Forgive

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forgive, forgiveness, love one another, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It’s hard to miss the message in today’s lectionary readings. There are examples in each one, building to the most instructive: the story of the servant who successfully begged the king to forgive him a huge debt and then turned around and refused to forgive someone who owed him a much smaller amount. (MT 18:21-35) There are so many familiar lines in that passage, calling us to compassion and forgiveness for one another. Can you imagine Jesus suggesting that we forgive “seventy times seven times?” (aka as many times as we fall short.) Think about it though.

Is there anyone you love enough to forgive every time that person fails to measure up? Isn’t that what it takes to sustain a relationship? Is there any one of us who hasn’t been hurt or disappointed at least once that we can remember by a person we have loved? If we do forgive, doesn’t that strengthen the relationship? If we don’t, the transgression usually seems to hang onto us and deepen until the relationship is ruptured and it becomes impossible to remedy.

Nobody would say it’s easy to forgive serious injury but most of us, at least, would agree that forgiveness is the best way to heal. Jesus suggests that way today, saying: “Love one another as I have loved you.” With him as the model, who of us can resist a love like that?

The Power of Attention

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faith, focus, goal, Jesus, Matthew, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

Today’s gospel is a lesson in trust and focus: trusting in ourselves and God at the same time as getting the task done. It’s one of the familiar scenes of the apostles in a boat (MT 14: 22-36) and is clearly a test for them as Jesus is not with them. Rather, he has sent them ahead while he goes away – as is his custom – to refuel spiritually on a mountain alone.

Everything is fine until a serious wind comes up and rocks the boat so much that it is in danger of capsizing. Enter Jesus walking on the water toward them creating a double reason for distress: the possibility that they’re seeing a ghost as well as the danger of drowning. Jesus tells them not to be afraid. “It is I,” he says, and Peter tests the vision by challenging Jesus to have him walk to meet him in the water. Jesus obliges by the simple command: “Come!” Peter, ever the impetuous one, climbs out of the boat and is walking until he realizes that he is, in fact, walking on top of the water – an impossible thing to do. So, of course he starts to sink. As we expect, Jesus catches him, saves him and then remonstrates with him for his lack of faith.

Peter would have been fine if he had just kept walking…if he didn’t lose focus on his goal which was getting to Jesus. Losing focus and allowing our fear of failure – sometimes by over-thinking things – to be the actual cause of the failure comes from a lack of trust in ourselves as well as in God.

I’m much more willing to put my trust in God than in myself sometimes. Reflecting on this passage today, however, makes me more conscious that the two efforts are really one if we are living a life of faith. God and I have to be working together in everything. My focus needs to be that of the Spirit of God within me. If not, I will surely stumble and could even drown. So it appears today that the lesson is vigilance: staying awake is a must every day.

(N.B. Ironic that I wrote about paying attention on this date and then commented on the wrong readings! It never pays to skip a day of your chosen practice! It makes the message even more important. VIGILANCE!)

A Day To Remember

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blessings, covenant, Isaiah, love of God, Matthew, Psalm 145, Romans, Sisters of St. Joseph, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is a significant one for us – the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Province. It is the day on which we are filled with gratitude for the Sisters who have served us in the ministry of leadership over the past seven years and when we look forward in hope to those who pledge themselves now to lead us for the next five years. This is a monumental time of transition and challenge, not only for us but for religious communities of all kinds. I need not enumerate the challenges but we know that wisdom has been and will be the essential element in their ministry. We are confident that we have been well-served and trust that we will not be disappointed as we go forward. In other words, we are very blessed.

In that spirit we would do well to pay attention to the messages of today’s Scripture passages. It’s one of those days when each of the readings has a “stand-out” line or two, in my opinion (of course!). Please join me in a reflection that will be a blessing prayer for our community for today.

1. “Come to me heedfully, listen that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.” (IS 55: 3)
2. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs. (PS 145)
3. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (ROM 8: 37-39)
4. Jesus said to them, ” There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”…They all ate and were satisfied , and they picked up the fragments left over — twelve baskets full. (MT 14: 13 ->)

Won’t you pray, rejoicing with us, in thanksgiving for all our blessings?

Seeds

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faith, Genesis, growth, Holy Week, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It’s amazing how much life there is in seeds. Some are so small they can hardly be seen and it takes trust to even put them in the ground without throwing in a whole fistful. When I was in a gardening phase of my life I wondered what was the reason for the differences among them, including size. Then it occurred to me that even animals and humans start that way and the amazement comes with the exponential growth during the gestation period. That brought me, of course, back to the creation story in Genesis that I love to hear during Holy Week and then forward again to the days in spring when all the flowers and trees begin to bud and then burst into their marvelous diversity. God really was (and remains) very prolific and generous in creating our world.

So what, then, should we make of the parable of the mustard seed in today’s gospel as a sign of the kingdom of heaven? (MT 13:31-35) Something very large and glorious, I suspect. Be sure to look around today, lest you miss the manifestations everywhere.

Good Grandparents

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compassion, Jesus, King Solomon, kingdom of heaven, Kings, Matthew, psalm 119, Romans, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasure, understanding heart

Today we celebrate Saints Anne and Joachim, parents of Mary, Mother of Jesus. If we ever needed to speak of what makes up the image of a good grandparent or any person of wisdom, each of today’s readings is a noble start:

1. In a dream God invites Solomon to ask for something that will help him in his life. It is a beautiful exchange (1 KGS 3:5, 7-12) wherein Solomon shows his wisdom, asking God: Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.
2. In Psalm 119:77, the psalmist asks God: Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.
3. Paul reminds the Romans (8:28): We know that all things work for good for those who love God…
4. And, in conclusion, Jesus tells his disciples (MT 13: 44…) The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Are you ready, with all the above currency, to go and buy the field?

Imperceptible Growth?

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growth, hear, Matthew, miracle, see, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understand

Yesterday, we had our first taste of corn on the cob for the season of 2020. This morning it occurred to me as I read the gospel for today’s liturgical services (MT 13: 1-23 or 13: 1-9) that I had been deprived of one of my favorite Scriptural images and on-going meditations this year since the farmers along NY Route 81 had plowed and planted their fields of corn early on, before the pandemic took hold. I often travel that route and wait each spring and early summer for the miracle. First there is just a tinge of green throughout the rows of soil. Then tiny shoots appear and a week later, should I be passing by again, the soil has been overtaken by the planted corn. From then on everything speeds up and within weeks—by the 4th of July—the exponential growth is clear and we begin to look for the vegetable stands along the way.

I always say that corn is my favorite miracle because once the planting is complete it seems as if the effort is over and all that’s left is to wait. The waiting, I imagine, is the most difficult for farmers who have no control over the weather or diseases of the crops. And their livelihood depends on the corn for the feeding of the cattle—or the hungry New Yorkers, as the case may be. But the farmers are certainly busy throughout these months. It is the time of the invisible work for the passersby. We can’t see them checking the weather or inspecting the ears or watering thirsty fields or loving the earth and the relationships that exist between grower and the growing.

I feel as if the longer version of the gospel selection is the one we ought to reflect upon today, where Jesus is asked why he speaks in parables and answers that the people look but do not see, hear but do not understand…Gross is the heart of this people...It brings to mind the news story yesterday of a young woman who went to a party recently, (no masks required), contracted the coronavirus and, on her deathbed said, “I thought it was a hoax…but it wasn’t.” How long will we—as a nation—persist in our willfulness, hearing but not understanding, doing as we please, refusing to remember that we are endangering others when we ignore the rules?

May we listen in this growing season with our inner ears, hear with our hearts and pay attention to what we cannot see in order that we will live to see another spring.

Leave It to the Little Ones

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gratitude, Jesus, Matthew, Rilke's Book of Hours, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes I just need to let go of the ordinary and let the possible extraordinary wash over me bringing joy or hope. This morning, for example, on my way to the USCCB website (U.S. Bishops) where I find the daily Scripture readings, but before I successfully found today’s gospel, I was treated to a four-year-old girl not only identifying photos of an ear, a heart and a pair of lungs but also correctly explaining their function to Ellen DeGeneres. Then there was a man holding his 4-week old baby, giving instructions that the season of crying was over and now the baby ought to do nothing more than smile. Miraculously, the baby did just that! “Enough of this!” I said to myself. “Let’s get serious!” At that moment Rilke’s Book of Hours caught my eye and I opened to a previously marked page that said the following:

You too will find your strength. We who must live in this time cannot imagine how strong you will become—how strange, how surprising, yet familiar as yesterday. We will sense you like a fragrance from a nearby garden and watch you move through our days like a shaft of sunlight in a sickroom…(p. 183)

So with all of that experience gathered I was not surprised to find the passage from Matthew’s gospel for today that said: At that time Jesus exclaimed, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to little ones…” (MT 11: 25-26)

And thus, a shaft of light bringing gratitude to my 72 year-old self will allow a relief of total responsibility for the salvation of the world today, remembering that God is in charge and sees each generation through the challenges that arise and will undoubtedly be conquered!

If You Want To…

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healing, Jesus, leper, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The gospel for this day’s lectionary tells a familiar story (MT 8: 1-4). The situation also pops up rather frequently in the gospels, even if is presented in situations that we would call “similar but not matching.” The story today takes place fairly early in Matthew’s gospel and has Jesus coming down from a mountain, one of his favorite places to pray. It would seem, therefore, that he is feeling strong in God’s grace as crowds gather around him and a leper who is ready for him steps forward. Different from most, this person does not ask Jesus to heal him; rather he uses a declarative that indicates his belief – or maybe a challenge. “If you want to,” he says, “you can make me clean.” It is likely that Jesus appreciates this man’s ingenious approach—or else Jesus is just still swimming in the divine light that his sojourn on the mountain afforded him. Whatever the reason, his response to the leper is enthusiastic. “I will do it! Be made clean,” the gospel says, or in my favorite translation: “Of course I want to! Be clean!”)

I know that a different choice of word can impact a situation, as can intonation, cadence, body language…I see Jesus on his way down that mountain, ready for a crowd but maybe not for this one person who challenges rather than pleads. I see a fresh and sunny morning with a tender, refreshing breeze—like today at my home. I can feel the enthusiasm of whatever was the content of the conversation between God and Jesus up on that mountain, allowing Jesus to be about his mission.

It’s a great story of healing, reminding us that we might wish sometimes to be a little more up-front with God in our asking. Our confidence in the “ask” and our willingness to believe that God knows what is best for us at all times might make the outcome the perfect answer—even if it isn’t the one we were expecting!

All At Once…A Mix

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God's work, gratitude, heartbreak, James, John, kindness of God, lessons of life, Matthew, miracle, multiple emotions, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Transfiguration of Christ

As I read Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration in today’s lectionary readings (MT 17: 1-9) I was struck by the reported mix of emotions that the “lucky” three disciples (Peter, James and John) felt in that experience. I always wonder how the disciples were changed in their everyday life after that day on the mountain with Jesus.

This morning I was gratified to read something that I have come to hold as a deep truth in life experience but have never before seen in print. (Perhaps I have come late to this reality and everyone else takes it for granted by now, but I’ll recount it anyway…)

Tami Simon of Sounds True speaks today on the internet of her encounter with Lance Allred, the first legally deaf basketball player in the U.S. National Basketball League. In answer to her question about what he was feeling as they spoke, Allred says, “A mix of heartbreak and gratitude…A new alpha* is someone who is unafraid of heartbreak because he knows that as he works through it, he will have so much gratitude for the lessons learned. What makes us human is not our ability to think and analyze. It is our ability to feel multiple emotions at once.”

Life is certainly complicated these days. We feel so conflicted with personal experiences as well as what we hear and see in events around our country and the world. Sometimes we find ourselves wondering “How can we go on?” The miracle is that we do. I am often amazed, when everything seems so bleak, that I can go outside and stand under a glorious full moon and feel a rejoicing in my heart. (I just looked out my back bedroom window and saw that the sky had become overcast while I was writing. A turn of my head to my side window sees only lovely blue…All part of the same sky.)

What do you make of all this? For me it is the kindness and inexplicable work of God in me and all around. May you find the same today.

*Alpha male or female = “In studies of social animals, the highest ranking individual is sometimes designated as the alpha…”(Wikipedia)

Unconditional Acceptance

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acceptance, enemies, forgiveness, Jesus, Lent, love your enemies, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Beginning with yesterday’s readings, the Lenten path grows more challenging. Not only are we to “make for ourselves a new heart and a new spirit” (yesterday’s challenge). Today calls us to reach out even further when we encounter others — especially those others whom we would never wish to meet. Here it is from the mouth of Jesus:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for He makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. (MT 5: 43 –>)

Who are your enemies? Even if it is likely that there may be little chance of you ever meeting an enemy face to face, can you really say there is no one on earth that you could not welcome into the circle of your embrace? How might you move toward acceptance? And, with steadfast love of God, might you hope to come someday to the forgiveness that bespeaks the love of God for all creatures?