A Quiet Moment

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fortress, Jerusalem, Jesus, psalm 71, refuge, rock, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wondrous deeds

This morning I imagine Jesus sitting outside in the quiet of the morning at the house of his friends reciting the Psalm for the day (71) that he has known from his youth. The familiar words surely give him courage and comfort as he moves closer to what lies ahead for him in Jerusalem. I read it and join myself to him in the prayer.

In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice rescue me, and deliver me; incline your ear to me, and save me. Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress. O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked. For you are my hope, O Lord; my trust, O God, from my youth. On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength. My mouth shall declare your justice, day by day your salvation. O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Little Kindness

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Holy Week, Jesus, Mary, Proverbs, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

It must be that the dishwasher is full because there were only four mugs in the cupboard this morning – in addition to the smaller cups that hardly hold enough for a first cup for someone like me. I chose a pastel-colored one, a design that would not jar my sleepy head too much. As I sat down the sun appeared – first tentatively and then in blazing glory – across the river to tell me to take a breath into this new day. As I did, I saw the word TRUST emblazoned across the bottom of my cup, the kernel of God’s message to me which appeared above. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, it said, and lean not into your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) In a very small way, I think the happening in this gospel this morning – Mary pouring the anointing oil over Jesus in love – was a similarly encouraging message for what he faced in the coming week.

After the exhilaration of the ride into Jerusalem with people waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna in praise as he passed, Jesus needed to get away to find some quiet and, perhaps, deal with the anxiety of what he knew was gathering in sentiment from those who were not praising but rather plotting against him. Most likely exhausted from it all, he went to Bethany to be refreshed in the home of his friends. And Mary did not disappoint. Her extravagant gesture and loving touch, criticized by Judas because of the cost, was just what he needed to proceed with trust into what was to come.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to get us back on track when things look bleak – or even when we’re just tired out from the happenings in our lives. Perhaps at the beginning of this week of remembrance and participation in the sufferings of Jesus, we might intend to look for things in the lives around us that need refreshment and do what we can to lighten their load with kindness. It might do more than we can imagine to restore their trust.

Kenosis

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centering prayer, control, crucifixion, emptied, Holy Week, Jesus, judgment, kenosis, Last Supper, letting go, meditation, paschal mystery, Paul, Philippians, prejudice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There is a concept in Paul’s letter to the Philippians that describes a path of spirituality that was the way of Jesus (PHIL 2:6-11). The Greek word kenosis means “emptying out” and as a theological principle calls us to empty ourselves of everything in order to be filled with God. In a practical way it means living simply so as not to be distracted by “things” as well as letting go of judgments and prejudices in order to move toward unity with all of creation and ultimately with God. Paul expresses it in the following way: Although he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped at. Rather he emptied himself being born in the likeness of humanity…

Centering prayer is a spiritual practice that has become important in my life as a means of imitation of this kenotic path of Jesus. This meditation practice is a prayer of intention where one sits for a period of time in silence (usually 20-30 minutes). The intention includes the gentle letting go of any thoughts that come during that time, not pushing them away but letting them go in order to return to God’s presence. It is simple but not easy, as our minds are continually in motion. I can attest, however, that over years of such practice there is, in the gesture of letting go of thoughts, a deeper letting go happening where one slowly becomes able to let go of judgments and prejudices and needing control of situations and relationships, etc. It does not mean becoming dispassionate and passive in life but rather more positive and accepting of all manner of experiences. It is, I believe, how Jesus could surrender to all that was asked of him, even to his death. It is how I hope to move toward each challenge that life offers for imitation of Christ. The rituals of the Paschal Mystery that we celebrate this week give us ample evidence of the kenotic actions of Jesus, from the washing of the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper to the Crucifixion – an example and opportunity not to be missed!

Misinterpretation

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divide and conquer, Jesus, John, message of love, power, power over, prophets, signs, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I read the gospel this morning (JN 11:45-56) I was taken by part of the dialog that the factions with the “power” were having about Jesus as his popularity grew. Here is their logic:

What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him. The Romans will come and take away our land and our nation…So from that day on they planned to kill him.

Clearly, they had totally misinterpreted Jesus and the power he had. He (and prophets before and after him – even to our own day) was not interested in land or earthy governance. They just weren’t listening to the message of love that he was so intent on preaching and the humility with which he gave all the credit/power of it to God, not to himself. It is clear that those who work toward the unity that Jesus longed for people to understand were/are often vilified by those who seek power by the method of “divide and conquer.” That kind of power over is never really successful but it takes deep listening to reveal the fallacy in its rhetoric. We can be easily swayed by magnetic personalities or flattering words. Flashy “media moments” and commercials easily grab us when we’re not paying attention. It all comes down to consciousness.

Today I plan to listen deeply to all the messages that come my way, hoping to catch sincerity and meaning as well as “false advertising” – looking for the love that fuels the truth and following wherever it takes me.

Big and Little

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communion of purpose, jeremiah, poor, Pope Francis, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, tugboats, wicked

Jeremiah is talking this morning (ch. 20) about plotting and destruction on every side and how God rescues the poor from the wicked and powerful. I’m reading this as I sit in St. Louis watching two small tugboats slowly making their way on the “Mighty Mississippi” toward a very large barge that I know they will be able to push. (I learned that in elementary school!) Today I think of the fact that the process only works (and there it goes! Both are gliding now along the water toward the port) if both the large and small entities are working in communion of purpose, doing what they are fit to do and not what the other is called to accomplish. Today I am grateful for “power people” who understand that concept – Pope Francis for one, and the Sisters of St. Joseph whose leadership team has called eight of us together from around the U.S. and Peru to gather in service to the whole, creating opportunities for communication and understanding of one another that will lead to deeper unity – the only way that any organization can flourish. Today I pray for our government and countries around the world, that leaders called to power will not exercise “power over” but will come to understand this other manner of power so that, little by little, the world will be transformed.

Remembering

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covenant, generations, God, honor, partners, Psalm 105, rejoice, remember, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning I found in an alternate translation of Psalm 105:3-9 a striking translation of the psalmist’s call for us to remember all that is contained in the covenant that God made and keeps with all generations. I repeat it here as a reflection for today.

We rise to sing in honor of your holy name. Let every seeker’s heart rejoice and search for you with all their strength until they stand before the beauty of your face, remembering. Remember, remember everything you can recall, remember every work and wonder, remember every word God speaks to you in wisdom. Remember too that you are children of the Blessed One; your heritage goes back to Abraham and Sarah. Remember that you are servants of the Lord and chosen ones like Jacob by your God, who is the Mighty One and Master over all, whose will prevails and works succeed forever. Remember that you are partners to a covenant, a promise made and kept for many generations.

“Oneing”

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angel, Annunciation, divine unity, God, Lady Julian of Norwich, Luke, Mary, messenger, oneing, Richard Rohr, soul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

I glanced at my “Wisdom” bookcase this morning as I sat down to ponder the day. All the books on those three shelves have something to do with going deeper spiritually. About two-thirds of them are still waiting to open their voices to me but I have great hopes of savoring each of their messages as I go forward. I noticed a thin volume on its side on the second shelf between three other books that arrived recently and found no room for standing upright. Since I couldn’t identify it I had to take a look, of course. As soon as I pulled it out I recognized it as a cherished Christmas gift two years ago named Ripening, a publication by Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation, the second in a series called Oneing. I read again the meaning “oneing” as an old English word that was used by Lady Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) to describe the encounter between God and the soul. Rohr uses it to express the divine unity that stands behind all the divisions, dichotomies and dualisms in the world as in the words of Jesus “that all may be one.”

I took this as an answer to what I should write this morning on this day that Christians commemorate the “Annunciation” to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus. There are all sorts of questions around the gospel text (LK 1:26-38) – about the messenger/angel (who and how the message was received: just a light, a voice, an apparition, an inner knowing?), about Mary’s response: (fear, hesitation, confusion,disbelief, consideration of Joseph, plausibility of her immediate response?), etc. I’ve had many interesting and some deep conversations about what tradition says and what is a matter of personal faith. I think, though, we could do well to consider Julian’s word as what happened to Mary on that day and then continued to grow in her throughout her life as she lived toward God in the monumental events and the everyday tasks of being herself and being mother. Additionally, we might recall Rohr’s suggestion of how we might proceed to this “oneing” in our lives for the good of ourselves and the survival of the earth.

Holding On

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disciples, Easter, faith, Jesus, Palm Sunday, Passion, resurrection, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’m feeling conflicted this morning. I know that we are moving swiftly toward the events of the most solemn week of the year for Christians – from Palm Sunday to the crucifixion and death of Jesus. It’s difficult for us to understand in a visceral way the pain impact of those events because we already know the end of the story, that is the Resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate on Easter Sunday. It’s a bit like looking out on a winter landscape with a temperature of 16F degrees when the calendar and all our sensibilities say it should be spring. (Sorry. I know I sound like a broken record but it’s been an unusually difficult winter.) We know the outcome – or at least have hope because of what history and past seasons have told us. Seeds breaking open lead to future flowering, just as the broken body of Jesus was raised from the dead into a transformed existence to which we are all called as well. The latter is more difficult to grasp because we have not seen the miracle with our own eyes as we have in nature each year.  Perhaps, however, for those of us living in this unforgiving winter, this year gives us an advantage; our expectations of the “end of the story” have been disappointed again and again as the cold continues to seep into our bones. How long will we wait? What is the level of our trust that spring will eventually come? Silly questions, I know – but the temptation to despair is real.

In whatever situation has caused that kind of feeling in our lives- if not the weather – let us sit in the uncertainty of not knowing the outcome. Maybe then we will understand what the disciples of Jesus were feeling as the mood of the crowds changed and the fate of Jesus became more uncertain day by day. Let us try to live the remaining days before Easter in the space of those who lived these events for the first time in history, conscious that, for them, it was faith that had to take them to resurrection and there was no precedent for that.

Throwing Stones

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cultural influences, Daniel, Jesus, media, prejudice, swift judgment, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, throw a stone, without sin, woman caught in adultery

In the United States as in many other countries around the world, the media tend to determine our choices unless we are vigilant and aware. Commercials tell us what to eat (but often downplay the harmful contents hidden in those products), what to wear, how to hide our age with beauty products – implying that aging is anathema! Implied at least in some instances and blatantly touted in others is a judgment of those who do not follow their dictates.

That’s just one example of all the cultural influences that cause our rush to judgment without much thought. This morning’s gospel recounts the story of the famous (or infamous) “woman caught in adultery.” For lots of women these days, the first question is about the whereabouts of and absence of judgment on her partner in this act – a good example of the culture of the time and place of Jesus. No one questioned anything about the circumstances (exactly as in the story of Susanna in today’s first reading from Daniel 13). In a stunning corrective to this situation, Jesus said simply to those who were ready to murder the woman, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” We might want to walk with this sentence in our pockets today, taking it out each time we meet someone, hear some news, read a text, look around at passersby or notice ourselves thinking on a topic. It might help to recognize how our minds work so swiftly. Catching the mind in motion doesn’t necessarily prove us to be judgmental in all situations but it might keep us alert to where our prejudices lie – just one more way to stay awake to life around and within us.

This New Day

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candidates, Catholic Church, Ezekiel, jeremiah, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wake up

Once again this Sunday there are two sets of readings to choose from as candidates for reception into the Catholic Church are called to reflection on conversion of heart. All those participating in the liturgical ritual are asked to join in this reflection as we have come to know that conversion is an on-going process in our lives. Those parish communities which do not have converts hear the prophet Jeremiah delivering God’s message that promises “I will place my law within them and write it on their hearts…” while those that are preparing to welcome new members will hear Ezekiel speaking God’s word that “I will put my spirit in you that you may live.”

These are welcome words for all of us on days when we realize that we need a new infusion of energy in our days. Whether we have just come through a long period of struggle or have just had an unusually “bad day” for some reason, it is comforting to know that God is standing ready to massage our heart and revive our spirit, enabling us to “wake up” to a new day – every day.