Good News

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body of Christ, Brother Curtis Almquist, Christ, Society of Saint John the Evangelist, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In a newly begun daily message, the Society of St. John the Evangelist has, I think, really “hit the mark.” The message is simple, clear and totally on point so I share it in gratitude for what I hope to remember throughout this day and beyond. See if you agree.

We’re the best that Jesus has got, we all in whom — so we say and pray–Jesus lives. We become what we have received: the body of Christ. Then we go and be that in the world that God so loves. (Br. Curtis Almquist, ssje)

The Body of Christ

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body of Christ, Divine Mercy Sunday, fierce bonding love, resurrection, Symeon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unconditional love

Today is the “Second Sunday of Easter,” reminding us that the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection is not to be thought of simply as a day but rather as an on-going reality. As I write that I am reminded of the poem by Symeon the New Theologian, a man who lived at the turn of the first millennium (949-1022). He writes: “We awaken in Christ’s body as Christ awakens our bodies, and my poor hand is Christ; He enters my foot and is infinitely me…” – rather startling concepts in a work of 1,000 years ago, but one that gives us pause to consider the importance of what we celebrate as “the mystical body of Christ.”

Today is also designated in the Roman Catholic Church as “Divine Mercy Sunday,” promulgated by Pope St. John Paul II in the year 2000. Although our concept of the mercy of God has historically focused on our human failings and sinfulness, the placement of this feast on the Sunday following the Resurrection calls us to consideration of the “fierce, bonding love” of God for us. (see: Helen Luke, Old Age)

Today, then, let us be grateful for the total, unconditional love of God that is poured out on us each day and the call of that love to be manifested in us as cells in the body of Christ.

The Body of Christ

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be, blesses, blessing, body of Christ, compassion, Corpus Christi, dawn, Entering the Silence, good, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

Yesterday I had one of those mornings when waking early turned into an amazing blessing of silence and recognition. I chose to leave my computer packed away and just sat looking out a giant window in New Hampshire at the mid-point of my journey to Wisdom School. (See Saturday’s post). Fortified with the coffee and an invitation to quiet from by ever-hospitable friend, Bill, I spent an hour reflecting on the feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ) as it appeared to me on the calendar, in nature and in my own self as a cell in that universal body of love. Here’s what I scribbled in pencil at one point so that I would recall the experience – a great beginning to this “wisdom week.”

4:15 – First light. The birds were loud and luxurious, reminiscent of Thomas Merton’s words at dawn about God “calling them to ‘BE’ once again.” Moving in and out of sleep to listen. (corpus Christi)

6:05 – Full sun. The breeze makes dappled designs in the room where I sit watching the breeze turn to wind in the excitement of morning. A small chime somewhere outside calls out, “AWAKE!” (corpus Christi)

7:00 – No internet to record the thoughts that have been running across my mind like the ticker-tape of stocks in Times Square, NYC. Mostly song lyrics with pauses for breathing out praise. All is glorious! I am dancing even as I sit and hear inside the words of a prayer of Teresa of Avila made into song by John Michael Talbot. (corpus Christi)

All day long I hear within me: Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world; yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body…

Corpus Christi, indeed. So on we go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Deep for Words

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body of Christ, crucifixion, Good Friday, lament, pain, silence, sorrow, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today, sorrow and lament fill the praying world as ritual attempts in word and song and sometimes even gesture to reach the depth of pain that is recalled to us from across the ages as “the scandal of the cross,” the suffering and death of Jesus. If awake enough, we see this suffering repeated again and again in our own time and know it as a vivid manifestation of the pain body of Christ. In that way it becomes our pain as well since we are not separate but merely different cells in that very real and present body.

There is nothing we can say that approaches the profundity of that truth, that mystery. There is only silence…

 

 

 

 

 

New Thoughts on Old Knees

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Autumn Equinox, awareness, body of Christ, Corinthians, insight, intuitions, one body, patterns, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weather

There’s been a subtle but predictable shift in weather patterns over the past week here in upstate New York. Coming close to the Autumn Equinox usually brings warm days with cool nights – and sometimes, if we’re lucky, glorious blue skies and lovely fresh air. We have been that kind of lucky for the past two days but there has also been some heavy morning fog and muggy stickiness to deal with on other mornings. I’m starting to feel my age as my knees and some of my fingers begin to react to these conditions, singing to me as I type and then stand up from my morning tasks. I have been lucky to stave off these signs of aging for as long as I have and I am still grateful that they do not cause any real limitation even now.

As I read 1COR 12:12, this morning’s very familiar beginning of two often quoted chapters from St. Paul, I had the flash of a new insight, one more new way of looking at Paul’s words that as a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. I have always seen that as a great analogy of our diversity as well as our connections to one another. This morning, however, I was aware of my knees as a vehicle of awareness – a way to remember and pray for those people in the world who have trouble walking or who cannot walk at all. It’s difficult to ignore the small intuitions of the onset of arthritis but recognizing the solidarity that can flow from that recognition could be beneficial to others in the same or a more serious condition.

I’m always grateful for my legs and feet that serve me so well each day. This morning I am even more grateful for this new way to pay attention in a positive way to their speaking, for the good of the whole body of Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deafening Silence

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body of Christ, Garden of Gethsemane, Great Vigil of Easter, inner stillness, Jesus, Last Supper, Lenten journey, pain, paschal mystery, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, victims, violence

Last night I experienced what I have heard and said and sung for at least all of my adult life: We are the body of Christ. I entered a church already full of a great diversity of ages, nationalities and, thankfully, even races (although still in this valley we are in the majority Caucasian) where I could sense that nobody was there out of duty. We all came to enter into the Paschal Mystery that began with the “Last Supper” of Jesus with his disciples and will lead us through his death and burial into resurrection over these next three days. In welcoming all to the service, the music director instructed visitors that this was a place where everyone participated in both prayer and song – regardless of musical ability. And participate we did – from oldest to youngest – and I was struck by the ease with which everyone carried out their assigned duties. Especially notable were the children who served as acolytes and gave special assistance during the foot-washing and incensing both during the Eucharist and the procession to Gethsemane that followed. I was drawn along on the wave of devotion and feeling of family that is normative in that community and moved by the pastor’s comment during his homily that he was proud to serve at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church because it was such a caring and engaged community. It was obvious that the heart of Christ beats strongly there.

All that said, the most important facet of the experience was the quality of silence that followed the last hymn. The commentator, having explained that we were now “on watch” with Jesus at Gethsemane, called us into a silence that will last in the Church through today and until tomorrow evening at the Great Vigil of Easter. It was time, she said, for us to remain or to leave the church in silence. And that is what happened. Apart from footfalls, there was no sound heard in the hour that I remained. The silence was pervasive and profound. Whether people moved to the chapel representing the Garden of Gethsemane or stayed in the darkened church, not a sound was heard.

As I sat in that silence I became aware of an inner stillness that is rare for me. Even during my daily meditation I find my mind either racing or wandering and must keep emptying as soon as I catch the thoughts in order to come back to presence. There was none of that last night. No thought could penetrate that silence. The immensity of what we had shared of an event 2,000 years in the past collided with what had just happened in Belgium this week and there was no way to comprehend or even think about it all. I sat in utter stillness and in that state felt connected while also utterly alone. Upon reflection during my drive home, I sensed that I had touched something of what Jesus knew and felt in the darkness of that garden. This morning it expands to a sense of the immensity of pain that victims of violence and catastrophe around the world are feeling as I write. And it has only just begun…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Many Are One

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beauty, body of Christ, Corinthians, folk mass, function, gifts, harmony, miraculous, physical body, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, united in God

Group of business people assembling jigsaw puzzle and represent team support and help concept

Today’s second reading from the lectionary (1 COR 12:12-30) is the one that uses the analogy of the human body when speaking of “the body of Christ.” I think of the familiar “folk Mass” hymn that we used to sing often when I was teaching school and playing guitar that still shows up in a more refined iteration in church some Sundays (probably today!). The refrain says that we are many parts; we are all one body and the gifts we have, we are given to share. May the Spirit of Love make us one indeed: one the love that we share, one our hope in despair, one the cross that we bear…The verses sing of joys as well as pain and how everything works better if we are all united in God.

I was thinking a little more elementally when that song popped up. My question was: Picturing the whole physical body, if you were only one part, which part would you be?

While you’re reflecting on your answer and considering all the possible responses (no jumping to conclusions, please – or dismissal of the question!) my suggestion is that you bless each part of your body as miraculous as it arises to your mind. Then when you know who you are, remember Paul’s caution that if an ear should say, “because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be…?

How wonderful the world would be if each of us could accept the gifts and function of all of us as the harmony and beauty that animates us in this vast and marvelous created universe!

What Are You Wearing?

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body of Christ, Corinthians, diversity, dress, holy attire, judge, psalm 96, St. Paul, Sunday best, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, worship

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians contains lines that are quite familiar to most Christians, some recognizable even by a few words, like “Love is patient…” or today’s section, “There are many gifts, but the same spirit…” Paul is talking about spiritual gifts and the value of diversity for the benefit of the community (1COR 12:4-11). My attention was diverted from reflection on that topic, however, by a line in the psalm that preceded Paul’s words. It sounds rather silly but may make sense in the end. Let’s see.

The line in Psalm 96 says: “Worship the Lord in holy attire.” It’s a praise psalm with all sorts of images and imperatives for the ways we ought to worship God but that line reminded me of how we always got dressed up on Sundays to go to Church. Some of us still do and others complain about the “attire” – generally of young people – who appear in all sorts of what their elders consider as totally improper dress. I always say to those who offer that opinion that “at least they’re here.”

My point that arose from the line in the psalm juxtaposed with Paul’s words is not about what’s right or wrong but rather how we judge people by the clothes they wear. Teens are judged by the brand of their jeans (now best if they look like they’ve been through a paper shredder), adults by the name on their exercise outfits, women celebrities by the peepholes in their gowns and the rest of us by any number of regional or other fads that appear and disappear somehow that is beyond my comprehension. Paul doesn’t speak of the ability to intuit what is correct attire; he’s more interested in spiritual gifts. What he does add to this stream of thought, however, is that diversity is a good thing and we need it to broaden the consciousness of the community.

So hurrah for those unfazed by fads, people who wear what they wear either to be comfortable or to make a statement. Blessings on those who wear what they wear with dignity even if their lot is necessity and their clothes are well-worn and not of their choosing. May we never judge by what we see but always look deeper for “the manifestation of the Spirit…given for some benefit” and may we always celebrate the diversity of all the members in the body of Christ.

Wake Up Call

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be content, body of Christ, Book of Hours, deepening, glory, heart, hope, messages, the present, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, wisdom

I had need of a little Merton this morning to get me going for the day. I know that there is always some hidden pearl of wisdom hidden in the ordinariness of any moment but I have just come from such richness in wisdom gatherings in New Hampshire and in Syracuse, New York that I wasn’t sure the events of today could measure up. Silly me! I opened Merton’s Book of Hours and found right in front of me not one but two worthy messages. I didn’t even need to search or turn a page!

1. God cannot be found by weighing the present against the future or the past, but only in sinking into the heart of the present as it is.
2. Our glory and our hope – We are the Body of Christ. Christ loves us and espouses us as His own flesh. Isn’t that enough for us? But we do not really believe it. No! Be content, be content. We are the Body of Christ. We have found Him, He has found us. We are in Him, He is in us. There is nothing further to look for, except for the deepening of this life we already possess. Be content.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Common Life

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Acts of the Apostles, Barbara Kane, Beguines, body of Christ, Christ, community, Jesus, Mechthild of Magdeburg, religious, resurrection, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of the more familiar and inspirational texts from the Acts of the Apostles, the book that tells of the growth of Christianity after the Resurrection of Christ, is today’s first reading. We hear that the community of believers was of one heart and one mind and no one claimed any of his possessions as his own, but they held everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them…(Acts 2:32-37)

Last evening my colleague, Barbara Kane, gave our “Mystic of the Month” presentation at the Sophia Center. I learned that Mechthild of Magdeburg, a visionary of the 13th century, was part of a movement called the Beguines in Europe, women who lived in community with the purpose of caring for the poor. They did not take religious vows and were not bound together by anything but their love of God and their passion for the works of charity. I was quite surprised when Barbara stated that the last of the Beguines was reported to have died in 2014. I always thought that this movement was only active in medieval times.

In our day there are persons the world over who, driven by their desire to follow the example and teachings of Christ, pour themselves out in love every day. Whether in structured religious communities, loose associations of disciples or groups of friends, motivation seems the same as it was in the first century when the message of Christ was fresh in minds and hearts. Whether our contribution to the “building up of the body of Christ” is physical or spiritual, the call is clear to greater unity until the goal of communion is reached so that there is again no needy person among us.