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blue moon, eclipse, grateful, miraculous, moon, mystical, scientific, super moon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe
I would guess that people in Los Angeles who made the trip to Griffith Observatory this morning to see (exactly one hour ago – 3:48AM Pacific time) the moment of total eclipse of the moon are beginning to make their way home by now. Why would someone make that trek in the middle of the night just to see the moon? Well, maybe because it wasn’t just the full moon but rather a “Super Blue Blood Moon!” What does that mean? A blue moon is a rather frequent experience: the second full moon in the same month of the year. What makes it “super” is the fact that it reaches its closest position to earth, thus making it appear larger and brighter in the sky than normal. The “blood” designation comes from the fact that there is a red tinted shadow across the face of the moon due to the rays of sunlight passing through earth’s atmosphere as the moon falls into earth’s shadow. To add to all those necessary conditions for this phenomenon is the weather. Chances were good for a clear night in Alaska, Hawaii and California. I’m sure the resulting pictures will be glorious – and bountiful, especially since this is the first time this phenomenon was visible in North America since 1866!
It makes me happy to think that it is not only astronomers who get excited about these events. The way that the universe works is truly miraculous and we ought to be grateful for those scientists who are able in our time to define for us not only the “what” but the “why.” The Griffith Observatory director got into the spirit of the event in a wonderfully whimsical way, dressing up like a wizard and banging pots and pans outside the observatory while the crowd watched the eclipse. He was re-enacting a ritual from ancient Babylon in response to a populace that believed they had to scare away a mysterious creature that was swallowing the moon.
Director Ed Krupp seems to understand both the scientific and mystical elements of such an experience as noted in his statement to the press. “It’s one thing,” he remarked, “to learn about this event in a book and another to see it for yourself.” I wish him all the best and hope he keeps on banging his pots all day long!
This morning as I read Psalm 86 I thought of how blessed I am with good friends to whom I can go for comfort in troubled times. There are moments, however, when it is only God who will suffice as a sounding board – or when it feels as if that is true. When I have acted in a less than worthy manner or judged someone unjustly, I am likely to first seek God’s forgiveness until I work up the courage and humility to admit my fault to a human being. Excuses abound for bad behavior and it is only when the layers of babble are stripped away – usually in conversation with God – that I dare to admit my need for forgiveness. How blessed are we, therefore, to have a God whose name is Love! I am grateful to the psalmist today – and to the translator – for these comforting words that give me pause.
This afternoon I am scheduled to be guest speaker to a Women’s Group of about 15 to 20 people. In discussing a topic, the contact person said the members are always interested in information about resources in the community and that perhaps I ought to talk about our spirituality center. In writing up a “blurb” about the proposed topic, I titled it The Spiritual Side of Life. I’ve been thinking about it off and on for the past month and have had some difficulty settling on how to frame the topic. I realized yesterday that my thesis sentence would have to be something about the fact that there are no sides! Spiritual is who and what we are, spiritual beings in physical form, “made in the image and likeness of God.”
This morning I have so many people and events and conversations in my mind and heart that I cannot make sense of any particular train of thought. After a time of trying, I just pulled Meg Wheatley’s book, Perseverance off my shelf to borrow a message from her. Before I got to open it – because of the way I grabbed it, I guess – a bookmark came sailing out and landed on my lap. So here is the message that must be the right one for today. I hope we will all include everyone we hold in our hearts in this intention and be grateful for the anonymous writer of the prayer.
We have a rooster living on the land next to ours. We have often said he needs a new watch because he crows not only to announce the dawn, but also every hour of the day and often in between as well. I often wonder what are his largest concerns. Surely he knows that we can tell time so he must be about some more serious message. Recently, in his daily trip around the neighborhood, he discovered that we feed the birds and ventured onto the deck off our kitchen to see what he could find. Bonanza! He is now a frequent visitor so there is no chance for us to ignore his announcements.
On this feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, the thought comes to me that God can work with anyone to grant a behavioral turnaround. Granted that more serious situations demand more cataclysmic, Cecil B. De Mille-like solutions (as in Paul’s case) but it seems that God is willing to go to any extreme to bring us back from the precipice of destruction. A comforting and hope-filled thought, I’d say, when I am feeling less than saintly.
Jesus is out and about again this morning preaching in parables – this time Mark’s version of the sower and the seed (MK 4:1-20). I wonder if it was a whole crowd of blank looks staring back at him and then later the questions from “the Twelve” that frustrated him enough to have him ask, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?”
Today I honor a woman and a religious community that I have revered since I was 13 years old. When my father was transferred from Boston, MA to Syracuse, NY for work, it seemed as if we had moved to the end of the world. Actually it was only eight hours by train from all those relatives left behind. For the family of Barbara Cope, as she was known then, the trip in 1840 was longer: from Germany to Utica, NY when Barbara was only two years old. When she was 24 years old she entered the religious order of St. Francis in Syracuse, about two miles down the road from where I found myself in 1960 at St. Daniel’s School, being taught by the descendants of those very same Sisters of St. Francis.
I found this well-said prompt toward wellness in a source called Breathe (
Sometimes lately I have to look at the events scribbled in my calendar to remind myself of the date and what day of the week it is! I guess I could say that’s because of my advancing age, but I think it has as much or more to do with the pace of life now. Today is Sunday – for Christians, the Sabbath Day, set aside for rest and reflection on the spiritual side of life. I’ve been known to hear in my head the dictum “No unnecessary servile work on Sunday!” if I set about doing laundry or some other household duty. I was always grateful for that precept of the laws of the Church that guided our family life in that simpler time that was my youth.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 