{"id":327,"date":"2021-01-30T19:18:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T19:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fatherbasil.com\/blog\/?p=327"},"modified":"2021-01-30T19:36:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T19:36:40","slug":"i-am-still-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherbasil.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/30\/i-am-still-here\/","title":{"rendered":"I am still here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"has-inline-color has-white-color\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Finding stillness amidst the chaos of this world.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has been quite a few months since my last blog entry.  I will try t fill you in, and then share a meditation that I wrote many years ago and is relevant to today&#8217;s chaotic world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe a week after my last blog entry, my wife handed me divorce papers.  My world was turned upside down, and right in the middle of college exams. I was forced to move and essentially start a new life.  Since then the pandemic has gripped the nation in a number of different ways.  Society, in some ways, has fundamentally changed.  The political dichotomy has only seem to grow, and the world is full of unknowns.  Personally, I have graduated college with a Bachelors degree in history, I have started painting once again, I have learned to ride a motorcycle, and my life personal life has gotten smaller as I learn to find stillness in a world that never stops moving or making noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With that said, I found an old meditation of mine that I will be reflecting upon this weekend.  We should all learn to seek peace and stillness within ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">     <span class=\"has-inline-color has-white-color\">Water of Life<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are few persistent elements that form a thread through the entirety of scripture: bread, water, wine, etc.&nbsp; Water, perhaps, is most significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was by water that God cleansed the world.&nbsp; God parted the waters of the Red Sea to save his people.&nbsp; It was by Moses&#8217; anger that water flowed from a rock.&nbsp; It is by water we are baptized, and thus cleansed of stains of our fallen nature.&nbsp; It was water, that Christ turned into wine. It is by water we are grafted into His Holy Church, the body of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Water is an example to the Christian life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Water rests in the lowliest of places.&nbsp; It is unassuming and takes the shape of the world in which it rests.&nbsp; It provides life and refreshment to everyone around it.&nbsp; Water in its stillness reflects the true face of the world that would choose to gaze into its depths.&nbsp; In its purity, one can see through to the deepest parts of its being, and therefore the truth therein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Water is patient.&nbsp; It does not fight, but takes the path of least resistance.&nbsp; Yet, it is persistent, and in time can change the face of the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Water is life, quenching our thirst, and renewing us amidst the deserts of this life.&nbsp; It is a renewal of life, washing away the collected impurities of the world.&nbsp; Without water to keep us refreshed, to keep us clean, we would surely die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it is like us with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Christ in us is our living water.&nbsp; He is our wellspring, without whom our spirit would surely die of thirst amidst the arid spiritual deserts of this world.&nbsp; Christ is our redeemer, washing our souls clean with the blood of his sacrifice, without which our souls would be forever marred by the stain of our iniquities.&nbsp; He is our peace, the stillness in whom we may see the face of our true self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be like Christ is to be like water, that we may fall down like rain upon the rest of the world, like God\u2019s Love has fallen upon us, and to be a refreshment to those trapped in the arid spiritual desert of this world, until they find the oasis on their own, the oasis that is Christ. We must flow forth like a river, and follow the hills and valleys of His will, wherever it may lead us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/Er5vE-1XcAYbUoo?format=jpg&amp;name=large\" alt=\"Image\" width=\"521\" height=\"759\"\/><figcaption><span class=\"has-inline-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">&#8220;Contemplation&#8221; by Father Basil<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finding stillness amidst the chaos of this world. It has been quite a few months since my last blog entry. I will try t fill you in, and then share a meditation that I wrote many years ago and is relevant to today&#8217;s chaotic world. Maybe a week after my last blog entry, my wife [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-life","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I am still here -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fatherbasil.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/30\/i-am-still-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I am still here -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Finding stillness amidst the chaos of this world. 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