Down to Earth

Tags

Advent, Book of Revelation, existence

The images in the Book of Revelation often alert us to the time when God will “make all things new.” It seems that we have been waiting for a long time now for things to change, for the world to be transformed – or at least to “go back to normal.” But then I think of the quote from Scripture that sees us like a breath, our days “like a passing shadow” and wonder how it is that our existence is so brief…The goal is to wake up and make it count, I guess.

As we sit today and tomorrow on the verge of Advent I am called to pay attention by a quote for today in my Living Faith magazine. Commenting on that first reading from the Book of Revelation, the author says: “We don’t have to float above reality to find God. Already, he has come down to us and made all things new. He brings fulfillment and life as it was meant to be…” So maybe it’s up to us, after all…

It’s getting late. I’d better get going on a concrete plan for Advent.

Called By Name

Tags

existence, God, Hearts on Fire, Joseph Tetlow SJ, Lord, name, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It took me a long time to get comfortable with my name. My mother, I have heard, was looking for names that didn’t have the likelihood of devolving into nicknames. (That was a lost cause!) I think she was also interested in finding names that were uncommon, if not really unique. (The majority of Catholic girls of my age had a Mary or Marie attached somehow.) The one thing that comforted me about my name (although I was often asked where Superman was hiding) was that I was the only Lois in my class from kindergarten through high school.

Today I came across a prayer by Joseph Tetlow, SJ that focused more on who we are in the eyes of God and how our name becomes us as we grow into that identity. Knowing that I am unique in all the world (as we all are) because of God’s call, I pray:

Oh, Lord my God, you called me from the sleep of nothingness merely because in your tremendous love you want to make good and beautiful beings. You have called me by my name in my mother’s womb. You have given me breath and light and movement and walked with me every moment of my existence. I am amazed, Lord God of the universe, that you attend to me and, more, cherish me. Create in me the faithfulness that moves you and I will trust you and yearn for you all my days. Amen. (Hearts on Fire, p.14)

Let All The Earth Cry Glory!

Tags

Christ, divine influence, existence, God, Lord, power, radical transformation, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unity, universe

After a weekend of observing radical transformations of vast fields into vibrant green carpets and watching the waning sun splash patterns of color like the best abstract artists – not to mention the truest blue of the sky, I turn to Teilhard de Chardin for a fitting prayer of gratitude this morning. He does not disappoint.

Glorious Lord Christ:
the divine influence secretly diffused and active in the depths of matter,
and the dazzling centre
where all the innumerable fibres of the manifold meet;
power as implacable as the world and as warm as life;
you whose forehead is of the whiteness of snow,
whose eyes are of fire,
and whose feet are brighter than molten gold;
you whose hands imprison the stars;
you who are the first and the last,
the living and the dead and the risen again;
you who gather into your exuberant unity
every mode of existence;
it is you to whom my being cries out
with a desire as vast as the universe:
“In truth you are my Lord and my God!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love is the Reason

Tags

character, existence, God is love, Kathleen Deignan, love, name, self, selflessness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, true, true identity

“To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.”

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