Just for Today

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believe, Celtic Treasures: Daily Scriptures and Prayer, courage, faith, fear, freedom, heart, hope, J. Philip Newell, laughter, promises, tears, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today, just a short prayer for the 24-hour journey in which we find ourselves. J. Philip Newell is the author.

Hope and fear, laughter and tears have been part of our journey. Joy and pain, longing and doubt meet on the pathway. Often we do not believe, O God, and sometimes we doubt that your promises can be true. Grant us and our world the freedom to laugh, the courage to cry, the heart to be open and the faith to believe. (Celtic Treasure: Daily Scriptures and Prayer)

One More…

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awareness, creativity, hope, joy, laughter, light, Macrina Wiederkehr, morning, prayer, presence, radiant glory, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Here is one more prayer of praise from Macrina Wiederkehr, the text I will pray this morning with my colleagues as we gather for another day together.

Anointed by your morning light, I lift up my spirit to receive the gift of this new day. Open my eyes to the beauty that surrounds me that I may walk through this day with the kind of awareness that calls forth grateful living. In all of creation let me see the brightness of your face. Shine in my heart and on my life, filling me with joy, creativity, hope and laughter. Draw me into the radiant glory of your presence and into the small lights of those with whom I live and work. Inspire me to take time for those who are discouraged. May I live with the kind of presence that enables others to feel at home. Great Dawn of God, hear my prayer.

Have a blessed day!

 

 

 

 

 

Joining Forces

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compassionate, conscious living, fun, Jan Phillips, laughter, light, mindfulness, mysteries, No Ordinary Time, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today at the Sophia Center for Spirituality we begin a five-part series on Mindfulness. It is an attempt to help everyone who comes find ways to go deeper in conscious living, offering practices to help them on their spiritual journey. In a section of her 6:00 Monday text in No Ordinary Time, Jan Phillips writes the following that I think is a great beginning for this effort:

When I think of people I know who are lights in the world, I think of my friends who are fun-loving, imaginative, in love with the lives they are creating day by day. They are the ones who laugh a lot, sing a lot, cry freely, hug tenderly. They talk about themselves, not others. They are spellbound at life’s mysteries. They are the ones with more questions than answers. If they are striving for anything, it is to be free of illusion, one with What Is. Their actions are connected to their values. They are their thoughts, their words, their feelings. They are the light they believe themselves to be. (p. 16)

Then Jan asks two questions that seem fitting for our search for this inner light. See if you are able to answer them for yourselves as a guide for the day: How have you learned to be compassionate with yourself so you can better love others? What new things are you discovering about who you are and why you do things? (p. 16)

If you live within range of our Center, you may want to join us to continue the exploration. If not, won’t you consider being mindful of us and in that way adding to the energy of light that we put into the world today?

 

 

 

 

 

Opening to Possibility

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awareness, Come to the Quiet, creation, creativity, gift, grateful living, Great Dawn of God, hope, Islamic Center, joy, laughter, lift my spirit, Macrina Wiederkehr, morning light, new day, reflection, seven sacred pauses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Who is my neighbor

As I begin to write this morning I hear Julie Andrews singing in my head as she leaves the monastery: What will this day be like? I wonder…It’s Saturday and yet at 6:15AM my mind is already spinning like a top with all that awaits me. Yesterday I spent much of the day preparing for today’s morning of reflection and sharing with seven women who have responded to an invitation to “Come to the Quiet” at Sophia House (see our website). I hope my vision and their desire for what will happen there coincides. From there I will go to the Islamic Center of the Southern Tier of New York. They are having an “open house” where I hope to find a way for us to collaborate on an event at the Sophia Center under the title of “Who is my Neighbor?” What will happen after that is anybody’s guess. I’m accompanied as I go forward by Macrina Wiederkehr’s words that urge me on.

Anointed by your morning light I lift my spirit to receive the gift of this new day. Open my eyes to the beauty that surrounds me that I may walk through this day with the kind of awareness that calls forth grateful living. In all of creation let me see the brightness of your face. Shine in my heart and on my life, filling me with joy, creativity, hope and laughter…May I live with the kind of presence that enables others to feel at home. Great Dawn of God, hear my prayer. (Seven Sacred Pauses, p.59)

May your day be similarly blessed!

A Cheerful Giver

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catholic, cheerful giver, generous, giving, laughter, lightness of life, pay homage, piety, sanctity, singing, Sirach, smiling, St. Philip Neri, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning’s first reading from the Book of Sirach (35:1-12) sounds like an ad for “sacrificial giving” in church. It is talking about paying homage to the Lord but goes beyond tithing, which ought to be accomplished in a spirit of joy. Expansion of the theme of actual donation is also implied in such language as: in generous spirit…be not sparing of freewill gifts and Give to the Most High as he has given to you, generously, according to your means. Upon reading this I was thrown back to a song that we used to sing during our novitiate days that began: God loves a cheerful giver; give it all you’ve got! (great emphasis on the second part – sort of like a football fight song, gestures and all). Certainly, we were not singing about monetary contributions to the Church but rather the attitude with which we lived our lives.

Serendipitously, today is the feast of St. Philip Neri who lived in the 1500’s, a tumultuous time for the Christian Church. A summary comment from the website http://www.americancatholic.org offers the following:

Many people feel that such an attractive and jocular personality as Philip’s cannot be combined with intense spirituality. Philip’s life melts our rigid, narrow views of piety. His approach to sanctity was truly catholic, all-embracing and accompanied by a good laugh. Philip always wanted his followers to become not less but more human through their striving for holiness.

So, if they’re not already part of your spiritual backpack, it sounds like a good idea today to add smiling, singing and considering those you meet as friends just waiting to be found, with whom the lightness of life can dispel some of the heaviness of the world.