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Tag Archives: blessed

Proceed with Caution

07 Saturday Nov 2020

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awareness, best practices, blessed, Lynn Bauman, psalm 112, reconciliation, resolution, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Here we sit with knowledge of unprecedented numbers of votes having been cast in our national elections – a very good thing – and with incredibly close numbers of those votes for each of the two presidential candidates – not such a good thing. I say that because that split in the vote is so indicative of the divide in our country. More than ever before as we continue to see new numbers with each report, we cannot imagine how a reconciliation will be achieved. I do not mean, of course, that I would ever hope for a world or even a country where everyone held all the same ideas, where there was no diversity; that would be boring! So what do I mean?

Lynn Bauman’s translation of the psalm for today (PS 112) speaks of how we need to proceed in life, and I think it is a fitting way to move forward. It begins with Hallelujah! and continues in a statement of what we might call “best practices.” See if you don’t agree.

I speak in praise of all the truly blessed upon the earth. They stand in awe, aware of God, and listen carefully to every breath and word God utters. (That would certainly take a great deal of attention! Later in the psalm we hear a darker side of life and how “the blessed” manage to keep the faith): In all the dark and bitter places of their lives the light remains and brightly burns with mercy and compassion, for these they balance with righteous laws.

As the days pass and the outcome seems close to a resolution, I can only hope that our “better angels” are with us as we strive for peace and compromise.

All Saints

01 Sunday Nov 2020

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All Saints Day, blessed, compassion, fidelity, goodness, holy, kindness, love, saints, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we join with people all over the world in solemn celebration of those we call “saint.” It is one of those days when each of the several lectionary readings begs for attention as they all echo the wondrous history of holy men and women, known and unknown, whose stories tell of the power and love of God. These are the “canonized” saints – the ones recognized by our Churches from the earliest days of Christianity. Should we choose, we could go all the way back in the Hebrew Scriptures to find names like Abraham and Moses, Ruth and Isaiah. Always there have been those who have served the God whose kindness and compassion have endured forever.

Today we understand as well the value of those heroes of love and fidelity whose names may be lost but whose service to God and humanity remains as a light in centuries of love and good works. Listen, if you will, to words that speak of such goodness and call us to emulate people we know on this universal day of celebration. Create your own litany of those you call “saint” and consider how you may sit in their company.

  1. (RV 7:2-4, 9-14): Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”…”These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
  2. (PS 24) Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? or who may stand in his holy place? One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain. They shall receive a blessing from the Lord…
  3. (1 JN 3:1-3) Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.
  4. (MT 11:28) Alleluia! Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
  5. (MT 5: 1-12A) Blessed are…Rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven.

Getting It Done

12 Friday Jul 2019

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awakening, blessed, holiness, Macrina Wiederkehr, mindfulness, pause, prosper, seven sacred pauses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, to do list

Today promises to be one of those days when I wonder how I can possibly do all the things I have to do in order to be ready for what comes next. As usual, the answer popped right up, this time from Macrina Wiederkehr on a circled page number of her book, Seven Sacred Pauses, which is subtitled Living Mindfully through the Hours of the Day. Whether or not I get all my tasks completed today, I hope at bedtime to feel as if all is right with the world as long as I remember the advice Macrina gives at this first hour.

If we practice living mindfully, we slowly begin to see the holiness of so many things that remain hidden when we choose to rush through the hours, striking tasks from the list of things we must accomplish by day’s end. It will be a happy moment when we remember to add the wise act of pausing to our to-do lists.

This pause can be as simple as standing attentively before a flowering plant or listening to the frogs in the pond. Perhaps we can stop for a cleansing breath: Breathe in the spirit of the hour; breathe in gratitude and compassion for yourself; breathe out love and encouragement for your co-workers, friends, family members. Your pause may be an awakening stretch, or sitting quietly and remembering your name. If you can learn the art of pausing, your work will prosper and be blessed. (p. 20-21)

The Simple Things

01 Friday Feb 2019

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blessed, children, happy, kindness, Peru, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, welcome

As promised, I have returned “at the turning of the calendar.” I cannot, however, be blamed for bringing the blast of arctic cold home with me. It was sunny summer in Peru with temperatures about 100 degrees higher than here in New York State! What I have brought home are memories of an extraordinarily beautiful and generous population, rich in kindness if not in finances and a willingness to welcome others with open arms.

The gospel acclamation for this morning says this: “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.” Immediately I am thrown back to the large room inside the front door of the convent in Lima where we made puppets with the neighborhood children one day last week. Newspaper, scissors, markers and a few other sheets of shared paper – one with an outline of a rabbit’s face – were all Alexa and I needed to create our puppet and share the delight of everyone in the room. At the end of the morning the children prepared to leave with their treasures (including one Hershey kiss and a piece of bubblegum). There was no pushing or shoving as they lined up single file. Rather, kissing each of us in turn as they walked out the door, they whispered, “Gracias, Hermana” and blessed us with happy smiles.

There will be more to tell, I promise, but for now, it is enough to hold those sweet faces in my heart.

The Perfect Antidote

16 Friday Nov 2018

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blameless, blessed, John, love one another, psalm 119, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

alove.jpgSpeaking of antonyms (as I was doing yesterday), I have no choice but to choose love as the theme for today. Psalm 119 announces it when it declares: Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!” (vs.1-2), waking up those who have slept through the first reading from the second letter of John. In a clarion call that John sees as only a reminder of what God’s law proclaims, he says: “I ask you, not as if I were writing a new commandment but the one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another.” 

Grateful to have that reminder that speeds us 180 degrees away from the circle of toxicity, I rest my case!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This New Day

08 Tuesday May 2018

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beautiful day, blessed, dawn, deep waters of life, gift, Joyce Rupp, Prayer Seeds, receive, spring, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

acliffdiver6:03AM: It’s impossible to stay asleep with all the different birds that are announcing morning outside! I suppose it’s my fault for leaving my bedroom window open all night, but how could I resist? Spring is finally bursting everywhere and it is glorious! It was definitely worth waiting for, although the delay throughout all of April made me wonder if it would ever happen! I celebrate May as the most beautiful month of the year because new life is visible everywhere outside and, as a result, is rising up inside as spontaneous hope. Listen to how Joyce Rupp describes it:

Unscripted. This day. My day. A fresh day. Waiting. Ready to be opened. Holding more than what is expected. No matter the lengthly list of have-to-do, don’t-want-to-do, enter with a readiness to receive, to appreciate. Prepare a full plunge instead of a toe-in-the-water.

Release the tight grip on a measured schedule. Stand on the threshold of dawn like a diver on a cliff eager to receive what awaits, ready for adventure. Aim for the deep waters of life where the day’s activity will surely bring an opportunity to connect with the Holy… (Prayer Seeds, p.154)

May we all be blessed by the gift of this beautiful day!

 

 

 

 

 

An Extraordinary Visitor

12 Tuesday Dec 2017

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apparition, blessed, faith, humility, Juan Diego, miracle, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Lost and Found, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

aLady_of_GuadalupeMy sister gave me a book a long time ago entitled, Our Lady of the Lost and Found. A work of fiction, the story is about a middle-aged writer who (the book jacket explains) “on a typical Monday morning, enters her living room and finds a woman standing by her fig tree. the woman is wearing a blue trench coat, white Nikes and a white shawl over her hair. She is holding a purse and a suitcase. She is the Virgin Mary…”

At first blush one might think this a comedic, irreverent story but as it turns out, it is an opportunity for the narrator “to examine life’s big questions and her own capacity for faith” and provides the same opportunity for readers, believers and non-believers alike.

On this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I am reminded of this book because it describes an apparition not dissimilar to that of Juan Diego, the “hero” of the story of the apparition of the Blessed Mother that we celebrate today. A 57-year-old widower, he lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, while walking to Mass by a hill called Tepeyac, he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. “A radiant cloud appeared, and within it stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico to say that the bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.” (www.franciscanmedia.org)

The story goes on and is clearly miraculous. My point today, however, is to note that any one of us might be chosen to receive an extraordinary message from the divine realm, whether or not we think we are worthy. The narrator of the book I mentioned first describes herself as follows. “If you passed me on the street, you wouldn’t notice me. This does not especially bother me. I have outgrown the need to draw attention to myself and have no particular desire to stand out in a crowd.” Juan Diego, although a devotional Christian, was a poor peasant who had no reason to expect such an extraordinary favor from God.

The lesson here is, I think, one of humility and of a trust in God that helps us to consider ourselves blessed, regardless of our life circumstances. We never know when we might be called to do great things for God. Perhaps we already are so called. Or perhaps, as Mother Teresa says, We may not be called to do great things, but only small things with great love. Are you listening for that call? Are you already living it unaware?

 

 

 

 

 

Metaphoric Vision

04 Monday Dec 2017

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, blessed, city of God, hallowed space, heart, inner ear, inner eye, inner geography, interior reality, Lectionary, Peace, pray, Psalm 122, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, worship

abethlehemAfter reading a traditional translation of Psalm 122 in today’s lectionary, I came upon what the author called a “metaphoric” rendering wherein “one can experience the peace of the city of God and the kingdom of God as an interior reality…where the sacred geography of the Middle East becomes a reality in the heart.” Listen with your “inner ear” and see with your “inner eye” the vision presented, and then consider the author’s call to go deeper by reflecting upon “the inner geography of your own heart and being” and answer how you are that city, that temple, that kingdom.

With joy I arose and went into your house when called to the worship of your name. I entered and now stand singing at your gates with all those gathered to worship and adore you. Your holy name becomes for us a blessed city, a place of peace that draws us deeper in, where people of every tongue and race rise up before the presence of your face to know and love the God of peace as one. So in this hallowed space and ground, your judgment and your rule of love, becomes for us a kingdom. And may that kingdom come, your peace be done over all the earth, we pray. Within the inner walls of heart and soul, and on the outer towers of human being, may peace descend and be for everyone a fortress and a keep where nothing evil enters in. And this we pray now for the good of all – for all who are your house, your dwelling place forever. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 318-319)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormy Weather

30 Monday Oct 2017

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Annie Dillard, blessed, deeper consciousness, direction, God, Koran, light, storm, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

arainstormWe are in the midst of tropical storm Philippe this morning – the first weather event this year that has affected us at all. While other locations in our country have been devastated by flood or fire, we in Upstate New York have been blessedly spared from any damaging storms. Even this one just seems to be a steady, soaking rain but we are being warned to prepare for flooding. I believe the warning is just for overflowing streams in locations around the state as it seems that the storm has done its worst elsewhere. I will need to check the basement for water seepage later but mostly today it seems that our task will be to stay inside as much as possible and reflect on the fact that we are still not in charge of everything in life.

In that thought rests possibility if we use the day as an opportunity for deeper consciousness. If we call God to mind each time we consciously hear the drumming of the rain, the day may not be spent in grumbling about the weather effects. Here are two prompts for those moments of consciousness.

  1. From Annie Dillard: I cannot cause light. The most I can do is put myself in the path of its beam.
  2. From the Qu’ran (Koran): To God belongs the East and the West; and wherever you turn, there is the face of God.

May today be blessed for all of us!

 

 

 

 

 

In Praise of Women

31 Wednesday May 2017

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Annunciation, beauty, blessed, child, courage, destiny, Elizabeth, God's name, hard grace, holy, justice, Luke, Mary, praise, pregnant, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, willingness, womb, women

aelizabethandmaryI love the feast that we celebrate today: the Visitation of Mary to her kinswoman, Elizabeth. This was no “stopping ’round for tea” visit. Mary traveled “to the hill country” and stayed for three months. Elizabeth was a woman past child-bearing age – whatever that meant in those long-ago days. In her 30s, perhaps, and probably concerned since she had heretofore been unable to conceive. Mary was just a teenager, and likely frightened by the process of carrying a child. For both of them this “favor” wrought by God was what many would have called “hard grace.” On a human level, how lucky they were to have each other! We speculate that Elizabeth was further along in her pregnancy so it must have been a relief to have Mary around to help her. The Scriptures intimate that Mary had rushed off to Elizabeth soon after receiving the message from God that she was pregnant. Her comfort would likely have been an older woman, who obviously loved her, to lean on and share with as she interiorized what was happening to her body and her life. Such a great story!

The gospel passage from Luke (1:39-56) doesn’t stop with this loving, relational scene, however. Perhaps it was on her trek from Nazareth to Elizabeth’s home that Mary’s process of acceptance that began with her “yes” at the Annunciation was fulfilled. Or perhaps it was Elizabeth’s recognition of the child Mary was carrying that caused her own baby to “leap” in her womb. Whatever the transformation in Mary, her testimony to the power of God that she sang out on that day of her arrival in response to Elizabeth’s greeting was that of a strong woman who knew her role in the great drama of religious history that was unfolding within her. From this day, she proclaimed, all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name!

Those words are followed with a vision of God’s power to overturn the order of powerful and poor in a restoration of justice. Certainly, Mary did not know the specifics of how that would happen – nor did anyone, but she knew she had been chosen for a role in it. And the courage to speak, I believe, came not only from God’s grace but from the relationship of the older, more worldly-wise woman standing beside her.

Let us today (men and women alike) rejoice in those women in our lives who give us solace and courage when we need it and the companionship that keeps us on track in our living. Let us remember also, those who have gone before us who still stand as examples of the willingness to accept God’s grace in our lives that we might fulfill our destiny in praise and beauty.

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