Still On Hiatus

Tags

discernment, listen, live, love, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I sit in the quiet on another glorious, sunny morning (May is definitely the best month of the year!) I find myself still undecided about the future of my blogging effort. Here is my status this morning, a clue to put in my bag of evidence or a piece of the puzzle, you might say.

We Sisters of St. Joseph have a Community Day or Weekend each year. It’s a sort of homecoming when we all—or as many as possible of us—gather to sing and pray and reflect on some aspect of our life together. And we celebrate (rather boisterously at times) our connection with one another. We have been deprived of this privilege last year and this one because of Covid 19. Last year we did nothing and we felt the lack. This year we decided on a “virtual” event as we have become somewhat adept at gathering in this way and have found that, while not perfect, it is somewhat satisfactory.

Today is our chosen day and I have been asked to participate in the opening prayer. Much of the prayer is taken from our Constitution and my part includes the following:

WE LOVE FREELY. WE LIVE SIMPLY. WE LISTEN ATTENTIVELY.

That sounds exactly like how I should be proceeding in the discernment of what comes next. So, be advised that I am still here, still aware that you are with me on this journey of life and willing to wait for what comes next. Some of you have already given me your suggestions about what you see as a way to move forward with what is important to say in a blog now and why. I am grateful for your support. Stay tuned…

A Saint for Today

Tags

believe, change, growth, live, St. John Henry Newman, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) is one of the bright lights of Christian theology and is remembered especially for his writings on the lived experience of believers as it relates to theology. His name is familiar to many as the patron of ministry centers on university campuses in the United States, both public and private, exemplifying the motto he chose on becoming a cardinal: Cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks to heart.”) Here are a few of Newman’s briefest, most salient quotes, worthy of our attention today.

1. To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.
2. Growth is the only evidence of life.
3. Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.
4. We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.

Time Flies…

Tags

courage, feel, live, meet people, never too late, see, sunrise, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, time, timing

This morning when I woke the sky was still in the process of lighting up. According to my phone, I still had at least 25 minutes before the alarm would sound to wake me. I settled down to wait or doze…but something in me said ten minutes later that it was time for my day to begin. How fortunate an impetus! When I opened my eyes and looked out my windows in both directions – east and south – I was treated to a lovely wash of color, soft in pinkish-orange light, that lasted less than two minutes before fading into the monochrome glimmer that spells d-a-y. What a gift of perfect timing! Something not to be missed, I thought.

I’ve had several conversations already this week about the speed of the summer and how time seems to be passing too quickly. This morning convinced me once again that time is a precious commodity not to be squandered. Deciding to explore a bit, I typed “quotes about time” into the subject line on my phone. I read some familiar things, but there was a quote that seemed the perfect start for this day. It was from Eric Roth, from his screenplay for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. See what you think.

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late, or in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There is no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”

What could be a more perfect “thought for the day?” Let’s live it!

Do It Yourself

Tags

challenge, crimes, Ezekiel, gentler, heart, kinder, live, return, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The daily Scriptures continue to surprise me. Just when I think I have the important messages memorized, a verse shows up saying something I don’t remember ever hearing before. This morning it’s from Ezekiel. I’ve been confident for as long as I remember, knowing that God said “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you…” but this morning the verse before the gospel stuns me with: “Cast away from you all the crimes that you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” (EZ 18:31) That sounds like the retort of Jesus when the disciples tell him the huge crowd that’s been following him needs food and he says, “Give them something to eat yourselves.”

The Scriptures do note that occasionally Jesus says something to challenge them before he does something extraordinary to solve the situation – as in the miracle of the loaves. But this is different. This is the God of the Hebrew nation speaking about radical life change. Jesus does become the model for this, teaching us to live from the heart in compassionate love regardless of the consequences. It cost him his life. If, however, we are to develop such a generous spirit it has to come from the inside – from our own decision and action. A prayer of “God, make me kinder, gentler” isn’t answered with the wave of a wand. It takes constant practice and sometimes vigilance to achieve and there is always possibility for us to fall back into selfishness or lassitude.

There is a bit of encouragement for us here, however, as Ezekiel ends God’s message with the following verse intimating that it isn’t all on us to succeed; God will be our cheerleader in the process. “Why should you die, O house of Israel?” God asks. “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies. Return and live!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living Love

Tags

Entering the Silence, forgive, kind, live, love, loved ones, patient, Paul, Peace, sorrow, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

As is often the case, I woke up today with song lyrics in my head. This time it was a familiar text from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, chosen by countless people for a wedding reading. You know it too, I’ll wager. Love is patient, love is kind, love is ready to forgive, sings Jeannie Cotter with David Haas ready to jump in as the lyrics veer off a bit from Paul. The last line of the chorus summarizes the message beautifully, however, when both sing that in love we choose to live.

I usually wait for a second sign if the song doesn’t go away by the time I sit down and root around inside and outside for a message. As I take stock of the previous day (or, as in this case, two days since I had no internet service yesterday) my theme often becomes perfectly clear. Yesterday was a day of communicating with loved ones – in person or on the phone – who are dealing with issues of deep sorrow. I carry them now and will continue to do so on this day where quiet and inaction is being enforced by the ice and snow outside. As I move through the hours I will take Thomas Merton with me as well to help me stay in the sphere of loving consciousness. Won’t you join me?

Every day love corners me somewhere and surrounds me with peace without having to look very far or very hard or do anything special. (Entering the Silence, p. 196)

 

The Essential Question

Tags

Christ, christians, compassion, Elijah, John the Baptist, listen, live, love, Mark, Matthew, Scriptures, speak truth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

We all have our own perspectives on things and sometimes there is not only difference in how we see things, but downright opposition to the views of others. I’m always reminded of this when the “Who do people say that I am?” question shows up in the Scriptures. (Today in MK 8.) That’s the easy question though because the answer can include lots of hearsay, e.g. “Elijah or one of the prophets” (reincarnated?) or John the Baptist (more tricky since they lived at the same time). The riskier question comes next when Jesus asks the question that calls for a response of personal conviction: “Who do you say I am?” No one rushes to that answer and Peter seems the only one to finally get up the courage to speak his mind, or more probably, what he knows in his heart: “You are the Christ.”

I had a phone conversation yesterday about the necessity of listening compassionately without judgment to differing opinions on topics of importance. Never has it seemed more difficult or more crucial for us to do so. And the second part of this practice is to speak the truth as it is known to us with a willingness to enter into honest dialogue with those who might disagree.

It might be easier for Christians today than in apostolic times to declare that Jesus is the Christ, but the implications of what that means about how we live our lives differs greatly. Jesus didn’t talk a lot about how to live; his teaching was mainly in his living. If we could just focus on the dictum, “Love one another as I have loved you,” and read Matthew 25 about “the sheep and the goats” once in awhile, we might do our living in a more compassionate manner, listening to others and even disagreeing sometimes but loving one another as God loves us.

Living in the Now

Tags

celebration, failure, light, limit of our days, live, moment, now, present, psalm 90, success, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, time, wisdom of heart

As I read today’s lectionary texts, I am struck once again with the necessity of living every moment to the fullest without grasping at the past or the future – which I no longer have or do not yet have (and maybe never will, who knows?). This is not a new theme but as I write I am hearing in my head some lines of a song by Greg Greenway, a wonderful musician and poet. The refrain goes like this: This is the light I carry. Tonight is a celebration. Have no complaints, sinners and saints, under the bright constellations…The hymnal’s wide open at the Church of What Is; let’s sing!

One of my alternative psalm translations says this: (Please pardon the repetition, if repetition there is): Time for you is as nothing, Lord, a thousand years of it, your yesterday, passing as a watch of the night. We are your dream, we’re briefly here and then simply gone, like grass. In the morning green and growing, at sunset we are withered, dry. So teach us now the limit of our days, that we may give our hearts to wisdom’s voice. And turn a gracious face toward us, for we are here on earth to serve. So may this grace, this graciousness be ours, and rest upon us now and evermore we pray. Amen. (Ps. 90)

The familiar (to me) translation of one of those lines says, “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain wisdom of heart.” Although I note the great similarity of the two translations of that sentence, I’m tempted to jump on the word “limit” in the first one as something different from the obvious meaning, i.e. the “number” as in the traditional sentence. What if the limit we are supposed to learn is what can be accomplished in a day, which shifts as we age. Can we learn to accept our days as we live them with the level of “success” or “failure” without needing to even apply those words to anything? Can we be awake to the wisdom, the lesson in each passing moment, so that without lamenting our limitations we live as we were meant to – in the graciousness with which we were created, which is the way that I believe and hope God is attending to us? Let us pray for this grace today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rilke’s Wisdom

Tags

answers, intention, Letters to a Young Poet, live, patient, perspective, Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours, Sunday, the Lord's Day, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unfinished business, unsolved

It has become my practice every morning to consider each day a clean slate for my living. Of course there are on-going concerns or projects and I have my lists of “unfinished business” from the previous day (or week or month…) but my intention is to look at everything from the perspective of this day and leave yesterday to the history books. Even more important does that intention become on Sundays for two reasons. It is, after all, the first day of the week, the beginning of a new cycle of events. Additionally it is for Christians the Lord’s Day, the day of Resurrection, thereby giving impetus to thoughts of God and my own sense of hope for myself and the world.

My desire to catapult myself from sleep into newness this morning led me to Rilke’s Book of Hours. As I leafed through the pages, out fell a small sheet of notebook paper that I’ve kept for almost 50 years. A little yellowed by the years, it is otherwise in good shape, having been passed from one book to another from time to time. On it my friend Jan had printed a famous quote from Rilke’s work, Letters to a Young Poet, that was probably encouragement for me during a moment of uncertainty in the novitiate. It was the first time I had encountered Rilke and that text but it has stayed with me and been shared countless times with others. I am fairly certain I have even shared it here. Sometimes, though, repetition is good for the soul – and even the mind. Such is the case for me this morning so I offer it as a new beginning for a new week. May we all be blessed in our seeking!

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers that cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will gladly, without even noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.