It’s been raining here quite a bit lately – not so you would notice sometimes but gushing occasionally so that running between the drops is impossible. Mostly I find that people consider rain an annoyance while I see it as respite or a gift to the trees and flowers and, thereby, us. It’s much easier than carrying buckets around or wrapping and unwrapping a hose to give the thirsty a drink. Yes, I find it a gift to us humans as well.
This reflection could now split off into any one of several paths—agricultural, weather-wise, horticultural, environmental…and even spiritual. I prefer that last and really got the idea for this message from a post on the Franciscan website. It wasn’t a great stretch; I got the point of listening to the rain immediately because I love to do it whenever I get the chance and find it a great practice for slowing down and appreciating the workings of nature.
Whether you tolerate the rain, pray for it in dry times, or just take it as it comes, try to consider it as a contemplative gift and listen to the message it brings as one more gift in the great gift-bag of God to us.
I have to smile this morning as I sit here waiting for a message to arise when prompts are all around me. My brain feels like a broken record and I wonder if I will ever move through a day – or even an hour – without falling out of consciousness. Here’s what I mean.
8:27AM EDT: As we come round again to the beginning of the traditional work week (if such a concept even exists any more) I think of people who have already arrived at their offices or factories – or those who are just climbing into bed after finishing the night shift. I remember what it was like to wait outside every morning for my ride to school where teachers were expected by 8:00AM and how cold it was in January or how hurried I was on the rare mornings that I overslept. Now my schedule is so diverse that my most precious possession has become my calendar! Keeping track of what day it is and where I need to be at what time can become a tricky task some days! Mostly I just think of how lucky I am to have work that is usually of my own choosing which feeds my spiritual self and is also in service to others.
I found a startling juxtaposition this morning in the first lectionary text – the beginning of the first creation story in Genesis 1:1-19 – and a section of one of our readings under consideration today here at our contemplative “boot camp” experience. The first of this duo is the lyrical description of God’s splendid work of bringing into being the glorious creation that becomes our home. The second is, in part, a recounting of what scientists have discovered over the last quarter-century about the communication between sub-atomic particles which scientist David Bohm explains as “a deeper and more complex level of reality than we experience, an ‘implicate order or unbroken wholeness’ from which all our perceived reality derives…”
There is so much to say about St. Teresa of Jesus (3/18/1515 – 10/4/1582) who is honored today as one of only four women given the title “Doctor of the Church.” A Carmelite contemplative and mystic, writing extensively about the interior life, she was at the same time a woman of action, reformer of her community who worked tirelessly in spite of poor health at a time when the Church and the world were in great turmoil.
I’ve often been in conversations where the topic is the naming of this holiday. Some of us think it should be called “Non-labor Day” since mostly all workers who are not absolutely necessary (like hospital emergency room personnel) are usually free of going to work today. With this in mind I turned to Thomas Merton who actually has a fair number of thoughts on the subject of work. I came upon a paragraph in which he looks at work in a different, more elevated way. I thought it a good sharing for today and with it I pray my hopes for a safe and restful, rejuvenating day for everyone, working or not.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 