A Level of Trust

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David, Genesis, healed, I am with you always, In you my God I place my trust, Matthew, psalm 91, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

All of the lectionary readings today hinge on the virtue of trust, making me consider how grounded I am in that particular quality of character. First, we have Jacob’s dream at Bethel and the covenant that God had made with him there. “Know that I am with you,” God says, and “I will protect you wherever you go…” (GN 28: 10-22A) Psalm 91 follows with vivid images of God’s protection to which the refrain responds, “In you, my God, I place my trust.” The gospel of Matthew (9: 18-26) has Jesus going with the plea of a father to heal his daughter but also stopping on the way to heal the woman with the hemorrhage with a simple look and the words, “Courage! Your faith has saved you” as she was wondering what would happen if she could just touch his cloak…

Were all these people extraordinarily faithful, saints perhaps in their living, so that God decided to reward them for their saintly behavior? We think of Jacob as special because of his placement in the lineage of Abraham but he, himself, says upon waking from his dream, “Truly, the Lord is in this spot although I did not know it!” His recognition of what was happening came while he was sleeping and his life changed because of it. The psalmist, traditionally thought of – at least for the majority of these sacred writings – as David, was loved by God and also chosen for a major role in salvation history. David’s life was not a seamless following of God, however, but rather a willingness to consider himself forgiven after the recognition of serious failure. And those two in the gospel? A girl and a woman – neither of whom Jesus had ever met – chosen for healing: one because of the faith of her father and the other from her own tentative hope.

What do I take from all this? It says to me today that maybe I am as likely to be healed of whatever defect of body, mind or spirit as anyone. I just need to continually fund the level of trust I have in the power of God that always resides within me and just waits to be activated. That seems today an exercise worthy of being practiced at all times…saying like I mean it: “In you, my God, I place my trust.” Amen.

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As God Sees

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appearances, David, heart, Jesse, judging others, Samuel, tattoo, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I am remembering a time when my cousin’s daughter was dating a tattoo artist and relatives in my generation began to worry about her reputation as piercing and tattoos began to appear on her body. Never mind that she was bright and attending college while living with her grandparents to help them as they aged. Never mind her wonderful personality and winning smile, because tattooed ladies did not belong in our family! Now when “body art” is everywhere, my young cousin is moving toward the ripe old age of 40 and is recognized by everyone as the brilliant star that she has always been, if only others had taken the time to truly know her.

How often we judge by appearances! Today’s lesson from chapter 16 of the first book of Samuel has a great example of the danger of that stance. As Samuel was introduced to seven sons of Jesse from whom Saul’s successor was to be chosen, God kept saying, “Nope, not him!” until there were none left before him. (It sounds a little bit like a comedy routine if we imagine Samuel getting more and more agitated every time God rejects one of those presented to him.) When Samuel says to Jesse, “Don’t you have anyone else???” (Can’t you hear the exasperation?) Jesse had to wake up to the fact that it might be David, the youngest, the sheep herder, the dreamer that God had chosen. And so it was.

It’s a great story and an important lesson for us – not to judge a person by clothing or speech or degree of education or position in the work-a-day world…because not as humans see does God see, because people judge the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart. (1 SM 16:7) I will remember that today as I go about my various appointments and look for clues to the hearts beating all around me.

 

 

 

 

 

Jealousy

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change, David, envy, friends, Goliath, gratitude, honesty, jealousy, King Saul, same, Samuel, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

Jealousy is a very dangerous trait in a person. It seems to me a bit more serious than envy although it appears in the dictionary as envy’s synonym. I might be envious of someone’s good looks or good luck but, if I have a positive attitude about my own life, I don’t spend a lot of time comparing my lot with those of others. If jealousy takes hold of my life, however, it can lead to wishing harm to others – sometimes instigating events that will cause very bad things to happen.

In this morning’s lectionary reading from the first book of Samuel (1 SM 18:6-9, 19:1-7) we read about what seems like a childish attitude on the part of King Saul who is returning from a great victory over the Philistines. At his side was David, the hero that we know from his fame with his slingshot; he used it to slay the giant, Goliath. Everyone was singing and dancing as Saul and David approached. Unfortunately, the lyrics to their song (“Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands”) planted the seed of jealousy in Saul and as it grew he feared that David would take over the kingship of Israel.

It’s always good to have a friend who can see such a situation honestly and speak the truth to the parties. In this case it was fortuitous because Jonathan was both Saul’s son and David’s friend. Well-placed to see the situation as it truly was, Jonathan convinced Saul (for the moment at least) that David had been a faithful servant, desiring nothing but the good of the nation and, in fact, had helped Saul very much by his deeds.

Two adages come to mind as I think about applications of this story for us. The French are known to say: Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose (The more things change, the more they stay the same) and in English we hear that it was ever thus. In our culture of today, there is so much pressure to get ahead, to be the best (which means the most successful or the richest), to climb to the top of the corporate ladder – as well as to be the best-dressed, most glamorous, the richest. We do well to cultivate the qualities of honesty, gratitude and the willingness to be satisfied with what we have and who we are. Oh yes, and don’t forget to thank God for good friends!

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah’s Gifts

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Confirmation, courage, David, God, Isaiah, knowledge, Messiah, O Come O Come Emanuel, reverence, right judgment, seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding, wisdom, wonder and awe in God's presence

The Book of Isaiah is full of prophecies that chronicle events predicted for the life and salvation of the Hebrew people. They are not easily understood without a commentary as Isaiah often uses images like those in today’s lectionary where he says that “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse…” which is interpreted as a recognition that the Messiah would be descended from royalty (the family of Jesse, father of David). But Isaiah was writing about a time when the fortunes of the house of David would be at their worst, thus the reference to the “stump of Jesse.” An interesting point of the commentary was that of the “shoot” as different from simply speaking of growth out of the stump as a branch. A shoot, notes the commentator, would be slender and insignificant, in contrast to the girth of the stump, thus indicating that the fruit would come from one person at a time of humiliation and obscurity. Thus, the surprise of a Messiah like Jesus.

One could spend a lifetime studying the Book of Isaiah. Even those of us whose knowledge of the text is sketchy at best recognize images or snippets that appear in other places, as the most familiar Advent hymn – O Come, O Come Emmanuel – reminds us with its titles for the long-awaited Messiah. Additionally anyone who was ever prepared for the sacrament of Confirmation in Christianity has probably memorized the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, taken directly from today’s first reading of chapter 11 of Isaiah. I learned them in sixth grade and was happy as an adult catechist to teach a slight change in translation that made me better understand such “gifts” when fear of the Lord morphed into wonder and awe in God’s presence. I was also glad to know and teach that it was a lifelong living into my faith that matured  those gifts in me rather than a direct transmission expected immediately at the age of 12. If that had been true, I reasoned, I had definitely failed!

Here’s the list. See what you can claim at this point in your growing faith: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, right judgment, courage, reverence and wonder and awe in God’s presence. (Isaiah 11:1-2) Don’t forget that we’re all still growing!

 

 

 

 

 

Manifesting Light

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being light, blind, darkness, David, Ephesians, Jesse, Jesus, John, light within, living in God, Paul, Samuel, shining presence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The Scriptural texts for this morning tell good stories. I especially always like hearing how David became king. What a surprise for his family! When Samuel came to speak to Jesse and asked to meet his sons, (1 Sm 16) nobody even gave a thought to David, the youngest, who was probably happy living in obscurity, spending his days with the sheep of his father’s fields. And this time when Jesus cured a blind person it wasn’t because the man was crying out asking Jesus for healing, as in the similar gospel stories, but rather just because of a question from the disciples about why the man was blind in the first place. (Jn 9). What got me thinking, however, was the reading in the middle (Eph 5:8-14) that begins with a startling teaser if we don’t read it quickly. At least in my translation we might think it reads: Brothers and sisters, you were once IN darkness but now you are IN light in the Lord…but there are no prepositions preceding the words darkness and light! What Paul seems to be saying is that our identity was darkness and living in God changes our very existence into light.

Think about David. What was it that made Samuel know David was the one? He must have seen something in Jesse’s youngest son that did not exist in any of David’s brothers. Maybe he was able to become light because of spending so much time in the natural world, watching things grow and observing the behavior of the animals – probably without much human interaction. Somehow, light had found a home in him, perhaps because of this simpler existence. After Jesus cured the blind man, his life got much more complicated. Maybe Jesus (and whoever asked the question about sin) saw something of light in him already that made him noticeable and that got strengthened enough for him to withstand all the repetitious questions about whose fault the blindness had been and what that said about who Jesus was.

If we think about it, we might conclude that in some ways it’s easier to be darkness. There’s less responsibility in the darkness where most of us sleep for the majority of the time. If we become light, people notice us. We shine so we have to be sure what we’re manifesting to the world is good, motivating others to justice and love and peace, for example.

It took a long time for David to find his way to manage the light that was in him, making good choices and not taking advantage of the love God clearly had for him. When he learned those lessons, however, how his brilliance shone for all to see! And the man born blind? My guess is that, after all the hubbub about his cure died down, he was blown away by all the color and beauty in the world that made him a very happy, shining presence.

Perhaps the moral of this story is that the possibility of “being light” is in all of us. The question we probably need to answer is how willing we are to stand in the light so others can see and benefit from our presence.

 

 

 

 

 

Friends, Maybe?

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12 tribes, Abraham, Bartholomew, beauty support, companions, David, instruments, joy, love, Moses, Nathaniel, pillars, Psalm 145, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is the feast of the apostle, Bartholomew. A commentary reminds me that we know very little about most of these people, the closest companions of Jesus. This is clearly true about Bartholomew who is sometimes known by the name of Nathaniel. (Not even a close guess, right?) That same commentary from http://www.americancatholic.org says the following:

Yet the unknown ones were also foundation stones, the 12 pillars of the new Israel whose 12 tribes now encompass the whole earth. Their personalities were secondary…to their great office of bearing tradition from their firsthand experience, speaking in the name of Jesus, putting the Word made flesh into human words for the enlightenment of the world. Their holiness was not an introverted contemplation of their status before God. It was a gift that they had to share with others.

I found that theme interesting in light of the psalm refrain from today’s lectionary readings, the first thing that caught my attention this morning. Four times as I read the response: Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom, (Ps. 145:12) I was struck by the word friends. So I was already musing on what it means to be a friend of God – similar yet different from a servant or follower. David, the psalm-maker and Moses and Abraham before him and many others named and unnamed in both Hebrew and Christian Scriptures (and in other traditions as well) have been friends of God. Why not me? Why not you? Psalm 145 says in an alternate translation: For we are instruments of beauty that extend your reign; our voices speak of power that is ever yours, till all may know and understand your energies and live within the splendor of your realm. (vs. 11-12)

It seems, therefore, that it’s not important whether or not we are credited with being God’s friend or a favored disciple of the Christ but rather whether we have shared the love, joy, beauty and support of that friendship with others along the way. Why not me? Why not you? Good questions for today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David

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Acts of the Apostles, David, faithful frienship, fountainhead, God's love, imperfection, psalm 89, quiet, reflection, sheep, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I was young I always thought that if I had a son I would name him David. For no logical reason, David was my favorite name. It sounded both strong and gentle to me; I just liked it – not Dave really, but David. And this was before I ever encountered the famous David of the Scriptures.

All the readings for this morning speak of or at least advert to David in some way. The Acts of the Apostles and Psalm 89 name him, while Jesus just speaks of “my chosen.” That got me thinking of what a complex character David was and how wonderful for the rest of us that he was not perfect – at least for those of us who tend to compare ourselves to others (a very bad habit indeed!).

I think of David in the fields tending sheep and wonder if he was sorry to be called away from that duty. Being alone out in nature with the animals – recalcitrant though they might be at times – in the quiet that allows reflection must have had its appeal for him. I can only imagine the shock of hearing when he was summoned into the prophet’s presence that he was to be King of Israel. No one could have predicted that, it seems, but God.

If one believes that David is the author of all or even a majority of the scriptural Book of Psalms, it’s easy to intuit the ups and downs, the sins and repentance in his life. Noted for expressing every emotion known to humans, they are the perfect witness to his misuse of power, adulterous behavior, deep friendship with and loss of Jonathan and – most of all – his recognition and humble acceptance of God’s deep, all-encompassing love for him. I like to think about David because although he seems in every way larger than life (no event in his life was a small thing) he is also, essentially, like the rest of us: sometimes faith-filled, devoted and well-motivated and sometimes less so. He made big mistakes, was even punished for them, but never gave up on his relationship with God nor did God give up on him. So I sing with the psalmist this morning in gratitude for the example of great love even in imperfection and with confidence that God sees us no differently than this beloved servant.

Your love, O Lord, I will forever sing, your faithful friendship shall be the subject of my song. For I have come to know your love as fountainhead, its ceaseless source not here, but in your high abode. And you yourself have made this oath of faithfulness to us and all of David’s line, a covenant proclaimed to all you chose, a promise made to us that never ends. (Ps. 89:1-4)

 

O Key of David, Come!

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Advent, Christ, Christ the King, consciously, consciousness, David, Israel, key to life and living, keys, O Antiphons, physically, the shadow of death, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unlocked the door

I recently had two experiences that taught me the importance of staying awake and always being sure my keys are on my person when I am around doors that could lock automatically unless I check the position of the locking device (i.e. pop the button or turn it as necessary to really unlock). Sometimes it requires more than ordinary consciousness to assure the position of that button, as I found out at a retreat center when I locked myself out of my bedroom at 2:30 in the morning. That mistake required a long walk to the front desk to find the guard who came with me and opened the door with a master key. On the second occasion, I was in a generally unconscious state because of too many thoughts running around in my head as I went into my office and dropped everything I was carrying on a table; everything, that is, except the food I brought with me that I then took to the refrigerator in the kitchen. Upon my return I realized that I had not done step two: turning the button on the center of the doorknob to the open setting. I was outside looking through the glass at my presentation for the evening, my purse that housed my phone, my computer and all my contacts and, yes, my keys. I was totally at the mercy of God, the downstairs phone and my memory which I was hopeful would be the key to remembering a phone number that could save me. God and the pastor of the Church were kind that day and all was soon restored.

It is an understatement to say that keys are important. Today our homes, our workplaces and even our churches are generally locked and unavailable to us without keys. Metaphorically, we need mental keys to understand difficult texts or to teach children ways of remembering important information, often in song. One that I always recall is M-A-DOUBLE S-A-C-H-U-S-E-DOUBLE T-S, boom, boom, boom, Boston, Boston, my hometown… (Kids from Oklahoma got a big boost when the Broadway musical of the same name appeared…but I digress.) The point is that it is important to keep our keys with us both physically and consciously, and today the liturgy points to Christ, the descendant of David as the key to life and living. And so, we are called to pray:

O Key of David and Scepter of the House of Israel, You open and no one closes; You close and no one opens. Come and deliver us from the chains of prison who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

O Key of David, ruler of life, you unlocked the door to God’s kingdom. Come, pry loose the lynch pins of our hearts and open to us your advent.

O Key of David…Come!

Tags

Ahaz, David, God, help, Isaiah, Lord, O Antiphons, philosophy, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of the most memorable moments in my college days (which were pretty straightforward since I was a novice in a religious community) was a breakthrough in understanding. Other novices and I were in the midst of an Introduction to Philosophy class taught by a very poor teacher. The novice director, having a sense of our struggle, gave an unheard of permission for the five of us to stay up after the night silence and study together. She knew that the brightest among us would be able to help. I don’t remember the content but I do recall the amazing moment when the light went on for me as a result of Sr. Susan Elizabeth finding the right key to open my mind to the content that had escaped me. I don’t imagine that we had complained to our novice director about the professor or the class; novices generally didn’t do that. Somehow, though, Sister Elizabeth Thomas always knew what was going on without our input. I count that night as an example of her wisdom in setting aside a rule for a greater good.

I love the first reading for this morning (Is. 7:10-14) as it points up how much God is willing to help us and I imagine it as a bit of a comedic dialogue. I have to quote the whole text to show the significance.

The Lord said to Ahaz, “Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world or high as the sky!” But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!” Then Isaiah said, “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God? The Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.

All those exclamation points indicate an excited conversation. It’s as if someone has a great surprise to share and keeps saying, “Ask me what I know! Go ahead! Ask!” and I say, “Nah, not interested.” or “You’d better tell someone else; I’m not the person you should tell.” The frustration of the teller is, of course, that the information is great news for you! It may even be the key that opens the door to a whole new future for you!

All of the above may seem like a roundabout way to get to today’s O Antiphon, but it all works for me. O Key of David, opening the gates of God’s eternal kingdom: come and free the prisoners from darkness! Whatever our prison – be it of the mind or spirit – Christ is longing to come and free us from it. All we need do is ask. The door will then be open in invitation to live in the heart of Christ – the place from which all darkness turns to light.

Who Is Blind?

Tags

blindness, darkness, David, Ephesians, Jesse, Jesus, John, light, Paul, Samuel, shing like the sun, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

This morning’s readings are replete with references to blindness and sight, to darkness and light, leaving one to ponder, “Who then is the blind person and what is true seeing?”

The first reading from 1 Samuel is the familiar one about the search for a king to replace Saul. Jesse had lined up seven sons for the prophet Samuel who thought the task would be easy. He was ready to name the first one considered, Eliab, when the Lord spoke to him and said, “Do not judge from his appearance or his lofty stature…Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” It took rejection of all seven and the (probably frustrated) question from Samuel of, “Are these all the sons you have?” for Jesse to even consider mentioning David who was the youngest and out tending the sheep. “Look deeper,” God was saying. “Don’t stay on the surface of what’s necessary in this situation!” (Interestingly, this reading is followed by: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”)

The reading from Paul (EPH 5: 8-14) is somewhat stunning in its direct address. Paul does not use simile here to make his point but challenges the Ephesians with a stark contrast. “Brothers and sisters,” he says, “you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” As we approach the season of spring, we know the importance of light for the growth of all manner of plants. Are we as concerned for our own quotient of life-producing light? If we can’t count on enough help from the sun (especially perhaps here in the northeast) where will the light come from? Paul seems to think we can be beacons of light – reminding me of a famous text from Thomas Merton who, in speaking of being a member of the human race, comments, “As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

The gospel from John (9:1-41) can be seen as a good example of a long, drawn-out, convoluted attempt to prove a point which is obviously flawed. It is the story of the man born blind whom Jesus cured. That sounds like a simple fact to us but everyone was concerned about the whole situation because there were factors in the situation that were not what was expected. First, everyone – including the disciples – wanted to know (in keeping with the prevailing wisdom of the time) who had sinned to cause the blindness – the man or his parents. Jesus said, “Neither” and proceeded to give a speech about himself using this opportunity to manifest the works of God. Then he cured the man. After that everyone got into the act trying to figure out how the man had been cured. The man repeated several times: to the neighbors, the Pharisees, then a segment of the Pharisee contingent, then those Jews asking his parents, then the Pharisees again…the simple facts of Jesus making clay, putting it on his eyes, telling him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, which gave him his sight. No one was listening. They didn’t expect that possibility of Jesus. Only the blind man himself progressed in his understanding, saying in answer to the queries: 1.”It was the man called Jesus.” 2. “He is a prophet.” 3. “I do believe, Lord.” In the end, those whose minds were closed finally gave up, missing the entire point. They were, one might say, too blind to see.