Monday, Monday…

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active work, Book of Hours, calendar, collaborative effort, contemplative, cultural, Job, Peace, renewal, schedule, society, spiritual, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, virtue, work week

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.

Here’s something from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours that gave rise to the above considerations:

All Christian life is meant to be at the same time profoundly contemplative and rich in active work…Christian holiness can no longer be considered a matter purely of individual  and isolated acts of virtue. It must be seen as part of a great collaborative effort for spiritual and cultural renewal in society, to produce conditions in which all can work and enjoy the just fruits of their labor in peace.

May all of our work be a blessing in our own lives and for the good of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rabbi’s Yoke

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burden, cultural, inner motivation, intention, Jesus, law, Matthew, rabbi, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Torah, yoke

A clear image comes to mind when Jesus says this morning (MT 11:28-30) “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” I see a team of oxen joined together by a wooden structure that keeps them together and joins them to a wagon that is full of supplies of some kind. That “collar” that joins them has always been known to me as their yoke. Whether or not the “burden” that the oxen are pulling is heavy or light, they themselves are heavy and so the yoke appears that way too.

Some years ago I heard a talk that gave me a new interpretation making the “yoke” Jesus was talking about more plausibly light. It seems that as rabbis began to interpret the Torah for their students they stressed different things in the law: care for the poor, personal piety, proper worship, etc. It did not mean that they jettisoned part of the given law but rather that they considered the community to which they were speaking, the cultural situation, etc. (just as we know the gospel writers did) and taught what was most needed for the people who were their disciples. Their interpretation came to be called their yoke. So when Jesus spoke of his yoke being easy and his burden light, he was calling us to the way of love and to what he came to reveal of the Kingdom of God. For those who truly grasp his message, it is not a question of the outer experiences of our lives being the determining factor in our assessment of ease or difficulty, but rather the inner motivation and intention that allow a vision and a path of light. It does not mean that we will never feel burdened but that we will be able to withstand our trials in light of the example of Jesus who came to share his “yoke” with us.

A Great Collaboration

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Christian, collaborative effort, cultural, holiness, just fruits of labor, Kathleen Deignan, Peace, renewal, spiritual, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, virtue

“Christian holiness can no longer be considered a matter purely of individual and isolated acts of virtue. It must also be seen as part of a great collaborative effort for spiritual and cultural renewal in society, to produce conditions in which all can work and enjoy the just fruits of their labor in peace.”

~ Thomas Merton
(from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours by Kathleen Deignan)