Sing A New Song

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song, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I am always heartened when my “coffee time” is accompanied by a song – or even just a snippet of a familiar melody. Sometimes I walk all day long with one line playing in my mind and on occasion I hear myself saying: “All right, already! Can we please change the channel?!” Today, however, the song makes me smile and I am feeling somewhat redeemed by possibility.

Sing a new song unto the Lord! Let your song be sung from mountains high. Sing a new song unto the Lord, singing Alleluia! (How can I resist?)

Every day can be a day for a new song, depending on my attitude. What is your song for today? Are you willing to sing it?

Monday, Monday…

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Acts of the Apostles, grief, loss, love, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Here we are in the second week of Easter, moving on (some of us) as if all had been resolved and we have come back to normalcy (as if we could even define what that means.) Christ is alive. We have assurance of that and of what it means from the Acts of the Apostles. (As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness…” Acts 4:30-31) But are we ready to get back to the place we left over a year ago when everything abruptly shut down and a new reality was presented to us? Is it even possible to do that?

In the midst of that musing, I opened Meg Wheatley’s little book, Perseverance, and found the exact word that we need to consider, I think, at this juncture. See if you don’t agree. The word was Grief and the reflection said the following:

If we are able to give ourselves to the loss, to move toward it—rather than recoil in an effort to escape, deny, distract, or obscure—our wounded hearts become full, and out of that fullness we will do things differently, and we will do different things. Our loss, our wound, is precious to us because it can wake us up to love, and to loving action. (Norman Fischer, Zen teacher)

Dive Into Mercy

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Acts of the Apostles, Cynthia Bourgeault, mercy, need, Sr. Faustina, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today, Sunday in the Octave of Easter, was renamed in the year 2000 as “Divine Mercy Sunday” in the Roman Catholic Church. I didn’t pay much attention to the new attribution. I was much more interested in the continuation of the Easter season, which we know to be the 50 days stretching from Easter to Pentecost. I have been aware of the great popularity of this new designation and wondered at the reasons behind what seemed to mimic and then overshadow the event at Fatima in the early 20th century. Pope (now “Saint”) John Paul II moved quickly to canonize Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun (see internet accounts) whose visions have been verified by the Church and place a significant focus on the mercy of Christ.

As events of this new century have become more and more challenging, I have come to understand more deeply the popularity of this feast. A search of the word “mercy” in any lexicon is a worthy activity for a quiet Sunday afternoon… One can find all sorts of reasons to amplify the meaning of what some of us learned in our youth as a “beating of the breast” cry for God’s forgiveness of our sins.

My favorite definition, offered in this blog more than once and attributed to Cynthia Bourgeault’s study, leads us to an old Etruscan word, merc, having to do with some sort of exchange, as seen in words like merchant and merchandise. We can see it, as Cynthia did, as a “divine exchange,” growing into a “fierce, bonding love” that sees a connection with God that is unbreakable.

I am led today, therefore, to a fuller appreciation of the word and the importance of the quality of mercy in my life—both as a virtue to be practiced in my relationships with others, and a welcome gift from others when I fail to be my best self. If you need a guide for today, I recommend reflection on the first lectionary reading from the Acts of the Apostles (4:32-35):

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that their possessions were their own, but they had everything in common…There was no needy person among them for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.

Hiatus

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COVID19, Easter season, hold on, hope, quiet ourselves, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Dear Friends,

This has been a strange Lent into Eastertide. We are still in the season of Covid and in many ways are locked down. That reality seems both physical and spiritual sometimes. How many of us celebrated the rituals of Holy Week in our own living rooms? Happily, the wonders of technology were the gifts that allowed us to see, if not to reach out and touch, those we love and those with whom we share faith.

Are you one of the millions of Americans who have been vaccinated? (I am halfway there, thanks to Pfizer and the brilliance of the scientists who have concocted the vaccine.) We have lost many people during the past several months in our families and communities and yet we hope. The Scriptures for today call us to quiet ourselves and search for the fire in our spirits that will reinvigorate our ability to persevere. Look around outside. See the greening that is happening and the flowers appearing to give us hope. Everything is saying,”Hold on! Hold on!”

I ask you that for this ministry. The Sophia Center continues to be patient and to prepare for a new cycle of spiritual growth. We ask only that you “hold on” with us, choosing perhaps to join in the book studies and/or Lunch with the Psalms until such time as we can meet in person once again. I ask for your prayer as I offer mine to you each day.

Lovingly,
Sister Lois