The Power of Intention

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Alan Cohen, be free, forgiveness, free, freedom, let go, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is one of those rare Saturdays when the possibilities are endless. There are no meetings to go to, no workshops at home or elsewhere for me to attend. The hours spread out before me like “a deep breath of life.” Ironic that I pulled the book of that title off my shelf just now to find a great page for pondering. Alan Cohen always has good advice for a day of deep breathing and reflection. Here’s part of what he offered for me today, definitely worth repeating. First the reflection, second a prayer of intention and then an affirmation for release.

Have you been punishing yourself or someone else for something that happened a long time ago? Any payoff you perceive for holding a grudge is an illusion: there is no value, only a weighty price. A friend of mine in chiropractic school showed me a diagram of what happens to a human body in the throes of anger or rage. All kinds of chemicals are released into the system that exact a heavy toll on our health and vitality….

Jesus was asked, “How many times should we forgive — seven?” Jesus’s answer was clear: “Seventy times seven,” meaning just keep on letting go. We must remember that forgiveness is more of a gift to ourselves than to the person we are forgiving.

“Give me the willingness to let go. Let me perceive no value in holding hurtful thoughts. I want to be free.”

I release the past and get on with my life. (A Deep Breath of Life)

Total Surrender

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Good Friday, heart, Jesus, lessons, let go, love, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

Today is called “Good Friday.” The veiled goodness of this day consists of our ability to tap into the lessons that we may perceive in silence and in our willingness to widen our heart space and unite ourselves to the heart of Jesus in his total surrender. Here is how Thomas Merton expressed it long ago:

Let go of all that seems to suggest getting somewhere, being someone, having a name and a voice, following a policy and directing people in “my” ways. What matters is to love. (Learning to Love, p.15)

Not Knowing

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agenda, centering prayer, challenges, John Newton, knowing, knowledge, let go, letting go of thoughts, psalm 139, schedule, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I was listening to a program last night on my computer about “re-writing our own life script.” During the call-in portion the speaker, John Newton, asked the caller how it would feel to live in a place of “not knowing.” What would that feel like? I found the question rather interesting because I didn’t react negatively to it! Usually my first thoughts upon waking in the morning find me running through my schedule for the day (after I am focused enough to even know what day it is!) in order to know how quickly I have to move, whether I have had enough sleep to meet the challenges of the day and how much of my incidental agenda I will be able to fit in between appointments and meetings or whatever has been previously scheduled.

As I listened to John’s question repeated and tried to answer honestly for myself, I realized that I am gradually coming to a place of willingness to let go of my agenda in order to appreciate and respond to the moment I am in rather than what has already happened or has not yet arrived. This made me happy since I have been practicing letting go of thoughts in centering prayer for over ten years!

I still ran my daily schedule tape this morning as I came awake, but I was also glad for the words of the psalmist as I read Psalm 139 which allowed me to give over the day to God. Perhaps you might do the same.

O Lord, you have probed me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize; with all my ways you are familiar. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know the whole of it. Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain…

…and so I just give over the need of knowing everything and breathe in the conviction that God is God and I am not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going the Distance

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anger, eclipse, follow, go the distance, gossip, Lazarus, let go, love, Martha, Mary, Matthew, perfect, sin, surrender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I am sometimes awed at how much can be packed into a few verses of Scripture. What I mean is more likely where my mind and heart go after reading a short section, like today’s gospel about the rich young man who couldn’t quite “go the distance” in surrender. (MT 19:16-22)

Like most of us he claims having kept the commandments as they’re written and as Jesus enumerates them for him. No killing, no adultery, no stealing…easy enough, we might say. A closer examination might see us falling off that wagon though in the small things that lead to those greater sins. What about a burst of anger or joining in on a conversation about someone that might lead to stealing a bit of his or her reputation? And then there’s that last one: Love your neighbor as yourself. That one could be the subject of a very long retreat…

The last section of the text is very disturbing to many people. It’s the two sentences that would send many of us away sad like the rich young man. Jesus says to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” I stop after typing that because it is too difficult to interpret for anyone but myself. Okay, even for myself. I did have two thoughts for consideration though and they are connected.

1. I preached at my mother’s funeral about Mary and Martha because, as she moved deeper and deeper into dementia, I saw my mother let go of everything that seemed important to her in her younger day. In the end, she was like a bright light “sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him” like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, in the gospel. I noted her transformation as a process of letting go that I saw begin at the age of 45 when she had to move away from everything she had known because of my father’s job change. As she tested the waters of this move, she found new friends and new activities that soon allowed her to let go, to dive in and live fully – loving well even into eternity. What I said about her divestment was that she did not necessarily give up all her possessions – but rather that she gave up the need of them as she lived the totality of her life for God.
2. In one of St. Paul’s letters he speaks of his willingness to live whether he is rich or poor, has enough or not, as long as he can “have Christ…”

I think the two are synonymous and instructive in this conversation I’m having with myself. I will think on these things as I drive home today and as I contemplate the darkness of the eclipse that will overshadow the light of afternoon…another symbol, perhaps, of letting go only to welcome the light again as it returns. Stay safe out there, everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Weather Report

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A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, judge, keep smiling, let go, Psalm 147, snow, spark of the divine, spring, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weather report, winter

I smiled as I read the Psalm for today – one of the praise psalms toward the end of the book, Psalm 147, wherein we find a weather report of sorts. In verse 16, the psalmist sings of God’s activity thus: He spreads snow like wool; frost he strews like ashes. Yesterday I was thinking we were surely headed for spring but this morning there’s lots of activity out there, wind and blowing snow – as if last week’s dump of almost 3 feet of the white stuff were not enough!

My thought that I am powerless to do anything but accept the vagaries of the weather was a good segue as I read a quote about relating to other people. Alan Cohen, in his daily reflection (A Deep Breath of Life) says the following: Help me not to judge my brothers and sisters, but let me recognize  my unity with them. Help me to see the spark of the divine in all the eyes I look into. I smile again as I think of English class when I was a child and find myself cringing at the “dangling preposition” that makes me want to correct the previous sentence to say, in all the eyes into which I look. But how clumsy does that sound! The bottom line in all this seems to be something like the following:

Just keep smiling and let go of your need for everything to work according to your rules. Living will likely be easier that way!

The Whole Truth

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Book of Hours, death, divine values, falsity, God's truth, hypocrisy, integrity, let go, lies, life, love, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, Tower of Babel

Today after reading about the tower of Babel I was reminded of the newly-coined phrase in our culture of “fake news” and turned for solace to Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours. In the Friday reflections, I found a worthy reminder for the day, actually a composite from two of Merton’s texts. I believe it is appropriate and is “enough said.”

No matter what happens, I feel myself more and more closely united with those who, everywhere, devote themselves to the glory of God’s truth, to the search for divine values hidden among the poor and outcast, to the love of that cultural heritage without which [man] cannot be healthy. The air of the world is foul with lies, hypocrisy, falsity, and life is short, death approaches. We must devote ourselves with generosity and integrity to the real values: there is no time for falsity and compromise. But on the other hand we do not have to be greatly successful or even well known. It is enough for our integrity to be known to God. What we do that is pure in His sight will avail for the liberty, the enlightenment, and the salvation of His children everywhere. (The Courage for Truth 188)

Let go of all that seems to suggest getting somewhere, being someone, having a name or a voice, following a policy and directing people in “my ways.” What matters is to love. (Learning to Love, 15)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Prayer for Wisdom

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bouquet of life, dying well, fear, gracefully, let go, living well, Macrina Wiederkehr, openness, Saturday, seven sacred pauses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, thoughtfully, weekend

For many of us, Saturday is a day to take a breath, pick up the fragments of the week that is ending and get ready for what is to come in the dawning of the week that begins tomorrow. After walking downstairs making a mental list of tasks for the day, pouring my coffee and coming back to boot up my computer, I opened Macrina Wiederkehr’s book, Seven Sacred Pauses, and found what seems to me a perfect prayer for this day. May it be a guide for us as we proceed.

Give us the grace of tender seeing. Help us to recognize and honor the wise one who lives at the core of our being. May we always be open to being taught. May we be able to let go of our work at the end of the day. May we learn to bless and affirm each person who passes through the hours of our day. May we lose our fear of those things which are transient. May we learn the art of living well and dying well. Teach us to end the day slowly, thoughtfully, gracefully. Soften the driven part of us that we may learn to relax and offer all we are and all we do as a bouquet of life at the close of each day.(p. 127)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The One Thing Necessary

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attitude, evil, Learning to Love, let go, love of money, money, Paul, status, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, Timothy

It is amazing how a word or two can change the whole meaning of a text. I came across an example of that this morning in Paul’s advice to Timothy where he is talking about money. I have often heard that money is the root of all evil. What the text actually says is that the love of money is the root of all evil. (1TM 6:7-12) What a difference that makes! Quite often now we hear in this country about very rich people who are joining Warren Buffett in giving away at least 50% of their fortunes. What a blessing that they have become financially successful but are not enamored of keeping their money to themselves! It seems they have also heard in their hearts what Thomas Merton offers as an expansion of Paul’s advice to Timothy, when he says: “Let go of all that suggests getting somewhere, being someone, having a name and a voice, following a policy and directing people in ‘my’ ways. What matters is to love.” (Learning to Love, 15) So whether we’re rich or poor or somewhere in between, it’s our attitude toward money and status that is important on this journey of life, this opportunity to love.

The Cosmic Dance

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cosmic dance, follow Him, garden of creation, hear, His call, Kathleen Deignan, let go, Lord, the meaning of it all, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

The Lord plays and diverts Himself in the garden of His creation,
and if we could let go of our own obsession
with what we think is the meaning of it all,
we might be able to hear His call
and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic dance.

~ Thomas Merton
(from Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours by Kathleen Deignan)

Joining the Dance

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helping people, John, let go, let God lead, loaves and fishes, love, Matthew, miracle, opportunities, problem solving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I’ve said, there are very simple and direct statements in the letters of John, as today he says: Beloved, love one another because love is of God. (1Jn 4:7). A few verses later, it goes on to say more about this love. In this is love: not that we have loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son…

The gospel for today is a familiar one, Matthew’s recounting of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. It seems to me a perfect illustration of the first reading since when the disciples recognize the late hour they go to Jesus with their concern and the need of the people to eat. When he says “Give them something to eat yourselves,” they protest, seeing the impossibility of finding enough food for everyone. So Jesus takes the situation in hand, asking about the possible (“How much food do we have to work with?”) and providing from a ridiculously small amount enough for everyone. What I recognize today is the beautiful interplay between God’s love in the person of Jesus whose ability to solve the situation is never in question and the disciples who, although they recognize the difficulty, are at a loss to solve it but (in spite of themselves) continue to be participants in the solution to the end when Jesus gives them the food to distribute and then the charge to gather up what’s left. All he does (it appears) is bless the food, ask questions and give directives.

How might we stay awake today for the opportunities of such a dance with God in helping the people who come our way? It seems the way to proceed is to let God lead and let go of the necessity of knowing all the steps when we enter the dance.