Alone in the desert of my thoughts

Whipped around dust

transformed into dust

There is no escape

from my murderous spirit

Like Moses at forty

feeling justified in killing

bitter in his flight

into the exile

he actually chose for himself

Forty more years of wasted wandering

And finally

Moses invited by Beloved

invites and gently coerces the people enslaved

to plunge through the Red Sea

baptized

and wander like he did in exile,

in wonder for forty years

in the desert!

The people were now in the desert in exile with Moses,

but Moses was Home!!!

Moses is now exile free.

.

Home for Easter

When I, Ron Moses,

return from exile

I don’t want to go back

to the way it was

I will return only for a short time

to bring the beloved people of God

through the baptismal waters

and into the desert

God is calling each and every one of us

into the desert of our souls

to dance in the nights by the fire of love

Do not be afraid!

Jesus

Our Beloved brother, friend, teacher and lover

is calling us home.

And the really great news

is

he is walking and dancing

with us

o my

o wow

rejoice

Easter Joy

The desert is blooming!!!

ALLELUIA!

.

March Madness

I wrote the following in my journal on March 20th on a gorgeous spring day in my backyard with the birds, the live oak trees, the sound of the ocean and a glass of chardonnay.

I arrived at 1:30 am this morning…home. I couldn’t sleep so I stayed up for another hour watching the wrap up of the first day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. This is after leaving my home at 7 am the previous morning. I worked as a volunteer for the Navy League at a concession stand, number 304, at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum for the March Madness first round…

I offered 18 hours of volunteering dedicated to helping this city to celebrate the Navy and Merchant Marine for Fleet Week in October. I had no idea what I was getting into. It was more wonderful and awesome than I imagined if I peel away the pain in my feet and the hunger.

You see, I was in solidarity with the poor. This is truly March Madness. I was crazy enough to volunteer for a double shift. I was the volunteer stand leader responsible for the money and inventory. Four cash registers yielded gross sales from stale popcorn, gallons of water flavored with sugar stuff, so called cheese nachos, a whole bunch of salt, zero nutritional value candy, bottled water no better than tap water and hormone hot dogs. More than a thousand people must have come to our stand.

However, the most fascinating people were the old navy volunteers and the employees like the police officers who did security all day and night, supervisors who have a very mundane job, and Charlay who showed us the ropes.

But the most fascinating people were Lazarus and Denise. They were hired through hospitality for the “food” company for basically day work. They were paid by the hour and were afforded little if anything other than minimum wage.

Lazarus and Denise did not work cash registers, but prepared the poor quality “food stuff” as best they could, like the hotdogs, nachos, and popcorn. Lazarus worked from 9 am to 7 pm and Denise was with us to the bitter end. In fact it was just her and I when I left to ‘cash in’. She made sure all was cleaned up before she went home to her children. I attempted to assist her in much cleaning during the last of four basketball games.

Denise was my gift from God. I have been on many missions to Honduras and Haiti over the past 12 years. Yesterday was mission of solidarity with the poor in North Florida. Sixteen hours with another human being in close quarters is an opportunity to discover the mystery in another. I discovered that Denise played basketball in high school and had been going blind in one eye. Today it is clouded with cataracts, but she doesn’t seem to bemoan her condition. She suffered an injury to the eye and was not afforded the care that could have saved her eye. It seems that no one in our world cares a whole lot about a poor woman of color in our country.

I really enjoyed working with Denise. She lifted my spirits and kind of “danced” with us in that very tight space. Her body, which had energy and strength of character, has suffered from life and food that is not very nutritional. She doesn’t have the opportunity to live a long life without health issues. She knew her limitations with regard to lifting a huge bag of ice…and yet she dragged it out to me.

Denise was a gift from God. Her poverty was unmasked because I loved her like a sister. I will pray for her often. What a gift we are capable of giving to others. I asked Jesus to heal her eye totally. It cost me hardly anything. I desired to gift her with forty in God we trust in my wallet. They weren’t mine in the first place.

How often do I go to a Jaguar game or sporting event and drop $7 for a beer or two, $5 for a soda or $4 for a dog which usually costs about $40? If I am a better steward of my money, I can save my body from junk food and bless the poor at the same time. A true fast would be to fast at our next sporting event or movie entertainment and gift the money not spent to the poor. Maybe we could save up enough to go on a mission of love in solidarity with the poor!

Today, my heart was moved with compassion to approach a few poor persons in a ditch. When I washed their wounds and poured in the wine for healing, I began to notice something.

As I gently raised each poor person beaten down, and up into the SUV of my heart, and brought them to my home…

I saw Jesus.

I saw my own body.

I saw another magnificent, joyous creation of God.

I saw You!

…and you smiled back.

There is something about March Madness…

It is now time to break bread and share wine….Eucharist!

.

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

P.S. My final picks for the Final Four:

St. Matthew’s, St. Mark’s, St. Luke’s and St. John’s

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