need to honor truth and wisdom\u2019s authority in all its forms. If it\u2019s true, it\u2019s true everywhere. That should make us happy\u2014not defensive or aggressive.<\/p>\n<p>In discerning truth, our first question should not be, \u201cWho said it? Did a Catholic, Methodist, or Hindu say it?\u201d That should be of little concern. Of greater importance is, \u201cIs it true?\u201d Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), a Doctor of the Church, held that if it was true, it was always from the one Holy Spirit. [3]<\/p>\n<p>Notice that two-thirds of the Christian Bible are comprised of the Hebrew Scriptures; and the Old Testament writers themselves built upon stories, traditions, names of God, and practices that existed before Israelite history. Scripture gathers together cumulative visions of the divine. Jesus befriended and affirmed Samaritans, Roman citizens, pagans, and Syrophoenicians, which was shocking to many of his Jewish compatriots. But what\u2019s even more shocking is that, in the name of this entirely inclusive Jewish man, Jesus, we created an exclusionary religion that ended up repeating what he condemned in his lifetime. It is the non-argumentative, contemplative mind that can easily see this.<\/p>\n<p>Cistercian monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968) helped Christianity recover its contemplative foundations, which quickly opened the doors to interfaith dialogue. Most Catholics were not ready for Merton before the reforms of Vatican II (1962-1965). Prophets are always ahead of their times. Merton corresponded and met with spiritual leaders from many traditions: Abraham Heschel (1907-1972), a Jewish rabbi and scholar; Sufi Muslims from the mystical vein of Islam; Bede Griffiths (1906-1993), a Benedictine monk and yogi from an ashram in India; and Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926).<\/p>\n<p>CAC core teacher James Finley learned from Merton while living at the Abbey of Gethsemani from 1961-1967. He reflects that Merton believed the world could not survive if religion remained at the clannish level. This false competition doesn\u2019t serve anyone. On the other hand, openness to other traditions can and should deepen our commitment to our own faith and practice. This is one of the primary fruits of obeying Jesus\u2019 simple command to \u201clove our neighbor.\u201d I presume loving others means listening to them and respecting them as brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n<p>Gateway to Silence:<br \/>\nWe are already one.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Law of Opposition<\/strong><br \/>\nBy Oswald Chambers<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>To him who overcomes\u2026 \u2014Revelation 2:7<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.<br \/>\nHealth is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces the mental balance called thought.<br \/>\nMorally it is the same. Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.<br \/>\nAnd spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, \u201cIn the world you will have tribulation\u2026\u201d (John 16:33). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, \u201c\u2026but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.\u201d I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.<br \/>\nHoliness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM Interfaith Friendship Truth Is Known by Its Fruits Monday, December 4, 2017 If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. \u2014Martin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16228,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16225\/revisions\/16228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}