Meanderings

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blind faith, calm, David, John, Lenten journey, Scriptures, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes, when I think I have a lot of time in the morning—or when something interesting grabs my attention as I scroll the news—I get lost in “the good, the bad and the ugly” and wonder what I am doing as the clock ticks away the day. I try not to let that happen because I usually come away anxious or depressed by the news.

Today is Sunday, the first of “daylight saving,” which confuses our internal clocks and makes some of us late for everything. Why do we think we can control time in this way—just saying that we have lost or gained an hour and acting on that dictum? Well, here we are again and I am taken by what I see as I look out my windows. I have two bedroom windows, you see. One of them is high and looks to the South. The other takes in sky and mountain and even the roof of the cottage in the back yard to the East. As I sit here today, I am happy to be looking south where a beautifully white cloud sails slowly by, encouraged by the wind kicking up. I can only “see” the wind, of course, because of the very tall tree flailing in the middle of the window. The eastern exposure is already preparing for what has been predicted as a serious snowstorm. The sun that was so happy earlier has gone into hiding behind very large and burly clouds.

The outer often mimics the inner here. I wonder if my mood would have stayed as lighthearted as it was an hour ago if I had left the news alone and attended only to the Scriptures after the day had dawned…but that stormy weather is predicted—heavy snow out west and who knows what for our neighborhood…and I have been depleted by the on-going trials around the world…The only way out for me now seems to be good ritual – even if it’s “virtual.”

As I look to the Scriptures for this Fourth Sunday of Lent I find solace in the healing of the blind man (Jn 9:1-41). Even as I look out on more clouds and wind, I know that blindness of all kinds can be healed and I look forward to that story (in an hour now) as well as the choice of David, that ruddy teenager that God chose out of all the brothers to lead the people out of darkness. David wasn’t prefect…by any stretch of the imagination, but God loved him dearly. I’ll hold to that as I prepare for prayer to calm whatever “the weather” brings to my soul today.

Renewal

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40 days, Corinthians, forgiveness, Joel, Lent, Lenten journey, psalm 51, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems strange to say that today is a day that people long for – make themselves ready for even – when the Scriptures are full of commands. Listen:

*Blow a trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Gather the people, notify the congregation; assemble the elders, gather the children…” (Joel 2)

* A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me… Give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustain in me…(PS 51)

* Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation! (2 Cor 5)

Taking each of those statements at a time – one after the other – from today’s lectionary readings – should bring us to a place of longing…an interior “heart space” where we can hear God say to us, “Even now, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness…even now.”

It’s as if we’re being given a “Get-out-of-jail-free” card…as if we’ve won the lottery and all is forgotten…as if we a as clean as new-fallen snow and innocent of all our faults and poor choices – sins even of the most grievous kind…because our God is a God like no other, the one who forgives, and forgives, and forgives again.

Today we start over, as if we were just born. What will you do with this gift? How will you spend these 40 days of Lent? Are you up to the challenge of Divine Love?

Deafening Silence

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body of Christ, Garden of Gethsemane, Great Vigil of Easter, inner stillness, Jesus, Last Supper, Lenten journey, pain, paschal mystery, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, victims, violence

Last night I experienced what I have heard and said and sung for at least all of my adult life: We are the body of Christ. I entered a church already full of a great diversity of ages, nationalities and, thankfully, even races (although still in this valley we are in the majority Caucasian) where I could sense that nobody was there out of duty. We all came to enter into the Paschal Mystery that began with the “Last Supper” of Jesus with his disciples and will lead us through his death and burial into resurrection over these next three days. In welcoming all to the service, the music director instructed visitors that this was a place where everyone participated in both prayer and song – regardless of musical ability. And participate we did – from oldest to youngest – and I was struck by the ease with which everyone carried out their assigned duties. Especially notable were the children who served as acolytes and gave special assistance during the foot-washing and incensing both during the Eucharist and the procession to Gethsemane that followed. I was drawn along on the wave of devotion and feeling of family that is normative in that community and moved by the pastor’s comment during his homily that he was proud to serve at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church because it was such a caring and engaged community. It was obvious that the heart of Christ beats strongly there.

All that said, the most important facet of the experience was the quality of silence that followed the last hymn. The commentator, having explained that we were now “on watch” with Jesus at Gethsemane, called us into a silence that will last in the Church through today and until tomorrow evening at the Great Vigil of Easter. It was time, she said, for us to remain or to leave the church in silence. And that is what happened. Apart from footfalls, there was no sound heard in the hour that I remained. The silence was pervasive and profound. Whether people moved to the chapel representing the Garden of Gethsemane or stayed in the darkened church, not a sound was heard.

As I sat in that silence I became aware of an inner stillness that is rare for me. Even during my daily meditation I find my mind either racing or wandering and must keep emptying as soon as I catch the thoughts in order to come back to presence. There was none of that last night. No thought could penetrate that silence. The immensity of what we had shared of an event 2,000 years in the past collided with what had just happened in Belgium this week and there was no way to comprehend or even think about it all. I sat in utter stillness and in that state felt connected while also utterly alone. Upon reflection during my drive home, I sensed that I had touched something of what Jesus knew and felt in the darkness of that garden. This morning it expands to a sense of the immensity of pain that victims of violence and catastrophe around the world are feeling as I write. And it has only just begun…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True Freedom

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abide, Abraham, christians, consistency of Jesus, free, freedom, go deeper within, hold on, integrity of spirit, Jesus, John, Lenten journey, loving word, remain, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

A very long time ago I had a poster taped to the inside of my bedroom door. The image on it was of a rag doll type of figure that looked rather flat, as if it had been run over by a steamroller. Beside the figure was an old-fashioned washing machine and the text on the poster read, “The truth will set you free but it will put you through the ringer first.” Although it was a rather irreverent use of this morning’s gospel passage from John about the truth setting one free (JN 8:31-32), it did make a point about freedom. Jesus was talking to Jewish people who had already come to believe in him and they were confused, asking why Jesus would talk about them becoming free since they were descendants of Abraham who had “never been enslaved to anyone.”

Throughout history there have been many examples of people who have lived in the most dreadful conditions, have been treated badly by governments or dictators or those who claim to represent God, and still retain a spirit that is totally unfettered. How does one remain free is such circumstances? Jesus gives a hint to Christians in the aforementioned text from John which in its entirety says, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Verbs like remain and abide hold great power for those who understand the need to “hold on” no matter what external circumstances cause in one’s life. It is our interior freedom, freedom of spirit that comes from knowing and living in the truth that cannot be taken away. How does one achieve such freedom? Sometimes it seems to come easily in life if one is lucky enough to live in a country like the USA whose founding documents boast “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” especially if that creed is replicated in a family that nurtures not only those principles but also a faith in God and a religious tradition. Even for those that start life with those advantages, however, there comes a moment – or a series of moments – when recognition of injustices extant in the culture or in personal relationships cause one to go deeper into the underlying truths of life. It is at those points of challenge that we need to assess what we have been taught and come to a personal integrity of spirit that can never be taken away. It may be shaken in times of danger or our own weakness but if we remain awake to the truth that we carry deep within us, we will know the freedom of which Jesus speaks this morning. As we live into the last ten days of Lent, let us listen to the consistency of Jesus in his speaking, in his acting and in his loving word that carries him through his death to resurrection. And let the word that is the truth of his life reverberate in us as we remain in him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Audacity of Mercy

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bravery, broken heart, courage, daring, Holy Week, Jesus, Joan Chittister, justice, Lenten journey, love, mercy, openness, Palm Sunday, Pilate, pluck, The Audacity of Mercy, The Monastic Way, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth, understanding

This morning as I was pondering the lectionary readings for the day I came across an old (2005) edition of Joan Chittister’s daily reflection pamphlet, The Monastic Way, that I had saved. Long before Francis had been elected Pope and proclaimed this a year of mercy, Sister Joan had spent a month writing about “The Audacity of Mercy.” Of course she was not talking about audacity in its negative “Well! The audacity of that woman to tell me what to do!” but rather of audacity in a positive context, meaning daring, bravery, courage, pluck…Her reflections are brief but always to the point and the one that caught my attention most of all this morning was the following:

The major holy-making moment in our own lives may be when we receive the mercy we know we do not deserve. Then, we may never again substitute disdain for understanding, rejection for openness, legalism for justice. “I think perhaps it is a better world,” Helen Waddell writes, “if one has a broken heart. Then one is quick to recognize it elsewhere.

As we come ever closer to the events of Holy Week, we would do well to remember this lesson and look for ourselves in the crowds that Jesus will encounter: those shouting praises on Palm Sunday, those jeering as he stands before Pilate or carries his cross…or even those of his disciples that go missing or deny him when it gets dangerous. Shall we judge them, or would we do better to carry a mirror with us into every situation to see where we stand? What is our “mercy quotient?” May you, may I, always be found standing on the side of the mercy that is born of truth and love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep On Keeping On

Tags

generous heart, Lenten journey, Luke, memory walk, natural world, perseverance, psalm 1, roots, strength, tenacity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the Word

I have come to understand many things about life by living in a rural area and observing the natural world. I remember two specific examples of the same lesson about strength and tenacity that involved tree roots; in both cases the roots triumphed over me. The first experience was early in my days here when it was decided that the grape arbor in the middle of the yard had outlived its usefulness (very little fruit which was not pleasant to eat) and was obstructive of the sight line and path to our conference hall. I decided that perhaps a second chance should be given this old but revered vine so set to digging it up. After a week of hard exercise I yielded to the reality that I would be in China before finding the end of the taproot, even though the vine itself had obviously “given up the ghost.” My second attempt at transplantation came at the edge of the asparagus patch where one of the ever-present maple seed-pods had taken root in the spring. I was astounded later in the season when I tried to dig out the slim, 18-inch slip of a branch and found myself once again on the way to China! How quickly and tenaciously roots had been set down and the seedling had determined to stay. It is now a towering tree and I take example from it quite often.

This “memory walk” began this morning as I read the verse before the gospel which proclaimed: Blessed are those who have kept the Word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance. (See LK 8:15) Wondering what the gospel reference was I went to the Bible and found (of course!) Luke’s version of the sower planting seeds. Having been drawn to the verse by the qualities mentioned – generous heart and perseverance – I was glad I looked because the New American Bible translation (circa 1970) added a stronger nuance of responsibility saying; The seed on good ground are those who hear the Word in a spirit of openness, retain it and bear fruit in perseverance.

So how does this connect with the trees – other than my failure to persevere in the task? For me it all came together in Psalm 1, a template for all the other 149, which speaks not of seeds but sees us as trees being planted in God’s law. It is lyrical and meaningful and I offer it today as a way to pause on our Lenten journey to take stock of our progress and to rest in the Creator’s care.

Blessed are those whose steps are firmly planted on Your eternal law…[They] grow strong as living trees, their roots sink deep and hidden…and through life’s passing seasons they do not cease to bear a plenitude of fruit nor do they fade from giving shade of leaf that covers all with good. 

Do It Yourself

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discipline, doormats, Ezekiel, humility, Lenten journey, Matthew, new heart, new spirit, practice what you preach, psalm 50, responsibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s readings are very clear that discipline is an inside job. I noticed it first in the verse before the gospel which proclaimed, “Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” (EZ 18:31) This is different from the more familiar (to me anyway) line about God saying, “I will take from you your stony hearts and give to you natural hearts.” Today God is calling us to responsibility; we need to do the work of repentance, not just talk about it. In Psalm 50, God asks, “Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?” That makes me think of the old adage, Say what you mean and mean what you say.

The gospel gives us another familiar line that moves the conversation from a consideration of our speech to action. He’s speaking to the crowds about the scribes and the Pharisees (the people in charge) but we can all take to heart the lesson: Practice what you preach from the descriptions of what Jesus is talking about. “For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they do not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen…They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.'” The advice of Jesus ends the reading and is a good reminder for all of us. “The greatest among you,” Jesus says, “must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (MT 23:1-12)

Just a caveat about that last quote. Jesus is not interested in us making ourselves “doormats” for people to walk over. He is talking about mature service and true humility, qualities that can never be faked because they come from the inside, not from any action we can perform. So today I will “watch my step” on this Lenten journey, making sure I’m not looking for applause but doing my best to be authentic in all I do for God and for those I meet along the way.

Raqa!

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anger, baby, emotions, empty, human being, inflammatory, Lenten journey, Matthew, miracle of God's creation, negativity, Peace, politics, presidential campaign, Raqa, respect, reverence, Sanhedrin, Sermon on the Mount, spiteful, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, useless, venomous language

Yesterday one of my housemates received a text from her nephew with a sonogram image of his expected child. His wife is only three months pregnant, yet the technology was so clear that we could already see the brain forming in his (yes, it’s a boy!) well-formed head. We marveled at the amazing miracle of how this baby – and all of us – are formed in our mother’s womb. I was reminded this morning of how babies need do nothing in order to garner the attention of anyone who crosses their path. We are all in awe of the beauty and wonder of such an amazing creation. What happens to us as we age that causes us to forget how to reverence one another?

In today’s gospel (MT 5: 20-26) – near the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount – Jesus is speaking about a deeper way to follow the commandment, “You shall not kill.” He says, “…whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin…” The Sanhedrin was the supreme religious body in the land of Israel, comparable to the US Supreme Court. I always just passed over raqa when that reading appeared, figuring that it meant something mean that was said in Hebrew by someone who was angry. Today, I decided to research it and found that I was correct to a point but that raqa speaks of a kind of anger that erupts from someone whose anger is dangerously spiteful. Raqa means useless, empty and of no value. These days we call that kind of language used against another verbal abuse. When someone hurls those words at another person, it is as if the word becomes an arrow, piercing to the heart, and the damage can be devastating.  No wonder Jesus was so emphatic in his critique.

All this brings to mind the venomous language that is present in the political sphere during a campaign for an important office. Sometimes it is not only the candidates who denigrate their opponents but those in the different supporting  “camps” who are drawn in to such inflammatory rhetoric. We are in such a moment in our country now and need to take care, lest we lose ourselves in negativity rather than make intelligent choices on the issues.

In our personal lives as well we need to take care to monitor our emotions. Proceeding on our Lenten journey, let us seek out people and experiences that will remind us of the miracle of God’s creation that is the human being. Moreover, let us treat one another with respect and reverence, eschewing anger at its beginning to avoid any words that we may regret for the damage they inflict on another person. Peace be our path today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Golden Rule

Tags

affirmation, criticism, examination of consciousness, Golden Rule, Lenten journey, Matthew, negativity, self acceptance, self-knowledge, spiritual practice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I would be willing to wager that just in seeing the title above, you are able to intuit the content of today’s musing. It’s pretty familiar – that line from Matthew’s gospel (MT 7:12); sometimes that’s a danger. I went back to the beginning of today’s lectionary to look again for something to consider so as to not repeat myself, having most likely used this text before (and in case anyone is counting, today this blog will reach 15,000 hits in the somewhat over two years that I have been writing!). Everybody knows the Golden Rule, right? (“Do unto others whatever you would have them do unto you.” – just in case you need a jump start.)

Then I began to really think about specific things that I would feel good about and some things that would upset me should someone “do them” to me. Examples of affirmation and criticism come to mind. Depending on how sensitive I am to either or both of those experiences, they could be quite serious – even if the person “doing them to me” doesn’t mean things the ways I take them. Even an off-hand remark can have ramifications. Last evening I was in a group where the conversation turned to consideration of the level of negativity in speech and how as self-knowledge and self-acceptance grows, the necessity for comparison to and denigration of others diminishes. It was a great conversation that moved from there into consideration of spiritual practice and how that affects our actions. As I write this morning that seems appropriate as a way to assure adherence to the Golden Rule.

While I could spin off into a great number of ideas here, the bottom line seems to warrant an “examination of consciousness” of how I have been treating others lately and a determination to tuck the Golden Rule in my backpack for the rest of this Lenten journey. Won’t you join me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proclaim a Fast

Tags

abstinence, Ash Wednesday, consciousness, fasting, food, fundamental human right, hungry, Isaiah, Lent, Lenten journey, oppessed, Roman Catholic Church, sharing, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unjust

My mind is racing already after reading the lectionary texts today. I don’t know if I can settle on one topic emerging from the message of Isaiah. Perhaps it isn’t always necessary to be able to wrap my words up into a tight, cohesive package. I may just strive this morning for coherence and leave cohesion by the wayside. We’ll see how it goes.

Here is what Isaiah shouts today in God’s name on the topic of fasting that definitely reverberates down through the ages. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!…This is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall quickly be healed. (IS 58:1-9A)

On Wednesday (Ash Wednesday, still an official day of fast and abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church – one of only two in Lent these days) I was so aware of my eating. Running through my mind was the rule that “two small meals equal the one main meal” and “no meat at any meal.” The challenge was not finding what I could eat to fit that description but in the second part of the stricture of no eating between meals. The issue was consciousness. Happily, I was on the road working about 80 miles away from home because when I’m home the challenge is always to notice when I pick up a cracker or a grape walking through the kitchen if I feel hungry – or even if not. But there was the moment on Wednesday when I stopped to fill my car’s gas tank at a station with a convenience store attached. I had to remind myself not to go in and pick up a candy bar or a small bag of potato chips, “just in case…” Food is so accessible in my life; I need to be more responsible to that fact.

Yesterday I read an article in the semi-annual publication of our province of Sisters of St. Joseph. Our Social Justice Coordinator was writing about a collaboration between two organizations uniting to fight hunger. One, Great Nations Eat, is using the technology of media like TV, radio, or even billboards and internet like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to raise consciousness. “We put a man on the moon. Feeding our people shouldn’t be rocket science” and “America can’t be great on an empty stomach” are two of their slogans aimed at making people think. The other organization, Share Our Strength, is similarly motivated to call on Americans to unite in the effort to fight hunger. “It [hunger] affects the life of one in six Americans. That doesn’t happen in any other developed nation. It shouldn’t happen here,” says founder and CEO, Billy Shore. “Ending hunger is possible. It will take public awareness and political outreach to build the necessary national will…”

So it isn’t just about eating or not eating; it’s more about consciousness that setting free the oppressed and unbinding the yoke of others in our midst or in our world can start with feeding the hungry. Here recent images on the news of emaciated children in war-torn places in the Middle East come to mind. It’s all connected and we are all responsible. My province of the Sisters of St. Joseph has committed us to address this issue in the following ways: 1. to promote and to advocate for the recognition and realization that food is a fundamental human right, and 2. to be part of developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to end hunger on the local, national and international levels. That is a big order and it is clear that we do not assume we can do it alone. Even small steps, tiny actions are important. On yesterday’s local news, for example, there was a report of elementary school children from Owego, NY – a rural area – collecting cans of soup last week in the run-up to the Super Bowl game to donate to homeless people served by the Tioga County rural outreach organization directed by one of our Sisters. These children gave Sister Mary 524 cans of soup and learned a great lesson of caring at the same time.

Enough! We all have our own work to do to respond to God’s call through Isaiah. Who will you notice on your Lenten journey who needs your help? How will you recognize his/her hunger? What will you do to feed it? And what about me? What will I do next time? It’s about each of us and all of us. May we walk together into a brighter, more caring future.