The Glory of God

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Daniel Ladinsky, glory of God, kneel, pray, presence, psalm 19, sanctuary, St. Catherine of Siena, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Psalm 19 proclaims today that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork! Even just the daffodils in our yard – very prolific this year – are a lovely sign of this as they turn each day toward the sun and dance so freely in the breeze. Here’s a random quote from Catherine of Siena, translated by the poet Daniel Ladinsky, that gives me pause in the same manner as I prepare for the day.

It could be said that God’s foot is so vast that this entire earth is but a field on his toe, and all the forests in this world came from the same root of just a single hair of His. What then is not a sanctuary? Where then can I not kneel and pray at a shrine made holy by His presence? (Love Poems from God, p. 205)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything Means Everything

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conscious, everything, glory of God, gratitude, reverence, spiritual nature, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

On days like today when I read Paul’s directives about doing “everything for the glory of God,” I find myself saying, “Yup…Okay…I’ll avoid giving offense…Yes…I got that…” or words to that effect – assuming that I have taken Paul’s words to heart and that I’ll remember when situations arise that call for attention to my “spiritual nature.” If I’m honest I have to admit that sometimes I’m soaring on automatic pilot at these times because the words are so familiar. Usually it’s the extreme situations that call our attention more quickly to a response.

So just now I read for the third time: Brothers and sisters, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Eating and drinking for the glory of God…Who thinks about that? Suddenly a flood of questions: Do I ever just eat or drink? (Mostly I have a book in my hand or on my lap.) Do I savor what I’m eating? (Even if we’re watching TV during supper, i.e. “dinner theater?”) Can I taste differences in flavor in the different bites? What about different textures? Am I grateful just to have enough food to eat – even if I don’t especially like what I’m eating? Do I ever over-eat? I could go on…

Reverence for food and gratitude that I have enough to eat seems a “no-brainer” too often so today I will try to make it a conscious activity of my brain to offer praise and glory to God for every bite or sip that passes my lips and keeps me strong for the work of God in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giving Thanks

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blessings, Book of Hours, glory of God, light, nothingness, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

I have many reasons for personally giving thanks on this holiday when people in the USA pause to recall their blessings. I turned to Merton’s Book of Hours for a word that would be appropriate for today in a more expansive way than the personal and serendipitously opened to the Thursday “psalm” (without any manipulation to choose it) that has become one of my favorite quotes of all time. I have shared it here before, I am sure, but repeat it as a reminder of who we are in God’s sight and a prayer for us to recognize each other in the same way.

In the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere. (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, 158)

Thanksgiving Blessings to all!

Creation Sings!

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autumn, creation, glory of God, natural world, psalm 119, psalm 139, psalm 8, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I occasionally mention my three favorite psalms (8, 19, 139) that all speak in some way of the grandeur of creation. I find it fitting that today, when we are at the peak of autumn beauty in the Northeast USA, Psalm 19 appears in the daily readings to wake me up (just in case I am missing the splendid show!). Perhaps even those not lucky enough to experience the brilliance of color in trees and the clarity of the chilly night sky full of stars can give thanks today for our natural world. There are oceans, mountains, deserts, birds and animals to observe and be amazed at – because of diversity as well as complexity. Whatever our experience of today, may it evoke a sense of what the Psalmist felt in singing the following:

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork. Day pours out the word to day and night to night imparts knowledge. Not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard. Through all the world their voice resounds and to the ends of the world their message. God has pitched a tent there for the sun, which comes forth like a groom from his bridal chamber and, like a giant, joyfully runs its course. At one end of the heavens it comes forth, and its course is to their other end; nothing escapes its heat.