Priceless Purchase

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miracle of God's creation, nature, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wonders of God

When I was a young high school teacher who played my guitar for liturgical celebrations as part of the music group, there was a simple song with a catchy tune that was a favorite. Amazingly, I found it on the internet this morning. (Miriam Therese Winter and the Medical Mission Sisters) It still speaks to me because I now live on land that I would not trade for anything. Each tree is beautiful in its own way, the grass is lush and green, flowers grow – sometimes in unexpected places – and sunrise and sunset are worth waiting for every day. There is a peace that is palpable here.

Why would I choose just part of God’s glory? How could I prioritize the wonders of God? I still remember knowing the sense of spaciousness I felt when singing that simple song and knowing that I wanted it all. I still want it all – as much of God as I can hold inside me…growing to a point in time where I fling away all else and buy the whole field!

“Repeat After Me…”

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kind, mantra, merciful, Psalm 103, The Lord is kind and merciful, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Every day there is in the daily lectionary a selection of readings. It usually includes a prayer from the Book of Psalms and the format is verse, response…verse response…the verse being read by a lector and the response by the gathered community. That response is the same throughout the prayer. Today, for example, the verse is a section of Psalm 103 and the response is: The Lord is kind and merciful. It goes like this:

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

The Lord secures justice and the rights of the oppressed. He has made known his ways to Moses and his deeds to the children of Israel.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful. (et cetera)

Sometimes the refrain is so strong in meaning that it stays with me all day. Today, I am certain, will be one of those days. It is not difficult for me to believe that God is kind and merciful, but keeping that in mind throughout the day – and all days – is sometimes a challenge to my memory. If it becomes a mantra, repeated like a heartbeat, it will take its place in my heart and rest there bringing great peace. It is a simple (but not easy) practice that I would recommend to anyone. Why not try it?

Conjecture

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St. Anne, St. Joachim, stories, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today has always been special to me. Because Catholic tradition required that baptismal names be those of saints, and because it was much later that I read Paul’s letters to Timothy to find that Timothy’s grandmother was named Lois, I was gifted at the beginning with St. Ann(e) as my patron. I was always happy about that growing up because my image of a grandmother came from my maternal side in the form of my grandmother, Bridget Cavanaugh, whose soft lap and welcoming arms live in my memory still. It is interesting that my grandmother Cavanaugh only lived into my sixth year so I am relatively sure the many of my “memories” of her come from my mother’s love of her mother and from photos and stories.

I recognize today that this is the way I think of my patron St. Anne (and the somewhat recently added husband, Joachim), parents of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Here is what was written today on the “Saint of the Day” page of the US Bishops website.

“…we know nothing factual about them (Joachim and Anne) except that they existed. Even the names Joachim and Anne come from a legendary source written more than a century after Jesus died. The heroism and holiness of these people, however, is inferred from the whole family atmosphere around Mary in the Scriptures. Whether we rely on the legends about Mary’s childhood or make guesses from the information in the Bible, we see in her a fulfillment of many generations of prayerful persons, herself steeped in the religious traditions of her people.

‘”Joachim and Anne – whether these are their real names or not – represent that entire quiet series of generations who faithfully perform their duties, practice their faith, and establish an atmosphere for the coming of the Messiah, but remain obscure.”

I would wish to have had my grandmother in my life for a much longer time rather than relying on stories about her, but the central element of those stories is, I believe, much like those of the family in Nazareth whose faith was formed as was mine: in a strong belief and loving relationships.

Feeding the People

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care for neighbors, feed the hungry, letting go, loaves and fishes, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In today’s gospel we have John’s version of the miraculous feeding of the crowd that gathered to listen to Jesus at the Sea of Galilee (Jn 6:1-15). There are many lessons one can take from this reading. You probably have heard them all. Here’s one to add to the list of examples.

Yesterday I read a chapter of a new book, not yet published, about a couple who took up the task of seeing that homeless people in New York City had something to eat each day – a monumental task, to be sure. Their story put me in mind of John’s gospel and the recognition that perhaps one or two people cannot feed the entire city of New York. They came to that conclusion day by day, finally focusing on what was possible for them, responding in a way that they might not have been able to do if they had not prepared themselves for the “letting go” that became their daily work. One day, when the weather turned foul and they were faced with a man and woman without rain gear, they took off their coats and gave them to the couple, knowing it was the right thing to do. I know this couple and they could well afford to do what they did that day. The important thing, however, was their willingness, a freedom that grew in them as they practiced and came to care for the people they served.

It puts me in mind of our Sisters in Canto Chico, Peru who have been feeding the people in their neighborhood during the pandemic. They cook chickens in a big pot and serve soup to their neighbors who have nothing to eat. It was not the ministry they were prepared for but it became necessary last year. And someone had an over-abundance of chickens to offer to the pot!

We do not have Jesus with us in the flesh today, but we do cherish in our hearts the way he was present to people and do what we can to imitate his generous outpouring of love, feeding people in whatever way we can. Is there something you can do in your neighborhood to alleviate stress and “feed” in some way a neighbor in need? We cannot not save the whole world but even a smile and a kind word would go a long way to light up someone’s life. Stay awake today and see what shows up as a chance to be Christ in a new way in your neighborhood.

Expanding the View

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lives of the saints, Saint Charbel Makhlouf, saints, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I was looking ahead at the liturgical calendar this morning, my eye fell on an unfamiliar name for the “Saint of the Day.” The name was Saint Charbel Makhlouf and he was a Maronite monk, a priest from Lebanon. I will leave you to look up his biography which gets quite intriguing after his death. Suffice it to say that Makhlouf was raised in a pious home and was drawn to the hermit life. He was born on May 8, 1828 and died on December 24, 1898 after living 23 years as a solitary hermit. The story gets interesting from there…Check it out!

Being a “cradle Catholic” and having lived in religious life for 55 years, one would think I have at least heard of all the saints, especially the ones whose biographies included some miraculous moments. Not so in this case, however! My knowledge of the saints does not stretch past the Middle Ages, it seems, except when it comes to very popular and/or extraordinary people from the Western world, like St. Theresa of Lisieux, (the Little Flower) or Pope St. John XXIII, remembered for the Second Vatican Council that renewed the Western Church in the 1960s.

I know now, after this morning’s foray into the lives of the saints, that I have much to learn. Have you heard of St. Andre Bessette, St. Josephine Bakhita, St. Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i, St. Charles Lwanga, St. Augustine Zhao Rong, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Isaac Jogues, St. Andrew Dung-Lac or St. Sabas? They are all accessible on the internet and their biographies provide some interesting reading.

The world is large and needs to go beyond our own backyards. Why not take a trip today to some unknown “Holy Land” and treat yourself to a new acquaintance or two?

God’s “Law”

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Deuteronomy, Exodus, love your neighbor as yourself, Luke, ten commandments, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There are many iterations in the Bible of what God expects of us. In today’s lectionary readings we have the text from the book of Exodus (Ex. 20: 1-17) that has come to be known as “The Ten Commandments.” The older I get, the more I find reason to live by “The Golden Rule” which calls us to “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, all your soul and all your strength.” (Deut. 6:5) I found 25 translations of that verse today and then from the Christian Scriptures a whole other group of texts including one from Luke (10:27) that adds “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

It’s all about love no matter how you read it and I find that the most difficult and necessary way to live. Some people are easy for us to love and some most difficult. The ways that we come to love must be good for each person. For some, it is what is known in our culture as “tough love” while for others it is quite easy to find the road to loving “with all your might,” as the Scriptures say. We can only do our best and wake up each morning ready to try again to move toward the love with which we are loved by God.

Forgiveness

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forgiveness, letting go, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

While flipping through a. magazine called Breathe that I had picked up in an airport store some years ago, I found the following quote that seemed worth repeating. Perhaps a good start to the “work week.”

The practice of forgiveness has been shown to reduce anger, depression, and stress and leads to greater feelings of hope, peace, and self-confidence. What better reasons to embrace forgiveness in your life…

On the following page there is a drawing of a dozen or so balloons of different sizes that all seem to be ready to fly away. The directions suggest filling in the balloons with things the reader wants to let go of…a great visual…I think I will create my own page and color the balloons to add another level of meaning.

Won’t you join me?

Shepherding?

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belief, faith, Good Shepherd, guiding, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I smiled as I was reading the daily devotional “Living Faith” this morning. Today’s reflection was written by the very popular Joyce Rupp, author of many spiritual books and an often sought-after speaker and leader of retreats. When commenting on today’s well-known gospel about the “good Shepherd,” Sister Joyce said the following: “That line (The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.) is comforting, but I sometimes wonder if I believe it.”

WHAT??? The great Joyce Rupp is doubting God’s guidance? How can that be?? Well, no. As it turns out, she isn’t doubting God’s goodness and kindness at all. She is just admitting to the kind of busyness and lack of attention that we all experience at times, when we just swim along without a thought to the path we’re on. Sometimes things then go awry and we – if we’re lucky – are shaken into attention again, ready to jump back onto the path of the Shepherd who is always willing to lead and guide us. In conclusion, Sister Joyce says the following:

Abiding faith is about believing every day, no matter what happens, that God has my back leading and guiding me even when things don’t turn out to my satisfaction.

Good news, and a good reminder to turn our attention consciously to the path we’re on each day…maybe as we rise from sleep and take that first step of the day.

Weather

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creation, storm, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

We’ve been having some rather virulent storms lately. The most astounding of them all was three nights ago when the lightning was like a cosmic light switch that someone kept turning on and off with no time to count the seconds between the lightning and the peals of thunder. (Do you understand what I’m saying? Did you learn that practice in your youth to determine how far away the storm was from you?) We were indeed in the eye of the storm and it kept repeating for over an hour! And the rain over the last few days has been torrential as well, causing streams where there were none and frustrating those whose job it is to keep the grass low to avoid ticks.

I rarely admit that I love storms…not the disastrous ones that cause havoc to the environment but the ones that just make us bow in wonder at the power that is not ours but rather belongs to the natural world. And I love to walk in the rain. Over the past weekend there was a moment when I stepped out into the early morning dripping with leftover rain and heard in my head Thomas Merton’s ode to the morning, encapsulated in my favorite sentence that seems to sing:

The most wonderful moment of the day is that when creation in its innocence asks permission to “be” once again, as it did on the first morning that ever was. (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p.131) Amen…

Speak, Lord!

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Abraham, Joseph, listen, love, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I woke up this morning at 5:55 a.m. Five, you may know, is the number of change. I don’t know much about numerology but that strikes me this morning as something that deserves attention, given that the number was repeated three times. For days we have been considering the stories of Abraham and his descendants. It seems that in the entire story there is nothing but love and forgiveness. Fears of reprisals are pushed aside. Joseph has all the evidence he needs to convince him that if he (and we) stay in touch with God and try to respect and accept that the people who are given to us are in our lives for a reason, clues will be given along the way and we will be pleasing to God. All we need to do is to stay awake and offer love as a response to every day in every way that is presented to us.

Therein lies the rub…