-The Apocalypse of Peter - most likely 2nd Century
                         from The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. p. 103

Continuing Education in Italy (Oct. 2006)

"The normalcy of civilization is not
the inevitability of human nature"
                  -John Dominic Crossan,
Guilford, CT
October 1, 2005

The Slow Work of God
by Teilhard de Chardin

Above all, trust in the slow work of God

We are quite naturally impatient in everything we do
     to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages
We are impatient of being on the way
     to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is in the law of all progress that it is made
     by passing through some stages of instability.
And that may take a very long time.

     So it is with you.

Your ideas mature gradually  -   let them grow,
let them shape themselves without undue haste.
Don't force them on,
     as though you could be on time.
Only God could say what this new spirit,
     gradually forming within you will be.
Give God the benefit of believing
     that God's hand is leading you surely
     through the absurdity, and the becoming.
And accept, for love of God,
     the anxiety of feeling yourself in
     suspense and incomplete.

And above all, trust in the slow work of  God.

Please remember in prayer: Sgt. Jordan D. Cable 

Jordan is my Godson currently serving in the U.S. Marines