Good Example

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charity, example, gentleness, intellectual freedom, Kathleen Degnan, kindness, love, New Seeds of Contemplation, positive, President George H.W. Bush, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

In the wake of all the events occasioned by the death of President George H.W. Bush, one would hope for the return of a kinder, gentler way of being for the United States of America. The example of this man regarding acceptance of others, positive thinking and charity in all things gave a good feeling to all who watched and listened to the many testimonials and interviews during the week. For me, it all mirrored what I read this morning from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours edited by Kathleen Degnan, offered for the second hour of Friday. 

This is what it means to seek God perfectly, Merton writes. To cultivate an intellectual freedom from the images of created things in order to receive the secret contact of God in obscure love; to love all as myself; to rest in humility and to find peace in withdrawal from conflict and competition; to turn aside from controversy and put away heavy loads of judgment and censorship and criticism and the whole burden of opinions that I have no obligation to carry. 

And then to wait in peace and emptiness and oblivion of all things.                            (New Seeds of Contemplation, pp.44-46, excerpted)

Charity

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Advent, caritas, charity, Joyce Rupp, kindness, love, relief, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, tolerance

Yesterday as December roared into being, I was without internet service. Today, I consider that fortuitous because the first Sunday of Advent seems an auspicious day to begin what I had suggested as a practice for the 13 coming months or even 13 weeks to Lent (See blog post “Postscript” – 11/24), considering one word for each. The first word on Joyce Rupp’s list is charity.

Charity is a word whose definition has morphed over time. In an internet search I was mildly surprised to find that the first definition was “an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.” Following that, in the manner of a thesaurus were the words aid, welfare, relief, handouts, largesse – and later -philanthropy, social conscience, benevolence, etc. A third definition included “kindness and tolerance in judging others.” It was only far down the page and with a heading of ARCHAIC that I found what I was looking for: love of humankind, typically in a Christian context. 

Coming from the Latin caritas, the word is grouped in theological parlance with faith and hope as one of the three basic theological virtues – those most foundational to relationship with God and others. Interesting to me was a small chart graph of the declining usage of the word charity from 1800 to the present. 

Perhaps in our practice for this week or month we should consider all these meanings. Ramping up our solicitousness for the poor and unfortunate might include going beyond writing a check (but still including such donations). We might choose to smile and/or greet people as we walk through a shopping mall or stand in the checkout line at the grocery store.  What about visiting someone in a hospital or nursing home or volunteering at an after-school event? 

At the top of that list and part of any choice is the way we offer our service. It is the pure openness of heart that accompanies our actions. Love for the sake of love and not for a return on our investment of time or money or ourselves is the best way to grow in charity in any form.

What will you do to deepen the charity of your being this month/week? 

Postscript

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Advent, authenticity, charity, courage, faith, forgiveness, honesty, humility, Joyce Rupp, kindness, Lent, loyalty, mercy, patience, Prayer Seeds, qualities, reflection, respect, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding

As travelers begin homeward journeys after celebrating Thanksgiving and those of us who enjoyed blessed companionship at home find ways to re-prepare turkey and “fixins,” Joyce Rupp offers a prayer. It is only one paragraph but holds a wealth of reflection should we accept the invitation of the 13 qualities that could take us far down a road of spiritual growth. Practicing one a week for 13 weeks would take us to the cusp of Lent. One a month, if the starting line was December 2, would span 2019 in fine style as a response to the holiday we have just observed. Why not write each one on a post-it note or index card and display it on the refrigerator or the inside of the exit door to your home and watch for how it affects things during its turn as your practice? What can we lose? What will we most certainly gain?

Sower of Seeds, you have placed in our hearts the potential for many gifts of your love to grow and ripen. Charity, authenticity, mercy, honesty, humility, forgiveness, loyalty, patience, understanding, courage, kindness, faith, respect, and other qualities reflective of your goodness dwell in our interior fields and garden…(Prayer Seeds, p. 181)

Just Love

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charity, give, love, Love Poems from God, retreat, St. Francis of Assisi, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

After all my preparation and the very meaningful retreat day yesterday for a wonderful group of welcoming parishioners, I have little to say today. I yield to St. Francis of Assisi for a poem that seems a perfect postscript for me and a meaningful thought for all of us.

God came to my house and asked for charity. And I fell on my knees and cried, “Beloved, what may I give?” “Just love,” He said. “Just love.” (Love Poems from God, p. 33) 

 

 

 

 

 

Words, Words, Words…

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bumper crop, charity, generous, harvest, Lazarus, Luke, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, words

I’m always interested in the various ways of using a word that cause different images to arise. This morning I was stopped by the gospel acclamation which preceded the text from Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus. The acclamation said: Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.

There are many synonyms for the adjective generous that let us know we are not using the word “heart” in its physical sense, many of them related to money or time, the giving of which is more plentiful than expected. There is also the notion of kindness involved in the giving and far down in the long list of synonyms a surprising addition: the word “bumper” as in “a bumper crop.”

Instantly upon seeing that word I am flooded with images of fields of tasseled corn, standing tall in the sun, ready to be picked, providing food for many people or animals. Immediately I sense a lifting in my heart, as when the sun peeks over the mountain in the morning. I can even feel a bit of willingness to move out of myself in a way that might move toward a charitable act – like gleaning in that field for the poor, perhaps…

Who would have thought I could take one word that far? If I had time, what might I make of yielding a harvest through perseverance? A bumper crop, certainly…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One More Wake Up Call

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charity, contemplation, corruption, divisions, mystic, news, Peace, prophets, saints, sanctity, solace, spiritual maturity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, violence

It is sometimes counter-productive to read the news in the morning. I don’t often do so before taking up this writing task. I should always move toward what I know to be my priorities. After twenty minutes or so this morning of breaking my own rule and falling deeper into distress, I moved away from stories of corruption, violence and division in the world and turned to Thomas Merton for solace. Here is what he gave me as a motivational word for today:

If the salvation of society depends, in the long run, on the moral and spiritual health of individuals, the subject of contemplation becomes a vastly important one, since contemplation is one of the indications of spiritual maturity. It is closely allied to sanctity. You cannot save the world merely with a system. You cannot have peace without charity. You cannot have social order without saints, mystics and prophets. (A Thomas Merton Reader, p. 375)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cheerful Giver

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charity, cheerful giver, Corinthians, feed the poor, justice, martyr, St. Lawrence, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasures, valuable

The 2,000 years of Christianity have been punctuated with reminders of our duty toward “the poor among us.” The verse that begins today’s readings is clear. Paul says: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 COR 9:6) We would do well to meditate on the actions of St. Lawrence, whose feast is today, as we consider this Scripture text. He was a deacon in Rome during the early days of Christian persecution about whom almost all of the little that is known is legend. There is no birth date and a question mark follows the printed date of his death (d. 258?). He is remembered, however, as the story goes, for his actions when he was commanded to bring all the holy vessels that comprised the riches of the Church to the prefect (governor). He agreed but asked for three days to put together an inventory of what was valuable. When the prefect returned, Lawrence had gathered “a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed persons and put them in rows…[and] simply said, ‘These are the treasures of the Church.'” (http://www.americancatholic.org) As you might imagine, St. Lawrence became a martyr shortly thereafter.

I am left after those readings with the same questions that come to me each time I am reminded of this issue of justice in the world. What can I do to help the people in my own community to be fed? Where are the children in our area who go to bed hungry? Why, in one of the riches countries in the world are there so many people who have to make a choice between rent and food or medicine and food or any other need and food? There are many questions about issues both individual and systemic. I find myself most often in the population that is charitable but not so involved in justice work. Today, when rain and mundane tasks will keep me inside, is a good day to take one more step across that line toward the difficult work of justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bigger Barns

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charity, donate, excess, harvest, Jesus, Luke, parable, possessions, rich man, share the wealth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday afternoon I began to make an inventory of one category of clothing (t-shirts and blouses) in my closet, drawer and storage bin. I only made it through the closet and storage bin when my phone rang and derailed the project. I was, however, already getting uncomfortable with how many items I had found in the storage bin. I had put them there as winter approached for the exchange with the heavier, more appropriate clothes of the season. The discomfort arose from the fact that July ends today and I have survived quite well with what I have found in my drawer and closet to wear since the warmer temperatures arrived in the spring. My dilemma today (after I pull everything out of my drawer) will be which items I will surrender to my favorite charity, Rural Services of Chenango County. I am usually moved to donate what doesn’t fit me any more or what I have not worn in the past appropriate season but this time I feel a push to dig deeper. It is the first time I can remember surrendering something still serviceable that fit me and that I really liked without too much angst – good practice for the inner tasks of letting go.

In today’s gospel passage (LK 12:13-31) Jesus tells the story of the rich man with the bountiful harvest whose solution to having too much to store is to build a bigger barn. I smile at God’s synchronistic joke and promise to remember that goad to surrender as I finish my project today. I have no plan to die soon with an overstocked closet but who knows? So I’d better get busy, my goal being to share the wealth and – just maybe – eliminating the storage bin altogether! (Even if only by next year…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Turn to the East

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antiphon, Awakening Hour, charity, de-cluttering, Macrina Wiederkehr, monastery, monks, seven sacred pauses, St. Basil the Great, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Author Macrina Wiederkehr calls the first of her Seven Sacred Pauses (a book for “living mindfully through the hours of the day”) the Awakening Hour. One of the antiphons for this hour sings, “To God belongs the East and the West; and wherever you turn, there is the face of God.” Originally from the Qur’an, this invitation to God’s presence has also made its way into our Wisdom School chants as a reminder that God waits for us at all times in all places.

Celebrated as the Saint of the Day is St. Basil the Great, of whom it is said, “What St. Benedict is to the West, Basil is to the monks of the East” as he established what was probably the first monastery in Asia Minor. His principles influence Eastern monasticism to this day. In addition, Basil faced many of the same problems that we see in modern society and he was especially mindful of the poor. I found the quote offered on the American Catholic website today to be quite apt. I share it as a reminder for all of us who are in the process of de-cluttering and as an indicator of where we might turn to find the face of God.

The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Constancy of Change

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change, charity, hungry, injustice, Peace, poor, Pope Francis, reform, same, St. Basil, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of my favorite axioms from my “first life” as a high school French teacher is what in English is translated as: The more things change, the more they stay the same. I saw that quote as I was reading the biography of St. Basil the Great, generally considered to be the father of Eastern monasticism as well as a Doctor of the Church. Living early in the Christian era (329-379), he was known for both his theological brilliance and his care for the poor and downtrodden. It was in the commentary that the above quote appears, pointing up the work of Basil in dealing with the same problems of the Church today, such as “the need for reform, organization, fighting for the poor, maintaining balance and peace in misunderstanding.” It all reminded me of Pope Francis who continues to surprise the world with his statements and actions toward the same goals. I could hear Francis at his most urgent, uttering the words of Basil that concluded the commentary – words worthy of our reflection today.

The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.