The Gift of Music

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Andrea Bocelli, beauty, conscience, friend, heart and soul, music, mystical experiences, spiritual enrichment, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I was reminded this morning of the gift that is ours in the beauty of music. I was reading an interview with Andrea Bocelli where he speaks of what music does for the “human heart and soul,” something that I agree is necessary to us, perhaps more important than ever in our lives now. See if you agree with him.

Bocelli says: “Music is like a dear friend, one that never leaves your side. It is a universal language with the strength and ability to affect our conscience, helping us to do better. Music is also a source of spiritual enrichment, which is why knowing its language can be useful for everyone, not just those wanting to make it a profession.

When music embraces beauty, it soothes us, makes us grow, heals us by directing us toward rectitude. It can also lead us toward a fuller mystical experience.” (blog.franciscan media.org – Andrea Bocelli on Music and Miracles, August 26, 2020)

What is the music that can alter your mood, lifting you to a place of beauty, joy, peace or promise? Might you give yourself the gift of music today?

Debate

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enemy, forgiveness, friend, grace, gratitude, John Philip Newell, mercy, Praying With the Earth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Everything is quiet this morning. I woke up to a morning with no wind, no rain, no snow – and no cars racing down the road. I was grateful for all that after the tumultuous debate of democratic candidates for President of the United States last night. Most bothersome was the disregard for time limits as people continued to talk while others were chiming in with their opinions and disagreements until it became what I imagine the Tower of Babel was like. I presume this will continue now until the primary races are over and there is a named nominee. And then there will be the more contentious period of run-up to the general election. It will not be a pretty process, but unavoidable for committed citizens. While we don’t need to listen to everything, staying above the fray and listening to nothing is not the way to participate in our democracy so I am grateful for moments like this one and guides like John Philip Newell who grounds me in simplicity with his morning prayers. Won’t you join me today?

We wake to the forgiveness of a new day. We wake to the freedom to begin again. We wake to the mercy of the sun’s redeeming light. Always new, always gift, always blessing. We wake to the forgiveness of this new day.

May our enemy become our friend, O God, that we may share earth’s goodness. May our enemy become our friend, O God, that our children may meet and marry. May our enemy become our friend, O God, that we may remember our shared birth in you. May we grow in grace, may we grow in gratitude, may we grow in wisdom, that our enemy may become our friend. (Praying with the Earth – A Prayerbook for Peace, p. 36)

Connections

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encounter, friend, gratitude, presence, relationships, spiritual home, St. Barnabas, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Commentary on this feast of St. Barnabas got me thinking today about connections. The Franciscan Media website tells us that Barnabas was “a Jew of Cyprus, as close as anyone outside the Twelve to being a full-fledged apostle.” A close associate of St. Paul, he was the one who introduced Paul to Peter and had a major role in mediating between Paul and the Jewish Christians.

Many, if not most of the people who come to the Spiritual Center in Windsor, come because of a recommendation from a friend. Often, they find a “spiritual home” here and come back eagerly the next summer to see those like-minded people with whom they continue to grow together as they are nurtured in their spiritual development. I see the same happening at the Sophia Center in the many gatherings that draw individuals of varied backgrounds. They come, perhaps, for something that sounds interesting and come back because of the people they they find in the encounter. Some relationships are instantaneous; some grow with time. Occasionally we only see a person once or twice and wonder why we miss their presence, wishing they would return.

I’ve often heard that people are in our lives for a purpose and I believe that to be true. Whether for a “chance” encounter or a lifetime relationship, the connection can be significant, even life-changing sometimes.Today’s commentary notes that in the early Church “all was not peaceful…and even the best of friends can have differences.” Surrender is a facet of any mature relationship and sometimes binds people together in ways that nothing else can.

These musings lead me to a theme for my day which will include at least three opportunities to be grateful for the people in my life – stalwart friends as well as those I do not yet know well. In between I will bless those who have taught me life lessons and have passed from this world. My gratitude list will surely be long at the end of the day…

Plain Language

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friend, Hearts on Fire Praying With the Jesuits, Jesus, loving gesture, powerful, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, welcome

Sometimes we think it’s necessary to find beautiful words as our prayer, searching for just the right ones to catch God’s attention. I was reminded this morning by a simple prayer in the Jesuit prayer book, Hearts on Fire, that a simple statement is just fine because God hears all our prayers that are spoken with a sincere heart. Here is what Joseph Tetlow, SJ offered this morning.

Lord Jesus, from the start you invite ordinary people to come to where you live. When they come, you welcome them and call them to labor and rejoice with you. You are the most beautiful among all [men] and I hardly believe you want me for your friend. You are powerful, Lord. Draw me more and more into your friendship and lead me along the way you took with friends. (p.82)

Come to think of it, if even this seems too much sometimes, just a bow or an opening of our hands – or your own choice of a loving gesture – would surely be enough for Christ.

Homecoming

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bless the Lord, friend, God, guide, James Quinn SJ, Lectionary, might, Morning Has Broken, psalm 34, ritual, strength, sustain, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

Having arrived home last night, I could not wait another day to take up this morning ritual. Rising from sleep in my very own room, I recall my sister-in-law asking my brother – in a ritual of their own –  what song has awakened him. Today I have a lovely answer for this lovely day. It is the words of Jesuit James Quinn set to the tune of Morning Has Broken. As I throw open my window to welcome the sun and a sweet breeze, I hear within these lyrics:

This day God gives me strength of high heaven, sun and moon shining, flame in my hearth, flashing of lightning, wind in it’s swiftness, deeps of the ocean, firmness of earth. This day God sends me strength to sustain me, might to uphold me, wisdom as guide. Your eyes are watchful, Your ears are listening, Your lips are speaking, Friend at my side.

Then I turn to the lectionary and find Psalm 34 that calls me to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” How can I not respond as did the psalmist? “I will bless the Lord at all times! God’s praise shall be ever in my mouth!”

Happy Sunday, indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends of God

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awareness, child, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, content, faith, friend, friendship, gratitude, humble, knowledge, light, poverty, praise, prayer plant, presence, simplicity, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

Sometimes when life feels very complicated I like to find some simplicity somewhere. This morning, since light had already arrived at this task before I did, I looked up and saw that my prayer plant had found a way to untangle herself from the tight configuration her leaves had been living in since I transplanted her a few weeks ago. She seemed happy to spread her arms in praise. That moment was enough to call me to do the same.

The feeling was deepened when I opened to the words of Thomas Merton who offered me the following message from his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:

You ask of me nothing else than to be content that I am your Child and your Friend, simply to accept your friendship because it is your friendship. This friendship is Spirit. You have called me to be repeatedly born in the Spirit, repeatedly born in light, in knowledge, in unknowing, in faith, in awareness, in gratitude, in poverty, in presence, and in praise.

Such a wide-ranging invitation offered to all who consent simply to accept humble friendship with God!

 

 

 

 

 

Words from a Samurai Warrior

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awareness, benevolence, character, divine power, friend, home, honesty, Hurricane Maria, inner strength, lost everything, Meg Wheatley, mindfulness, miracles, parents, perseverance, right action, Samurai, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Thinking about the situation of those in the path today of Hurricane Maria, people who will be blasted for the second time in two weeks by devastation, I picked up Meg Wheatley’s book, Perseverance, since there is nothing I can say of any relevance on my own. What I found was a quote from a 14th century Japanese Samurai Warrior. It was not what I was looking for but did make me think. What if it seemed I had lost everything? I mused. What would be left that would make me refuse to lie down and die? The answer focused on inner strength and so I repeat it here as a hope for those whose lives seem empty at this moment and a way to consider hope when all outer hope is gone.

• I have no parents: I make the heavens and earth my parents.
• I have no home: I make awareness my home.
• I have no divine power: I make honesty my divine power.
• I have no means: I make understanding my means.
• I have no magic secrets: I make character my magic secrets.
• I have no miracles: I make right action my miracles.
• I have no friends: I make my mind my friend.
• I have no enemy: I make carelessness my enemy.
• I have no armor: I make benevolence and righteousness my armor.

Think on these things and then, perhaps, create your own list of your inner strengths.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friendship

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Book of Hours, child, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, disruption, faith, friend, friendships, gratitude, knowledge, light, praise, presence, school, spirit, surrender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

When I was teaching school, this used to be an important day for me as it still is for many folks. The Wednesday after Labor Day sees our young people returning to school after their long summer vacation. It isn’t the same everywhere in our country. In some places, school has been in session for weeks but in those places dismissal for the summer also happens earlier, primarily because of the heat, I think. Right now it seems that some young people will not return to their schools at all this year; the schools are no longer habitable because of Hurricane Harvey. What will become of them, I wonder, for many reasons. Some will likely be home-schooled. Some may be shuttled to other locations. That happened in my own town after a flood in 2011. A Catholic parish school that had been closed and used for other parish functions was given back its identity for two years while a new school was built. Will the youth of Texas be so lucky as to find schooling together with their familiars?

That kind of disruption must be difficult for students. The youngest children are probably more adaptable because they are still curious and open to all kinds of difference but I think of middle and high school students whose friendships have been forged in similarity and safety. Because of my father’s work, I moved to a different state just as my seventh grade school year was about to begin. Luckily I ended up in a small school with only about 40 students in each grade, otherwise I think I might have drowned in the sea of newness and difference.

Even the best of friendships are not easy to maintain. Different career paths, marriage and our mobile society among other factors can affect relationships that may have been long-standing. Recently, however, I met a 69 year old woman from a small town who was speaking of her 67 year friendship with her first playmate. That, to me, is miraculous. I find myself a little envious of such fidelity and steadfast care, for that is what they have. More often now friendships are hard work, and more difficult as we age, perhaps.

I smile as I write that because I read a rather ironic paragraph this morning from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours, quoted from his text, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. It couldn’t have been easy for him to be God’s friend, it seems, until he surrendered to the meaning of such a relationship. He’s speaking to God:

You ask of me nothing else than to be content that I am your Child and your Friend, simply to accept your friendship because it is your friendship. This friendship is Spirit. You have called me to be repeatedly born in the Spirit, repeatedly born in light, in knowledge, in unknowing, in faith, in awareness, in gratitude, in poverty, in presence and in praise.

This may be a day to examine my willingness to surrender to what friendship – both divine and human – calls out from me and to be grateful for those I call by that name.

 

 

 

 

 

Truth-telling

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brother, commitment to truth, companion, Cynthia Bourgeault, friend, Jesus, John, Paul, radical honesty, the way the truth and the life, The Wisdom of Jesus, truth

Yesterday I did a presentation entitled The Wisdom Jesus, based on the book of the same name by Cynthia Bourgeault. When I began by asking participants words that describe relationship with Jesus for them many used love; others said brother, friend, companion…and one said truth. I was reminded of that by this morning’s passage from John’s gospel wherein Jesus describes himself as the way, the truth and the life. (JN 14:1-4) It seems to me, at least for today, that there is a progression in those terms. If I choose to follow the path that Jesus walked, a necessary starting point is willingness to be truthful about that. I need to be unafraid to look deeply into what that means – by doing the work that the “way” calls me to do, i.e. paying attention to the words of Jesus in Scripture and in my heart. As I make a commitment to that, I will also be committing to be truthful when convenient and inconvenient, as St. Paul says. That’s not so easy either. There are lots of ways to get out of sticky situations by skewing the truth or not saying what needs to be said in situations – in addition, of course, to out-and-out lying that is much more blatant but also pervasive in our culture. Radical honesty as a practice must lead to fuller, happier life because whether or not anyone else knows about how truthful we are, such honesty will allow us to smile when we look in the mirror, knowing we have nothing to regret. So today will be one of those inventory times of checking on my willingness and record at following the way of Jesus through truth to life.