I Am Holy

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God, holiness, I am the Lord, Leviticus, Moses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, we are all one

Leviticus has never been my favorite book of the Bible. I am beginning to wonder if that’s because I never gave it a chance. Today’s first lectionary reading (www.usccb.org) is LV 19: 1-2, 11-18. The two introductory verses are a call from God through Moses about holiness. It’s easy for me to read those two verses and say something like, “Okay, that’s easy. It’s an often repeated theme” and then read the rest, i.e. the explicit content of the message, while allowing my mind to start a list of tasks for the day.

While I could probably guess most of what follows and be done with it, today I paid more attention and saw something old yet new to my consciousness. The key was in verse two which is not only God’s command for people to “be holy” but also gives the reason why they should make that the basis of all their actions: “for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.”

After that instruction, everything talks about things we should not do or be with or to other people: stealing, slandering, cheating, cursing, judging unjustly, hating & holding grudges. The reason, however, for all these strictures, is simply repeated at the end of each paragraph: “I am the Lord.”

My conclusion, then, about all of this is clear. What we do to others, we do to God. This leads me to a place that is fast becoming the most essential truth for me: We are all one – really and truly, all one. It means you are me and I am you and the reason and reality is because God is God.

The words on the page don’t seem revolutionary because I have heard them all before. In my heart, however, and hopefully in my life, I know them to be true in a new way that cannot (at least by me at this moment) be explained in any other way. And so I leave us all with what is.

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Pope Saint John XXIII

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gratitude, holiness, humility, humor, Job, Pope John XXIII, saint, Second Vatican Council, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we celebrate Pope John XXIII, canonized (some would add “finally!”) by Pope Francis in 2014. The website franciscanmedia.org opens today’s reflection with a wonderful sentence: “A shy, retiring man with a wonderful sense of humor, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli became our beloved Pope St. John XXIII.” It is well known that he was elected by the College of Cardinals as a stop-gap pope to give them time to “get the politics ironed out for a more permanent candidate.” The Holy Spirit had other plans, however, as John XXIII rocked the Church by calling the Second Vatican Council, an aggiornamento (updating) that changed the face of Roman Catholicism for all time.

We remember Pope John for that cataclysmic event (1962-1965) as if he had never done anything in his life before, but here are a few of his credentials that should have alerted people to his fitness for the “job” of Pope even before the Council.

He was the eldest son of a farm family, simple and not interested in the limelight but rather proud of his down-to-earth roots. Having served as a stretcher bearer in World War I, he experienced war firsthand. After ordination to the priesthood he became a canon lawyer, secretary to his bishop, history teacher in the seminary and publisher of the diocesan newspaper in Rome. Subsequently, he was Italy’s national director for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith while also teaching in the seminary. He served as a papal diplomat in Bulgaria, Turkey and France. During World War II he became acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders and with the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people. As a cardinal, he was the Patriarch of Venice and a residential bishop, finally being elected Pope in his 78th year. As pope, He worked with political and religious leaders around the world and was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. He enlarged the membership of the College of Cardinals, making it more international, and wrote important encyclical letters to the world, most famously about the Church: Mater et magistra (Mother and Teacher) and the world: Pacem in terris (Peace on Earth).

It could be said that all of those credentials, so wonderfully documented at www.franciscanmedia.org, are overshadowed by his holiness and humility. Although it is useless to quantify such qualities, we would do well to think on these things and pray in gratitude for this saintly friend of God who served his Church and the world so well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selfless Love

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Assisi, Christ, Church of San Damiano, compassionate love, God, holiness, imitation, intention, love, motivation, prayer, simple life, St. Clare, St. Francis of Assisi, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vessels

Some years ago I had the privilege of visiting the town of Assisi in Italy. The visit was brief and the focus was, as one might think, the holy places associated with St. Francis. It was an extraordinary six hours, and I often long to return for a longer visit. One of my most vivid memories, however, was not of the places and stories of Francis alone – although those remain as well – but of walking down the path to the Church of San Damiano. Somehow, the olive trees that lined the path seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as if they were saying to me, “Pay attention, for this place you are approaching is extraordinarily holy.” San Damiano became the home of St. Clare and her followers in 1212 and she never left but died there on August 11, 1253. The intense holiness of the saint and her Sisters, who lived a poor and very simple life of prayer, can be felt in the walls of the refectory, in the oratory where they prayed and the dormitory where a cross marks the spot of Clare’s death. What, one wonders, creates such a living vibration in a place where life was so “daily?” Intention and motivation, I suspect. A famous quote of St. Clare gives a hint of an answer.

We become what we love, she says, and what we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others.

 

 

 

 

 

Becoming Love

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catholic, fire, heart, holiness, Jesus, John, love, most, sacred heart of Jesus, sacrifice, solemnity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a designation that makes me, as a “cradle Catholic,” sit up and take notice. It’s the words Solemnity and Most that call attention to the holiness of Jesus as the model for life. In this way, my focus shifts from the beating and bleeding heart in the images of Jesus on the walls of many Catholic homes to a deeper consciousness that does not negate the truth of that devotion but expands and personalizes it in a new way. Lest the reader assume that I have left tradition behind, it seems important to mention that I have an image of the Sacred Heart in my prayer space at home. It is the totality of the symbols – the face of Jesus, the heart and fire illuminating it – and yes, drops of blood as a sign of his life’s sacrifice – that guides my prayer toward love each day.

The second reading for today speaks strongly of what I feel about this feast. Listen to John’s first letter (4: 7-16).  Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God…In this is love: not that we have loved God but that God has loved us…Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and God’s love is brought to perfection in us…(Here’s the “punchline” – the crux of it all) God is love.

I read a quote once on a card that stays with me. It said, “We are not God but we are a seed of God..” I don’t remember the exact conclusion to that thought but it spoke of our responsibility to grow into God in ways that reflect God’s light, God’s love: the being of God. How might I nurture that movement today?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living for God

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connectedness, grace, holiness, Jan Phillips, live for God, martyr, No Ordinary Time, No Time For Ordinary, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems a very long time since I finally asked Jan Phillips to come to my hometown to share her creativity and thoughts about evolutionary consciousness. I worried that there would not be enough people to “fill the house.” She’s rather famous now. Recently, however, when I raised that concern in an e-mail message to her (having already committed to bringing her all the way from California), it was the Jan that I have known for almost 50 years that responded. Whatever number we have will be perfect, she said. The fewer there are, the deeper we can go. I’m okay with any size.

So this is it: the week we’ve been waiting for. If there are any “last minute” folks out there who are close enough geographically to join us for a concert and/or a workshop entitled, No Time for Ordinary, check out the Sophia Center for Spirituality website for more information. For those of you too far away to be with us, see below for a little taste of Jan’s thought – from her book, No Ordinary Time.

When I was young, I prayed to be a martyr. I wanted to show God and everyone else that I loved Him enough to die for Him. I wanted to go into battle for Him, be another Joan of Arc, a hero for God’s sake.

Now all that’s changed. I wouldn’t think of dying for God, but am doing my best to live for God – not God as person, but God as Goodness, Justice, Mercy. There are no more lines of separation, only strands of connectedness. My eyes find holiness everywhere, in every living thing, person, in every act of kindness, act of nature, act of grace. Everywhere I look, there God is, looking back. (p. 12)

Get Up and Get Going!

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Cynthia Bourgeault, full attention, grace of God, Hebrews, holiness, intention of peace, Lord, message, Peace, staright paths, strengthen, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom School

There is no possibility of missing the message in today’s text from the Letter to the Hebrews. No time for what was called “lollygagging” in the old days. These are serious times that demand our full attention. Listen then to how we are to conduct ourselves:

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one is deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled. (Heb 12:11-15)

I’m heading out this morning for the northern coast of Maine, to meet with a dozen or so colleagues who will consider just what that striving might entail. With our teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, we will strive to further the agenda of inner peace and wisdom in order that those qualities may be manifest in the outer world as well. I know it will be a week well spent but may not allow for daily postings. If nothing appears on this site over these days until next Thursday, I invite your intention of peace to join with ours. I cannot imagine a better gathering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

God’s Dwelling Place

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Creator, dwelling place, holiness, love, Mother Earth, Nan Merrill, psalm 93, Psalms for Praying, stewards, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe

I found a lovely translation of the psalm for the day in Nan Merrill’s book, Psalms for Praying. The lectionary verses speak very well, I think, to the relationship between the Creator of the universe and God’s stewards – us. I offer it as a thought for the day and bow in humility at God’s generosity even as I am reminded of our responsibility for our Mother Earth.

The Almighty reigns adorned in majesty; the Creator is robed and girded with strength. Yes, the world is established and given into our care; our stewardship of the earth reflects our love for You – You, who are and ever shall be…That which you ordain is certain; holiness befits your house, our hearts, your dwelling place, O Beloved, for evermore. (Ps. 93: 1-2, 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Reminder

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adoration, care, God's presence, holiness, inner light, justice, praise, psalm 96, sacred name, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, welcome God, worship, yield to love

This morning there is little evidence that it is, in fact, morning. Just ten minutes before 7:00 there is yet no light in the sky…It takes the psalmist to wake me to the reality of another day, reminding me to welcome God, the inner light that guides our every step. Two poetic translations of Psalm 96:5-10 lift me up to meet whatever waits to greet me. I offer them as recognition and a call to morning praise from all on earth to God.

Yield to Love, O families of the earth, yield to Love glory and strength! Yield to Love and learn of justice; make of yourselves an offering and be guided by Love! Bow down in adoration and holiness; for worthy is the Beloved to be praised over all the earth!

O, the beauty of your presence, God! O, the splendor and power in which you dwell! Come close, all families of the earth, and make your voice of praise be heard. This is your God, bring all you have and offer it in honor of that sacred name. Let all that’s holy be the beauty in which you worship God. Come close, draw near in awe, then tell the truth to everyone; God is the sovereign over all who governs you and earth with equal justice, equal care.

 

 

All Saints

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All Saints Day, canonized, Dalai Lama, grace, holiness, hope, Jesus, miracles, piety, Pope Leo XIII, religious practice, Roman Catholic, saint, social justice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is one of the few days in the Roman Catholic Church that the liturgy of a Sunday is superseded by the celebration of a special feast on the liturgical calendar. Today’s feast of All Saints gives us pause, not only to think about those people throughout history who have been named by the Church as deserving of the title “saint” (those whom the Church has “canonized”) but also to reflect on what it means to be a saint. We often hear people speak of someone who has suffered many trials (e.g. those with many unruly children) as a saint. “That woman is a saint,” they say! In that case it seems that sainthood resides in the person’s ability to show grace under pressure or to endure what might make others lash out and turn to violence. We might hear also, “He’s a saint – in church every morning without fail, never without his rosary…” which tells us that religious practice and personal piety are the means to sainthood. And then there are those who speak out on issues of social justice, demanding that governments care for the less fortunate and those whose dignity is ignored. We have been slow to recognize this category of sainthood (although charity has always been part of the Christian path). Justice workers are sometimes unruly, even going so far as breaking the law in service to what they see as “a higher law” in imitation of Jesus. It was Pope Leo XIII in 1891 who began to articulate what has become the social teaching of the Catholic Church in his encyclical Rerum novarum which spoke of unfair labor practices. Do we see crusaders for justice as saints?

The dictionary has many definitions of sainthood – most of them somehow articulating the quality of holiness. Catholics look for miracles, especially healings and visions – and sometimes have clear evidence of how that has manifested in the lives of the canonized saints. A relatively new development is the growing consciousness of the “sainthood” of people who do not share our own religious beliefs and traditions. Who would argue against the sainthood of the Dalai Lama, for instance, especially if we have been privileged to be in his presence? Saint Paul is responsible for the fact that the title of saint appears in the Scriptures; he addresses everyone to whom he writes as saints! So what does that mean?

We may not all look like saints or fit any standard definition of what sainthood means, but maybe – with the virtue of hope in our pocket – we can continue on the way to God, doing our best to love as Jesus did, and as those people whose example we choose to follow have done, trusting that it is God’s measure we can achieve, becoming one in the great Communion of Saints that knows no human reckoning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of Creation Sings!

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Book of Hours, creation, diversity, holiness, inscape, nature, New Seeds of Contemplation, saints, sanctity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, wonder of creation

Today is my last day in California. The work of our committee is complete for now; today I will be at the beach with my brother and sister-in-law – a rare blessing! Tomorrow I will repeat my airy trek across the country, but in reverse, and I presume I will again marvel at God’s grandeur. Everywhere I look, here or from the plane or upon my return to New York State I am aware of the diversity and wonder of creation. As I opened my computer this morning there was an image of Pope Francis and an advertisement for his encyclical, On Care for Our Common Home, about the environment. All of the above prompts me to quote in its entirety a piece from Thomas Merton’s book, New Seeds of Contemplation, that just happens to appear as a Monday morning reflection in his Book of Hours.

The forms and individual characters of living and growing things, of inanimate beings, of animals and flowers and all nature, constitute their holiness in the sight of God. Their inscape is their sanctity. It is the imprint of His wisdom and His reality in them. The special clumsy beauty of this particular colt on this day in this field under these clouds is a holiness consecrated to God by His own creative wisdom and it declares the glory of God. The pale flowers of the dogwood outside this window are saints. The little yellow flowers that nobody notices on the edge of the road are saints looking up into the face of God. This leaf has its own texture and its own pattern of veins and its own holy shape, and the bass and trout hiding in the deep pools of the river are canonized by their beauty and their strength. The lakes hidden among the hills are saints, and the sea too is a saint who praises God without interruption in her majestic dance. The great, gashed, half-naked mountain is another of God’s saints. There is no other like him. He is alone in his own character; nothing else in the world ever did or ever will imitate God in quite the same way. That is his sanctity. But what about you? What about me?

(I will not have an opportunity to post tomorrow but, God willing, will be back to it on Wednesday.)