Author: Fr. John Chagnon

Prayers by the Lake…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

You pour out light over the darkness, Lord, and colors and shapes emerge. You bend Your face over the abyss, whose name is Nothingness, and the abyss tries to depict the beauty of Your face in shadows. All creation expresses You the way the abyss dreams of You.

My lake is also beautiful while the peaceful face of the sun remains bent over it. And all those who pass by praise the beauty of my lake. But as soon as the sun hides its face, my lake becomes dark and abysmal. And no passerby ever offers any praise for the lake except in the presence of the sun or the sun’s radiant companions.

The face of the abyss intoxicates those who do not see the sun bent over the abyss. The beauty of things begins when an onlooker bends his face over them. There is no mirror if there is no face in front of the mirror. But even a face in front of a mirror means nothing if there is no light.

In the light of Your face I pay no attention to any creature. Without You, creatures and I would not be mirrors of one another, but rather darkness, and an abyss, and an opaque chill.

Creation distorts Your beauty the way a dream distorts reality. Creation torments me just as dreams torment me. For what is creation except dreams of Your inexpressible Reality?

My neighbors say: “We have dreamed beautiful dreams.” The universe is my witness when I tell you that you are more beautiful than your dreams. The universe also dreams, and cannot dream enough about its own beauty. O my sleepy universe: as long as a dream dreams a dream, one dream is afraid of another, even if one dream seeks an interpreter and comforter in another. Who is prophesying to whom: the dream to reality or reality to the dream?

O my beautiful universe: dream of Reality and Reality will tell you everything. Admit the Reality, of which you are a dream, and you will awaken, and will no longer ramble about beauty, but will be Beauty. There is only one Reality and only one Beauty, and it is the reason for your dream.

Do not tell me, children, about the beauty of the stars. If the Lord withdrew Himself from the stars, your mouths would be struck dumb. Stand in the thick darkness by my lake and try to sing to it. Truly you will be struck dumb and remain silent until the sun dawns, until the sun pours its beauty over the lake and gives your speechless throat its voice.

Your face pours beauty over all creation. The universe swims in Your beauty as a boat swims in the sea. And when You bend over cold ashes, the ashes are transfigured and receive a face.
Bring my heart to its senses, my Lord, so that it may not be captivated by mortal beauty but by You, my Immortal Beauty.
O my only Beauty!
Allow me to see Your Face, just more and more–of Your Face.

Listening to the Radio…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

a few days ago and a speaker stated that if God had no ability to judge than evil would have the last word. The idea that God can judge is, of course,  something we avoid thinking about most of the time but for those who are seeking righteousness it really is the final granting of their wish. Only the arrogant, the proud, the self-sufficient, the people whose hearts are full of darkness need fear it, for the rest it is their vindication.

Default Mode…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ 1 Comment

People, myself included, often wonder what God would be having them to in this life. There’s at least one answer, Matthew 25. It seems that all the things listed there are what Christians should be about, the default mode if you will for how we should be using our time. Do those things and your life will stand the test, it will be a life well lived according to the only One whose opinion really matters.

A Good Thought…

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How blessed and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts of God! Life in immortality, splendor in righteousness, truth in boldness, faith in confidence, continence in holiness: and all these things are submitted to our understanding. What, then, are the things which are being prepared for those who wait for Him? The Creator and Father of the ages, the All-holy One, Himself knows their greatness and beauty. Let us then strive to be found among the number of those that wait, that we may receive a share of the promised gifts.

St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians 35.1-4 late 1st century

Worth Considering…

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“The more people deviate from the natural simple life and move toward luxury, the more human stress increases. And as worldly politeness expands, simplicity, joy and the natural human smile are lost.”

Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

More Wisdom..

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Not only should we observe moderation with food, but we must also abstain from every other sin so that just as we fast with our stomach, we should fast with our tongue. Likewise, we should fast with our eyes; i.e. not look at agitating things, not allow your eyes freedom to roam, not to look shamelessly and without fear. Similarly, arms and legs should be restrained from doing any evil acts.

Abba Dorotheus of Gaza, 6th century

Sinus Rhythm…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

About 9 this morning one of my doctors told me I was back in sinus (normal) rhythm. That means my heart is, at least temporarily out of atrial fibrillation. Something we take for granted, the steady thump thump of our heart, and now mine seems back into some semblance of normality.

I don’t know exactly who to thank. There were friends, family, strangers, Saints, all praying for me. There were doctors and nurses and all kinds of medical people helping me through. The glory, ultimately, belongs to God who heals and is the source of all helpful and healing wisdom but I’m grateful to everyone who stood in the gap for me.

Of course it’s not over, yet. It may not be over until I pass on into eternity. This thing will be hanging over my head, the shadow always in the background. Yet I’m not going to worry too much. Life throws things at you and you need to do what you need to do. In my case it was to draw closer to God and find a way to work back to health so that I can serve Him.

God has always given me grace more than I deserve and these past days have been no exception. The only thing I want out of the rest of my life is to be whatever God wants me to be. That’s a scary promise, for sure, but I’m going to try my best to fulfill it. My heart tells me I’m getting older and that my systems can have trouble and even fail. My faith tells me I’m each day a little closer to being where I was meant to be in the first place. Between then and now is my life and I hope to make the best of it, the best of it meaning God’s best.

Thank you for all your prayers. I am moved by them. To whatever Saint(s) was interceding for me thank you. Gracious God help me to remember to number my days so I can increase in wisdom.

 

Whitney Houston…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

Artists need to understand something.

You may feel that your art is an expression of some of the deepest parts of your being. Often that’s very true. You may see it as the work of your lifetime, the reason you get up in the morning, the beauty in the drabness. Yet to the people who make a living off from your creativity its a business, a way to make money, and you are the one delivers the commodity they sell.

There’s a whole group of people out there who eat from your table. They scour the world looking for the next big thing and if they can find it, find a way to package and market it for sale, the people who provide it can become famous in an instant and fabulously wealthy. That a big “if” by the way.

Its a dark arrangement. As a musician you must sell your art in one form or another if you want to make a living at it so you find yourself in relationships with people who want to exploit your work for profit. There’s nothing necessarily bad about it but you, as an artist, need to understand that when push comes to shove you’re a commodity, your gift is something to be traded on the market. You may not like it but sometimes your masterpiece ends up as a car commercial. You get a check, they get your soul. Yet it keeps food on the table and that’s not all bad.

Whitney Houston was beautiful, possessed of an impossibly good voice, and when she was on her game she glowed like the sun. Even if you didn’t like her work you had to admit to the talent behind it. Now they say she may have been broke when she died. Who knows? Rumors. Yet she seemed to be in trouble, pills, alcohol, life stresses. They say you could hear it in her voice. Maybe as long as the money rolled in nobody particularly cared what happened. Just prop her up, get her on stage, and count the cash. Maybe the mythology of fame overcame her until one day her body couldn’t pay the bills. I don’t know.

I’m just sad for her. In the end there were reports that people in the music business were raising the prices of her downloads and who knows what album is yet to come. She’ll get none of it, maybe her family will. She seemed to be a beautiful and gifted soul who became a commodity with everybody trying to get a piece of the action. When the value began to diminish she became just another crazy celebrity and the industry  moved on to the next voice to sell.

All I wish her is peace. I want her to be that little girl again singing in her church without the thought of schedules, sessions, business people, and no other fan than God. I suspect the good things can be very cool, but you’ve got to keep your heart.