His Name Is John

Tags

birth, called from birth, graceful, Isaiah, knowing ourselves, Luke, name, the beloved of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Zachariah

When my brother was born (finally, a boy!) there was some talk about what name he would be given. I recall hearing that my mother’s choices were Stephen or Victor but that my father (John) was clear that his name is John. Thinking of that always puts me in mind of the story of Zachariah who was also very clear about it – for a serious reason, of course. (LK 1:57-66,80) We think my brother is pretty special and although there was sometimes confusion about who my mother was calling to a task or to dinner, his name suits him as one called from birth (IS. 49:1). I find myself standing up straighter and feeling confident, just by saying the name “John.”

That phrase “called from birth” is worth attention from each of us since it is true, I think, of all of us. Sometimes it takes a very long time to figure out the specifics and depth of what that call means. These days it is rare for people to stay in one job or even one career for the extent of their work life. Coming to know our deeper identity as we look in the mirror and place ourselves in the presence of the Divine can be even more evolutionary, yet often daunting. Knowing ourselves as ‘the beloved of God” is a lifelong, graceful becoming.

Today might be a good day to consider our given name and how we inhabit it. Have we a special (maybe secret) chosen name by which we hear God call to us? Is it possible that those two names might be coming to a convergence? What might we do to encourage that unity to emerge?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Enduring Legacy

Tags

Assumption, birth, Catholic Church, courageous choices, exile, God's will, Luke, Magnificat, Mary, Messiah, Pope Paul VI, poverty, say yes, Second Vatican Council

Today the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, into heaven. It is one of many feasts observed by Catholics the world over – in both Eastern and Roman rite – and gives pride of place to the woman who said yes to the call of God to bring Christ to the world in the most significant way possible: by birth. In the renewal of the past half century, begun at the Second Vatican Council, we have come to appreciate Mary in perhaps more expansive ways. What I mean is that if we do indeed recognize her as a young woman (probably still a teenager) who lived in a small village in the Middle East, perhaps illiterate and certainly not privileged in any social way, her “yes” to God seems as extraordinary as it always has, but with one additional understanding that generations rarely if ever conceded – or even considered. This seemingly ordinary, humble young woman who cooperated with grace in an uncharacteristic way is the same girl who responded to the recognition by her kinswoman Elizabeth that she was carrying the Messiah with the following words:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord…From this day all generations shall call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me…He has shown the strength of his arm and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly…(LK 1:39-56)

Commenting on Marialis Cultus, Pope Paul VI’s apostolic letter on Mary, Elizabeth Johnson writes that the Pope “describes Mary as a strong and intelligent woman, one who has the wits to question back when the angel addressed her, one who experienced poverty and suffering, flight and exile. In the midst of these troubles she consistently gave active and responsible consent to the call of God, made courageous choices, and worked to strengthen the faith of others….In the most quoted passage from this letter, the Pope then declares that far from endorsing the particulars of Mary’s own life as exemplary, the Church proposes her to the faithful as an example to be imitated: not precisely in the type of life she led, much less for the socio-cultural background in which she lived and which today scarcely exists anywhere. Rather, she is held up as an example for the way in which, in her own particular life, she fully and responsibly accepted God’s will (see LK 1:38), because she heard the Word of God and acted on it, and because charity and a spirit of service were the driving force of her actions…(#35)“

Johnson concludes that “what has a permanent, universal, exemplary value is the way she walked the path of her own life before God, which can instruct and inspire people’s own creative responses in this new era. We can be inspired by her because we are all human together. Mary is ‘one of our race,’ ‘a true daughter of Eve,’ indeed (as Pope Paul says) ‘truly our sister, who as a poor and humble woman shared our lot’ (#56).”

Of Kings and Mothers

Tags

birth, canticles, Christ the King, cornerstone, Eli, Elizabeth, Hannah, human, infant, leader, Luke, Mary, mothers, O Antiphons, Samuel, sons, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

A familiar adage says that “behind every good man there stands a good woman.” In today’s Scripture readings we meet two of them. Hannah was barren, longing for a child and promising God that if she finally bore a son she would dedicate him to God. Soon after, she became pregnant and bore the child, Samuel, whom we meet later with the prophet Eli. Hannah’s gratitude to God is expressed in a canticle (1 Samuel 2) that is quite similar to Mary’s song of praise (Luke 1) announcing the news of her pregnancy to Elizabeth. Both of these women bore and raised extraordinary sons – with the help of their loving husbands, to be sure. In Biblical times there was little notice given to women and little written of their steadfast care and sacrifice for their families as well as service to their God. I will take some time today to chant (even if on one steady tone) these canticles, praising God for mothers and other wonderful women.

The above reflection has merit as well in a reflection on the O Antiphon for today where we consider Jesus as “the cornerstone” of God’s house. This is the stone that joins the walls of a building at its base. It is seen metaphorically as the quality or feature upon which a particular thing (e.g. Christianity) depends or is based. As we pray the antiphon today, we might see Mary welcoming her infant son into her arms at his birth and standing behind him throughout his life as a support beam giving him the strength and courage to fulfill his mission.

O King of the Gentiles and Desired of All, You are the cornerstone that binds two into one. Come and save poor humanity whom You fashioned out of clay.

O Leader of Nations, you are the long-awaited messiah, the one like a cornerstone that joins the sides and foundation of a building. Come, make our human race all one family.

O Radiant Dawn, Come!

Tags

birth, Christ, daily miracle, dawn, God, light, Messiah, metaphor, O Antiphons, radiance, sunrise, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Winter Solstice

The workings of the universe are often confusing for some non-science minds like mine. For example, we are approaching the Winter Solstice, the time of the shortest day and longest night in the northern hemisphere (and the opposite, of course, in the south). Sometimes it is the 21st of December, sometimes the 22nd. I just read that the solstice begins tonight for my time zone at 11:48PM – which is 4:48AM GMT (Universal Time). It’s all about the tilt of the earth’s axis, you see, and the angle and length of the sun’s rays hitting the earth. The  confusion comes because there are reports as well of the fact that the solstice doesn’t signal the day of the latest sunrise and earliest sunset because “solar time” – measured by the spin of the earth – isn’t exactly the same as clock time, which always measures a day as exactly 24 hours.

That’s enough science for me – or too much, really – at this early hour. All I need to know is that at this very moment (7:16AM EST) the sky outside my window is turning pink on the eastern horizon and I can expect (because the pink complements beautifully the blue that is also appearing, heralding a clear day) that the sun will burst forth in radiance if I sit here long enough to wait for it. Sunrise is a daily miracle, whether or not it is visible given the weather conditions of the day. It always happens and it is a wonderful metaphor of birth, splendid in its beauty and hope-filled in its consistency.

The O Antiphon for today reflects the nearness of the Messiah and the longing soon to be fulfilled. If you live in a place where the dawn has yet to “spring forth” and you have the leisure to do so, watch for it. Be aware of the coming of the light and note the moment when the sun appears, giving thanks for another day. If tomorrow is the arrival of the solstice in your time zone, like in mine, spend this day in conscious waiting, in gratitude for what will surely come.

O Rising Dawn, Radiance of the Light eternal and the Sun of Justice, come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

O Dayspring, you bring God’s light into our darkness. You are the rising sun, the morning star that brightens lives and lifts spirits. Come, blaze in us and cast out all fear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Constancy of Change

Tags

birth, dynamic of change, fall, image of praise, maple tree, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wholeness, winter, yin/yang

This morning I look out at our beautiful maple tree framed by my bedroom window and see that she is totally stripped of all her leaves, a sure sign of movement toward winter. The color that caught the sun for such a short span was magnificent and I am sad that it is gone so quickly, yet the remainder – the starkness of naked branches – has its own beauty. The tree, so tall and straight, offers me a vivid image of praise – every branch reaching upward, high into the sky toward God. No downward turn anywhere meets my eye as I scan upward from the ground. Even the smallest branches all lift and witness to the willingness of the whole tree to give itself over to praise in what seems a death but is only change.

I found a reflection from Meg Wheatley’s book Perseverance this morning that reminded me of the adage, “Change is the only constant.” She speaks of the Chinese yin/yang symbol as “the dance of opposition that creates wholeness, the dance that never ends.” Here is more of what she says, ending with a question that I think will keep me going when I am tired and wondering when a new spring will come or when I will experience the beauty of what will seem an endless winter:

One state gives birth to another. Whichever state is here at this moment, we can be sure that what’s coming next will be its opposite…At first, the new birth is just a sliver, a new moon glimmer of the future. But the dominant will now begin to wane and the new will grow. Eventually, it too will become the overbearing present and it too will give birth to the next newness. In this way, life’s ceaseless dynamic of change offers hope and caution simultaneously. Everything changes. Good times don’t last forever. And neither do bad ones. Whatever is happening now, good or bad, is giving birth to the next state, which will be its opposite. Does knowledge of this dance help us persevere? (p. 49)

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Tags

birth, Christ, God, Juan Diego, Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, roses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Virgin Mary

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a very popular feast of the Virgin Mary. Perhaps it is the story of the apparition itself that has caught the imagination of people everywhere. It was reportedly on December 9, 1531 that a Mexican peasant named Juan Diego saw a beautiful young lady on a hill outside his village. She asked him to build a church on that spot and he recognized her as the Blessed Mother of Jesus. He went to the bishop to ask the favor and the bishop sent him back to her for a sign of authenticity. The miraculous sign given to him was a beautiful and plentiful blooming of roses of a type not found in that region – and certainly not in December. Diego gathered them and returned to the bishop where, when he opened his cape, the roses spilled out all over the ground and their impression was left on his cape. That Mary chose this humble man for this miracle is reminiscent of God’s choice of her to bring forth the Christ into the world. The pilgrimage spot at Guadalupe is the most visited one in the world today and Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the patroness of the Americas.

Today I am grateful for all those people whose trust in God is in itself miraculous and is an example to me. I am thankful as well for mothers who daily birth God into the world with their devoted love. And I rejoice daily for roses, the beauty of which overwhelms the senses and warms the heart. How magnificent a choice for this manifestation of the Virgin!