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)

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.

Peace Prayer

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election, Joyce Rupp, Peace, prayer, Prayer Seeds, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As we count down the days leading to our national elections, I search for words that will speak of right judgment and trust—words of all the virtues that might help in difficult times. What seems most important today on a cold, rainy morning, however, is a straightforward prayer for peace. Empty of words of my own, I turn to Joyce Rupp for the assistance of a person whose very being exudes peace. She does not fail me. Pray with me if you will.

Peace-bringer, create in me a heart filled with the kind of love that reflects your own. Send this love to those I care about and respect. Open my mind to those I want to reject. Open my heart to those I prefer to avoid. Open my eyes to see beyond the surface of individuals and recognize your presence in each one. May my thoughts, words and deeds be devoid of violence in any form. Soften whatever is hardened in my heart so that I bring your peace wherever I go. Remind me often that I, too, am in need of this love and worthy to receive it. (Prayer Seeds, p.53)

The Power of Intention

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enlighten, fire of faith, Holy Spirit, intention, Joyce Rupp, love, Peace, Pentecost, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Another Saturday…perhaps a good time to take a breath, to put to rest all the troubles of the week now ending and to pray for more peaceful days in the weeks to come. We began the week with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We might ask ourselves how we have kept the fire of faith alive – even just during this week. How will we do so going forward? Here’s a brief prayer from Joyce Rupp to encourage us:

Flame of Love, Enkindler of Hearts, enlighten my mind to recognize where my love has grown dim. Spark renewed desire in my heart to give myself ever more completely to your service. Beam your grace through my being so I respond freely. May the fruits of your love be harvested through me. I will share them generously. Amen. (Prayer Seeds, p. 174)

This prayer reminds me that it is not always what we achieve that is important but how we go about the doing – our intention and motivation – that is key to “success.”

A Winding Road

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comfort, God, God acts, God speaks, God's voice, Joyce Rupp, praise, pray, psalm 16, Stephen Mitchell, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Feeling a need for inspiration I pulled out the book, Prayer Seeds, by Joyce Rupp this morning. I wanted to hear and see something that would speak of hope or certainty to some deep place in my heart with the hope that it would do the same for others. I read a lot of Sister Joyce’s prayers, all lovely and appropriate for many occasions or seasons. This is, however, a season that we might call “out-of-time” so I needed to look further. At the top of page 167, there was a quote from Stephen Mitchell’s translation of selected psalms. It read:

Unnamable God, I feel you with me at every moment. You are my food, my drink, my sunlight and the air I breathe. (Psalm 16)

This could have been enough, I suppose, but then I thought, “What about people who are not feeling God at every moment these days?” so I found a selection of Mitchell’s psalm translations at another place on the internet. I feel a need to write two of them here as sort of a stream of consciousness: in on-going sentences rather than the traditional psalmody form, as if the speaker were walking a path while thinking/speaking. I don’t know why that seems important but I hope Stephen Mitchell would forgive this diversion from his work. It is my best offering for today.

God acts within every moment and creates the world with each breath. God speaks from the center of the universe, in the silence beyond all thought. Mightier than the crash of a thunderstorm, mightier than the roar of the sea, is God’s voice silently speaking in the depths of a listening heart. (Psalm 93)

Even in the midst of great pain, Lord, I praise you for that which is. I will not refuse this grief or close myself to this anguish. Let shallow people pray for ease: “Comfort us; shield us from sorrow.” I pray for whatever you send me, and I ask to receive it as your gift. You have put a joy in my heart greater than all the world’s riches. I lie down trusting the darkness, for I know that even now you are here. (Psalm 4)

A Quick Word

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accept, calm, Joyce Rupp, serenity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems my alarm was on “mute” this morning, so I’m enough behind schedule to necessitate brevity here and to turn to Joyce Rupp for assistance. She writes:

“Gracious Peace-Maker, thank you for the life you have given me. I desire to be filled with your serenity. Clothe me in your calm presence. Be the stronghold of my heart. Help me to accept the irreversible and to change what is possible. May your peace grow ever stronger in me.” (Prayer Seeds, p.60)

May it be so for all of us today!

It Begins With Me

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accept, hope, Joyce Rupp, patience, Peace, Prayer Seeds, refuge, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weakness

As I contemplate the tumultuous times in which we live, the words of a familiar song float in. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” Do we ever really take that to heart? Joyce Rupp urges me along today toward that goal. Listen.

“Rock and Refuge, Stronghold of Souls, Unshakeable One, infuse your strength into the places where I feel the greatest weakness. Permeate the parts of my life that continually challenge my patience. Increase my ability to accept those who seem to be most unacceptable. Lessen any tendency in my spirit that gives way to a loss of hope. Reinforce an awareness of the daily manifestations of your presence. Boost my spirit when I think I cannot manage what is mine to be and do.” (Prayer Seeds, p. 56)

Blessings on your day.

Prayer of Fastening

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deeper lessons, fasten, Joyce Rupp, life experiences, prayer, prompt, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Joyce Rupp never disappoints when giving meaning to images that can bring new understandings to our relationship with God. Using ordinary life experiences as a “way in” to deeper meanings is a great gift for me and many others…like this morning.

I recently bought a new pair of slacks which are very comfortable except as I try to fit the button into the buttonhole. The slacks are not too tight at the waist but the buttonhole seems too small so it is an annoying challenge to finish the task of dressing unless I pay attention and get just the right pitch on the button as it goes through the hole. I also have a new blouse that I really like but the small buttons are round, not flat, so I am faced with another challenge getting the closure secured.You may not see the value of this analogy but, for me, it is helpful. Here is a bit of Sister Joyce’s prayer.

“Fasten my entire heart to you, Love of all Loves, that all I am and do finds its motivation in you. Fasten my mind to you, Inner Peace, that whatever stirs within leads to tranquillity. Fasten my days to you, Divine Presence, that in each happening I remain united with you. Fasten my nights to you, Holy Darkness, that I find restoration in your embracing silence….” (Prayer Seeds, p. 145)

She goes on, but you can perhaps get the idea. It’s just one moment in the day when something simple becomes a prompt to bring me back to the presence of God. What does that for you?

A Christmas Prayer

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Emmanuel, generosity, Joyce Rupp, kindness, love, Prayer Seeds, respect, reverence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Joyce Rupp has a meaningful Christmas prayer in her book, Prayer Seeds, that seems appropriate for this sixth day in the octave of Christmas, to remind us that the spirit of the feast lives on beyond a one-day celebration. Won’t you pray it in connection with all those reading this post?

Emmanuel, God-with-us, you chose to come for each person, the destitute and the wealthy, the unfortunate and the privileged, the troubled and the peaceful, the healthy and the ill.

You came in human form with a message of extravagant love, showing us how to be with those who have much less than we do. You came offering a gesture of respect and reverence instead of indifference and disdain; giving courteous kindness in place of thoughtless disregard; contributing ongoing support rather than a mere holiday handout.

Change my heart. Turn it inside out, toward the larger world. Remind me daily of those who struggle with their basic existence. Lead me to help change social systems that contribute to this ongoing struggle. Enlarge my awareness. Increase my generosity. Guide my choices of how I live, what I purchase, and how I use my material wealth.

Remind me often of your presence in those I tend to ignore or forget. Boundless Love, thank you for cherishing each person on this planet. (p.2-3)

Surrendering to Life

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abide, dwell, flow, Henry David Thoreau, Joyce Rupp, present, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I love words like abide and dwell. They create in me a sort of longing for stasis, peacefulness, or even rest. I imagine entering a room where everyone is sitting still and silent and puts a finger to their mouth saying, “Shhh…” as I walk in and sit down. I want to stay there.

Where did that come from? Likely from the morning after a weekend filled with a dozen wonderful people at a workshop here at the Spiritual Center. Deep sharing and appreciation of each one’s giftedness mingled with a sense that, at the core, all is right with the world, if only we stay present to deeper meanings and potential. The concepts of lovingkindness and beauty rang true in the presentations and interactions of participants.

The question of how to remember and keep alive such an experience was answered for me quite simply from Henry David Thoreau this morning, as quoted by Joyce Rupp. It speaks to my first thoughts today while also allowing for the movement necessary to avoid stagnation. Thoreau says:

Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.

May we all flow with ease this week while dwelling in sweet surrender to our life’s journey.