It Was Ever Thus

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change, COVID19, Genesis, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

More and more, I come to think that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Today’s first reading from Genesis 23-24, is the story of family life as it plays out from generation to generation: parents dying at an advanced age (Sarah at 127 years – we’re getting closer!), trying to assure acceptable mates for their children—who sometimes moved away finding mates at a distance….

It all makes me think of my mother and what a hard time she had moving from Boston to Upstate New York when my father’s job changed. It took her five months to accustom herself to the idea of moving away from her sisters and friends for a land she did not know. She was 45 years old and she had never lived more than 5 miles from her family. Syracuse, New York was 300 miles away. It was 1960 and It turned out to be a wonderful change for my mother. It was the beginning of the era of such movement and my father was a genius who sent her back “home” three times that first year for weekends so she never lost her connections with her “familiars.”

Life in these United States has certainly changed since then. My brother now lives in San Diego, California—3,000 miles away. Although I long for the rare “in-person” visits, I can be almost satisfied when we “zoom” on the weekends with my sister and sister-in-law.

As I reflect on these changes, I consider the shifts in faith practice as well. I have not been to Church in over a year—due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I am a child of my era, after all. Most of us zoom our spiritual practices these days, and the question is whether we will ever return to “in-person” worship. In this world of “artificial intelligence” and impending trips to the moon (!) who can tell whether we will soon out-live Sarah’s 127 years…. What I think I know now is that I will continue to need person-to-person connection going forward. That is the way I find best to encounter God. If I should someday in the future see God “in the flesh,” I presume I will be transformed! Until that day, I shall keep my computer revved up (regardless of my complaints!) and continue to strive for moments of love and peace and joy coming from everything that has meaning in each moment of time.

A New World Order

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Abraham, create a better world, Genesis, Lent, live simply, moral responsibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There has been a lot of pain and letting go during these days of Covid 19. We have lost many of our loved ones “in the flesh” and have only memories to comfort us. This “letting go” is likely the most difficult of any loss and the most universally understood. I considered this as I read the story in Genesis of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. It’s easy to say that God did not really ask for that; it was just a test and we know that Abraham passed the test. This is a story from very ancient days where human sacrifice was the order of the day. The practice was intended to bring good fortune and to pacify the gods. In this time and in our culture there is no justification for such a practice. My God would never ask for that kind of willingness…so how can we use the story to learn a lesson?

As we move into the second week of Lent we might ask ourselves what we are willing to give up for the common good, or perhaps even more to the point, what we are willing to do, to engage or practice to create a better world—even if the scope of our “world” is very circumscribed. Some time ago a question arose in our country asking about our willingness “to live simply so that others might simply live.” It was a clever, catchy statement that caught on in social justice circles and many people took it to heart and changed their lives to be more ecologically or otherwise responsible.

What might be a moral responsibility today if we bring the “willingness” closer to our own life? How might our lives be changed if we take to heart what it would cost to give up our most cherished images of ourselves and live in the heart of God—whatever that means to you? I wonder what the world would feel like then…

Thinking Out Loud…

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creation, Garden of Eden, Genesis, miracle, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Because we are now again reading from the Book of Genesis, the stories about the creation of the world and today from the Garden of Eden give me pause. I understand the difference between history and story but I do wonder, when humans began to people the earth, how they learned to do the things that would help them to survive. I’m thinking about food and shelter…and how they came to know what was good for them and what was dangerous. Fast forward to 2021. How do scientists determine what makes up a vaccine that will work against a disease that is ravaging the world? And what about the means to communicate among the nations about what is good for us? How did languages develop? And religions? And a sense of family ties? How did people learn to love one another—or not? Trial and error…?

I am at the same time awed and concerned at the way the world is developing. It seems we have been given what we need of intellect and possibility to survive but I also have a feeling that humanity, having been given all that, must pay attention at a deeper level to what composes a life at this juncture in history. Where did thinking enter the scene? I mean deep thinking that inaugurated a new consciousness of responsibility for one another. The fact that the world has survived this long seems both a mystery and a miracle and seems the best reason to believe in a “Higher Power.”

Forgive my meandering this morning. I began with only the second creation narrative and traveled swiftly through the creation of humanity all the way to this moment in time. There are so many questions…and amazements! I just looked down at my hands—two identical sets of fingers that know how to type words in the English language that I have learned over the past 72 years to express my thoughts to send to you for your reflection. And I realize what a miracle it is that you may understand what I’m saying! So on we go…

Praise for Creation

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, blessings, creation, Genesis, joy, praise God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning’s lectionary psalm (104) walks in tandem with the Genesis creation reading that precedes it. Having, however, a different purpose, it offers us a reason to pause and reflect—as if looking back on how we’ve appreciated what God has made. Immediately, as the psalmist opens his mouth, praise and purpose come forth: Rise up. my soul, and speak this blessing to your God...What follows is a reminder of the greatness of God’s generosity and how we have or have not appreciated the gift.

Today would be a good day to look up the totality of this song of praise or simply to see and consider how we have appreciated its content in how we have used and/or abused the creation. Look around. (I say this as the sun peeks out from behind the hills to wash us and to melt the snow.) Think more about the creation and how we have helped it manifest (like plantings and the vegetables that are in season) rather than how we have used—and sometimes abused—these natural resources. Make whatever offering of prayer comes to you while thinking on these things and conclude with the final verses of the psalm that speak our praise:

So while I live and have my breath, all this shall be my song. And may the poetry of heart and word I speak rise up as joy to bless the Lord…for we would ever bless you, God, our hearts remembering all you are to us, both now and ever more…Amen and Hallelujah. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 262-3)

Seeds

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faith, Genesis, growth, Holy Week, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It’s amazing how much life there is in seeds. Some are so small they can hardly be seen and it takes trust to even put them in the ground without throwing in a whole fistful. When I was in a gardening phase of my life I wondered what was the reason for the differences among them, including size. Then it occurred to me that even animals and humans start that way and the amazement comes with the exponential growth during the gestation period. That brought me, of course, back to the creation story in Genesis that I love to hear during Holy Week and then forward again to the days in spring when all the flowers and trees begin to bud and then burst into their marvelous diversity. God really was (and remains) very prolific and generous in creating our world.

So what, then, should we make of the parable of the mustard seed in today’s gospel as a sign of the kingdom of heaven? (MT 13:31-35) Something very large and glorious, I suspect. Be sure to look around today, lest you miss the manifestations everywhere.

Mary in June?

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Blessed Mother, coronavirus, Genesis, good old days, John, Mary, May, prejudice, solutions, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Everything seems so up-ended, disordered, chaotic…even as I turned first to the USCCB website this morning for the liturgical readings of the day. “It is June, is it not?” I asked myself, as I looked at the liturgical calendar and saw the heading: “Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.” Most “good Catholics” of at least “middle age” have been aware since childhood of the dedication of May as “the Month of Mary, our Mother.” We grew up with Marian hymns and May Crownings, flowers and May Devotions with special attention to the rosary and awareness of a twinning of sorts of Memorial Day as May 30 and the feast of Mary as Queen of Heaven on the 31st.

I admit my age when I say these things so please don’t think I have returned to the “good old days” before all calendars became rather fluid to accommodate work schedules/weekends and other updates seen more sensible to the majority of people, at least in the USA. It’s just that I could always count on celebrating May first as my own mother’s birthday and the 31st as that of our Blessed Mother Mary. Silly me, to hold to a calendar when the world is in chaos all around me.

After my rant and a closer look inside, I find it ironic but also telling that the readings for today seem correct. From the Hebrew Scriptures (GN 3:9-15, 20) we hear the conversation in the Garden of Eden between God and Adam after he and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit. It is all about excuses and blaming and judgment. (Eve has joined the conversation midway through). More striking is the gospel recounting (JN 19: 25-34) of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Our country is burning with looting and mourning, frustration and pain over racism and pandemic. The coronavirus is not a punishment from God, nor is the sin of racism. We need to look deeply at the situations and ask ourselves how we might now contribute to solutions rather than adding to the chaos. What have we done to stem the tide of infection? Are wearing a mask in public and washing our hands at home too onerous strictures? More deeply yet, we need to look at reasons for prejudice against our brothers and sisters who do not look like us or talk like us or celebrate life like us. Do we know the hearts of others rather than just their skin? What have we done to welcome difference into our lives and love it in the name of the God who created us all?

I am talking to myself here as much as to anyone else and I need this day to look at my own life and do more than wish that it could be different for all of us. I have no more words. I rely on your prayer as I offer mine to you. May God help us all.

Who Do We Think We Are?

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dominion, Earth, Genesis, Laudato Si, protect the Earth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, till and keep

As we wait for news of the path that Hurricane Dorian will take today, praying that the report of the strength now of the storm as a “category 5” as it approaches the Bahamas will change, I read a passage from Laudato si, (On Care for our Common Home), the extraordinary treatise on creation and climate change by Pope Francis. It is without doubt “a cautionary tale” and it calls each of us to action, hoping it is not too late. Let us ponder his words.

67. We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us. This allows us to respond to the charge that Judeo-Christian thinking, on the basis of the Genesis account which grants man “dominion” over the earth (cf. Gen. 1:28) has encouraged the unbridled exploitation of nature by painting him as domineering and destructive by nature.

This is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as understood by the Church. Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures.

The biblical texts are to be read in their context, with an appropriate hermeneutic, recognizing that they tell us to “till and keep” the garden of the world (cf. Gen 2:15).”Tilling” refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while “keeping” means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature. Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations.

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.

Give It A Try

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Abraham, conversation, Genesis, God, interchange, love of God, relationship with God, Sodom, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

I love the image of God in today’s first reading from Genesis (18: 16-33). It’s a true anthropomorphic characterization that I think we ought to consider. God is thinking and expressing concerns about relationship with Abraham and to find out what He/God ought to do relative to the wickedness of the inhabitants of Sodom. (“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?…I must go down there to see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out.“)

Following that musing is the famous bargaining conversation that God had with Abraham. (“If there were 50…30…or 20…or even ten innocent people in the city, would you not destroy the city for the sake of the ten?”) God agrees all along the way of that conversation. It’s such a wonderfully human interchange – sounding somewhat like a child to parent or even a bargaining of equals.

How wonderful it would be if we were that confident in “having God’s ear” and talking with that kind of confidence with God. I’m not actually talking about begging for a good outcome, necessarily, but rather just the manner of conversation that God and Abraham actually had with each other. If love and trust are the virtues that we share with our God, shouldn’t we be able to find that kind of confidence? It’s my bet that God would be as happy as we would with that comfortable interchange. Why not begin the conversation and listen for God’s response?

Consequences

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Abram, consequences, generosity, Genesis, hearts, jealousy, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, Sarai, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

After reading today’s text from the lectionary (GN 16:6B-12, 15-16) about Sarai’s inability to have children and her acquiescence to Abram’s need for an heir, I found her decision to “give” her maidservant, Hagar, to him as his concubine rather surprising. Actually, it was her behavior after the decision that belied the seeming generosity of her decision. She was very abusive of Hagar when Hagar became pregnant! Serendipitously, without any effort on my part, (Does anything really happen “by chance?”) I opened Meg Wheatley’s book, Perseverance, and found the following:

Jealousy and generosity are reverse images of one another. In response to any circumstance, one or the other will arise, guaranteed. Since they inhabit the same space, only one can appear at any time; they cancel each other out. Jealousy arises as generosity disappears, generosity flourishes as jealousy is stilled…

As closely connected as jealousy and generosity are, they create very different consequences. If jealousy predominates, we turn inward, shrivel our hearts, and lose strength. If generosity grows, we grow also. Our world expands. We realize there is enough to go round…

The world expands from the inside out – it’s our hearts that have enlarged. We not only feel more loving, we’re also more open and aware. We see more, we take in more, we let in more.

Jealousy is such a waste of a good human heart. (p. 75)