Homecoming

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Ask and you shall receive, forgiveness, Genesis, homecoming, hope, journey, lift up, Luke, Mary Magdalene, optimistic for the future, perseverance, prayer, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

Today ends what the Sisters in my local community have taken to calling my “triathalon” which denotes the three legs of my journey from Windsor, NY to Orlando, Florida for a national convention, then to Japan (through Los Angeles and Honolulu) for a retreat with our Japanese Sisters, and back to Albany for a “Wisdom Circle” experience called Mary Magdalene and Conscious Love. It has only been sixteen days since I left home but it seems so much longer because of the fullness of each of the experiences.

The theme running through all of my days of travel has been the hope that lives in the hearts of the Sisters and others I have met. Regardless of the dire situations in our country and the world, we are optimistic for the future and grounded in a life of prayer because of our trust in the benevolence of the Divine Being who will not leave us to our own devices. All of us are held in relationship with God and one another in a bond that I experienced as a felt sense of joy and confidence in each place that I touched down.

I was reminded of this sense of optimism and the need to work toward the good by today’s lectionary readings about perseverance in prayer. We are called by Abraham’s courage in his famous plea to the God who was prepared to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of the wickedness abiding in those cities. Beginning with the question: “If there were 50 innocent inhabitants there, would you relent?” (GEN 18:20-32) Abraham continued to ask toward a greater favor asking: “What if there were 45…40…30…20…10???” God’s willingness to answer with alacrity that those cities would not be destroyed for the sake of the few innocent people tells me that, ultimately, God desires to forgive, not to punish or destroy. God is on our side.

Jesus knew that God and encouraged his followers to ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to you. ( LK 11:1-13) All of my experiences during these days have convinced me of the need for us to pray – alone and together – for changes in ourselves and all around us that will bring us back to balance. This prayer cannot be a “sometimes” thing. We need to be serious and consistent to actually “be the change we wish to see in the world.” Thus our prayer will become our way of living and lift up the quality of life for everyone. We will “come home” to our deepest selves and meet each other at each step of our journeys. In this way wherever we find ourselves in the world will be recognized as home and we will be welcome there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The important Question

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Ask and you shall receive, blind spots, consciousness, desires, disciplined life, happiness, honest assessment, Jesus, Mark, Matthew Kelly, Perfectly Yourself, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I just read an interesting quote from a book called Perfectly Yourself by Matthew Kelly, speaking about the necessity of discipline in life. The crux of it was that the level of our happiness is equal to the level of our discipline. I’ll be thinking about that one today. He says if you have too little happiness, try being more disciplined in whatever area of your life seems lacking that happiness. It’s a question of going deeper than the surface, I think, to discern what our deepest desires are and then working to fulfill them. Consciousness and honest assessment are the necessary disciplinary practices for long-term success in this matter. For example, a large piece of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream may momentarily assuage the hurt of a bruised ego, but too much of that might have dire consequences. A good vacation may restore equilibrium but if there are issues at home that we don’t care to face, the effects of the time off will dissipate quickly. It’s up to us to take charge of our own choices and come to clarity about what’s really important to us.

This morning’s gospel (MK 10:46-52) is a good example of how Jesus was always calling people to get to the heart of their desires. He asked the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” Knowing that he also said more than once in one way or another, “Ask and you shall receive,” the short, seemingly simple exchange is really rather stunning – especially if I consider the answer of the blind man who asks to see and gets his wish. Now there’s something to ask for! Considering my “blind spots” would I be disciplined enough to ask to have them removed? Am I willing to look life that fully in the face? What would I need to give up in order to see that clearly about everything?

God asks: What do you want me to do for you? Hmm…