Connections

Tags

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…

Advertisements

Prayer for the World

Tags

all be one, D-Day, gratitude, protect, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

My first thoughts today are of a 96 year-old Army veteran on the news last evening parachuting “piggy-back” out of an airplane onto the beach at Normandy in France. He did the same (singly) 75 years ago today – D-Day – in the battle that changed the course of World War II. As we pray in gratitude for all those who lost loved ones in that battle and that war and for those who survived, let us pray for all the men and women who serve to protect our country. Moreover, let our over-arching goal be that expressed by Jesus in today’s gospel text.

May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. (Jn 17:21)

Mother’s Day

Tags

child, gratitude, mother, Mother's Day, openess, Peace, pure love, relationships, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is what many Americans call, somewhat cynically, a “Hallmark holiday.” In addition to cards – often purchased from Hallmark – we spend a great deal of money on flowers and other purchases to tell our mothers that we love them. Sometimes those material things are a substitute for the words “I love you,” words that would be enough for most mothers.

I know that for many people this is a difficult day because mother-daughter or mother-son relationships can be difficult or even tragic and I pray for the healing of those relationships as there are no closer ties than those between mother and child. The time of nourishing a child from within one’s own body cannot be measured or replicated but the longing and waiting of a prospective adoptive mother certainly qualifies as a different kind of pregnancy.

My siblings and I were some of the “lucky ones,” having hit the jackpot in the “good mother” department. A bright, loving partner for our father, our mother, Mary Frances, aka “May,” was born on the first day of this beautiful month and flowered in different ways throughout her 87 years of life. Even in the throes of her last years with Alzheimer’s disease, she never lost the ability to convince us of the truth of her love. All we needed was her smile and the look in her eyes.

Today I pray for all mothers and their children. For those who share a great love and for those who wish they did, I ask a blessing of gratitude and peace. For those who never knew their mothers or those abandoned, I pray for solace. For each of us, I pray a prayer of openness and pure love, that we will love as unselfishly and kindly as the Divine Lover of the universe loves each of us and all of us.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Suscipe

Tags

grace, gratitude, life, liverty, love, memory, nature, St. Ignatius of Loyola, Suscipe, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transformation, understanding, will

The transformation happening in nature in this most lovely of months (in my opinion at least, for those who reside in the Northeast of the USA) is so visible we cannot ignore its manifestation. Would that the inner transition of our hearts matched that of the natural world. I think we would do well to listen to the silent call of the flowering trees, the energetic growth of the grasses, the music of the running streams…new – or renewed – life everywhere!

As I wrote the above paragraph the morning sun came softly forward from the misty sky and begged attention at my window. My response to all that calls me this morning is a favorite prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola (in Latin, Suscipe) in gratitude for all that is given.

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, O Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.

Glory Days

Tags

blessings, communion, gladness, gratitude, humble, John Philip Newell, Mother Earth, Peace, Praying With the Earth, resilience, spring, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today promises to be the kind of day that makes me glad to live in New York State. The birds are singing, the sun is already doing its best to get us to 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the grass couldn’t be greener or more like a grand outdoor carpet while the flowers and flowering trees are stunning in their natural beauty. The grand unfolding of nature seems such an organic process that I tend to forget all that Mother Earth has been through over the past months: hurricanes, torrential rains, frozen rivers and lakes, destructive winds…

Picking up branches on our land yesterday and noticing the new configurations of those places damaged by the winter winds and water makes me grateful for their resilience. The silence as I walked and bent and cleared debris called me to a deeper place of communion with all that is natural to us and often missed in our busyness. I am grateful for the words of John Philip Newell to express my heart sense this morning:

May the deep blessings of earth be with us. May the fathomless soundings of seas surge in our soul. May the boundless stretches of the universe echo in our depths to open us to wonder, to strengthen us for love, to humble us with gratitude, that we may find ourselves in one another, that we may lose ourselves in gladness, that we may give ourselves to peace. (Praying with the Earth, p.20)

The Human Jesus

Tags

acceptance, Brother Curtis Almquist, developmental issues, gratitude, growth, human, humanity, imagination, Jesus, limitations, Messiah, mission, reflection, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding, visualizing

Like many people, I receive a few “thought for the day” quotes in my e-mail each morning. Most often I delete them without too much reflection but occasionally there is something that makes me sit up and take notice. Perhaps because of the Wednesday and Friday gospels this week that focused on the miraculous feeding and healing powers of Jesus, I was led to reflect on his humanity today by Brother Curtis Almquist of the Episcopal Society of St. John the Evangelist in a short post entitled Growth. Here’s what he wrote.

I don’t think Jesus asked to be the Messiah any more than any of us asked for the deck of cards that was handed to us in our birth. But Jesus grew into the acceptance of his humanity, his gifts, his limitations, his mission, and his unfinished business, facing the same developmental issues that we all do in growing up.

Even though in theory I totally buy into Paul’s declaration to the Philippians that Jesus “emptied himself of godliness” and “became like us in all things but sin,” it’s rather stunning to think of Jesus having limitations, let alone “developmental issues.” I must admit, however, to a tiny sensation of relief and gratitude somewhere inside me as I begin to conjecture just what that might mean. I think it will take some time because there are no words that will clarify the sensation. It will take imagination, visualizing Jesus in life situations – in his youth, as a young adult and during his ministry – asking him questions about what he is experiencing in the situations in which he finds himself and then listening for answers.

Trusting that this process is not just a “flight of fancy” but rather a journey into the “imaginal” world may lead to a deepening of understanding and appreciation of Jesus as “fully human.” Why not give it a try?

Reality Check

Tags

expected, gratitude, life, list, tasks, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unexpected

In case anyone is wondering about my progress of yesterday, I thought it only fair to report. Since I had made a list of tasks that would “choke a horse,” I need also to explain that my process is to write down every possible thing that I ought to do so that I won’t forget anything – and that I never can check off everything in one day. My list this time had 18 items on it – some more labor-intensive than others. I succeeded in attending to 5 of them. (No laughing please!) I had neglected to add meditation time, blogging time and meal time at home as well as just sitting for a bit watching TV together. And then there was a short space of time for reading, answering the phone and checking messages (no more of that than necessary!). We also have a retreatant here who always comes for the first week of the year and with whom I am privileged to “check in” at least once or twice during her stay. Yesterday that took what I thought would be my last two waking hours. But then we weren’t expecting the skunk who got stuck in our basement at 10:10PM…

What I realized once again this morning is that life goes on as it should, offering the expected and the unexpected and it is our duty to cooperate as we are able, offering our efforts in gratitude for being alive.

Inner and Outer Light

Tags

believe, conscious living, fan the flames, gratitude, imagination, inner fire, light, light worker, meditation, possibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the spiritual center

Sometimes I “talk big” and really mean what I say but find at the end of the day that I haven’t come close to accomplishing what I had decided at the beginning I would be able to achieve. Such was the interim between this moment and what I wrote on Friday about diving in with vigor and making a new start. Events intervene and change the pattern of our days sometimes so all we can do is our best – sometimes starting over the next day. The key is not to get either discouraged or lazy so that nothing ever gets done. This morning I’m ready to try again. Here’s why.

1. Yesterday morning six of us sat around a blazing fire in the living room of the Sophia House considering three themes for reflection in this new year. Our wonderfully creative tech person at Sophia, Mary Pat, walked with us on a non-stressful – peaceful even – path, stopping at directional points of inner and outer light, conscious living and gratitude. Our sharing was simple and then grew as did the fire’s warmth so that, in the end, we had a sense of that fire as an ongoing potential for this year’s journey.
2. Last evening my three Sisters and I sat in our own living room and had what turned into a long, lively exchange of ideas about moving forward with the fulfillment of certain of our proposed projects at the Spiritual Center. It was another experience of how the inner fire in each of us was caught in the circle because of all of us together.
3. This morning lying in my bed after waking I began to consider my day and to wonder what might be accomplished. Suddenly a wave of light seemed to burst within me – not a tidal wave but a flicker of determination that seemed to say, “Fan the flame. Go within to catch the spirit of those light workers who can help you in this realm and beyond. Use your imagination. Get up! Believe in possibility!” Needless to say I did not go back to sleep.
4. As I sat with my coffee to relate these events and their effect on me, a strong wind began to blow through the tallest of the trees outside my window, cheering me on. It’s still waving at me – so I need to move to my meditation mat to solidify purpose and begin the day. Blessings abound!

Full of Grace

Tags

2018, grace, gratitude, John, New Year, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Although it’s almost sunset, I feel a call to say something today in response to the line in today’s reading from John’s gospel that proclaims: “From his fullness we have all received…grace following on grace.”

Having spent two days back and forth from motel to hospital to motel again as well as today at my sister’s home, I have seen – in its fullness – grace in abundance. I have already spoken of the great gift of the surgical nurse of Friday (see 12/29 post) but she was followed by a stream of parking lot attendants, hospitality persons, meal servers, cab drivers, nurses (hospital & home visiting), physical therapists, etc. and I can honestly that each one was part of a grace-filled experience that could otherwise have been fraught with worry and tension.

As we leave 2018 behind, I hope that each of us is able to look back to some event or circumstance during the year that evokes gratitude for what we might describe as a full measure of grace!

Taking Time

Tags

anxiety, experiences, future, gratitude, Jesus, John, live in the present moment, past, present, St. John the Evangelist, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, time

Today Christians mark the feast of St. John, “Apostle and Evangelist.” There is much commentary about this companion of Jesus, the one known as “the beloved disciple” who was at his side at the Last Supper and the Crucifixion and figures prominently in the Resurrection narratives. His own gospel passage of the Resurrection is read at services today (JN 20: 1-8) and seems a bit out of place for two days after the feast of the birth of Jesus. Because of this telescoped view of the beginning and end of the life of Jesus, I was brought to a consideration of the concept of time.

We know, of course, the beginnings and ends of things that have happened in the past. We live as well as we can the present time in which we live. Because of present events we may be looking toward the future with expectation or anxiety, but ultimately it makes the most sense to live in the moment we are in. As many wise people have said in different ways, the present is the only moment we are sure of, the only one in which we are confident that we can change or choose. An internet post from a site called exactlywhatistime.com was quite prolific in its definitions that began by saying the following.

Time is something we deal with every day, and something that everyone thinks they understand. However, a compact and robust definition of time has proved to be remarkably tricky and elusive.

Before I get too bungled up in philosophical wanderings, let me suggest that the best way for me to look at time is the one that will allow me to look kindly on the past from which I have learned lessons in living well, the present in which I garner deeper understanding and gratitude each day and the future to which I look with hope for ever better applications of what I have learned.

I am still left wondering, however, about the juxtaposition of gospel passages from Christmas to Resurrection events this week. Are we meant, do you suppose, to live everything in the present, to contain all experiences at this moment? A question for physicists perhaps…What do you think?