Water on Stone

Tags

anger, beatitudes, blessedness, dignity, drops of water, eye for an eye, happiness, Holly Near, human life, Matthew, mosaic law, Pope John Paul II, reform, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, violence

Chapter 5 of Matthew’s gospel is very challenging. Most of us know – or at least know of – the Beatitudes in which Jesus tells of the happiness (blessedness) of those who practice and/or endure justice and meekness and long-suffering, etc.(MT 5:38-42). The chapter doesn’t stop there, however. As Jesus lays out a new way of living – the fulfillment and next step in the evolution of the Mosaic Law, perhaps, he speaks of letting our light shine for the good of the world and then there is that most uncomfortable teaching that goes beyond anything his listeners could have expected. (MT 5:38-42) “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”

Interestingly, what caught my eye this morning when I first opened the USCCB (Catholic bishops) website was the topic of capital punishment. It is one of the tenets of Catholicism that I applaud wholeheartedly. This was the explanatory paragraph that I read:

The dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. (Pope Saint John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995)

As we watch the frequent news reports of horrific violence in our country and around the world, these are hard sayings to accept. Reacting to violence with violence, however, is never a solution. I feel led today to examine my own heart, seeking to root out any vestiges of violence – bursts of anger and even thoughts of “tit-for-tat” – that might add to the negative energy in the world. Offering what I find as an antidote to my own failures in conscious loving might become my strength when the next challenge to my ego comes along. I’m reminded of Holly Near’s song lyrics from long ago that asked, “Can we be like drops of water falling on the stone, splashing, breaking, dispersing in air, weaker than the stone by far but be aware that, as time goes by, the rock will wear away.”

May it be so in us!

 

 

 

 

 

Love Incarnate

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all in, Angelic Mistakes: the Art of Thomas Merton, celebration, Christ, commentary, drawing, emptying Himself, God, happiness, Incarnation, life, marriage, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

One of the books on the “Merton shelf” of the bookcase that is directly to the left of my bedroom rocker is entitled Angelic Mistakes: the Art of Thomas Merton. The book really needs a deeper shelf to house it as it sticks out beyond its neighbors, begging to be noticed. It has a double value because it offers not only a large selection of what Merton himself called a collection of shapes, powers, flying beasts, cave animals, bloodstains, angelic mistakes, etc., that can perhaps have some visual effect on the local bisons…but also significant commentary and quotes to accompany each of the drawings. I have flagged some of those pages of quotes that are significant to me and was drawn again this morning to one of them that included the following:

In emptying Himself to come into the world, God has not simply kept in reserve, in a safe place, His reality and manifested a kind of shadow or symbol of Himself. He has emptied  Himself and is all in Christ…Christ is not simply the tip of the little finger of the Godhead, moving in the world, easily withdrawn, never threatened, never really risking anything. God has acted and given Himself totally, without division, in the Incarnation. He has become not only one of us but even our very selves.

Last night I had the privilege of gathering with 11 women, all of whom had worked together for all or part of the past 15 years. (I left my position but not my connection six years ago.) We have worked, prayed and played together and watched our lives and the lives of our families unfold together as women are in the habit of doing, more or less, in such a situation. Last night we were celebrating one of us, soon to be married, in a joyous, playful extravaganza of good food, good gifts and deep, deep happiness. I was reminded of the above quote as I reflected this morning on our party. There have been tragedies and illnesses and great sorrow in the lives of all of us over the years – some very recent and raw – but nothing was able to dampen the spirit of love for our sister, Theresa, and one another that was palpable throughout the evening. We were “all in” – God incarnate – as one single manifestation of divine love. Even in writing that last sentence I feel the shocking nature of it. How bold it is! How dangerous to talk like that…and yet I have come to understand, through such experiences as this, the possibility of total letting go of personal interest in the draw of love’s selflessness. There was nothing of ego in the room last night; we were all engaged in the purpose for which we were gathered and moved as a unit to make it happen. It was a glorious dance and will stand for me as a  touchstone of God’s love incarnate for a long time to come. And, as an old “folk Mass” song says, “And all we have to offer You is thanks. All we have to offer You is thanks.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moon and Sun

Tags

Hafiz, happiness, heart, light, moon, Sufi, sun, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Here’s a little Sufi wisdom from the mystical poet, Hafiz, that opened to me first thing this morning. See what you think…

FAITHFUL LOVER

The moon came to me last night with a sweet question. She said, “The sun has been my faithful lover for millions of years. Whenever I offer my body to him brilliant light pours from his heart. Thousands then notice my happiness and delight in pointing toward my beauty. Hafiz, is it true that our destiny is to turn into Light Itself?” And I replied, Dear Moon, now that your love is maturing, we need to sit together close like this more often so I might instruct you how to become Who you Are!  (THE GIFT, 159)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dance of the Possible

Tags

change, create, cured, Downton Abbey, future, go forward, good, happiness, hope for the future, Isaiah, Jesus, John, live from the heart, Psalm 30, rejoice, resolution, risking, spring, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transformation

Today on my trek to the kitchen for coffee I was grateful for conversation already in progress there about last evening’s finale of Downton Abbey. Every relationship was either happily resolved or at least sufficiently hinted at so that no one was “left out in the cold.” After six seasons of trial and error, distress and turnabout, the acceptance of change and hope for the future provided a fitting and worthy conclusion.

With that smile of remembrance I proceeded to my daily task which seems now as hopeful as the coming spring in every text I encounter. I see connection in it all but perhaps it is simply the fact of today being Monday that has brought such willingness to greet the day. Below is the collage; see if it holds together in any coherent way.

1. Isaiah 65: 17-21 begins with God saying Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create…
2. Psalm 30 sings of transformation because of God’s mercy: You have changed my mourning into dancing; O Lord, my God, forever I will give you thanks.
3. The verse before the gospel urges and then promises: Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord will be with you.
4. The gospel (JN 4: 43-54) tells the story of the royal official whose son is cured simply by a word of Jesus. As a result he and his whole household came to believe.
5. To that alternation of God’s action and the resultant good effect on humanity, I add a Monday word from Jan Phillips that pushes toward the future  – first a prayer (Wake me from my sleep and rouse me/ break through my dreams like a bird/ Be the voice that guides me/ Let your kindness flow through me day and night.) and then a reflection on personal spiritual authority that takes me back to the beginning after the end of Downton Abbey. She writes:

When you think of the people who have inspired you, changed your thinking, altered the course of your life, are they not the ones who spoke and lived from the heart? Are they not the ones who stand before you with the courage to simply be who they are, to share their visions, their struggles, their fears? This is the stuff of spiritual authority – this transparency, this risking, this willingness to say, “It’s a new frontier here, and not one of us has a map, but with what we know together, we can surely make it.”   (No Ordinary Time, p. 24)

So let us go forward in hope!

The important Question

Tags

Ask and you shall receive, blind spots, consciousness, desires, disciplined life, happiness, honest assessment, Jesus, Mark, Matthew Kelly, Perfectly Yourself, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I just read an interesting quote from a book called Perfectly Yourself by Matthew Kelly, speaking about the necessity of discipline in life. The crux of it was that the level of our happiness is equal to the level of our discipline. I’ll be thinking about that one today. He says if you have too little happiness, try being more disciplined in whatever area of your life seems lacking that happiness. It’s a question of going deeper than the surface, I think, to discern what our deepest desires are and then working to fulfill them. Consciousness and honest assessment are the necessary disciplinary practices for long-term success in this matter. For example, a large piece of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream may momentarily assuage the hurt of a bruised ego, but too much of that might have dire consequences. A good vacation may restore equilibrium but if there are issues at home that we don’t care to face, the effects of the time off will dissipate quickly. It’s up to us to take charge of our own choices and come to clarity about what’s really important to us.

This morning’s gospel (MK 10:46-52) is a good example of how Jesus was always calling people to get to the heart of their desires. He asked the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” Knowing that he also said more than once in one way or another, “Ask and you shall receive,” the short, seemingly simple exchange is really rather stunning – especially if I consider the answer of the blind man who asks to see and gets his wish. Now there’s something to ask for! Considering my “blind spots” would I be disciplined enough to ask to have them removed? Am I willing to look life that fully in the face? What would I need to give up in order to see that clearly about everything?

God asks: What do you want me to do for you? Hmm…