Who Is Your God?

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God's grace, kind, kindness, merciful, O bless the Lord my soul, Psalm 103, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Psalm 103 is very clear about the God we believe in. God’s “reputation” has often been sullied by those who choose to subjugate others—by power hungry leaders and those who rule “with an iron hand.” Think for a moment of how you would best describe the God that you know. Then listen to the psalmist who speaks this morning…

Bless the Lord, O my soul..The Lord is kind and merciful. God pardons all your iniquities and heals all your ills. God redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with kindness and compassion…Not according to our sins does the Lord deal with us, nor does our God requite us according to our crimes…For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is God’s kindness…

Sit for awhile with those words and see if you can agree with the psalmist. Consider the blessings in your life and the difficult times that you have endured. Be specific in naming events and people whose actions toward you represent God’s grace in your life. Dig deep…Can you agree that “the Lord is kind and merciful” and therefore pray: “Bless the Lord, my soul!”

Sisters on a Mission

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God's grace, Sharing of the heart and order of the house, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, to do list

Up at 6:30 because I was awake and already had a “to-do list” growing in my brain…I have been up now for over an hour watching the wind push the clouds out of the way in promise of a very blue, sunny sky. It’s like a race to the east where some grey clouds are still holding the lead in the south but a very energetic tree keeps urging on the blue and white to what is predicted as a win for today….Armchair quarterbacking was about all I could muster for my first hour so I made a list that became 20 tasks for today. There is no possibility that all will be accomplished but just making the list is a start and tomorrow, as we all know, is another day!

Last night I was on a zoom call with 186 Sisters of St. Joseph. It was an introduction to a Lenten process of assessing our “Sharing of the Heart and Order of the House,” a practice that our first Sisters in 17th century France created to assure a weekly assessment of their lives together. It helps a group—living together or not at this moment in time—to talk about what it means to “move always toward profound love of God and love of neighbor”—assuming that talking about it will become a means for achieving the goal, if even “one step at a time.” It’s a bit more daunting for us than it was for those six Sisters who sat to do the practice in a kitchen in LePuy, France in the mid-1600s. Not only do we have more people to deal with but we live from Japan to New York and Peru to Minnesota…Chile to Hawaii and many points in between. It’s a monumental task that we will hope to achieve, meeting weekly in groups of six—native speakers of our languages serving as translators as necessary—all to bring us closer in service to a world in need.

Just the thought of this process gives me a motivation to achieve today. Certainly every item on my list will not be checked off by nightfall but the clouds are racing faster across the sky, the tree is waving them on and the sun has just arrived in my bedroom full-force! And with all of that motivation, my first item on the list is completed. This blog post is ready to go. May your day hold the deep peace of God’s grace for you.

Blanketing

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Christ, God's grace, St. Patrick's Breastplate, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

We are in the midst of a dangerously frigid blast of weather, a polar vortex, I’ve been told. This condition, google tells me, was made famous from an arctic blast in 2015 and is now making a comeback. The “polar vortex” gets its name from a counter-clockwise spin—a rotating bubble of cold air around the North Pole that was scheduled to break off and head into much of the United States for the second half of January. It seems that—although somewhat late—it has arrived here in New York. Actually, we will have a temperature high of 10 degrees today but wind chills will put us deep into the negative category calling us all to stay inside.

Just after having read about the weather, I picked up one of the little books that gives me hope. Today it’s the one called Morning Prayer, Evening Praise, from Paulist Press that has been bouncing around our house since 1997. Flipping through the somewhat yellowed pages, I happened upon the familiar St Patrick’s Breastplate. Perhaps you know it: Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me…

It goes on, but as I read that much I had a sensation of a great blanket being wrapped around me and the blanket was Christ. It was a blanket of wool, as if from a sheep on one side and of warmth on the other. A lovely image for me today…May you be similarly wrapped in God’s grace!

Blessing of the Day

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blessing, comfort, God's grace, grateful, joy, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, tranquility

After an amazingly good night of uninterrupted sleep and fortified with my first cup of coffee of the day, I go forward into a large gathering of Sisters of St. Joseph. It a sort of “homecoming” that we have each October as close as possible to the remembrance of our founding date. I found a blessing that we used this summer at the larger, whole Congregation meeting that (with a few changes) seems appropriate for this day, not only for us but for all of God’s people.

O God of all Goodness, whose infinite wisdom has brought us to this time and place in our history, we ask you to bless us today. May our lives be blessed with the fullness of God’s grace, the deep challenge of Christ and the wisdom and wonder of Spirit. May the coming days be tranquil, grateful and filled with the joy and comfort of God.

Doing What Must Be Done

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God's grace, holiness, Immaculate Heart of Mary, love of God, sacred heart of Jesus, Sisters of Charity of the Refuge, St. John Eudes, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today I’m reminded by the feast of St. John Eudes of a popular catch phrase of long ago that advised us to “Bloom where you’re planted.” The brief biography of this saint whose life spanned much of the 17th century began with the following summary paragraph.

How little we know where God’s grace will lead. Born on a farm in northern France, John died at 79 in the next “county” or department. In that time, he was a religious, a parish missionary, founder of two religious communities, and a great promoter of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. (http://www.franciscanmedia.org)

All his life, John Eudes was attentive to what was right in front of him. He didn’t travel far from his birthplace. He cared for the sick of his diocese during two severe plagues. In his concern for the spiritual improvement of the clergy, he was frustrated when the general superior disapproved and, therefore, left his religious community and founded a new one, devoted to the formation of the clergy in diocesan seminaries. In addition, with the encouragement of a woman named Madeleine Lamy, he founded a community for prostitutes called Sisters of Charity of the Refuge.

In the end, the commentary concludes that “Holiness is the wholehearted openness to the love of God. It is visibly expressed in many ways, but the variety of expression has one common quality: concern for the needs of others.”

How do you/might you express, in a concrete way, your concern for the needs of others? Remember it’s all about how God is placing opportunities in our life and how willing we are to open our hearts to the need we see. You might be surprised at what is presented to you…God tends to be like that sometimes.

Nobody’s Perfect!

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, chosen, Corinthians, God's grace, humility, Isaiah, Luke, Psalm 138, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Beginning with the Prophet Isaiah today, we have laments in every age about our imperfections. He starts us off by describing a vision of God seated on “a high and lofty throne” with angels all around and proclaims, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips!” What follows is testimony to God’s willingness to choose him – even in his weakness – and to cure him. (IS 6:1-8) Similarly in the second reading, St. Paul acknowledges that he was not fit to be called an apostle because he had been diligent in persecuting Christians. “By the grace of God,” however, he acknowledges that “I am what I am and God’s grace has not been ineffective.” (1COR 15: 1-11). Finally we have Simon Peter doubting the effectiveness of the directive Jesus gives to the fishermen who have been all night at their task and caught nothing. Perhaps his saving grace was that although he expressed his doubt about going back out “into deep water” and lowering the nets again, he said to Jesus, “but at your command I will lower the nets.” You know the story (LK 5: 1-11). The nets were almost breaking with all the fish! Peter’s response: to fall at the knees of Jesus and say, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” In each of these cases, the imperfect servant comes to know a sort of greatness in humility.

The lesson in each of these readings is captured in Psalm 138, tucked in the center of it all. “Your right hand saves me…your kindness, O Lord, endures forever…” Lynn Bauman’s translation of this psalm gives a beautiful expression of encouragement to us, letting us know that in spite of our human frailty God is just waiting to give us what we need.

For when I spoke your sacred name, your word of answer swiftly came as source of all the strength I know within. O peoples of this earth, know this, you too can hear this voice and speak the name. You too can know the music of this song revealing God’s beauty in fullest splendor. For though God is high beyond this earth, as swift as wind God stoops to hold the lowly close, the proud afar…(Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.354)

Imperceptible Growth

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communication, community, God's grace, growth, Lectionary, Matthew, miracle, mustard seed, spiritual direction, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had a wild mix of rainstorms and sunshine. I’ve  noticed and probably have commented more than once on the lushness of creation here in rural New York State. It isn’t only the very healthy grass growth. I’ve been taking the measure (not literally) of how incredibly tall the trees on our property have become over the past few years. It seems the birds have taken note and have invited their relatives to move in as each morning I am awakened to more and more lusty chirping of every kind. I’m aware of all this today because the gospel for this morning contains the parable of the mustard seed, “the smallest of all seeds,” Jesus says, “yet when full-grown is the largest of all plants,” so that “the birds in the sky come and dwell in its branches.” (MT 13:31-35)

Of course Jesus isn’t just talking about seeds, trees and birds. Neither am I. I have been part of so many conversations lately, and have seen or read about conferences and topical presentations on such diverse expressions of spirituality, that I can’t help but think the energy is growing toward a broader and deeper growth of new forms of community than I would have imagined even twenty years ago. My own personal example is the most astounding to me and, ironically because of my slowness to join the world of internet technology, a marvel of worldwide communication.

About four years ago I started reading the morning lectionary texts from the US Catholic Bishops’ website in order to share prayer with two former colleagues whose  deep sharing at staff meetings over eleven years was then missing from my life. We thought if we could connect in this way, it would keep us in spiritual touch with one another to some degree at least. Over the next year or two, I added e-mail addresses of a few people with whom I was doing spiritual direction until I was sending it to a dozen or so. It seemed a natural progression, when The Sophia Center for Spirituality came into existence, to continue this daily practice on our website. Now, after almost two years of this daily practice of mine, the result can only be termed a miracle of God’s grace. I know that because my computer keeps track of how many people visit each day and how many entries they read when they do. The most compelling part for me is that the countries of origin are also noted. Every once in awhile I look at the summaries. Last week there were visitors from 23 countries including such diverse places as India, Australia, Japan, Croatia, Nigeria, Finland, Moldova and the Philippines! How I would love to meet all these people! Some of them are likely people who were “just surfing” but they stopped at least long enough to read one entry of the blog. Last Wednesday, daily tallies for such readings since I began the blog reached 10,002! This could never have happened before the development of the “worldwide web” that connects us.

Clearly, God’s grace abounds and astounds and we are called, as Thomas Merton reminds us, to “forget ourselves on purpose” (for it is truly God’s work in which we participate) “and join in the general dance!”

Up On the Roof

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Capernaum, faith, forgiveness, God's grace, Jesus, labor, Mark, opportunity, paralytic, roof, surrender control, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

We recently had the roof over our kitchen repaired. It wasn’t just the addition of a new layer of shingles. Because it had been leaking, the roofers had to take off what was there down to the wood layer to make sure everything was tight and secure so we would be warm and dry this winter. Having helped with a roof myself once, I know what a labor-intensive job it can be.

Clearly, construction in the time and location of today’s gospel story was different. Mark (2:1-12) talks about the great crowd that had gathered to listen to Jesus at his home in Capernaum such that there was no room for everyone “even around the door.”  When four men who arrived carrying a paralytic on a mat couldn’t find any way in, they just “opened up the roof above him and after they had broken through, let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.” I always found that a rather stunning line both because it was an ingenious way to get the attention of Jesus and because of their ability to actually accomplish the feat – to say nothing of the fact that they were defacing someone else’s property. It didn’t seem to faze Jesus, however, so I’m thinking that the roof was easily repaired. It appears that Jesus was impressed by the ingenuity and the faith of the four men and his response speaks to the importance of community as well, I think. Mark says, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven.'”

Sometimes we need to rely on others when we are unable to manage on our own. Whether it be someone to drive us to Church or to sit with us during a time of suffering, perhaps it is our willingness to surrender our need for control of the situation that will bring us the solution or the peace that we need. The by-product is giving someone else the opportunity to be God’s grace for us in that moment in whatever creative way s/he is able and willing to be. But I’d suggest trying to find a solution that keeps us on the ground.