Sharing the Faith

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Acts of the Apostles, faith, Jesus, proclaim, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we read my favorite lectionary text from the Acts of the Apostles: (Acts 17:15->) when Paul stood in front of the people of Athens to proclaim his faith in Jesus. It’s a stirring text and brave at the time when Christians were few and far between. The most “gutsy” sentence of all was the proclamation that…”he is not far from any one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’“

I just think of Paul standing up in this large outside amphitheater with no microphone or any other apparatus—only his voice to convince his listeners that Jesus is more than just a gifted preacher. If the opportunity presents itself, why not go outside, stand up tall, take a deep breath and boom out the sentence quoted above. How believable is your statement? Can you imagine speaking that way if there was a crowd listening to you? Think about it.

Today’s brief reflection from the Daily Devotional “Living Faith” has this to say about that situation:

“It’s hard, and risky, to speak of faith to others. We don’t want to offend or be laughed at; we’re afraid of being unable to explain ourselves, getting muddled or misrepresenting our faith. Yet it remains true that we know about the resurrection from the dead because someone took the risk to tell us. And they knew because the women and men who beheld the risen Jesus told others, and the word has been passed on year after year over twenty-one centuries. We may find, like Paul and the Athenians, that one person’s openness to speak is met by another’s openness to hear….” (Mary Marrocco)

Hoping Against Hope

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Acts of the Apostles, go deeper within, Jesus, John, love, Ordinary Time, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

We are moving swiftly toward “Ordinary Time” – the season after Pentecost when we are left to our own devices, when Jesus leaves the earth for good and tests our trust in the Holy Spirit for faith and inspiration. The lectionary readings today are full of “foreshadowing” and are mixed between miracles with St. Paul in prison (Acts16) and Jesus in his disturbing message to the apostles (JN 16) where he says things like: “It is better for you that I go.” I can hear myself responding to that with “NO! You can’t go! What will we do without you? How will we know how to live in this confusing time?”

As I wrote that last part, I was reminded of the commentary on the news last night on MSNBC about all the unbelievable political issues and the violence in the world. So I ask again of Jesus: “How are we to live without your presence?” and I get the same difficult answer: Go deeper. Love as best you can and trust that I am with you. You need to find me in your best selves, in the evidence around you: the light that returns every morning without fail, the burgeoning of springtime, the kindness of strangers…everything that speaks of the good in the world.

Think of the best person you know and consider why that person is “best.” Make a list of all the good things in your life. Watch internet videos of babies interacting with one another…Do anything that shows the goodness in life. And trust in God, hoping against hope that God is, in fact, truly with us. And never stop doing your best to love one another as Christ loves us.

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.

Awakening

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Acts of the Apostles, awaken, awakening, heal, love, Macrina Wiederkehr, open the door, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As we seem to crawl toward the beginning of spring on this cloudy morning where snow flurries and a temperature of 25 degrees (F.) persists, I open Macrina Wiederkehr’s text, Seven Sacred Pauses, for some encouragement. She never disappoints. Here is what she tells me for today (beginning with my favorite verse from the Acts of the Apostles!):

O Morning Song of Love, O you in whom we live and move and have our being! We have been asleep too long. Heal the unseeing part of our lives. Lead us to our awakening places. Awaken us to the new light. Open the doors of our hearts, the windows of our souls, the walls of our minds. Awaken us to hope. Awaken us to joy. Awaken us to love. Awaken us to new insights. Make our hearts ready to receive the brightness of your presence. To you we give praise.(p. 61)

Seek!

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Acts of the Apostles, Isaiah, presence of God, seek the Lord, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The first line of the first reading in today’s lectionary texts (IS 55:6) begins with a very active imperative: “Seek the Lord while he may be found!” It’s as if the train is coming and we might miss it if we don’t hurry. Perhaps for you it may be reminiscent of the childhood game “Hide and Seek.” Looking everywhere to find our hidden playmates could sometimes take eons of time – but we rarely gave up and always celebrated the find! Are we willing to spend that kind of time and effort to recognize the presence of God today?.

Roc O’Connor of the Saint Louis Jesuits created a song with the perfect sense of urgency for this Scripture reading. Both the music and the vocals stir us and motivate us to “Seek the Lord while he may be found! Call to him while he is still near!” When I listen to that song I always feel compelled to sing, or drum with my hands on my knees for effect or get up and run out of the room searching…(Sorry…It’s a really good song!)

The ironic thing is that we don’t need to do any of those things once we realize as St. Paul did that “God is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.” (ACTS 17:28) All we need to do is quiet down and listen, or look around and see. God is waiting, wanting to be found.

Call to Discipleship

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Acts of the Apostles, Christian, Lydia, mission, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In the short space of five verses, there were two separate but linked stories in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (16: 11-15). I felt as if I were part of each one by moving imaginally back in time and space to join these early brothers and sisters in their travels and the wonder of their experiences.

1. Paul and his companions set out on an ambitious voyage around the Greek Islands. I could see them walking down to their boat with supplies strapped on their backs as if they were not only sailing but also hiking from place to place at each destination: first to Troas in Turkey, next at Samothrace, an island in the Aegean Sea, stopping in Neapolis and on to Philippi – finally a familiar name…and as I took a breath, wondering where all their energy came from and realizing it had to be the passion for the mission and that the trip must have taken not one but many days, found myself with them “outside the city gate along the river looking for a place of prayer” on the Sabbath.
2. Enter Lydia, woman that many people immediately recognize as a “dealer in purple cloth.” She was among the women who had already gathered when the apostles arrived and “the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” It’s easy, considering the scene, to catch the mood of the day in the participants and to feel the joy of recognition in Lydia who, with her household, was baptized that very day. Tradition tells us that Lydia was the first Christian convert on the European continent and that her conversion was a call to a ministry of hospitality, inviting Paul, Silas and the other workers for Christ stay at her home.

It is rare for me to be able to image such scenes in such a visceral way. I’m grateful for the opportunity and the grace that puts me in touch with my ancestors in faith. I would recommend the adventure to anyone!

One Heart and One Mind

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Acts of the Apostles, common good, community, consciousness, counterintuitive, difficulty, freedoms, generosity, one heart and one mind, step up, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I felt a wave of sadness as I read the lectionary texts this morning. It began with the first line of the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (4:32-37).

The community of believers was of one heart and one mind, and no one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but they held everything in common.

Immediately images flashed across the screen of my mind, videos from yesterday’s news of demonstrations in Pennsylvania against the closure of all gathering places in the state: factories, offices, restaurants, beaches – everywhere that people might congregate. They were not peaceful demonstrations but angry protests against what people saw as government attempting to take away the freedoms on which our country was founded. I was appalled to see the majority of those gathered without masks in close crowds and automatic rifles at the sides of some people who were waving American flags as well.

Where is the sense of the common good in those pictures? I live in New York State, three miles from the border from Pennsylvania and 175 miles from that state capital – as the crow flies and from where the wind blows. We have been diligent to assure no spread of COVID-19 and all of our efforts may be undone by yesterday’s activities, actually taking place in many cities across the country.

As I write this I am conflicted because I am also aware of the difficulties facing people who have lost their jobs and who have received no financial help from the government thus far. I understand the frustration that builds every day because of the restrictions placed on us – of travel, of visiting loved ones, of wondering how long we will have enough food to eat. And then I begin to think of the generosity of nurses and doctors and bus drivers and first responders of all kinds who put themselves in danger each day to preserve life and the common good in service to those in need.

It is a sad and frustrating and unsettling time – not just in our country this time but in the whole world. It will take a mighty effort for us to wake up, to step up to a higher plane of consciousness, equal to the challenges we face now, especially those that call us to greater care for life than for anything else.

Are we equal to the challenge? It is not something we can do alone. It is counterintuitive that now we are told to stay away from others – at least 6 feet way. Can we survive this without physically connecting, starved of hugs as we are? It will take a monumental effort to move toward “one heart and one mind” in this complex world of ours. But it is the only world we have.

We will survive together or we will not survive at all. How do you propose that we “step up?”

Healing Hands

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Acts of the Apostles, for the life of the world, gifts, Jesus, John, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This is the season in which we read about all the miraculous happenings around the resurrected life of Jesus. Today there is a great moment we might miss because of being more attentive to the extraordinary outcome of the conversation.

Peter and John are on their way into the temple when they are accosted by a beggar who asks them for alms (ACTS 3: 1-10). It’s the next sentence that stopped me. Having heard the request for alms, “Peter looked intently at him, as did John and said, ‘Look at us.’ (Were they trying to tell him something? Did they want him to know they were just “regular guys?” Or were they ready to test themselves with the confidence that Jesus had in them?) Next Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold but what I do have, I give to you.” (Was Peter sure of the power of his faith now? He was the one who had been so unwilling or unable to trust in the power of Jesus in the events before the Crucifixion. Was he able to believe now that he was ready to accept the power that flowed through him because of Jesus? Was he as surprised as the man whose hand he took and raised up and who was healed in the next moment – or did he now understand the gift that had been given to him for the life of the world?)

I go back to the beginning now and invite us all to look in a mirror today and say to ourselves: “Look at me.” Do I believe in the gifts I have been given for the life of the world? As I write this I think of the amazing woman, my physical therapist who, with her touch, freed my neck and shoulders so I could see again in my peripheral vision what had been out of my sight range for months – maybe years. And for the first time, I could actually feel the energy in her hands flowing in my body. Knowing her, I know that she is a gifted healer and that she attributes her gifts to the God who is the center of her life.

I may not have healed anyone physically but I need to ask myself what I have done to help someone in some way be lifted up “for the life of the world.” What is your gift – spiritual, physical or otherwise – that you name as given through the power of God in you?

Conversion

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Acts of the Apostles, Damascus, faith, relationship with Jesus, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Have you ever had an insight that was so strong you have described it as “a bolt of lightning?” I wrote some time ago about my experience in a college philosophy class where I was totally in the dark until one of my friends explained the same fundamental concept that the professor was unsuccessfully trying to get across and a light went on in my brain. No lightning bolt but at least a flash of light and gratitude that I finally understood! I can’t imagine the power of St. Paul’s conversion on that road to Damascus, chronicled in today’s lectionary in the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 9 and 22. It changed his life in an extraordinary way.

Having come to faith “organically” – one would describe me as a “cradle Catholic” – it was always a given that I would remain faithful to the religion of my parents and their parents. I am grateful for that rootedness in me that has kept me all these years but it isn’t so taken for granted a reality anymore. A living, adult faith has to be examined often, just as any personal relationship does. Just like the rest of life, my scrutinized faith is not simple or perfect but, like my DNA in a way, it is a part of me that holds me together and needs to be nurtured personally and in communion with others. My trials have never even come close to what St. Paul experienced in his ministry and relationship with Christ and the gifts I have received have guided my life.

On days like this, I am grateful for testimony that we find in the totality of the Acts of the Apostles and would recommend it to you as a good read for the day. It’s a cold, rainy, snowy, sleety day here, perfect for hunkering down and reflecting…Have a good one!