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action, contemplation, Contemplation in a World of Action, contemplative life, creative work, dedicated love, inner, inner discipline, integration, meditation, outer, positive attitude, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, work
Although there are many people now in our country whose work lives do not fit the traditional Monday through Friday schedule, the majority still head to work this morning, hopefully somewhat refreshed from the weekend. The challenge for many is to bring a positive attitude into the workplace. It sometimes takes conscious effort to put one’s best foot forward, so to speak, depending on the work itself, our fitness for it and the companions we encounter there. It helps if we can take God along on the bus or the highway, especially on Mondays, with the understanding that our spiritual/inner life is not separate from the outer/busy life in the world.
Thomas Merton wrote a book whose title I find an instructive and helpful reminder today. It is entitled Contemplation in a World of Action and still sits on the bookshelf to my left after 45 years. I found the rather lengthly paragraph that I want to share this morning quoted elsewhere but I believe it speaks well of a good attitude for this Monday morning.
When I speak of the contemplative life I do not mean the institutional cloistered life, the organized life of prayer. I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development, which are not compatible with a purely external, alienated, busy-busy existence. This does not mean that they are incompatible with action, with creative work, with dedicated love. On the contrary, these all go together. A certain depth of disciplined experience is a necessary ground for fruitful action. Without a more profound human understanding derived from exploration of the inner ground of human existence, love will tend to be superficial and deceptive. Traditionally, the ideas of prayer, meditation and contemplation have been associated with this deepening of one’s personal life and this expansion of the capacity to understand and serve others. (Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours, p.73)
Today, then, let us seek the integration of outer and inner, of work and intention, that we may lift up our “little corner of the world” in love.
I never liked the task of pruning. Even removing the suckers from tomato plants seemed too destructive and painful (for me as well as the plant!) People told me it was important for the plant that I remove the suckers – and even branches from growing trees. I thought it was just to make everything look neat and even beautiful. It was my least favorite task in outdoor work until I read an article that told me “the sucker should be removed to prevent it from sucking away the plant’s energy.” (
Today’s gospel picks up yesterday’s conversation (JN 14), known as the “farewell discourse.” Moving on from the extraordinary verse where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus is speaking now about his unity with God. “If you know me, then you will know my Father,” he says. “From now on you do know him and have seen him.” It is an enthusiastic Philip, I think, who jumps in saying, “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us!”
This morning’s gospel (JN 14:1-6) has Jesus giving a sort of pep talk to his disciples. What we know that they didn’t is that Jesus will be leaving soon and he’s trying to prepare them to continue on without his physical presence. “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” he says. “In my father’s house there are many rooms.” I often wonder if they had, by that time, caught on to his manner of speaking in metaphor. Even now we have trouble understanding and accepting that diversity does not necessarily mean division in religious belief and practice.
I’ve been astonished lately by the swiftness of time passage. I can hardly believe that May is waiting in the wings, appearing just after the coming weekend. I see or hear news of young people going off to college when my last marker was their sixth-grade band concert; trying to guess anyone’s age is a futile occupation lately. At the same time, the turning of the year seems so long ago in this season of never-ending winter. (I dare not say that aloud as it might jinx what looks like a true spring finally appearing!)
Today Christians celebrate the feast of St. Mark, known as the author of the shortest of the four canonical gospels. Mark never wrote anything superfluous but got right to the point. That reminds me of my father’s frequently repeated phrase, “short stories” when we were explaining something in a longer narrative than necessary. It also brings to mind something I learned long ago about interactions in groups. I was taught to ask myself three questions: 1. Is this necessary to be said, 2. Is it necessary that I be the one to say it, and 3. What will be the result of saying it?
This morning as I clicked on my usual first source for inspiration, the US Catholic Bishops’ listing of lectionary readings for the day, I read April 24, 2018 – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter. I needed to go no further with that as a prompt. I thought of how quickly this year seems to be passing and was grateful that the daffodils have finally bloomed along the side of our house. It’s impossible to go by them without smiling; their bright yellow faces sing “Hello!” with such enthusiasm. At the same time I wondered how conscious I am each day of still celebrating the Easter feast. The readings from the Acts of the Apostles help, of course, as they are full of the vibrant stories of the first disciples and the remarkable happenings as they traveled around spreading the good news of Jesus. Today, in chapter 11, there is word of Barnabas, “a good man, filled with the Spirit and faith,” who was sent to Antioch where “a large number of people was added to the Lord.” As sort of a postscript to all the recounting there, the text ends with the monumental statement that “it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.”
The Book of Acts that follows the four gospels is full of miraculous stories – of visions and healings that sound impossible to us who live in a world where concrete evidence and witnesses must accompany everything. This morning’s lesson from Acts concerns Peter’s vision of all kinds of animals that God was commanding Peter to slaughter and eat. Peter demurred saying he would not do so because “nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” (ACTS 11:1-18) The response came quickly that “what God has made clean, you are not to call profane.” Following that directive cost Peter a lot because it contradicted Jewish law, but his steadfast obedience was essential to the growth of Christianity.
There’s a passage in the “Good Shepherd” gospel from today’s lectionary (JN 10: 12-13) that has me thinking about the power of intention. It says the following: “A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.”
Today, a question, the refrain from the lectionary psalm response. Repeated three times, it reminds me of the necessity of gratitude and it is enough.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 