The Last Day

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accept the challenge, be grateful, be kind to yourself, New Year, pray, reflection, rejoice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, time, year in review

Today is the last day of the year. That is not “new news” to anyone but it does invite reflection. My mother used to tell us not to wish for time to pass more quickly no matter what we were waiting for, because as we got older things – time – would seem to speed up and we would wish it would slow down. She was a wise woman and now I know the truth of her prediction.

Today I hope to take some time to reflect on 2019 asking myself questions about the high points and the low points: what were they and why do I see them that way. I will consider the important happenings and the people who figured most importantly into my days. What have I learned from/during this year? Is there anything left “hanging” that needs to be completed and am I willing/able to complete it?

You have your own questions and memories from the year. In your review, should you wish to “accept the challenge,” be kind to yourself in judging it all. Be grateful for all you have learned about yourself that you wish to take into 2020 (a great image for seeing clearly) and thank God for another chance to begin. Rejoice that you are still alive and smile at the people who cross your path today. Pray for those who need your prayer and smile at God who knows how to answer better than we do. Have a blessed new year…

A Christmas Prayer

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Emmanuel, generosity, Joyce Rupp, kindness, love, Prayer Seeds, respect, reverence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Joyce Rupp has a meaningful Christmas prayer in her book, Prayer Seeds, that seems appropriate for this sixth day in the octave of Christmas, to remind us that the spirit of the feast lives on beyond a one-day celebration. Won’t you pray it in connection with all those reading this post?

Emmanuel, God-with-us, you chose to come for each person, the destitute and the wealthy, the unfortunate and the privileged, the troubled and the peaceful, the healthy and the ill.

You came in human form with a message of extravagant love, showing us how to be with those who have much less than we do. You came offering a gesture of respect and reverence instead of indifference and disdain; giving courteous kindness in place of thoughtless disregard; contributing ongoing support rather than a mere holiday handout.

Change my heart. Turn it inside out, toward the larger world. Remind me daily of those who struggle with their basic existence. Lead me to help change social systems that contribute to this ongoing struggle. Enlarge my awareness. Increase my generosity. Guide my choices of how I live, what I purchase, and how I use my material wealth.

Remind me often of your presence in those I tend to ignore or forget. Boundless Love, thank you for cherishing each person on this planet. (p.2-3)

Holy Innocents

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asylum, help, Herod, Matthew, migrants, refugees, suffering, The Holy Innocents, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today Christians mark the massacre of all boy babies in Bethlehem under the age of two years by King Herod. The story is told in Matthew’s gospel (2: 1-18). Herod was afraid of losing the power of his kingdom when he heard of the birth of Jesus from the astrologers from the East who came seeking “the newborn King.” His solution was the massacre, certain that Jesus would be among the slain children.

I cannot help seeing in my mind pictures of the southern border of the United States where in our day families are seeking asylum from the dangers in their own countries. The situation is dire, reminiscent of Matthew’s report that “a voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children.” (MT 2:18)

Let us pray for these “holy innocents” today and continue to call our government officials to right the wrong that has been done to them and their families. Each of us must ask ourselves: “What is one thing I can do in this crisis that will alleviate the suffering?” and then do it. We cannot all go to the border to work among the refugees, but we can and must do something to make our voices be heard. Let us not wait but rather act for those who have no means to help themselves.

John’s View

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faith, St. John the Evangelist, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, word of life

When I read verses from the Scriptures like the first reading from today, (1 JN 1:1-4) the feast of John, Apostle and Evangelist that proclaims: What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life…I wonder what it would have been like to live in the time of Jesus and walk with him as John did. Having the presence of Jesus in human form must have been more than we could imagine…But then there are times when people in the gospels admit they did not know him, that he seemed at best to be a loving, helpful, observant Jew and at worst a rabble rouser.

Perhaps we are better off, knowing Jesus the Christ with the eyes of faith and 2,000 years of evidence to trust who he was and is for us and for the world. And who is that, exactly, for you?

A New Day

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John Philip Newell, life, light, oneness, Praying With the Earth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we take a breath. Some return to work. For some it is enough to put away gifts received and put out the trash, saying goodbye to loved ones and checking the calendar to keep appointments straight. Regardless of the events of yesterday and how we celebrated Christmas (or not at all), the tumult of the holiday fades today as we return to “normal life.” We might well use the Wednesday morning prayer from John Philip Newell to guide us along into renewed awareness that we can be somehow changed for the better each day, whether a grand holiday or a stitch in ordinary time.

All things come from you, O God, and to you we return. All things merge in your great river of life and into you we vanish again. At the beginning of this day we wake not as separate streams but as countless currents in a single flow, the flow of this day’s dawning, the flow of this day’s delight, the flow of this day’s sorrows, your flow, O God, in the twistings and turnings of this new day.

All things are born of you, O God. We carry within us your light and your life. In the mystery of matter and deep in the cells of our souls are your longings for oneness. The oneness of the universe, vast and vibrating with the sound of its beginning. The oneness of the earth, greening and teeming as a single body. The oneness of the human soul a sacred countenance in infinite form. Grant us your longings for oneness, O God, amidst life’s glorious multiplicities. (Praying With the Earth, p. 26, 28)

Sleep Medicine

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angel of the Lord, Christmas, light of Christ, radiance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Somewhere in the middle of the night, I read a paragraph from the Brothers of St. John the Evangelist. I had already been in bed for some time and sleep wasn’t coming. If I were a young child I would have said I was awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus but at this “older age” I knew that wasn’t the issue. I simply had too much on my mind that wouldn’t go away, I got up then and checked my e-mail (something never advisable!) and it was there that I found what I felt was worthy of sharing on this Christmas morning. Then I went back to bed and fell asleep immediately.

The angel of the Lord speaks these words to us tonight: do not be afraid; do NOT be afraid. We may live in dark times. We may be afraid of the dark. We may be afraid of the darkness of the world and of our own lives. But the light of Christ shining forth this night from the manger in Bethlehem promises to banish that darkness with the radiance of God’s glory. (Br. James Koester)

Today the sun is shining brightly and the darkness has truly been overcome so I send blessings to you on this special day. May your burdens be light and your hope abound!

O Radiant Dawn, Come!

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Alleluia, dawn, O Antiphons, radiant dawn, Silent Night, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There it is…in the lectionary readings for this morning, my favorite of the “O Antiphons.” I can feel the rising in my heart as I remember all the glorious sunrise experiences that I have known, both physical and spiritual. Whether at the top of Mount Haleakala on the island of Maui, Hawai’i or in church at midnight singing “Silent Night” I have been gifted with a faith that knows the kind of birth that “destroys death forever.” Just as the dark of night is always followed by dawn and as the great sorrows of life are assuaged by the light of love offered by time and true loved ones, so too may we know peace in this dark moment when disasters and violence are everywhere and cold is colder than we have known it before.

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. Alleluia, alleluia!

Christ Is Coming Soon!

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Christmas, Emmanuel, Isaiah, Jesus, Malachi, radiant dawn, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I read the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ offering of the lectionary readings for the day, I am occasionally stopped by a line or two that rankles or makes me squirm a little. We’re very close now to Christmas, the “feel-good” holiday. It’s surprising, I guess, that I would be experiencing the opposite feeling two days before Christmas. I’m singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and loving the titles given to Christ by Isaiah’s writings (e.g. O Radiant Dawn or O Key of David…) not expecting Malachi’s insertions of counterintuitive questions such as the following:

Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire…he will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi…

Does that include us? Must we leave our “heaven and nature” singing of “joy to the world” because “the Lord is come?” I think not, but there is a caution in this message from the prophet Malachi. Jesus was born into this world – this great and wonderful world – to show us the way to navigate all the joys and sorrows, the gifts and tests that help us grow into our true selves, to become more conscious with each turning of the earth that we are beings of light, made in the image of God, here to mirror that image to the world each day. The celebration of Christmas reminds us of the privilege and the responsibility of that birthing that is ours in imitation of the Christ who is coming to walk the path with us with new vigor each time we experience this commemorative moment.

The sun is strong this morning. Let us now prepare for Christmas, as the “Radiant Dawn” appears in the sky of our lives, offering to us the Word of Life!

Joseph’s Role

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dreams, generosity, God is calling, inner voice, intuition, love, prayer, St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Joseph, husband of Mary who brought Jesus into the world, has a very small speaking part in the gospels. He is very often called “the silent one” which is not the easiest part to play in any situation. We do speak of some men as the “strong, silent type” and that is seen as a good thing but more because of the descriptive strong rather than silent. (And they are usually handsome as well!) One might think of Joseph as one “waiting in the wings” for his moment to shine, but that is not true! Joseph is always ready – listening – for God’s word in his life and obedient at every turn. His obedience to messages that some would have dismissed immediately had to come from deep within himself and from the conviction of how God worked in his life – always for his good and the good of those he loved.

Sometimes we are also called to trust our intuition, our dreams and the sense that God is calling us to something we would not have chosen, perhaps, but what seems an important next step. We would do well to imitate Joseph, standing silent, waiting for God to speak and trusting our inner voice that flows from a life of prayer and generosity in love.

Home Again

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Emmanuel, gladness, prepare, savior, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Winter Solstice

I’m sure there is a wondering about my whereabouts in the minds of some readers of this blog, just as I am wondering how an entire week has passed since I wrote! Time and events have a way of interrupting the flow of “regular schedule” and rarely has that been clearer to me than in the past two weeks. Flying across the country – back from California to Boston – called for adjustment in the “loss” of three hours to my body clock. Two days of weather delay in driving the last leg of the journey – from Boston to my home in small-town New York State – pushed me further away from routine and caused a major shift in my calendar. (I check it at least five times a day to make sure I haven’t missed anything.)

Today is not only a new day but the Winter Solstice, announcing in my neighborhood what we have experienced in the weather already: cold and snow and the shift to the interiority that comes from bundling up and staying inside as much as possible. For me it means unpacking my suitcase, cleaning out my car, clearing e-mails, scheduling appointments and making phone calls – all in the service of readying myself for the great celebration of the Incarnation and hope of new birth.

Today’s lectionary readings are replete with messages that prepare us. Hark! my lover – here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills…Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love…O Emmanuel, come to save us, Lord our God!

Three days more. Are you ready?