Trust

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danger, do not be afraid, hope, Jesus, John, mercy, psalm 33, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust, walking on water

Both the psalm response and the gospel in today’s lectionary put the word “trust” front and center for our consideration. Four times Psalm 33 is interrupted with the refrain: Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. It’s a statement of exchange, a bit of a challenge for God, it seems. If we trust God, God must be counted on to be merciful OR is it a “hoping against hope” situation where we close our eyes, grit our teeth and hold our breath hoping for a good outcome?

It would seem that the gospel (JN 6: 16-21) presents the perfect situation to illustrate the necessity of trust. Only twice have I been in a boat when a storm came up. Once was on a large cruise ship when the only danger from the wind stirring the water was a bad case of nausea for the majority of us. All we needed to do was stay in our cabins and wait it out. The other was at a smallish lake where we needed to get back to shore, rowing as the two of us had never done, before the storm broke. It was that second case that might be compared with the situation of the apostles in the boat. I wonder if our inner distress would have been increased or calmed by the presence of Jesus walking on the water toward us! He appeared to the apostles to be a ghost. Why would it be different for anyone in that situation – especially as he appeared in his “resurrection body” that seems from all accounts a detriment to recognition for all who encountered him?

Would his words (It is I. Do not be afraid.) have been enough? Are they enough for us to engender trust in situations of inner or outer distress? Saturday is sometimes the perfect day to give in to what we don’t expect and let our trust in Christ take us home.

Will You Try?

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danger, discipline, exercise, heart, Jan Phillips, meditation, No Ordinary Time, safe, soul, spiritual practices, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning I have just spent my first hour preparing for session 2 of our 6-session study series on the book No Ordinary Time by Jan Phillips. The study grew out of response to Jan’s visit and our meaningful workshop with her in April. We have 19 women gathering to continue pondering the fact that our ordinary lives can truly be extraordinary if we allow them to be so. Our chapter heading for tomorrow is “Discipline” and it contains several possible spiritual practices. I thought it auspicious to choose one – a simple exercise that can be easily done – as a suggestion here. See what you think about the possibility of inserting this into your everyday routine.

Come into a comfortable seated position. Sit with the back flat, crown of the head lifted, shoulders relaxed, and chest open. Rest you hands in the lap or on the knees. Close your eyes, deepen the breath and release any thoughts from the mind. Gently repeat the following softly out loud or in your mind:

May I be safe from all danger. May I be held in the arms of God. May I be strong in spirit and body. May I be true to my heart and soul.

Repeat the phrases again, changing “May I” to “May you” while you think of a specific person, or a group of people, or of the whole planet. Finish with a few slow, deep breaths, feeling compassion, love,, and kindness flowing through your body. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day. (p. 38-9)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Day to Remember

Tags

appreciation, danger, gratitude, Hawaii, mercy, Peace, Pearl Harbor, pray, service, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, sorrows, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is one of those dates that holds for many people the memory of both horror and bravery, especially as experienced by those in the United States of America who personally suffered the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. There are two reasons why I am more aware than usual of this event this year. This is the 75th “anniversary” (not to say celebration) of the bombing and has already been in the news with a story of one of the oldest survivors who arrived in Hawaii on Monday to great fanfare. Today will be, I presume, more somber but also filled with gratitude for the lives of those who served our country on that day as well as before and after December 7, 1941.

I just finished on Sunday reading a book entitled Aloha Ke Akua (The Love of God) which is the story of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in Hawaii. As we look seriously at our future I decided it was time to renew and/or deepen my familiarity with history of my religious Congregation in the United States. Since the book appeared while I was going through a storage box, I decided Hawaii was a good place to start. The timing was perfect and the book very engaging. The Sisters were called to Hawaii in 1938 by a bishop who was desperately in need of teachers in his Catholic schools where populations were growing exponentially. In 1938 travel to Hawaii did not mean jumping on a plane and arriving later that day or early the next, depending on the point of departure. It took six days to travel by ship from Los Angeles, the closest of our four provinces to the Hawaiian Islands. This mission also meant little correspondence with “home” and no expectation of visiting for the duration of their stint in the Islands. I began immediately to feel pride and admiration for these courageous and generous women who responded to this new and very different call to ministry that took them eventually to several islands in the Pacific, some of which had never been heard of before by most North Americans.

The most revelatory chapter in this engaging book was, for me, the account of the attack on Pearl Harbor, written by one of the Sisters who experienced it first-hand. The Sisters had been there for three years and by then the weekend “job” of three of them was to teach religion classes to the children of the soldiers living on the army base at the Schofield Barracks. After reading the account of that day and the effects in the months and years that followed, I had a new and deeper appreciation of both our Sisters and all of the people in Hawaii who had lived through that time. Sister Kathleen Marie Shields recounted the horror and resultant sorrows experienced as well as gratitude for the strength and fortitude of the people in a way that reflected a line from today’s Psalm: For as the heavens reach infinitely beyond all space and time, we swim in mercy as in an endless sea. (Ps 103:10)

Today then, as we remember all those who lived through this and other events during World War II, let us give thanks for those people who show us the way through danger and disaster and pray for the end to all war. Let there be peace on earth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Possibility

Tags

all things are possible, cliff, danger, God, hang on, let go, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

When I read this morning’s gospel from Matthew 19, one line stood out. It says, “For God, all things are possible.” The image that came to me was of someone who looked like a biblical shepherd but felt like me (???) hanging on the edge of a cliff – seemingly by his/her/my fingernails. Hearing the sentence about possibility in my head at that moment made me question my faith about God’s ability to save me from such danger. I certainly could not get myself out of such a situation and actually never even imagine I would be in such peril (literally or figuratively) these days. As I hung there in my mind’s eye, however, I wondered about my state of mind and heart. Would my faith endure – solidly believing that God and I could make it through? Would I call out to God not necessarily in deep faith but out of desperation? Or would I give up and let go? It’s the last question that becomes interesting if it’s divided in two, i.e. Would I give up? OR Would I let go? Giving up would imply lack of belief in myself and God. Letting go could be the same but not necessarily if I let go into the arms of God, trusting myself totally to God’s ability and willingness to save me.

I’m still hanging there, trying to answer honestly, but I wonder if that isn’t a question that would only be answered in the moment, dependent on the daily preparation of living my life. In any case, I think it’s worth pondering today. (A little strength training probably wouldn’t hurt…)