Stop Judging!

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clarity, coronavirus, enlightenment, humility, judging others, opinion, Peace, politics, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning’s gospel puts me in mind of a couple of idioms like “where the rubber meets the road’ and “when push comes to shove.” I had already washed out my eyes because of feeling (in the left one) as if there was something like a splinter keeping me from seeing clearly. (It worked!) All this after a cursory look at news headlines, many of which circle around one of two things: the coronavirus spread and the political situation in our country. So how does all this come together in my consciousness this morning?

Here’s the text I’m working with: Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye…?

Familiar? Of course, but do we really take Jesus at his word? He gets rather forceful a moment later. You hypocrite! he says, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.

I’m generally willing to pay attention to that directive. I know there are circumstances in people’s lives that seem to make them destined to act in ways contrary to my ethics. Lately, however, it all seems (to me) so patently clear that my opinions are the right ones. How is it possible to allow all points of view? Is there ever a time when I can admit that I am wrong?

I think that is definitely possible. The more difficult question is whether or not I can admit the “rightness” of my adversary. What that calls me to is research. A cavalier statement about someone else’s view without evidence to back it up is unfair at least and libelist at worst. Sometimes the best we can do is to do our research and when called on, offer it to those who will listen—with sources, of course—and pray for peace and enlightenment without rancor. Agreeing to disagree is a hallmark of mature relationship. It does not necessarily mean capitulation. And when the common good is at stake, it is our duty to speak the truth as we see it and trust that the Spirit of truth is our guide.

May we desire clear sight and work toward it each day in humility and courage so that our world will be a better place because of our presence here.

20-20 Vision

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20/20 vision, A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, appreciation, attitude, clarity, experience, gift, hear, meditation, messages, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems incredible that we have already traversed an entire month of the year 2020. It is shaping up to be a challenging time for many reasons, some from natural causes and some of human initiative. It seems imperative that we be constantly awake to the broad spectrum of events and stay true to our own integrity, which includes watching our own behavior and response to challenges.

The impetus for this line of thought is (as usual) something I read just now from A Deep Breath of Life by Alan Cohen. In his reflection for this date, Cohen says the following:

Through prayer and meditation, you can sensitize yourself to hear important messages before they are played out in the physical world…Rather than fight life or adopt a victim position, look for the gift in the experience. Imagine that the universe is conspiring not to hurt you, but to free you. An attitude of appreciation, rather than resentment, will soften and transform otherwise difficult lessons.

It isn’t always easy to admit our less than stellar behaviors and reactions to life events great and small but if we stay awake and practice seeing the lessons in our days, in the long run our vision improves and we can learn to accept ourselves and others without a need for obfuscation or excuse.

What better year for working on clarity of vision? It is 20-20, after all!

Keep Going

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balance, clarity, encouragement, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, triumph, winter

Having been shocked into awareness of the impending season of winter with ten inches of snow last Thursday and waking up to frigid temperatures since that tell me it was no fluke, I am slowly acquiescing to what will most certainly remain for the next four or five…maybe even six months: cold and probably gray weather. I do not usually mind winter. In fact I sometimes glory in the crisp cold and the beauty of the winter wonderland provided by  snow-covered hills. I wonder if this year will be different or if this difficult start is a sign of change in my outlook as well as in an aging body. Fearing the worst, I turn for encouragement to Meg Wheatley’s book, Perseverance, and am once again called to a new way of seeing. The title is Clarity.

It can take many years of being battered and bruised by events and people to discover clarity on the other side of struggle. This clarity is not about how to win, but about  how to be, how to withstand life’s challenges, how to stay in the river. 

We never learn to triumph over life, but we can learn that every defeat, every problem, every terror is a teacher that prepares us for the next hardship. And we learn to expect that there are more difficulties ahead.

When this clarity emerges from our experience, what also emerges is trust in ourselves. We realize that we can cope and learn and grow from hardship and trials. We learn to accept difficulty and setback as part of life’s normal processes. We cease feeling threatened by most things…

The encouragement continues but, for now, that’s enough to get me ready for the day when I will get out the winter tires for my car, take them to the dealer to be installed and balanced and hope that I will proceed – balanced as well – back on the road that leads me forward.

No Getaway Solution

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clarity, consciousness, David Keller, desert elder, humility, interiorized monasticism, life, monastery, monastic life, monk, Oasis of Wisdom, prayerfulness, purity of heart, St. John Chrysostom, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, virtues, wisdom

Between conflicting stories on broadcast news and devastating weather reports of raging fires in the west and three additional hurricanes brewing in the waters off the southeastern coast of the United States, I decided moments ago that the only answer for me would be to race to the closest monastery and close the door on it all. So I pulled out David Keller’s book, Oasis of Wisdom, to give me something to work with – a verification of the need to escape, I mean. Here’s what I found in the first few pages of this book on the early Christian monastic life, stories of the “desert fathers and mothers.”

The desert elders did not teach that everyone must live as they lived. They taught, by their actions, that purity of heart, humility and charity are virtues that lie at the heart of all human life. Their renunciations, practical wisdom, and prayerful living taught people from all walks of life in their day to see themselves and the way they lived in the context of God’s love and desires for human life. Perhaps the desert elders will evoke a change of consciousness in us as well. They exhort us to practice an interiorized monasticism whether or not we are monks. From its earliest days, Christianity has proclaimed that the heart of monastic life is for all Christians…One of its greatest leaders, St. John Chrysostom said…”You are entirely mistaken if you think there are some things required of ordinary people and others of monks.” 

So I guess I need to stay the course here and ride out the events that agitate my mind and heart. Perhaps the crux of the answer was at the beginning of the above paragraph. Purity of heart, humility and charity are not easy right now but renouncing all the outer turmoil by consistent prayerfulness might help. Actually, it might be the ticket to the wisdom found in staying the course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steadfastness

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Charlottesville, clarity, division, faithful, firm in resolve, grounded, Meg Wheatley, prejudice, racist, steadfast, steadfastness, Texas, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning I read Meg Wheatley’s reflection on the word steadfastness. I was trying to find something to redeem my world from all the racist experiences I heard about or saw on the national news yesterday. All the care of neighbor for neighbor that was imaged over the past week in Texas with no reference to preferred status for rescue seemed washed away in the same kind of horrific visuals and speech that were manifested during the recent incident at Charlottesville. I have no place inside me to find comprehension of such division and prejudice. I thought we had come farther on the road to acceptance of diversity. The question before me this morning is whether or not I will stand up and use my voice in situations that call out prejudice of the kind that I thought had been conquered. Meg Wheatley calls me to a challenge.

Steadfastness is a lovely old-fashioned word that we don’t hear much about these days. It describes how warriors stand their ground, how they find their position and stay there, unshaken and immovable. Steadfast people are firm in their resolve; they are not shaken by events or circumstances. They stand clear in their beliefs, grounded in their cause, faithful to the end. (Perseverance, p. 55)

May it be so in my life, beginning today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyday Wisdom

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clarity, encounters, hear, Jan Phillips, learn, light in the darkness, listen, mindfulness, negativity, No Ordinary Time, Peace, school of life, see, Terce, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truthfulness

As the 9:00 hour approaches this morning, I look for something that makes sense to share. Jan Phillips never disappoints to urge me on – especially from her book, No Ordinary Time. I go to Monday at Terce, the monastic 9:00 hour, and find two paragraphs which, taken together, give me enough for today.

Every day we experience dozens of encounters. We hear people say things. We notice the behaviors of people. We see and hear ourselves talking and acting. We’re in the school of life all day long, but what do we make of it? What do we say at the dinner table when they ask, “What did you learn today?”   (p. 19)

Meet this day with clarity and be a light in the darkness. Unfold your arms and let others in. Listen and speak like your life depended on every utterance. Practice truthfulness. Say things about yourself and others in a kindly way. Direct conversations in an upward spiral. Do not collude in negativity. Finding calm in this storm is a matter of mindfulness. We can be at peace every moment if we meet it with awareness and remember our source. The moment we choose peace, it is ours. (p. 20)

Thinking Is NOT Over-rated!

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changing, chatter, clarity, commitment, courage, Holiday, ideas, Meg Wheatley, mindless, New Year's, resolutions, sorrowful, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, think, Turning To One Another, wasted moments, world

It seems strange that today is a holiday. Who ever thinks of January 2nd as special (except those whose birthdays or anniversaries are today)? Perhaps it’s always like that when New Year’s Day falls on Sunday, and maybe I had the same thought seven years ago but I don’t remember. Anyway, today feels like being given an extra ticket to an event and I don’t want to waste it. I haven’t settled on any resolutions for this year yet. All I know is that whatever I say I will do or be, I need to be seriously committed to carry it out. Conditions seem more serious in the world than ever before so I feel a need to be equally serious in my deliberations.

I’ve had a rare stretch of “down time” over the past few weeks – first because of that nasty cold that so many of us have contracted and then with quiet holidays and cold weather. Those conditions have been quite conducive to thinking and reading. Meg Wheatley has what seems an interesting thought for the day regarding this topic and a possible focus for me today. She says:

If we feel we’re changing in ways we don’t like, or seeing things in the world that make us sorrowful, then we need to time to think about this. We need time to think about what we might do and where we might start to change things. We need time to develop clarity and courage. If we want our world to be different, our first act needs to be reclaiming time to think. Nothing will change for the better until we do that. (Turning To One Another, p.99)

What might this mean for me? I think perhaps I will need to let go more deliberately of the mindless chatter inside my head and the wasted moments clicking on celebrity stories that show up on my computer when I’m in the process of reading the headlines. If these two things become disciplines, I might have more time and energy for deeper thinking and the reading that will lead – eventually – to more useful ideas about change in myself and in the world around me. Here’s hoping!

Musing at Sunrise

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apostles, call to prayer, clarity, dawn, Jesus, Mark, ministry, mountain, prayer, Sisters of St. Joseph, summon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’m sitting in my assigned bedroom at our Motherhouse, three stories off the ground. I am here until tomorrow for meetings and had determined to sleep as long as I could this morning. Having retired before 10:00pm, I was not surprised to read 6:22 on the clock in my room when I woke; it was enough sleep. Although the temptation to put off the inevitable moment of rising was strong, I was won over by the beauty of the morning star, the deep, deep blue of the sky and a thin line of magenta light out my window in the east. I have not been disappointed with the progress of the dawning day.

This morning’s gospel (MK 3:13-19) has Jesus going up a mountain – a place he often chooses for prayer. I’m not surprised at his choice as the view is always better on the heights (as I can attest this morning); clarity is not often interrupted by sight or sound. There is a lot more to reflect on in the passage from this morning. Take just the following lines (a shortened version):

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He named them (the Twelve) Apostles and anointed them to preach and to drive out demons.

It sounds like Jesus went up the mountain with a purpose. Was there a crowd following him or had he already invited some people along on his journey? “Summoning” seems more determinative that inviting, especially as the gospel indicates that he wanted these particular “Twelve.” What did he see in them? There must’ve been more than good personality traits, although those are generally indicative of something deeper, because preaching and driving out demons/healing are rather specific skills. Or did the call of Jesus begin the transformation that allowed these skills to manifest in those chosen? I am most interested in the fact that these were those he wanted to be with him and they came. What that says to me is that Jesus was not interested in doing his ministry alone; he desired companions. What more might be discovered from a longer reflection on these words? I’ll have to let it sit in me since the long awaited sun just peeked out over Troy, New York and is now blazing forth with a call to prayer with my companions of the day, the Sisters who are likely already in the chapel waiting on the Lord. Such are the blessings to me this morning!

Fan the Flame!

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ask, beggar, clarity, embers, flame of love, Jesus, Luke, restored, Revelation, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There is a caution in this morning’s first reading, taken from the beginning of the Book of Revelation – a book that is filled with symbolism and “apocalyptic” language. The section of which I speak this morning, however, is easily understood and calls me to self-reflection. It says, in part: “You have endurance and have suffered for my name and you have not grown weary. Yet…you have lost the love you had at first.” (REV 2:1-5, italics mine) The image that comes to me is that of a fire that has been burning for a long time. There are still smoldering embers but unless someone comes to stoke what’s left, allowing some air to circulate, the fire is likely to go out. Sometimes it seems that there is nothing of life left in that situation, but the reality is that with a little help the heat and beauty can be restored.

In the gospel this morning (LK 18:35-43) the crowd passes a beggar who has been told that the commotion around him is because Jesus is coming. The beggar calls out to Jesus to have pity on him which causes Jesus to ask the question, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Please let me see!” the man answers, and so he does. I am gratified by this reminder that we need only to ask for clarity of sight in order for it to be given. Perhaps then, to assure that the flame of love remains alive, I need only to add one sentence to my morning practice: Lord, please let me see today!