Tags
20/20 vision, A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, appreciation, attitude, clarity, experience, gift, hear, meditation, messages, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
It seems incredible that we have already traversed an entire month of the year 2020. It is shaping up to be a challenging time for many reasons, some from natural causes and some of human initiative. It seems imperative that we be constantly awake to the broad spectrum of events and stay true to our own integrity, which includes watching our own behavior and response to challenges.
The impetus for this line of thought is (as usual) something I read just now from A Deep Breath of Life by Alan Cohen. In his reflection for this date, Cohen says the following:
Through prayer and meditation, you can sensitize yourself to hear important messages before they are played out in the physical world…Rather than fight life or adopt a victim position, look for the gift in the experience. Imagine that the universe is conspiring not to hurt you, but to free you. An attitude of appreciation, rather than resentment, will soften and transform otherwise difficult lessons.
It isn’t always easy to admit our less than stellar behaviors and reactions to life events great and small but if we stay awake and practice seeing the lessons in our days, in the long run our vision improves and we can learn to accept ourselves and others without a need for obfuscation or excuse.
What better year for working on clarity of vision? It is 20-20, after all!
Every once in awhile I am pleasantly surprised by what I find as I begin my routine of blogging. My first stop is always the US Catholic Bishops’ website (www.usccb.org) which provides me with the lectionary readings for the day. Next I check Fr. Don Miller’s information about the holy person whose designated feast the Roman Catholic Church celebrates on that particular day (www.franciscanmedia.org). I do check into the thoughts floating in my own mind as well but always like to have some backup in case of “brain freeze.” And as most of you know, my “backup” stretches to many other sources as well.
I just read my post from yesterday to refresh my memory of what I said or didn’t say about Epiphany. As it happens, I think that post turned out to be a bit of an example of the meaning of the word. As celebrated in Christianity, the Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles represented by the Magi: a moment of great revelation. In a modern dictionary definition it is seen as “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”
Quotes from Pendle Hill: Today’s quote comes from Alan Cohen in his book A Deep Breath of Life.
Reading Psalm 40 this morning led me to the dictionary for some definitions of the word perspective. After the basic ideas, there were some interesting and even funny examples of the word in context, like: From their different perspectives, the scientists and musician both agree on music’s emotional power, and It took me awhile to put the housewives’ rebellion into perspective. I remember when I first realized a very important truth about perspective in one of its definitions. Sitting directly across from someone in a group having a conversation, I recognized that it was totally impossible for that person to see what I could see (physically) because we do not have eyes in the back of our heads (although many Catholic children thought the nuns that taught them in school were exceptions to that rule!). Because we do not have 360 degree swivel ability, we can only see just so far around us without turning our heads.
Long ago when I was baptized the rule was that only saints’ names were acceptable for Roman Catholic babies. Because it was also understood that “the faithful” were to learn about the Bible from the clergy and not their own study (although we were to have a “family Bible” in our homes), not too many people were aware that Lois was mentioned by St. Paul in passing. Did you know she was the grandmother of Paul’s young companion, Timothy? Well, in 1948, Lois was a surprise name choice of my mother so my middle name became more important. It seems ironic now because the name my parents chose was Ann (not Anne, thank you very much!) whom legend says was the grandmother of Jesus, mother of his mother, Mary. So today, the feast of St. Ann (and her husband Joachim, a relatively recent addition to the Church calendar), seems to be about grandparents – mine and yours as well as those of Jesus and Timothy.
