Prayer for the Day

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All Encompassing HEart, harmony, healing, Joyce Rupp, openess, Prayer Seeds, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unconditional, understanding

Sometimes, directness is the best stance for our prayer. I met Joyce Rupp this morning on my way to my blog and her words seemed to capture better than mine what would help for today so I offer her wisdom for all of us.

All Encompassing Heart, where there is impatience, let me bring kindness, Where there is strife, let me bring harmony. Where there is hurt, let me bring healing. Where there is rigidity, let me bring openness. Where there is judgment, let me bring understanding.

O Wide and Spacious Love, turn me toward your unconditional acceptance. I seek to be a vessel of your great love. Let me carry your love into all parts of my life and pour it forth willingly and generously. Prayer Seeds, p. 150)

New Vision

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healing, John Lewis, love, New Year, Peace, shine, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Last night, just before midnight, I read the quote that follows here. It made sense to me to send it out today as a call for a new year, a new way to be. It came from a man of extraordinary courage, John Lewis, and I have no words of my own that even come close to what he left us as a challenge. So take a breath, Everyone. Slow down and do not skim over the paragraph that follows. Savor the sentences, repeat each word aloud. Honor John Lewis and all the people who have loved this country and who hold on to what is best in it. Pray for healing for what needs to come alive again and be willing and ready to be a light shining for the world.

Study the path of others…Lean toward the whispers of your heart…Know that the truth always leads to love and the perpetuation of peace. Clothe yourself in the work of love…Hold only to love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won…If you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself. Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America, John Lewis.

Blessings for the New Year!

A Prayer of the Heart

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harmony, healing, heart, hurt, impatience, Joyce Rupp, kindness, openness, Prayer Seeds, rigidity, strife, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I ponder this season of Advent which is different from any other in any year that I have ever known, a familiar quote by Henry Van Dyke comes to me that begins: “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear…” It reminds me that time is a construct that we cannot control or manage. We have to take it as it comes and live it. How to do that is the challenge of the day for me. Looking for some help in meeting it, I open Joyce Rupp’s Prayer Seeds and find a prayer that is reminiscent of the Prayer of St. Francis but with a bit of a different slant…It suffices for me today.

All Encompassing Heart, where there is impatience, let me bring kindness. Where there is strife, let me bring harmony. Where there is hurt, let me bring healing. Where there is rigidity, let me bring openness. Where there is judgment, let me bring understanding.

O Wide and Spacious Love, turn me toward your unconditional acceptance. I seek to be a vessel of your great love. Let me carry your love into all parts of my life and pour it forth willingly and generously.

Angelic Assistance

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archangels, communication, God's protection, guidance, healing, St. Gabriel, St. Michael, St. Raphael, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Do you believe in angels? Most people are appalled at the question! How could we live without those beings whose presence in Scripture is so clearly significant and who have been with us since we first learned to pray? (“Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide.“) People of faith, regardless of religious practice, look to spirits who (for most of us) are not seen in this dense realm but who are always active for our good. The major world religious traditions have a well-developed “angelology” (theology of angels). You can read all about it on the internet! (Just look for “choirs of angels.”)

Today is the feast of three of the most familiar “archangels” in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Michael, the defender of Israel against all enemies leads God’s armies to a final victory in the Book of Revelation and has been celebrated in the Christian West since the fifth century as our greatest help in times of trouble. Gabriel, present in the Hebrew Scriptures in Daniel’s visions, is best known to Christians in the story of the Annunciation to Mary that she is to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. Raphael, the third member of this triumvirate, is chronicled only in the Old Testament story of Tobit, but this angelic guide provides evidence of monumental intervention for the good of Tobit’s family – a story not to be missed!

The website www.franciscanmedia.org has a paragraph for the “Saint of the Day” that is, for me, a succinct summary of today’s importance to people of faith.

“Each of the archangels performs a different mission in Scripture. Michael protects; Gabriel announces: Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given away to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God’s protection, communication, and guidance in ways that defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly.”

If You Want To…

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healing, Jesus, leper, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The gospel for this day’s lectionary tells a familiar story (MT 8: 1-4). The situation also pops up rather frequently in the gospels, even if is presented in situations that we would call “similar but not matching.” The story today takes place fairly early in Matthew’s gospel and has Jesus coming down from a mountain, one of his favorite places to pray. It would seem, therefore, that he is feeling strong in God’s grace as crowds gather around him and a leper who is ready for him steps forward. Different from most, this person does not ask Jesus to heal him; rather he uses a declarative that indicates his belief – or maybe a challenge. “If you want to,” he says, “you can make me clean.” It is likely that Jesus appreciates this man’s ingenious approach—or else Jesus is just still swimming in the divine light that his sojourn on the mountain afforded him. Whatever the reason, his response to the leper is enthusiastic. “I will do it! Be made clean,” the gospel says, or in my favorite translation: “Of course I want to! Be clean!”)

I know that a different choice of word can impact a situation, as can intonation, cadence, body language…I see Jesus on his way down that mountain, ready for a crowd but maybe not for this one person who challenges rather than pleads. I see a fresh and sunny morning with a tender, refreshing breeze—like today at my home. I can feel the enthusiasm of whatever was the content of the conversation between God and Jesus up on that mountain, allowing Jesus to be about his mission.

It’s a great story of healing, reminding us that we might wish sometimes to be a little more up-front with God in our asking. Our confidence in the “ask” and our willingness to believe that God knows what is best for us at all times might make the outcome the perfect answer—even if it isn’t the one we were expecting!

The World's Turning

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cycles, Earth, healing, positive energy, spring, Spring Equinox, St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The spring equinox was early and totally missed by me this year! While I was busy trying to celebrate St. Joseph’s feast day (3/19), the earth was sending out messages of new birth and energy. It took until this morning for me to feel it and I had to verify it by looking at my calendar. Now I know why the daffodils are straining to open after their surprise breakthrough along the side of our house two weeks ago.

I plan to go outside today and stand in the midst of all that is natural: the greening of the grass, the calling of the birds, the freshness of the breeze (still somewhat chilly) and feel the hope of healing for the earth rise up to give me courage in this moment when all but the most essential workers have been charged to stay home. With this remembrance of the cycles of life happening in concert with or in spite of us, I hope to add to the positive energy and learn the lessons so important to us all.

Padre Pio

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healing, hope, light, Padre Pio, pray, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, suffering, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the stigmata

Today Christians everywhere celebrate Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, who died on this date in 1968. We know him as Padre Pio. There is much to say about this humble servant of God, which you can find on http://www.franciscanmedia.org or in any number of books, documentaries and internet sites or perhaps from people, still alive, who have had experience of his life. It was not easy; he suffered spiritually and physically, and, perhaps most of all, psychologically from the words and actions of those who did not believe the movements of God in his life.

The verse before the gospel in today’s lectionary could be called “difficult grace” in the life of Padre Pio. It calls us all to humility and truth in recognition of our gifts, and reads as follows: Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” Clearly, Padre Pio did not take credit for his extraordinary gift of healing or complain about the trials of his suffering, especially when he received the stigmata (the wounds of Christ in his physical form). It was his willingness to serve God in whatever way was asked of him that we honor today.

May we be willing each day to do the same.

All I Do Today

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blessing earth, broken world, good of all, healing, Jan Novotka, mend, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I was just looking ahead to what day three of our two-week meeting in St. Louis (see previous post) might hold in store for us when Jan Novotka’s sweet, simple song presented itself. I believe it to be particularly apt as an offering for conversations that are already deepening and will surely benefit from her words. See if you don’t agree. You can find it on YouTube.

May all I do today be for the healing of the whole. May all I do today mend our broken world. May all I do today bring blessing on the earth. May all I do today be for the good of all…all I do today.

June

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All Encompassing HEart, harmony, healing, Joyce Rupp, kindness, lightheartedness, love, openess, Prayer Seeds, slowing down, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding

Today we begin a new month, a time – at least in the northern hemisphere – when people look to slowing down and taking more time to notice the natural world. As days are longer in June and life seems lighter, there is usually some evidence of a shift in our spirits as well. More smiles, a bounce sometimes in our step, deeper breaths and willingness to help with tasks can all accompany the arrival of summer weather.

For those of us who are slow (or at least a little slower than most) to give in to this shift toward lightheartedness, Joyce Rupp offers a prayer that we might use as a morning ritual to get us up to speed. See what you think.

All Encompassing Heart, where there is impatience, let me bring kindness. Where there is strife, let me bring harmony. Where there is hurt, let me bring healing. Where there is rigidity, let me bring openness. Where there is judgment, let me bring understanding.

O Wide and Spacious Love, turn me toward your unconditional acceptance. I seek to be a vessel of your great love. Let me carry your love into all parts of my life and pour it forth willingly and generously. (Prayer Seeds, p. 150)

Idols

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faith, healing, idols, the living God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There’s a lot in the Scriptures for today about idols or “false gods,” both in Psalm 115 (their idols are silver and gold, the handiwork of men) and in chapter 14 of the Acts of the Apostles where Paul healed a man, lame from birth. In that case, Paul was clear that his power to heal came from “the living God” but the people refused to believe that he was not “a god in human form.”

I am sitting with these two impressions of long ago and thinking about how the world of “healing” works now. Besides our incredibly complex pharmaceutical system, there are still places in the world where inhabitants have their “kitchen gods” and others, and where Christian people pray to saints, named as intercessors for certain things (most commonly St. Anthony to find lost articles). I can say that there is a difference in prayers to saints and praying to “the living God” and that the distinction is clear to me – but is it always? Are there not people who attribute a measure of divinity to those whose power seems “super-human,” especially in situations of physical healing?

How do we explain these things? And is there not an element of faith necessary in the exchange of those involved in such a healing – between the healer and the one healed, I mean? Could that faith be generated by trust in “the living God” transmitted through a human being? Does the quality of the healing have anything to do with the humility of the healer – e.g. giving the glory to God rather than to his/her own power? In addition, shouldn’t we be looking more closely at the relationship between our physical, psycho-emotional and spiritual selves as we live each day? Physician, heal thyself, the adage from the gospel of Luke, might merit some reflection.

No definitive answers here as it is all a matter of personal belief, religious training and life situation. This is just what happens when I face a day with the Scriptures in my lap…The likely value for me is to ask myself all the above questions and consider alternatives so that when I am asked about my beliefs I have something to say.