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Tag Archives: contemplation

The Narrow Gate

22 Tuesday Jun 2021

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contemplation, journey, Matthew, study, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The problem sometimes in reading the gospels is their familiarity. We have heard them so often and they are so familiar that we stop digging in for the deep meaning and let them go with just a passing glance. Having spent the last little while with the Gospel of Matthew, I’m beginning to think that I ought to take it for at least a year of serious study. I wonder what I would glean from picking apart each line and even each word that sits waiting for new interpretation. I’m not considering rewriting the gospel, but what spin from my experiences might gift a little newness to the rich passages that are waiting before me? Take today’s reading from chapter 7 for instance.

“Do unto others what you would have them do unto you…”(Pretty simple to interpret, right?) But then: “Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide that leads to destruction. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.“

So I start thinking about roads that I have traveled that were narrow and/or difficult to navigate. The first one that comes to mind is the road that leads up the mountain Haleakala in Hawai’i. The goal is to see the sunrise at the top of that winding road that has to be traversed in the pre-dawn dark. If you have not had the experience, think of the most winding road you have ever traveled and then cast a shadow over it. You will get the challenge! So why attempt that narrow road that winds up and up…(at 3:30 AM!)? For the sun that comes slowly, and when it is fully over the top of the mountain, is all you can see without your sunglasses…so you quickly put them on and then you can hardly breathe at the sight.

You had thought all along that you were alone atop the mountain but as the sun washes over the peaks you see that you were in great company! There are small groups of people populating the peaks…sitting quietly or snapping photos as they wait with you for the glory of full sun. And then everyone turns this way and that to smile and offer a “Good morning!” across the peaks. The camaraderie is inexplicable; it cannot be described but only felt. It is a good feeling – a feeling of unity that can never be achieved on a wide road to anywhere. The effort of climbing to the top, the waiting in the cold morning, and the surprise of those who experience it with you remain.

So what is the take away from that experience? You would have to be there to know. But being there, you could never refuse a narrow road again—whether it be on a mission of mercy, a community ritual, a brief encounter on the street…Never again…

This may take longer than I thought…Are you game? Do you have people with whom to share? Give it a try. What have you to lose? Blessings on the journey!

Choices…

28 Thursday Jan 2021

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contemplation, silence, St. Thomas Aquinas, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes it’s hard to think about what to write in the morning but some days are full of promise and offer many things to consider. Today I am faced with a plethora of options (not the least of which is the opportunity to use the interesting word “plethora.”)

  1. One of the websites I see in my email every day is optimize.me, written by the brilliant Brian Johnson. Today he used the first quote he ever memorized, which happens to be the first quote that I ever memorized as well! Of course, I have to share it with you. (Because it’s Shakespeare, I will leave it in the original, exclusive male language.) He says: This above all, to thine own self be true. And it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. We can use a little advice like that these days.
  2. Today Christians in many lands celebrate the great scholar/saint Thomas Aquinas whose writings are studied by theologians and students the world over even today – eight centuries after his death. It is said, however, that at the end of his life in 1274, Thomas had a mystical vision that caused him to stop writing and enter into silence. When he was asked to continue his writing, he answered, “I cannot, for everything I have written seems to me like straw.” It seems that he was overcome with a love that could not be described in any human language. We would do well sometimes to consider the value of silence as an approach to God.
  3. In the devotional pamphlet Living Faith, I found this prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas that seems appropriate for today. Perhaps you may claim it as your own: Grant me, O Lord, my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.

Much to contemplate in celebration of this great Saint!

God’s Gifts

08 Saturday Aug 2020

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charism, contemplation, Dominicans, Franciscan Sisters, ministry, Sisters of St. Joseph, st. dominic, the great love of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I was young and feeling called to the religious life, it was a rather simple choice of where I would find a home. I had been educated since kindergarten by the Sisters of St. Joseph, having made only a slight detour in junior high to the Franciscan Sisters. In those days, many of us chose the familiar unless drawn to missionary work or some specific ministry like nursing. Even in the founding stories that I heard about the Sisters of St. Joseph, there was never much talk about the charism, the particular gift of God to the community. Later I learned and am now confident that the focus of my life is that of the charism expressed as “the great love of God.” One might think that is the goal of all religious communities and that is true, of course, but how that is lived out from day to day is what adds specificity to the life path.

Today is the feast of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominicans, known the world over as the “Order of Preachers.” The power of Dominican preaching flows from their life. As franciscanmedia.org explains, it “organically links life with God, study, and prayer in all forms with a ministry of salvation to people by the word of God.” In other words, “to pass on the fruits of contemplation or to speak only of God or with God.” As someone who loves words and the power they hold in how they are spoken, I am always happy to listen to Dominican priests and nuns in liturgy or a retreat where they embody the words that they are speaking for the benefit of their listeners. Clearly, it is the constant reflection on the Scriptures in the silence where God speaks that resounds in the life of these preachers. Then, as a result, they themselves become that gift of God to the world.

Three in One

07 Sunday Jun 2020

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contemplation, divine Spirit, grace, Holy Trinity, mystery, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Trinity

For centuries, in countries all over the world, scholars and theologians have tried to explain the mystery at the heart of Christianity: the Trinity. We Christians have struggled to find a way to explain “three Persons in one God” well enough to satisfy. Images of three-leaf clovers, triangles and so many others have been part of our religious education. Recently many have been aided by the wildly popular book, The Shack but still the depth of our faith can only admit that “it’s a mystery.”

Letting go of intellect and accepting the fact that our God as Trinity means, as someone once said (very wisely, I think), “not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived.” Sometimes I need to just sit and marvel at the generosity of a Creator of such a glorious universe as ours and the benevolence of the love poured out to the finite creation that is humanity. At other moments my need is for a God who is like me, living as part of the great creation, understanding what it means to live a human life with all its joys and suffering. And the potential of deeper contemplation that touches into the life of the Spirit in each of us and all of us, allowing us to catch meaning in ways that bring us ever closer to the meaning of Love is thrilling. That “still, small voice” inside us that cannot be attributed to any power of our own but is clearly a gift of the Divine Spirit living in us defines the work of that “Third Person of the Blessed Trinity” like no other facet of our experience.

So today, on this feast of the Holy Trinity, I am happy to greet you in the familiar words of St. Paul: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”

A Full Life

08 Thursday Aug 2019

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activity, contemplation, Dominicans, mission, Order of Preachers, prayer, retreats, st. dominic, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today Christians celebrate the feast of St. Dominic and all those who follow the Dominican way of life. The Dominicans are called the “Order of Preachers” and are known for their ministry of opening the Scriptures to the faithful in retreats and parish “missions.” This practice, begun by Dominic and three others, became the work of a formal religious community in 1215. Their ideal was to link life with God in both contemplation and action, that is, in prayer and all the activities of life. The website http://www.franciscanmedia.org says it this way:

The effective combining of contemplation and activity is the vocation of truck driver Smith as well as theologian Aquinas. Acquired contemplation is the tranquil abiding in the presence of God and is an integral part of any full human life. It must be the wellspring of all Christian activity.

How many of us see the totality of our daily activity as integrated in or springing from our prayer? If we consciously lived in this mindset each and every day, would our prayer change or increase?. And how would we perceive our everyday duties, our work and play? Would there be a new lightness in our days? Would it all be seen as one: prayer and work, prayer and play, prayer as relationship…How would that change the world?

“Little Theresa”

01 Monday Oct 2018

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Christ's sufferings, contemplation, fire, give, give always, inspiration, little flower, love, love for God, St. Therese of Lisieux, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

astthereseToday Christians the world over celebrate an unlikely “celebrity” of the Church. For someone reading a sketch of her life for the first time – just the facts – St. Therese of Lisieux would appear to be no one special, although tragic maybe, because she only lived until the age of 24 years, having contracted tuberculosis at a young age. What one learns, however, in studying her own writings and the evidence in other sources, is that she is one of the most popular saints in the history of Christianity. How is this possible for someone who entered a cloistered Carmelite community at the age of 15 years and lived a daily routine of prayer and household tasks until her death nine years later?

Clearly, the only answer can be love, a great fire that fueled kindness to her sisters in religion, attentiveness to prayer, outreach in letters to soldiers and all to whom she wrote to inspire them with confidence in God’s protection and care. Her love for God and all others in God permeated her young life with mystical visions and contemplation on the sufferings of Christ to whom she was united from early childhood. She desired only to serve God in little, ordinary ways, which she did in the convent where she was not easily accepted.

A lesson for us is the way that Therese approached life and all of her daily tasks. She simply opened her eyes to what was in front of her and saw God in every person and every moment. She did not fret over what was not done, or done perfectly. She just offered everything without concern. Those of us who are so concerned with outcomes would do well to reflect today on the following quote from the one who is fondly called “Little Theresa.”

To the right and to the left, I throw to my little birds the good grain that God places in my hands. And then I let things take their course! I busy myself with it no more. Sometimes, it’s just as though I had thrown nothing; at other times, it does some good. But God tells me: “Give, give always, without being concerned with the results.”

 

 

 

 

 

Clare of Assisi

11 Saturday Aug 2018

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contemplation, humility, light, love, poverty, presence of God, St. Clare, St. Francis of Assisi, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision

astclareSt. Clare of Assisi, whom we celebrate today, was a great example of the adage “Behind every good man, there is a good woman.” While he did not see her often, St. Francis counted on her holiness and wisdom to shore up his determination in times of doubt and difficulty. Clare was a clear mirror of the presence of God for Francis and for those women who followed her to the convent of San Damiano, and he was the same for her. She was a woman of great strength and perseverance who believed that she was the one who knew best what should be written in a rule for women in a religious order. Although she easily accepted the rule that Francis has written in the early days, after the death of Francis she continued for 27 years to submit a revised rule to bishops and popes until she finally received and signed a constitutional document of her own two days before her death on August 11, 1253.

Living in the freedom of poverty and the humility of a cloistered community, motivated by love alone, Clare wrote to a younger woman to encourage her in her living of religious life:

Happy, indeed is she to whom it is given to share the sacred banquet, to cling with all her heart to Him Whose beauty all the heavenly hosts admire unceasingly, Whose love inflames our love, Whose contemplation is our refreshment, Whose graciousness is our joy, Whose gentleness fills us to overflowing, Whose remembrance brings a gentle light, Whose fragrance will revive the dead, Whose glorious vision will be the happiness – of all the citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Praise be to God for this wonderful woman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Morning

30 Monday Apr 2018

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action, contemplation, Contemplation in a World of Action, contemplative life, creative work, dedicated love, inner, inner discipline, integration, meditation, outer, positive attitude, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, work

anurseAlthough there are many people now in our country whose work lives do not fit the traditional Monday through Friday schedule, the majority still head to work this morning, hopefully somewhat refreshed from the weekend. The challenge for many is to bring a positive attitude into the workplace. It sometimes takes conscious effort to put one’s best foot forward, so to speak, depending on the work itself, our fitness for it and the companions we encounter there. It helps if we can take God along on the bus or the highway, especially on Mondays, with the understanding that our spiritual/inner life is not separate from the outer/busy life in the world.

Thomas Merton wrote a book whose title I find an instructive and helpful reminder today. It is entitled Contemplation in a World of Action and still sits on the bookshelf to my left after 45 years. I found the rather lengthly paragraph that I want to share this morning quoted elsewhere but I believe it speaks well of a good attitude for this Monday morning.

When I speak of the contemplative life I do not mean the institutional cloistered life, the organized life of prayer. I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development, which are not compatible with a purely external, alienated, busy-busy existence. This does not mean that they are incompatible with action, with creative work, with dedicated love. On the contrary, these all go together. A certain depth of disciplined experience is a necessary ground for fruitful action. Without a more profound human understanding derived from exploration of the inner ground of human existence, love will tend to be superficial and deceptive. Traditionally, the ideas of prayer, meditation and contemplation have been associated with this deepening of one’s personal life and this expansion of the capacity to understand and serve others. (Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours, p.73)

Today, then, let us seek the integration of outer and inner, of work and intention, that we may lift up our “little corner of the world” in love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enter the Silence

17 Wednesday Jan 2018

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Antony of Egypt, apostolic religious life, communal transformation, consciousness, contemplation, David Keller, harmony, monasticism, Oasis of Wisdom - the Worlds of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Peace, refuge, silence, solitude, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

amonkswalkingOften these days I have conversations with others about the necessity of living in the present moment and doing our best to carve out some silence on a regular basis. This is not a new concept. I think of my first years in the convent when we spent the major part of every day in silence and wonder about how different life would be for me today if the Second Vatican Council had not achieved an aggiornamento (updating) that clarified the differences in monasticism and apostolic religious life. In addition to the understanding of the differences, however, there remains significant overlap in the various forms of such a call and the element of silence in each cannot be overstated.

Antony of Egypt, (ca. 251-356), celebrated today in the Christian Church and revered as a primary example of the eremitic life, spent his days in the desert from the age of 20 into an old age remarkable even today! I found a telling comment in David Keller’s book, Oasis of Wisdom: the Worlds of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. In speaking about “Abba Antony”, Keller remarks: “Even in his need for extreme solitude, he influenced other monks through their visits or decisions to live near his two places of refuge.” The second half of that statement says something very key, I think, to the power of silence not only as an example to be followed but also as an agent of communal transformation. Sitting in silence alone is a deepening experience and sitting in silence with another or many others with intention has an increased capacity for raising the energy of loving consciousness.

Today, then, let us be mindful of – and grateful for – the efficacious work of those who spend their days in the silence of contemplation and let us make our own effort toward peace and harmony in our hearts for the good of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One More Wake Up Call

16 Tuesday Aug 2016

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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

contemplationIt 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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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