The Gift of Frost

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breathe, Earth, forgiveness, heal the world, heaven, John Philip Newell, land, love, love of life, love of neighbors, Peace, prayer, Praying With the Earth, self, souls, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

7:40AM. There’s something about the drop to just beyond freezing temperatures outside (26 F.) that silences me as if the earth put a finger to her lips saying, “Shh…Pay attention. Don’t move from where you sit. Just drink in the moment!” I would love to open my window and breathe in the freshness but I’m afraid that would be just a little too extreme for such an exercise right now. So I sit ensconced in the comfort of the chair that is slowly molding itself to my body, feeling the air around me. It’s cold enough to make me know I have made the right decision but warm enough to give thanks for the heat that rises from downstairs and allows me to concentrate on the prayer for Saturday morning in John Philip Newell’s book, Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace. Won’t you join me?

To the home of peace, to the field of love, to the land where forgiveness and right relationship meet we look, O God, with longing for earth’s children, with compassion for the creatures, with hearts breaking for the nations and people we love. Open us to visions we have never known, strengthen us for self-givings we have never made, delights with a oneness we could never have imagined, that we may truly be born of You makers of peace.

May the love of life fill our hearts. May the love of earth bring joy to heaven. May the love of self deepen our souls. May the love of neighbor heal our world. As nations, as peoples, as families this day may the love of life heal our world.

Morning Blessing

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grateful, John Philip Newell, love of earth, love of life, love of neighbors, love of self, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning, a short blessing prayer from John Philip Newell as I prepare to go and serve breakfast for a bright, kindly group of women here at the Spiritual Center for the last of our season’s workshops. It is a privilege to be in the presence each weekend of such seekers of a deep spiritual experience and I am grateful as I pray:

May the love of life fill our hearts. May the love of earth bring joy to heaven. May the love of self deepen our souls. May the love of neighbors heal our world. As nations, as peoples, as families this day, may the love of life heal our world.

Universality

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brothers, electric shock, Jesus, love of enemies, love of neighbors, Mary, Matthew, mother, sister, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel is one of those that provides a bit of an “electric shock” to the reader. It’s hard to get a visual sense of where Jesus might be as it says he is speaking to “the crowds” but is obviously inside a house or some sort of structure because someone comes to him and says that his mother and brothers are outside asking for him. Perhaps he and the disciples have stopped at a relative’s house for a rest and, as often happens, people follow him and as many as possible crowd in (or on the roof) with the rest scrambling for space outside so that they can still hear what he’s saying. The shocking moment comes when his mother and brothers arrive – too late to get even close to the door – so someone brings a message to him that they are there. His response is a challenge to everyone there. He says, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? (and pointing to his disciples) Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, sister and mother.” (MT 12: 46-50)

Is Jesus showing disrespect to his mother and family? I can imagine that some in the crowd would think so and be horrified. Anyone who had been really listening to Jesus all along (like us, hopefully) might understand it differently. Jesus came preaching love of neighbor and even enemies in a revolutionary way. There was (and still is) no one outside the circle of his care. He even said we should love others as ourselves – as if they are not separate from us in any way. It’s like my mother who in her last days told everyone who approached her not just that she loved them but that she loved them best! I suspect that Mary got that point because she already knew Jesus and his message intimately. I can’t imagine her turning away in a huff or holding back tears because she felt dismissed by him. I have a sense that she waited until the crowds dispersed (listening proudly to his every word) and then had some time – maybe a meal with him and the family and the disciples – as the day ended.

In these days of cultural mobility when family members live far from each other and do not see each other often, it is important to recognize that distance does not imply lack of care. Even when responsibilities keep us apart it’s good to have the confidence of connection and to celebrate the freedom it offers us to be present to all who cross our path – loving them best of all in that moment of encounter.