All About Love

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God, God is love, John, love, love one another, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday and today I have been without internet access but the messages from the daily lectionary have been very clear. My suggestion to all who are looking for inspiration this week is to look deeply into the first letter of John, especially chapter 4 which has enough power to last throughout the remainder of the Christmas season. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Let us love one another because love is of God. Everyone who loves is begotten of God and knows God.
2. If God so loved us we also must love one another. If we love one another, God remains in us and God’s love is brought to perfection in us.
3. God is love and whoever remains in love remains in God and God remains in them. In this is love brought to perfection among us.

I know that you have likely heard and/or read these lines often before. What I suggest is sitting with them until they are stitched into your consciousness, popping up each time someone crosses your path, and you may find a new word in some one of the phrases as I did this morning. I have always heard #3 as God’s love is brought to perfection IN us but today I read it as AMONG us. A new effect of our willingness to love!
I rest my case.

Paul's Passion

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blessings, Christmas, compassion, Jesus, love, mercy, Philippians, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

According to the liturgical calendar, today is a “Christmas weekday.” Would you know it if I hadn’t told you? Are your presents still visible under your tree? Are you saying: “What tree?” I’m being facetious, of course – trying to make the point that sometimes we move from expectation (a long process) through experience (sometimes very brief) to let-down (“business as usual”) without savoring the event itself or being changed by it at all.

There are two sets of readings for today and in both St. Paul seems to be pleading for our attention to the effect of Jesus coming into the world. First, the Christmas weekday reading says this: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we are children of God…Beloved, we are God’s children NOW!” (1 JN 2) The second, from the Letter to the Philippians, urges an even deeper consciousness of who we must be in the name of Jesus. “Brothers and sisters,” Paul says, ” if there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind with the same love, united in heart…”

Can you feel it? Did you experience the love that Christmas calls us to? If not, is there still a chance you might manifest it today or work toward the recognition of which Paul speaks even in some small way? A “hello” or a kind word to a colleague? Even a smile would do for a start. You may be surprised to “see what love God has bestowed upon us.”

Blessings on you this day, children of God.

A Christmas Prayer

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Emmanuel, generosity, Joyce Rupp, kindness, love, Prayer Seeds, respect, reverence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Joyce Rupp has a meaningful Christmas prayer in her book, Prayer Seeds, that seems appropriate for this sixth day in the octave of Christmas, to remind us that the spirit of the feast lives on beyond a one-day celebration. Won’t you pray it in connection with all those reading this post?

Emmanuel, God-with-us, you chose to come for each person, the destitute and the wealthy, the unfortunate and the privileged, the troubled and the peaceful, the healthy and the ill.

You came in human form with a message of extravagant love, showing us how to be with those who have much less than we do. You came offering a gesture of respect and reverence instead of indifference and disdain; giving courteous kindness in place of thoughtless disregard; contributing ongoing support rather than a mere holiday handout.

Change my heart. Turn it inside out, toward the larger world. Remind me daily of those who struggle with their basic existence. Lead me to help change social systems that contribute to this ongoing struggle. Enlarge my awareness. Increase my generosity. Guide my choices of how I live, what I purchase, and how I use my material wealth.

Remind me often of your presence in those I tend to ignore or forget. Boundless Love, thank you for cherishing each person on this planet. (p.2-3)

Joseph's Role

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dreams, generosity, God is calling, inner voice, intuition, love, prayer, St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Joseph, husband of Mary who brought Jesus into the world, has a very small speaking part in the gospels. He is very often called “the silent one” which is not the easiest part to play in any situation. We do speak of some men as the “strong, silent type” and that is seen as a good thing but more because of the descriptive strong rather than silent. (And they are usually handsome as well!) One might think of Joseph as one “waiting in the wings” for his moment to shine, but that is not true! Joseph is always ready – listening – for God’s word in his life and obedient at every turn. His obedience to messages that some would have dismissed immediately had to come from deep within himself and from the conviction of how God worked in his life – always for his good and the good of those he loved.

Sometimes we are also called to trust our intuition, our dreams and the sense that God is calling us to something we would not have chosen, perhaps, but what seems an important next step. We would do well to imitate Joseph, standing silent, waiting for God to speak and trusting our inner voice that flows from a life of prayer and generosity in love.

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.

A Little Touch of Merton

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God, infinite mercy, love, New Seeds of Contemplation, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

I wrote yesterday in anticipation of the two sessions of our book study. It was the last of five sessions and did not disappoint. Today I sit in gratitude for the growing number of spiritual seekers who find their way to all kinds of groups that assist in the process of deepening understanding of self and meaningful life. This morning I read something written by Thomas Merton more than half a century ago that could have been said of our two wonderful, diverse groups of people who in their sharing and their silences created community in a way that was beautiful to watch. (You may want to read it aloud a couple of times to catch the flow and beauty of meaning.)

Merton wrote: Love comes out of God and gathers us to God in order to pour itself back into God through all of us and bring us all back to God on the tide of God’s own infinite mercy. So we all become doors and windows through which God shines back into His own house. (New Seeds of Contemplation, p.67)

Can You Really Hear It?

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Christ, love, love your neighbor as yourself, neighbors, Romans, St. Paul, The Golden Rule, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

St. Paul is very direct in his letter to the Romans today about what is necessary in the following of Christ. (ROM 13: 8-10) He starts right out this morning with a clear imperative saying “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another.” A rather shocking statement, I would guess, in that place and time – or even now. Then, as if they may not have understood, or in case they were distracted, he reminds his readers what he means by enumerating the tenets of the Commandments given to Moses on Sinai. After saying what is not allowed by the commandments (killing, stealing, coveting) he sounds like a parent saying “and whatever other commandment there may be…” as he shifts to the affirmative by saying what we must do. It’s the second half of what we know as The Golden Rule: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

I keep thinking of how this message must have been received – and how we ourselves receive it today. Unless we stop and allow it to enter deeply into our consciousness we will certainly miss the depth of meaning. The word “love” has become devalued in our day. We say we love our houses and our cars and our jobs and our new clothes…all possessions. It’s much more difficult sometimes to love our co-workers or our teenagers, or the driver who cuts us off on the highway…or even those who commit unspeakable crimes. Have you ever heard the saying;”Hate the sin but love the sinner?” All of that is included in Paul’s message, also known as the teachings of Jesus…All of it.

Some serious reflection necessary here.

Morning Wake-up

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diversity, eerful, love, Macrina Wiederkehr, seven sacred pauses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, waking up

I’ve been awake and sitting upright for quite awhile now but have not found in my own mind or the printed word any thought uplifting enough to share. I smiled when I turned to Macrina Wiederkehr’s thoughts on what she calls “The Awakening Hour” however, as I found my own often repeated words in hers. “I don’t always enjoy getting up,” she writes, “however, I like being up early. Getting up cheerfully in the morning is a spiritual practice for me. For this reason I set the clock of my heart as well as my alarm clock…Dawn is like medicine and morning is a healing drink that I have to brew in my heart as I brew my coffee.”

Later in her reverie she writes, “It is important that we respect the differences of others. Not everyone lives on my heart’s schedule. Not everyone wakes up good to go. Not everyone wakes up wanting to give praise. Waking up in the morning is a process, just as awakening to the gift of life is a process.” (sevensacredpauses, p. 54-55)

A fanciful reflection, to be sure, but good for us to hear once in awhile so that we can all move into the day as we are able and give thanks for the diversity that makes the world go ’round with love.

Unadulterated

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Cynthia Bourgeault, fulfillment, image of God, joy, Kathleen Deignan, love, Peace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, The Wisdom Jesus, Thomas Merton, Thomas Merton A Book of Hours

In searching for something today to express the heart of our book study conversations yesterday of Cynthia Bourgeault’s magnificent text, The Wisdom Jesus, I found the best answer in Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours by Kathleen Deignan (ed.) Much of what Merton says is more a felt sense than a gathering of intellectual content. I can only affirm this morning’s find with a resounding “Thank you!” while listening to the beat of my heart.

To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.

If, therefore, I do anything or think anything or say anything or know anything that is not purely for the love of God, it cannot give me peace, or rest, or fulfillment, or joy.

To find love, I must enter into the sanctuary where it is hidden, which is the mystery of God. (New Seeds of Contemplation, 60-61)

Choose Life

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acceptance, complain, grateful, love, positive, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Everything I have seen this morning has reminded me to choose to be positive rather than finding fault with anything. I could lament the fact that my busy mind kept me awake until after midnight so that I might be tired today. The alternative seems a better decision, however, and any other choice would be embarrassing. For example, how could I complain after reading Alex Trebek’s latest report about the recurrence of his stage 4 recurrence of pancreatic cancer? Or, on the other hand, after looking at glorious photos of some of the most beautiful places to visit in “leaf peeking” season, how could I not be grateful for the abundance of natural beauty and the cycle of seasons. “Tired” is not a good response when I am asked how I feel. Better to respond with one of the messages in my Affirmations Coloring Book, like “I choose to dwell in a world of love and acceptance.'” or “I am a magnet for miracles.” (How can you not smile at that one?)

This all started with Jesus saying to Martha in the gospel this morning, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things when only one thing is necessary…” (i.e. sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to him). Perhaps if we did that a little more often or consciously we would more easily forget the non-essentials and wake up to a better day. So let me start over and tell you that I am feeling just fine today. Thank you very much!