I went to another one of the Contemplative Masses at a local retreat centre on Saturday. One of the readings was from the East, perhaps from Hare Krishna, but I am not sure. The theme was about the danger of ownership and possession. I am going to badly paraphrase, but the idea was that the words “My” or “Mine” are very dangerous. I like that – I cannot say this is My House. That implies that I have now and always will have full say over what happens here. It further implies that I have full and legitimate possession of it. If I think about any of those things in depth, I am troubled. There is a great deal of comfort in being a renter or temporary holder of something.

But having said that, I have to admit that I'm a hypocrite . I like to possess things and hang on to them. My brain tells me that the possession is transient in nature, but something else in me shouts MINE MINE MINE.

So a little challenge was handed to us during the service. It was the gift of a small stone, which we were challenged to assign a quality or name to, and then decide if we want to give it up. I already had a stone called Fear, that I still had at home but, had left it there either accidentally or maybe on purpose. I am not ready to let go of Fear.

But what attribute should I give to this stone in my hand? It was made all the more complex by the thought that ownership was bad. Then I heard the reading about the woman who allegedly was caught fooling around on her husband and was frog marched to Jesus Christ himself. Jesus, if you have forgotten the story, knelt down and wrote something in the sand ( no one knows what he wrote, but I imagine it was something like this: “How long do I have to deal with these idiots?”). He then gave the famous line “Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone.”

I suddenly knew what was in my hand – the stone of wrath and judgment, the stone of my righteousness, the stone of my self. How I love that stone! I love to judge. I love to be right. I love to be superior. How many times have I made snide comments about the Woman Who Claims to be Our Member of Parliament because of her dislike of gay rights and love of weapon owners' rights? I love gripping that stone and tossing it with all my might!

But yesterday, I got up and put that stone at the base of the cross. I can comment on a person’s actions or statements, but I have to learn to give that stone up. I have no right to it, it does not belong to me, and I have no idea how to use it.

But, I must say, that I did feel sad leaving that stone behind. And I have not started to look in my pockets yet.