Remembering Thomas

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consciousness, divine heart, Divine Presence, reason, spiritual journey, the living God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Keating, unconditional forgiveness

In these often busy days of summer I am always grateful to receive words from “one of the great ones” of the spiritual life. Such was my joy yesterday in picking up The Contemplative Outreach News to see the smiling face of Rev. Thomas Keating. Father Thomas left this world on October 25, 2018 at the age of 95 years but his spirit is as alive as ever and his words remain a goad and challenge for those desiring a deeper spiritual life. Two paragraphs from his brief front-page article require my attention and reflection today. In the first there is solace for people who seem to have too many thoughts to engage at once. In a later paragraph I find a possible answer to my distress at the painful side of life.

1. For those progressing on the spiritual journey, even when the consoling aspect of the Divine Presence dissipates because of excessive activity or too much thinking, an interior presence arises that becomes more and more permanent. A shift in consciousness begins to take place. Our rational consciousness is transcended by the awakening of intuitive consciousness. The rational level is not rejected; we simply become free of its limitations. Reason remains available and functional for ordinary daily life, human relationships , and all the needs of embodied activity, but does not overshadow or take away the deeper and abiding awareness of the Divine Presence.
   
   
2. To know the living God we have to share the sorrow of the Divine Heart. God puts up with endless human error, excess, and sometimes malice, in order to get across to us the most important realities of life, of which God’s unconditional forgiveness and love for everyone is the foremost.

Swimming in Mercy

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bless, Divine Presence, encounters, grace, mercy, moment, Psalm 103, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, today, willingness

Today is a day that calls for living in the moment…but is also prompting me to remember the consistent goodness of God: past, present and future. The grass couldn’t be greener, the sun is full up and drying the dew, the promise of the meteorologists is for a perfect late spring day. The psalmist sings: Each day I bless you, God of all; never will I forget the good that you have meant to me. (PS 103:2) I think of the graced conversations of yesterday – each one giving me something to think about or thank God for, so that the feelings and sensations of such a blessed day remain. While holding it all lightly, willing for the encounters to be like deposits in my spiritual bank account, I look toward today with a willingness to accept whatever befalls me. It is my hope to remember all day long that wonderful reality – also called to mind by Psalm 103 – that we swim in mercy as in an endless sea.

May all of us be awake to the divine presence in every moment of today!

 

 

 

 

 

All the Time

Tags

centering prayer, constantly, Divine Presence, judgment, meditation, morning, Psalm 105, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Synonyms for constantly: continuously, persistently, always, again and again, frequently, repeatedly, over and over…(You get the picture, yes?)

The first verse of today’s lectionary psalm calls to us: Look to the Lord in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. (PS 105:4) That adverb strikes a chord in me immediately. I think of the days I am very busy or late leaving for work in the morning and find myself grumpy or less effective during the day and wondering why. Then I realize that I did not take the time for my 20 minutes of centering prayer, an essential part of my morning routine. No kidding! It really makes a difference. It’s like taking vitamins or doing physical exercise.

Centering prayer is probably the simplest (although not always easy) meditation practice of all. It just requires the practitioner to sit down, make an intention to be in the Divine Presence and let go of thoughts. As the practice has deepened in me over the last eleven years, I have come to recognize the ability to let go of the habit of judgment – of myself, of other people and of situations or circumstances that used to bother me. Why would I not consent to God’s action in this brief pause each day? Good question as I prepare to sit and set my timer…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smiles All Around

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A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, consciousness, contemplative, dialogue, Divine Presence, inspiration, kindness, listening, message, mindfulness, psalm 57, smile, smiling, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wellness

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.

1. On Tuesday I met with the two other persons who are working with me to create a second series on Mindfulness to complement what we offered last year during Lent. We’re moving toward weekly presentations on contemplative listening and dialogue – skills that are not easily practiced in our culture. We easily talk about them but practicing is another matter.

2. On Wednesday I was at a pharmacy waiting for a prescription to be filled when my eye fell on what appeared to be a coloring book in the magazine rack at the checkout counter. It was, rather, a creative magazine called Breathe: The Well-being Special. A banner that ran across the cover announced Wellness, Kindness, Mindfulness, Inspiration. Since I had never before seen anything like it, surrounded as it was with offerings of Hollywood gossip and political distress, I had to buy it! I have not been disappointed.

3. This morning Psalm 57:8 sings out: Awake, O Spirit that sleeps within…So I myself can wake the dawn with music in the morning’s light. The commentary speaks of the divine Presence as so powerful that it can affect changes in the outer world.

4. Last but not least, Alan Cohen (A Deep Breath of Life) uses the image of how shoes are all lined up neatly at the entrance of a Japanese house – except his which were “criss-crossed and strewn out of line.”

Happily, I have come to feel that God is not wagging a finger at me when I fall out of consciousness these days. I trust that God is smiling with me when I return from the mindless, interfering thoughts to renewed awareness of the Divine Presence that comes with my next breath in the now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can You Hear It?

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, divine energy, Divine Presence, evolution, instruction, listening, natural word, nature, reality, silence, still, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe

In keeping with what I said yesterday about Chardin’s vision of evolution in the universe, today we have Psalm 19 in the lectionary readings. One commentator sees this psalm as containing “a grand cosmological vision of a vast universe, alive and full of the divine Presence.” In this psalm we hear the message that God’s word is heard through the natural world as well as in church sermons and our life experiences. I am always happy to read and hear others speak of the importance of the natural world as a conduit of God’s presence and teaching since I learn a lot from observing the depth and function of nature. Here is a suggestion for all of us, the busy people of the world, that might be something to try with the goal of opening us more fully to a deeper way of seeing.

Sometimes our difficulty is that we are not silent and still long enough to hear the subtleties of this quiet yet pervasive form of instruction. Allow yourself to become still and silent for a period of inner and outer listening. Listen with your whole being. Ask this divine energy and communication flowing through you to become a cleansing wind blowing the dust and debris away and opening you more fully to God’s inner Reality. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.46)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Again

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be in the moment, chant, consciousness, Divine Presence, Easter, God, Pentecost, resurrection, spirit, taize, Teresa of Avila, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trouble, truth

When last I wrote just before Easter, noting that I was heading for the hills of North Carolina, I said I wasn’t sure I would have internet access during the event that lay before me so promised to return today, my first morning home. I found that access was not what was lacking to me there. Rather I had entered into an experience that took all my time and focus where it seemed right to “be in the moment” with 51 others, all of us seeking a deeper commitment to our spiritual path. There was much silence, frequent centering prayer, the presentations of two inspired teachers, mindful physical work and constant attention to living in the present moment. I woke up this morning with a Taizé* chant singing inside me. It’s based on a prayer of Teresa of Avila and says, “Nothing can trouble; nothing can frighten. Those who seek God shall never go wanting. Nothing can trouble; nothing can frighten. God alone fills us.” This is what I know as I return to my “regular” life. We tasted God’s presence in many ways last week and were reminded throughout that each moment is filled with this presence, no matter where we are or what we’re doing, regardless of the circumstances that surround us. All we need to do is constantly come back to the consciousness of this truth.

Our celebration of the Resurrection is not over. Our lectionary tells us that today is “Monday of the Second Week of Easter.” We are moving toward the great feast of Pentecost, the remembrance of the moment when the Spirit of God, promised by Christ as the One who would be with us always, was poured out on the apostles and the gathered crowds in all fullness. That Spirit remains among us and causes us to grow into the Divine Presence more each day asking only that we be willing to open our hearts. So this morning I take a breath and walk forth into the day, not knowing what God has in store but joyfully determined to be there today and every day to find out.

*Taizé is a small town in France known for an ecumenical community of monks – about 100 in number now – who welcome thousands of pilgrims from all over the world (many of them young people) whose worship style of silence, Scripture and chanting punctuates their daily community living and has become a model for contemplative spiritual practice for many groups worldwide.