A Saint for Today

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believe, change, growth, live, St. John Henry Newman, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) is one of the bright lights of Christian theology and is remembered especially for his writings on the lived experience of believers as it relates to theology. His name is familiar to many as the patron of ministry centers on university campuses in the United States, both public and private, exemplifying the motto he chose on becoming a cardinal: Cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks to heart.”) Here are a few of Newman’s briefest, most salient quotes, worthy of our attention today.

1. To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.
2. Growth is the only evidence of life.
3. Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.
4. We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.

Violent Storms

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believe, disciples, faith, fears, Jesus, Matthew, practice, prayer, storms, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel (MT 8: 23-27) presents us with the story of Jesus in a boat with his disciples, sleeping while everyone else is awake and intensely frightened that they are on the verge of drowning. In earlier translations I don’t ever recall the word “terrified” in the response of Jesus when they woke him, saying (probably shouting), “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” As he often did, he answered their fear with a question. In my recollection, it was always: “Why are you so frightened (or afraid), O you of little faith?”

Musing on the shift of just one word, I wonder about the translation I am reading. Are the translators pointing to the more tumultuous times we live in and trying to emphasize that danger? Is there new scholarship that finds a closer meaning for the word fear? Should we – with 2,000 years of living in the Christian Era – have more faith in Christ to save us or are the hazards of life reason enough to keep us terrified? What if we did drown – or die in a plane crash? Are we trusting enough in God to be there in that moment?

This may all sound like a ridiculous set of questions but the phrase that Jesus uses to address to his friends in the question is really key to the entire lesson. “O you of little faith…”

How we are able to face our fears is, for me, the question of the day. Believing that God is with us in all ways each day is a necessary component, it would seem, of each response. No easy task…rather the work of a lifetime for some. Practice and prayer seem to me to be the only way to strengthen our capacity to maintain peace of heart whatever comes our way.

Living In Love

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believe, Corinthians, endure, hope, kind, love, patient, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

After arriving home about mid-day on Thursday, I was off again the next evening to conduct a 24-hour retreat. Some would call that very poor scheduling but, as it turned out, it was a lovely way to re-enter from the “time-out-of-time” that was Peru. The topic, Living In Love, could have been easily predicted; it is February after all when all the Valentine candy and flowers can hardly be avoided.

We covered a lot of ground and pondered weighty questions in our time together. We watched the roaring fire that kept the frigid air from overtaking our reflections. We talked about food on our breaks (everyone but me an aficionado of organic prep!) and had done the bedroom laundry by mid-afternoon, re-making the beds with as easy a rhythm as on a Saturday at home. Our day was punctuated with readings from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapters 12 & 13, and I smiled just now to find his words echoing again in today’s lectionary.

It occurs to me that our little band of seekers yesterday was a model of what Paul saw as a way to practice love and grow in love in simple yet essential ways. Here is the crux of the lesson that we took home. You will, of course, recognize it. But read it slowly, perhaps aloud, letting it seep into you and, maybe for the umpteenth time, find a home.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude. It does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered. It does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrong-doing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. (1COR 13)

Inner and Outer Light

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believe, conscious living, fan the flames, gratitude, imagination, inner fire, light, light worker, meditation, possibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the spiritual center

Sometimes I “talk big” and really mean what I say but find at the end of the day that I haven’t come close to accomplishing what I had decided at the beginning I would be able to achieve. Such was the interim between this moment and what I wrote on Friday about diving in with vigor and making a new start. Events intervene and change the pattern of our days sometimes so all we can do is our best – sometimes starting over the next day. The key is not to get either discouraged or lazy so that nothing ever gets done. This morning I’m ready to try again. Here’s why.

1. Yesterday morning six of us sat around a blazing fire in the living room of the Sophia House considering three themes for reflection in this new year. Our wonderfully creative tech person at Sophia, Mary Pat, walked with us on a non-stressful – peaceful even – path, stopping at directional points of inner and outer light, conscious living and gratitude. Our sharing was simple and then grew as did the fire’s warmth so that, in the end, we had a sense of that fire as an ongoing potential for this year’s journey.
2. Last evening my three Sisters and I sat in our own living room and had what turned into a long, lively exchange of ideas about moving forward with the fulfillment of certain of our proposed projects at the Spiritual Center. It was another experience of how the inner fire in each of us was caught in the circle because of all of us together.
3. This morning lying in my bed after waking I began to consider my day and to wonder what might be accomplished. Suddenly a wave of light seemed to burst within me – not a tidal wave but a flicker of determination that seemed to say, “Fan the flame. Go within to catch the spirit of those light workers who can help you in this realm and beyond. Use your imagination. Get up! Believe in possibility!” Needless to say I did not go back to sleep.
4. As I sat with my coffee to relate these events and their effect on me, a strong wind began to blow through the tallest of the trees outside my window, cheering me on. It’s still waving at me – so I need to move to my meditation mat to solidify purpose and begin the day. Blessings abound!

Just for Today

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believe, Celtic Treasures: Daily Scriptures and Prayer, courage, faith, fear, freedom, heart, hope, J. Philip Newell, laughter, promises, tears, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today, just a short prayer for the 24-hour journey in which we find ourselves. J. Philip Newell is the author.

Hope and fear, laughter and tears have been part of our journey. Joy and pain, longing and doubt meet on the pathway. Often we do not believe, O God, and sometimes we doubt that your promises can be true. Grant us and our world the freedom to laugh, the courage to cry, the heart to be open and the faith to believe. (Celtic Treasure: Daily Scriptures and Prayer)

What Can We Do?

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believe, faith, I am the way, John, life, perseverance, show, surrender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, through, truth, work in us

Today’s gospel picks up yesterday’s conversation (JN 14), known as the “farewell discourse.” Moving on from the extraordinary verse where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus is speaking now about his unity with God. “If you know me, then you will know my Father,” he says. “From now on you do know him and have seen him.” It is an enthusiastic Philip, I think, who jumps in saying,  “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us!”

Poor Philip. We are still struggling to understand the depth of what Jesus was saying. Poor Jesus, whose frustration after all that he had tried to impart to these disciples was evident in his response. (“Have I been with you for so long a time and still you do not know me, Philip?”) The great thing about Jesus is that he never gives up on them. He tries again by talking about what they have seen: the works that Jesus reminds them are evidence that the Father functions in the world through him. Then he delivers another astounding line that could be overlooked if we are reading quickly or thinking that the words of this chapter only apply to first century followers of Jesus.

Here’s what he said. See if you can comprehend the meaning and then accept that it is possible for us. “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.” Stop here. Repeat that sentence aloud. How might it possibly be believed?

In this case, I believe possibility resides in surrender. We will only be successful if we recognize that we are not the doer and allow God to work in us in everything we do. My guess is that it takes a very long time to come to clarity on this point, after which our knowing needs to travel from our minds into our hearts in order for God to truly take over. This is the work of a lifetime and calls for extreme faith and great perseverance. The key to all of it, it seems, lies in our  trust – of God and of ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Slow Work of God

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anxiety, believe, forming, grace, hurry, impatient, incomplete, instability, mature, slow work of God, suspense, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust, universe

This morning, pondering a meeting I attended yesterday of the Long-Range Planning Board of my religious community and a subsequent conversation with one of our “younger members” I was reminded of a valuable quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a theologian and paleontologist who had much to say about the universe and its workings, including those of humans who seem always in a hurry to get things done. It is always good for me to return to his wise advice. I share it today in hopes that we might draw from it some consolation in our troubled times.

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability – and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hard To Believe

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believe, big love, Corinthians, doing, Great Commandment, John, love, loving, loving God, received, remind, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, whole heart

From the first clause of the first sentence of the first lectionary reading this morning (1COR 15:1-8), I sat up straight as it felt like an important message was coming. Here’s what Paul said to the Corinthians – and us. I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. My thoughts went like this: “So, it seems even those first Christians had to be reminded, even with the witness of Paul’s fiery preaching, what they’d already been told! That makes me feel better!” Then I think, “But…I’ve had 2,000 years of reminders and lots of evidence…” I then considered how well I have received the Gospel and whether I stand straight and tall in it each day…

As if that wasn’t enough, the gospel followed with Jesus saying, Amen, amen I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these…(JN 14:12) Now there is a very difficult piece of news! How could I possibly do what Jesus did? And more besides??? Well…(besides the fact that I’ve been on earth twice as long as Jesus was) my mind goes to the Great Commandment of loving God with my whole heart, mind and strength…Maybe I ought to flex my spiritual muscles a bit more vigorously and often and remember to do the same as I love my neighbor as myself – my “other self.” It seems to me it isn’t a question of doing more in that loving, but rather of loving with more of myself – not missing chances to be loving or leaving someone out of my view.

Looks like there will be a new reminder on my mirror or the door leading from my bedroom to my every day: REMEMBER LOVE – BIG LOVE – TODAY!

The Whole World

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believe, centering prayer, conscious work, Cynthia Bourgeault, family, Hymn of the Universe, light, meditation, monastic liturgy, omega point, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, silence, sustain, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unity

This is a week in which I am blessed once again to be in the presence of Cynthia Bourgeault, revered spiritual teacher, and 35 of her students – new as well as seasoned, at a Wisdom event at Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham Massachusetts. We will study Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s work in addition to participating in centering prayer meditation, conscious work and monastic liturgy. The silence here is pervasive and calming on this, our first full day together.

Teilhard, a brilliant paleontologist and theologian, who was unacceptable to religious hierarchy in the early 20th century, speaks eloquently today to a world concerned with the workings of the entire cosmos and our movement toward the “omega point” when all will be one. I thought the following quote was a good one for this beginning day, as it starts with a consideration of those closest to us and moves to the whole human race (where his concern does not stop…but more of that later).

One by one, Lord, I see and I love all those whom you have given me to sustain and charm my life. One by one also I number all those who make up that other beloved family which has gradually surrounded me, its unity fashioned out of the most disparate elements, with affinities of the heart, of scientific research and of thought. And again one by one – more vaguely it is true, yet all inclusively – I call before me the whole vast anonymous army of living humanity; those who surround me and support me though I do not know them; those who come, and those who go; above all, those who in office, laboratory and factory, through their vision of truth or despite their error, truly believe in the progress of earthly reality and who today will take up again their impassioned pursuit of the light.  (Hymn of the Universe) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Whom Shall We Go?

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believe, bread of life, difficulty, eternal life, Jesus, John, sweetness and light, the cost fo discipleship, the Holy One of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, twelve apostles

It is often true that when people begin to wake up to God’s presence in their lives all is “sweetness and light” – as is also the case in human relationships. As we proceed along this path, however, there are times when it seems to be more than we bargained for and feels too difficult to continue. God may be asking too much of us or we feel less able than we thought we were to meet the relational demands. This is the case in this morning’s gospel (JN 6:60-69) after the “Bread of Life” discourse, one of what scholars call the “hard sayings” of Jesus. Many people returned to their former way of life after that, no longer following Jesus.

The end of this section of the gospel always speaks to me on an emotional level as well as intellectually. Jesus asks his twelve closest followers, “Do you also want to leave?” Jesus, being fully human, must have been feeling defeated by the loss of those who had misunderstood him or comprehended that they were being called to more than they thought. He was being true to his mission and needed to be honest about the cost of discipleship. The answer of the Twelve always urges me to answer similarly. They reassure him by saying, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”