Hi all,
It’s been a while. I’ve been working on new music.
Check out one of my latest recordings titled: “Mary Magdalene.”
I hope you enjoy it. Please share.
Thanks,
Bill
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Ephesians 3:4-6
When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
St. Paul is the poster person for transformation.
As Saul, he persecuted Christians because he saw them as evil and opposed to his religion.
This is a dualistic view: My way is right, your way is wrong!
But after a mysterious revelation on the road to Damascus, Saul begins to undergo a radical change.
He later becomes known as Paul and a prolific proclaimer of the gospel.
In today’s scripture, Paul talks about his insight into the mystery of Christ.
This is far more than the historic Jesus.
He says this insight was revealed by the Spirit.
A great revelation for Paul is that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Paul later specifies that all divisions are delusional.
He says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
The gospel, or good news, is that God loves everyone and all things unconditionally and that, despite our human-created-divisions, we are all one.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5).
He also stated, “You will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you” (John 14:20).
This means that Jesus is in God and you and I are in Jesus and Jesus is in you and me.
It also means that we are in God.
God, or Love itself, is in the fabric of all that is.
This has always been so but it has taken a long time for human consciousness to become aware of this.
We are still coming into a deeper and deeper awareness of this amazing good news.
It’s our mission here on Earth to live this out; to live a life of love; to treat all people and all creation as sacred.
We are all one in God.
No achieving is necessary.
It already is so.
That is very good news!
Listen to the song of the day “All Are One” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Luke 2:16-19
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
Such a rich scripture passage today, filled with lessons for us all.
The shepherds travel to find the Christ child, the anointed one.
For the backstory, we look a few verses earlier and read, “The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
Did the angel select the people regarded as special or high in status to deliver this spectacular message?
No.
The angel picked the lowly shepherds who counted as nothing.
The shepherds listened and took action.
The angel, or the voice of the Divine, is no doubt speaking to all people.
But most are likely too busy, too immersed in the noise of the world to hear.
It takes being present to the Divine Presence to hear such messages.
Generally, these sacred communications don’t arrive as dramatically as in through actual angels.
But, in Luke’s account, the shepherds hear and respond.
Perhaps the most prestigious people at that time would have thought it preposterous to look for the Messiah in a barn lying in a manger.
But that is where Jesus was found, not just at the beginning of his earthly life, but throughout: with the lowly of the low;
with those on the margins;
the misfits;
the outcasts.
Afterall, Jesus, Mary and Joseph were refugees.
Are you and I ready to take action and respond to the lowly, the forgotten, the ones on the margins?
And then there’s Mary, the very young mother of Jesus.
She could have been as young as 13 or 14.
You think you have a lot to deal with, look at her!
The shepherds tell Mary and Joseph what the angel told them.
And then the scripture says that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”
Do we listen to the inner voice in our hearts and reflect?
Do we spend time looking at what life is handing us and then reflecting upon it in our hearts?
Perhaps if we did, we would hear the news of great joy for all people.
This news of God’s great unconditional love for us might just take root and we would be effective channels of that love into this place and time.
God’s kingdom, or dimension of peace and love, would truly come on earth as it is in heaven.
May it be so for you.
Listen to the song of the day “Make Me a Channel” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The only way we can speak about ineffable things is to use metaphors.
The Word, in today’s scripture verse, is like the Creative Energy of the universe.
This Word is endlessly creating.
You might say that God is “Creating” – as in, God is the verb: Creating.
All-that-exists-is-in-the-web-of-the-Word’s-unfolding-creating.
You and I are as well.
We are inextricably connected in this Web-of-Love.
As St. Paul put it: In God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
Take some time to simply sit and be silent.
Be present to your belongingness in this place and time.
Pay attention to your breath in and your breath out.
Let go.
As Jesus said: Lose your life to find your life (Matthew 10:39).
Jesus also said that the kingdom of heaven is within you.
Love resides at your inner core.
Scripture tells us that the Word became flesh in Jesus.
This same Word is becoming flesh in you.
The Word – God – Love itself – is becoming flesh in you.
These are the words of St. John of the Cross, the mystic from the 1500s:
“Yes, there, under the dome of your being, does creation come into existence eternally, through your womb, dear pilgrim, the sacred womb of your soul, as God grasps our arms for help.”
How are you giving birth to the Creative Energy of the universe this Christmas?
Rest in the Love that you are and allow it to transform you.
Listen to the song of the day “Breathe On Me” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
James 5:7-8
Be patient, therefore, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
You’ve heard it said that patience is a virtue.
It is, indeed.
It takes being present to what is without all the mental commentary that often leads to fear of the future or complaining over what has happened in the past.
The farmer in today’s scripture verses would be immobilized with angst if he was always fretting over what’s happening or not happening with the seeds underground.
The weather is out of the farmer’s control.
Early and late rains will come or they won’t.
The farmer must trust in the unseen.
The seeds underground are sprouting through the power of the Creative Energy of the Universe.
You can call it God if you wish.
God is enmeshed in the fabric of all that is, energizing new life.
The dying and rising process is ongoing.
Therefore, God is always coming, always in the process of arriving, and is inviting us and all things to take part.
This takes a “dying” and a “rising” — a letting go and a taking part.
God’s coming is at hand.
It’s now.
It’s always now.
Is your heart firm?
Are you ready to work in tandem with the Creative Energy of the Universe?
Or should I say God?
Or should I say Love itself?
What fruit will be created when you allow this Love to enrich you?
How will you be energized to create what is good, beautiful, compassionate, and just?
Let go.
Listen.
Be present.
Allow the adventure to begin!
It’s starting right now!
Listen to the song of the day “Shall We Sing” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
Romans 13:11-12
You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
I believe St. Paul’s great awakening came in that fateful experience he had on the road to Damascus.
At the time, he was known as Saul.
He was basically terrorizing Christians because he thought he was doing what God wanted him to do.
As the scripture tells it: “On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:3-4)
The voice identified as Jesus.
Saul, who would become known as Paul, realized in a shocking, mystical moment, that by persecuting Christians he was persecuting Jesus himself.
Hence, Paul realized that there is one body of Christ.
What you do to the one, you do to all.
Paul is awakened to the great truth that there is only this moment; this is the time.
And in this moment, all are one.
This is our salvation – meaning path to wholeness.
All the works of darkness must be dropped.
Those works are acts that simply aim to satisfy the false self which mistakenly believes it is set apart from others.
The armor of light shines upon these areas of darkness so they can be clearly seen as delusions of separation from the Oneness of all.
As Paul states: “the day is at hand.”
It’s right here.
As Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21).
It’s within you.
You are already one with the One who created you.
All are one in this Oneness, the great “I AM”; God if you prefer – Love itself.
But the false self fears the demise of its autonomy.
It objects to being one with others.
Hence, Jesus teaches to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
This is our disorienting dilemma.
What will we do?
Jesus instructed: Lose your life to find your life. (Matthew 10:39)
Let go of the delusion of separation and be free.
Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
Psalm 96:11-12
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice.
If God is love as scripture states then we are all made by the creative energy of Love.
And not just us humans, but everything else!
Everything that is, is part of the isness of all.
Everything is a part of the great “I Am” as God self-identified to Moses.
We all yearn for oneness or wholeness with the Whole, the Source, what we call God.
Love is written in the creative action of all cells.
As theologian and scientist Ilia Delio writes in her book The Unbearable Wholeness of Being:
“Love is the law of evolution written on the human heart. We are created to love and to evolve in love. Unless we wake up to this reality we will continue to devolve and block evolution’s thrust toward more consciousness and being.”
Jesus knew this intimately.
He embodied the Creative-Word, and it was “made flesh and lived among us” as it says in the Gospel of John, chapter one verse 14.
Jesus reached out in love to include all those on the margins.
He restored them to communities and restored the sick to health.
Jesus took part in the evolutionary process of making wholes.
This same Creative Word is becoming flesh in you and me if we cooperate.
It’s also incarnating in all of creation.
There is a joyful noise, a symphony of love, emanating from all that is.
Do you hear it?
Are you listening?
Are you looking?
We are immersed in glory!
Listen to the song of the day “How Magnificent, Wondrous and Glorious” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
2 Thessalonians 3:5
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
Let me start by stating one of my most quoted scripture verses from the first letter of John, chapter 4, verse 8: God is love.
The vast majority of the people who have had a Near Death Experience also say over and over that they experienced a glorious Light that exuded more love than they could put into words.
If you follow Jesus, you will realize that he personified what it means to be in communion with God; or should I say, in communion with Love itself.
Jesus operated from the heart level.
He showed compassion to those on the margins; to those left out; to the sick and the dying.
When you love those people, you are loving God.
This is what St. Paul prays for in today’s scripture verse.
“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God.”
If you follow Jesus, he will direct your heart to the love of God.
He will direct you to love all people.
And St. Paul prays that Jesus will also direct your hearts “to the endurance of Christ.”
For Paul, Christ is much bigger than the historical Jesus.
Christ is the Creative Energy of the Cosmos.
This Creative Energy has infinite power.
This Christ is available now for all people to tap into.
It’s coursing through you.
Consciously connect to it by letting go and turning inward.
As Psalm 46, verse 11 states:
“Be still and know that I am God.”
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Listen to the song of the day “Breathe On Me” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
Luke 19:1-10
Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
Today’s gospel reading is full of meaning.
In this story, Jesus is on the road doing his ministry.
He’s sharing the good news of God’s unconditional love for all people and confronting the powers that be to stop oppressing those at the bottom and to treat them fairly and equally.
But Jesus intends to pass right through Jericho – until he spots this short man up in a tree.
Jesus, always open to the Spirit’s movement, follows the inner nudge to call upon Zacchaeus.
Tax collectors were despised by the people of Israel because they were seen as traitors working for the Roman oppressors.
Zacchaeus wasn’t just a tax collector – he was a chief tax collector.
He was wealthy off the backs of his own people.
Wouldn’t you think Jesus would ridicule him and give him a good scolding?
No! Jesus does the opposite.
He invites himself to stay at the tax collector’s house.
How could he?
How could Jesus have anything to do with such a sinner?
This is what the people were saying.
The openness of Jesus to be with his enemy and spend time with him, to actually be in relationship with him, is what transforms Zacchaeus.
Jesus knew that we are all children of God no matter how far off course we may roam.
Zacchaeus agrees to give half his possessions to the poor and to repay anyone he has cheated four times over.
Jesus ends this story with the line, “For the Son of Man (or human one) has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
Save means to make whole.
Jesus is in the business of making wholes out of division.
He’s in the business of restorative justice.
If you are a follower of Jesus, this is your business as well.
Each of us would do well to ask ourselves these questions:
“Who is the ‘Zacchaeus’ in my life?”
“How am I like Zacchaeus?”
“How am I like the town’s people?”
Listen to the song of the day “Mercy Reigns” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Click HERE to listen to the PODCAST version of Today’s Contemplation
Luke 12:51
Jesus said, “Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Such a seemingly disturbing quote today!
I thought Jesus was the so-called “Prince of Peace”?
Yes, he is.
But only if you accept his gospel message!
And that gospel message is that God is the unconditional lover of all and everything.
Jesus calls us to follow him in being this kind of lover.
That means loving all people – even those people!
You know, the people you can’t stand; The people who espouse the opposite of your political beliefs; All the people guilty of vile crimes.
Jesus makes this crystal clear when he commands us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Now do you see why Jesus said that he came to establish division?
The same Jesus who said that loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself were the two greatest commandments is not schizophrenic.
Jesus is being the master teacher here.
He is putting a bulls-eye on our dualism — how we tend to judge others and cast them out.
We have to make judgements, of course, as to right and wrong, but the rub is that we are called to do so without severing relationships.
We are called to at least try to love the one we see as wrong.
You have to protect yourself from abuse, but as a follower of Jesus we simply must try to love our persecutors!
How hard this is!
That’s why Jesus goes on to say in today’s gospel passage that households of five will be divided three against two and two against three.
Remind you of today’s political environment?
This radical love is the love that God has for you despite your flaws!
When you experience this love, you stop trying to change others and instead allow this love to change you.
Then you will be able to understand what St. Paul says in the lectionary’s first reading today from Ephesians chapter 3, verses 17 to 19:
“That you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of God.”
May we be emptied of all our fears so that we might be filled with the fullness of Love itself.
Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.
My 4 albums and 2 books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart) are available for purchase HERE. Also available on Amazon.
Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.
Remember: God loves you!
Bill Tonnis Ministries 