Looking Back and Forward

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2016, assessment, deepening, global community, God's wonders, Helen Daly, New Year's, new year's resolutions, proclaim, psalm 96, sing out, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding, Wisdom School

Today’s title for this blog post should surprise nobody. Today is, after all, the last day of the year, a day on which we regularly review the year just ending, perhaps with an eye toward things we want to remember and what we would like to forget. Making an honest assessment is not always the easiest activity of the year but is a good way to spend at least a little time before moving on to what we hope to accomplish or become in 2016.

The first lines of Psalm 96 became my impetus for reflection: Come, sing to God, O earth, sing out this song anew, and bless God’s holy name in praise, for day to day we are renewed, restored, refreshed again by glory’s light. Proclaim good news among the nations of the earth, tell all the peoples everywhere God’s work, God’s ways, the wonders that God does. (vs. 1-3) I can’t help but be amazed every day, not only by the number of people who have visited and read these blog posts (I have access to a statistics page) but also the places from which the visitors come. This year alone we’ve had 7,699 views (or more while I’ve been writing now!) by people from 77 countries all around the world! This is such a miracle to me and I am grateful for the privilege of this connection. I also feel responsible for this and all the activities that we offer at The Sophia Center for Spirituality in Binghamton and Endicott, New York, hoping that those who visit us (either in person or virtually through technology) are nourished in their spiritual life by their contact with us. I have met amazing people through this work as well as in our Wisdom Schools (see http://www.wisdomswork.com for explanation and information) and have grown immensely myself in these encounters.

My gratitude for the work I do now is in large part due to the generous grant from the estate of my dear friend, Helen Daly, who grasped the potential of the study of the Wisdom tradition of Christianity in which we had been engaged for seven years at the time of her death. My sense of responsibility to that gift now calls me to extend the opportunity to join the work we are doing to all who have benefited from it thus far. You may have noted the addition of a “Donate” button on this blog page. There is also now a donations page on our website, http://www.thesophiacenterforspirituality.org where you will find a more detailed explanation of our reasoning and our hopes for the coming year. If you have never visited our website, today might be a good day to see a more global (or in one way a more local) sense of who we are. All that we do and hope that people support harks back to those words of the psalm, for it is truly God’s work, God’s ways, the wonders that God does that is my purpose in writing.

May 2016 see a deepening of understanding for each of us so that God’s ways become more and more the ways of the world and may our appreciation of the wonders that God does guide us in all that we do and become in this new year.

A Reminder

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adoration, care, God's presence, holiness, inner light, justice, praise, psalm 96, sacred name, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, welcome God, worship, yield to love

This morning there is little evidence that it is, in fact, morning. Just ten minutes before 7:00 there is yet no light in the sky…It takes the psalmist to wake me to the reality of another day, reminding me to welcome God, the inner light that guides our every step. Two poetic translations of Psalm 96:5-10 lift me up to meet whatever waits to greet me. I offer them as recognition and a call to morning praise from all on earth to God.

Yield to Love, O families of the earth, yield to Love glory and strength! Yield to Love and learn of justice; make of yourselves an offering and be guided by Love! Bow down in adoration and holiness; for worthy is the Beloved to be praised over all the earth!

O, the beauty of your presence, God! O, the splendor and power in which you dwell! Come close, all families of the earth, and make your voice of praise be heard. This is your God, bring all you have and offer it in honor of that sacred name. Let all that’s holy be the beauty in which you worship God. Come close, draw near in awe, then tell the truth to everyone; God is the sovereign over all who governs you and earth with equal justice, equal care.

 

 

Living in the Light

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embrace the light, hate, Jesus walked, John, live in the light, love, love our brother, new year's resolutions, South Pacific, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The first letter of John has some strong words for us this morning which we might want to consider, especially if we are in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions. John says (1 JN 2:3-11) that whoever claims to be abiding in God “ought to walk just as Jesus walked.” That’s a pretty tall order – but it is our call if we want to “live in the light.” John talks about the fact that it is impossible to live in the light if we do not love our “brother” (and he’s not just talking about our immediate family – although they are surely included). Those who “hate” (John’s word – used surely to shock us into recognition) others walk in darkness and have no idea where they’re going because darkness has blinded them. We often use the words hate and love rather frivolously, as in I hate peanut butter but I love jelly. Certainly John is more serious than that. There is too much hatred in our world, whether for the person down the street or a whole race or tribe of people in a foreign country. How is it that we can decide who to hate without ever having had a conversation or looked into the other person’s eyes? To whom are we blinded without personal experience? Why? Where did our information come from? This all reminds me of a song from the musical South Pacific, which I have, perhaps, quoted here before. It says, in part: We have to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made and people whose skin in a different shade; we have to be carefully taught…

Today my prayer is for more light, in me and in all the world, that we might come to give up our self-imposed darkness and embrace the light that is available to us, if we will only resolve to let in more light, more love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Innocents

Tags

aid, distress, innocent children, Magi, massacre, St. John the Evangelist, St. Stephen, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, triduum

Today is the third of a triduum of feasts, three days following Christmas (unless Holy Family Sunday intervenes as happened yesterday). I learned this calendar early – somewhere in elementary school, I’m sure – because of their proximity to Christmas and I always thought it an unfortunate choice on the part of the Church. The feast of St. John the Evangelist (12/27) is fine but the other two seem out of place in this season of peace and good feeling. First (12/26) we hear the story of the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr, and today (12/28) the gospel of Matthew recounts the “massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under” by Herod because the Magi had failed to report to him where they had found Jesus, whom Herod wished to destroy. All those innocent children, slaughtered for no reason other than a king’s hubris and fear for loss of his earthly power!

My reflections stray from Herod but remain with all the innocent children killed in our time by violence, either targeted or randomly, or through neglect. The numbers are staggering in the USA and even more horrific in countries where famine and war know no exceptions in the age of victims. Clearly, dark and light exist together in our lives. Sorrow and joy are not mutually exclusive. How is it then that we can maintain our equilibrium? Surely, ignoring the darkness is no solution; it only leads us deeper into the isolation of futility. Thinking like this always reminds me of the slogan, “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” So today, I will consider what I can do to alleviate something of the distress of children either in my community or somewhere in the world. The possibilities are endless and include donations to organizations like Free the Children, Doctors Without Borders, and Bread for the World, volunteering at our local soup kitchen, shopping for our local food bank or writing to political leaders about changing the gun laws. I cannot forget the value of taking opportunities to be kind and encouraging to children of all ages and most of all to pray for them every day. They are our hope; let us be theirs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Advice

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Colossians, compassion, kindness, humility, gentlenesspatience,, family, Holy Family, John, Lectionary, Luke, psalm 128, psalm 84, Sirach, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today it seems as if those who determined the cycle of readings for the lectionary could not make up their minds. There are occasionally two choices for one of the readings on a Sunday, often a longer and a shorter version of the gospel. Today, however, we have two choices from the Hebrew Scriptures for the first reading (SIR 3:2-6, 12-14 or 1 SM 1:20-28), two Psalm responses (PS 128: 1-5 or PS 84:2-10), three choices for the second reading (COL 3:12-21 or the shorter COL 3:12-17 as well as 1 JN 3:1-2, 21-24), two gospel acclamations (COL 3:15-16 or ACTS 16:14) but only one gospel, about the finding of the child Jesus in the temple when he is 12 years old (LK 2:41-52).

Today, as always on the Sunday following the celebration of Christmas, the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph). That certainly makes sense as a recognition that Jesus was born not only for the entire world but also into a family. I wonder, though, if perhaps there wasn’t some thought given when the cycle of the Church year was set up liturgically to the fact that Christmas is a gathering time for families and it might be a good idea to have some advice given in church as to how to be and act as families. I can attest to that as an effective rationale (in a rather playful way) from the many Christmases that my siblings and I leaned forward shooting knowing glances at my father as the lector proclaimed, “Husbands, love your wives,” and at my brother when hearing, “My son, take care of your father when he is old…” It was all light-hearted posturing, as all of us consider ourselves lucky to have been blessed with our family, but this morning it got me thinking when I saw all the reading choices. “Family” has become a word that today describes myriad gatherings of individuals, not always what in the 1950s in the USA was considered the norm: two parents, two children (a boy and a girl) and a dog – a gross misrepresentation even then. Diversity reigns now more than ever. (I often speak of my Polish family, my Italian family – both love-based “adoptions” of long-standing – and my Sisters of St. Joseph family as well as my Irish family of origin.) No matter our ways of bonding I think Paul’s letter to the Colossians wins the day today for good advice to all for the way we should consider and treat one another.

Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If one has a grievance against another, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also do. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together. Christ’s peace must reign in your hearts since as members of one body, you were called to this peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish each other, singing psalms and hymns and inspired songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

No Ordinary Time

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breath, changed, Kingdom, resolutions, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vessels of the Divine

It’s difficult to feel that there is much to say after the time of anticipation before Christmas, the days of Advent and especially that last meaningful week of the O Antiphons. The shopping frenzy has died down a bit “out there” but now there are the gift returns and the shockingly low after-Christmas prices on what wasn’t already purchased. For those of us more inner-focused there is the question of how we are changed by the Christ-event, aka the birth of Jesus into our world. Is there any shift in our perception of things, any deeper willingness on our part to cooperate with grace? Do we understand any more clearly that the Incarnation is about us as much as it was about Jesus?

Today – when all the gifts have been opened and thanks have been expressed, when phone calls have assured those close in heart but far away in miles that they are loved  – we ought to take a breath and recognize that no day is “just an ordinary day” but rather one more chance to recognize the extraordinary possibility that is ours in living. My friend, Jan Phillips, wrote a book about that, called No Ordinary Time, – subtitled The rise of spiritual intelligence and evolutionary creativity (Whew!). On the back cover of the book is a quote from the introduction that says something about what I’m trying to get at this morning. Take a look:

We are the vessels of the Divine, agents of Supreme Intelligence, neural cells of our home planet, and it is our job now to call God home, to tend the kingdom that is all around us, and to create stories and cultures of hope and compassion.

Today I will think on these things and see where it all leads me in the days to come. Maybe next Friday won’t be the day for new resolutions for 2016. Maybe every day will become that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Blessings Abound!

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blessings, Christianity, Christmas story, Cynthia Bourgeault, hope, joy, pageant, Shristmas, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom School

I had the rare privilege as evening came yesterday of participating in a Christmas liturgy that began with a brief “pageant” starring the youngest members of the parish. Although they performed their designated tasks with just a bit of prompting from the faith formation director, virtually unseen in the front pew, they were totally themselves, not concerned with being “perfect” but rather being part of something important. And why should they have worried? We all know the Christmas story, after all! Later in the evening, I followed Santa (thanks to the NORAD site) in his progress around the globe, from the Ukraine through Peru and Ecuador to Colombia, praying as I watched for the children in those countries who believe in possibility and keep hope alive for a full and joyful life. This morning as I checked that Santa was safely back at the North Pole, I scanned the globe and saw the statistic that announced Santa’s delivery of 7,281,439,471 gifts! I was hoping that many of the gifts contained a measure of joy not only for the children but for families as well.

As I reflect on all of this I am very aware of how wide my world has become because of the internet, membership in the Sisters of St. Joseph, participation in the web of Wisdom seekers who share in the “lineage” of Cynthia Bourgeault and Christianity. I am grateful for relationships of family and friends and for the reminder of all these connections because of the event that is commemorated on this holiday (holy day). May we all drink deeply of the well of love that is the reason we gather to celebrate today. Christmas Blessings to all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Covenant Forever

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Abraham, Christ, covenant, Emmanuel, family, Jesus, King David, Lord, love, promise, psalm 89, religious community, Scripture, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today all the Scripture readings highlight the God’s relationship with King David, his ancestors and his descendants – a secure, unbreakable covenant of unfailing love for all time. Although I have never borne children and cannot trace my ancestry back many generations, I feel the fullness of the concept of covenant in the family stories that I do know and in the larger “family” that I inhabit in my religious community and in the “family” of the eastern part of the USA. It is not an easy time for us; destruction and unrest seem the order of the day. Underneath it all, however, I have a hope that we will survive because of the promise that God made to Abraham, renewed in Christ and manifest in ways seen and unseen in all of us. As we anticipate the blossoming forth of Emmanuel this night we might reflect on the words of Psalm 89 from today’s liturgy.

Your love, O Lord, I will forever sing, your faithful friendship shall be the subject of my song. For I have come to know your love as fountainhead, it’s ceaseless source not here, but in your high abode. And you yourself have made this oath of faithfulness to us and all of David’s line, a covenant  proclaimed to all you chose, a promise made to us that never ends. The heavens are the witness, Lord, to what you say and do, your steadfast love to us is clear. (Ps. 89:1-5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O Emmanuel, Come!

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child, Christmas, families, fulfillment, gathering, God, Hebrews, joy to the world, longing, Messiah, O Antiphons, O Come O Come Emanuel, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, waiting

Today there seems a greater intensity in the call of the O Antiphon. It is the last one, the end of the Advent season, since tomorrow we shall keep vigil for the birth of the Messiah. Into the musical corner of my mind this morning as I read the antiphon came the tune and words: “Come thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free.” I don’t remember much of that hymn but I think the important idea is that the waiting had been centuries long for the Hebrews, yet they kept an expectant hope alive. I’ve had several conversations in the past week about the sad state of the world and the reasons to lament. On the other hand I hear on the news that travel in the United States, especially tomorrow and on the weekend, will set records because of low gas prices and good weather, at least in the Northeast. That means that families will gather in whatever way they can (some just by phone or computer) to celebrate, however they do, the holiday of Christmas. I choose to believe that the love that is shared during this season does have a positive effect on the world.

Expectations vary today, to be sure, as we approach the very day of Christmas. May it be a fulfillment of our longing, a little or a lot, for personal peace, for more light in the world, for reconciliation…all wrapped in recognition of the child who became and continues to become God with us.

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of nations and their Savior. Come and save us, O Lord our God!

O Emmanuel, you are God-with-us and the savior of all nations. Come, save us and make of us your own joy to the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of Kings and Mothers

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birth, canticles, Christ the King, cornerstone, Eli, Elizabeth, Hannah, human, infant, leader, Luke, Mary, mothers, O Antiphons, Samuel, sons, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

A familiar adage says that “behind every good man there stands a good woman.” In today’s Scripture readings we meet two of them. Hannah was barren, longing for a child and promising God that if she finally bore a son she would dedicate him to God. Soon after, she became pregnant and bore the child, Samuel, whom we meet later with the prophet Eli. Hannah’s gratitude to God is expressed in a canticle (1 Samuel 2) that is quite similar to Mary’s song of praise (Luke 1) announcing the news of her pregnancy to Elizabeth. Both of these women bore and raised extraordinary sons – with the help of their loving husbands, to be sure. In Biblical times there was little notice given to women and little written of their steadfast care and sacrifice for their families as well as service to their God. I will take some time today to chant (even if on one steady tone) these canticles, praising God for mothers and other wonderful women.

The above reflection has merit as well in a reflection on the O Antiphon for today where we consider Jesus as “the cornerstone” of God’s house. This is the stone that joins the walls of a building at its base. It is seen metaphorically as the quality or feature upon which a particular thing (e.g. Christianity) depends or is based. As we pray the antiphon today, we might see Mary welcoming her infant son into her arms at his birth and standing behind him throughout his life as a support beam giving him the strength and courage to fulfill his mission.

O King of the Gentiles and Desired of All, You are the cornerstone that binds two into one. Come and save poor humanity whom You fashioned out of clay.

O Leader of Nations, you are the long-awaited messiah, the one like a cornerstone that joins the sides and foundation of a building. Come, make our human race all one family.