20-20 Vision

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20/20 vision, A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, appreciation, attitude, clarity, experience, gift, hear, meditation, messages, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems incredible that we have already traversed an entire month of the year 2020. It is shaping up to be a challenging time for many reasons, some from natural causes and some of human initiative. It seems imperative that we be constantly awake to the broad spectrum of events and stay true to our own integrity, which includes watching our own behavior and response to challenges.

The impetus for this line of thought is (as usual) something I read just now from A Deep Breath of Life by Alan Cohen. In his reflection for this date, Cohen says the following:

Through prayer and meditation, you can sensitize yourself to hear important messages before they are played out in the physical world…Rather than fight life or adopt a victim position, look for the gift in the experience. Imagine that the universe is conspiring not to hurt you, but to free you. An attitude of appreciation, rather than resentment, will soften and transform otherwise difficult lessons.

It isn’t always easy to admit our less than stellar behaviors and reactions to life events great and small but if we stay awake and practice seeing the lessons in our days, in the long run our vision improves and we can learn to accept ourselves and others without a need for obfuscation or excuse.

What better year for working on clarity of vision? It is 20-20, after all!

Take-a-Break

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first snow, meditation, reflection, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Up early…moving slowly…letting the day arrive. First snow – just a dusting…sun on snow a vivid light! Listening for the sound of cars on wet roads, happy I am home for the morning.

I think today is a day for all of us to sit in our own reflective space, wherever that may be…Have a lovely day.

Choice

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Buddhist, meditation, Meg Wheatley, noise, perseverance, silence, sound, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I just read something that I first thought quite amusing but then I began to think about it as something more than a whimsical quote from Meg Wheatley (see Perseverance, p. 102) and it became a challenge to my way of thinking that puts me at the center of things. Here’s what I mean.

I love the times like yesterday afternoon when everyone who lives in our house is home doing whatever we do in an atmosphere of silence. It’s a very peaceful feeling of a communal spirit. (Ironically, some geese just flew by outside cackling wildly to disturb the morning silence.) I’m not saying I long for the days of enforced silence for most of our waking moments, but hearing the hammering of carpenters on our land or 18-wheel trucks zooming down the road can be disturbing. Then there’s the vacuum cleaner that makes me think I should be doing some household chore instead of reading in my room…but that’s another matter…and I digress. Here’s what I read:

A Buddhist teacher caught himself complaining about the loud party nearby that was disturbing his meditation. And then he had this insight. “Oh, the sound is just the sound. It is me who is going out to annoy it. If I leave the sound alone, it won’t annoy me. It’s just doing what it has to do. That’s what sound does. It makes sound. That is its job. So if I don’t go out to bother the sound, it’s not going to bother me. Aha!”

Discipline

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Celebration of Discipline, disciple, discipline, enthusiasm, gifts from God, Hebrews, meditation, Peace, Richard Foster, spiritual practices, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In the Letter to the Hebrews today (12:4-7, 11-15) we read a reflection on discipline. Paul is suggesting that discipline should be a cause for joy, not pain, and can be seen in the long run to bring “the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.” Paul speaks of discipline as an important part of parental training as well as a way to view the trials that come from God.

A long time ago I read a book entitled Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster that changed my view of the purpose and practice of the word. I certainly had learned the connection between “discipline” and “disciple” and understood that self-discipline is the way to discipleship but this book – just by its title and then by its content – moved spiritual practices from the realm of work to a place of enthusiasm and joy for me. To celebrate what it takes of day-to-day sitting in meditation or speaking kindness to others no matter our mood does not come naturally for most of us. If, however, we begin to think of these practices as gifts to us from God, the entire enterprise changes to one of celebration. And it doesn’t matter if every day is a new beginning of the process. I believe God offers us a clean slate with each sunrise.

So let us take St. Paul’s advice to “strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees” and “make straight the paths of your feet” in order to “strive for peace with everyone and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord..” And. remember that “with God everything is possible!”

Inner and Outer Light

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believe, conscious living, fan the flames, gratitude, imagination, inner fire, light, light worker, meditation, possibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, the spiritual center

Sometimes I “talk big” and really mean what I say but find at the end of the day that I haven’t come close to accomplishing what I had decided at the beginning I would be able to achieve. Such was the interim between this moment and what I wrote on Friday about diving in with vigor and making a new start. Events intervene and change the pattern of our days sometimes so all we can do is our best – sometimes starting over the next day. The key is not to get either discouraged or lazy so that nothing ever gets done. This morning I’m ready to try again. Here’s why.

1. Yesterday morning six of us sat around a blazing fire in the living room of the Sophia House considering three themes for reflection in this new year. Our wonderfully creative tech person at Sophia, Mary Pat, walked with us on a non-stressful – peaceful even – path, stopping at directional points of inner and outer light, conscious living and gratitude. Our sharing was simple and then grew as did the fire’s warmth so that, in the end, we had a sense of that fire as an ongoing potential for this year’s journey.
2. Last evening my three Sisters and I sat in our own living room and had what turned into a long, lively exchange of ideas about moving forward with the fulfillment of certain of our proposed projects at the Spiritual Center. It was another experience of how the inner fire in each of us was caught in the circle because of all of us together.
3. This morning lying in my bed after waking I began to consider my day and to wonder what might be accomplished. Suddenly a wave of light seemed to burst within me – not a tidal wave but a flicker of determination that seemed to say, “Fan the flame. Go within to catch the spirit of those light workers who can help you in this realm and beyond. Use your imagination. Get up! Believe in possibility!” Needless to say I did not go back to sleep.
4. As I sat with my coffee to relate these events and their effect on me, a strong wind began to blow through the tallest of the trees outside my window, cheering me on. It’s still waving at me – so I need to move to my meditation mat to solidify purpose and begin the day. Blessings abound!

Kick-Start

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compromise, excuses, God, gratitude, inertia, intention, Lynn Bauman, meditation, praise, psalm 96, refreshed, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes it’s just the vocabulary of a line or two that snaps us open to possibility. Occasionally there is a convergence of small events that sparks a new knowing. Let me give this morning’s example. 

In the semi-darkness of the kitchen as I poured my coffee, Sister Paula mentioned yesterday’s blog and the essential nature of what Dave Peters had written about intention that I had quoted. Ten minutes later, settled in my chair looking out at a tree stripped of any sign of life and then back at a blank computer screen, I picked up and read Lynn Bauman’s enthusiastic translation of today’s lectionary psalm. 

Come sing to God, O earth, sing out this song anew. And bless God’s holy name in praise, for day by day we are renewed, restored, refreshed again by glory’s light. Proclaim good news among the nations of the earth, tell all the peoples everywhere God’s work, God’s ways, the wonders that God does…This is your God, bring all you have and offer it in honor of that sacred name. (Ps 96: 1-3, 8)

At that moment I recognized that I had been moving on “automatic pilot,” slipping deeper and deeper into a place of inertia. I didn’t need to search for explanations, blaming the weather or the political climate or anything external. I just knew that the discipline of intention had somehow leaked out of me and left me in that state. As I resumed reading the psalm something in me began to lift and let me know that today needs to be different.

O, heavens rejoice with fullest joy. O, earth express your deepest praise. O, oceans roar in satisfaction and delight, and lands from sea to sea join in. You trees on earth and mighty forests deep, shout out to welcome God’s return. For God has come to us as fairest judge to settle all our wrongs with right. (vs. 11-13)

No compromises today will be tolerated. No excuses will be good enough to give in. I’m due on my meditation mat right now, then to the shower and soon to work, all with determination and deep gratitude.

Scriptural Assurance

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Acts of the Apostles, centering prayer, getaway, John, meditation, Pentecost, retreat, spirit, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I think of the courage necessary to the first Christians as they shared their beliefs in Jesus and found resistance that led to beatings and vilification, I’m honored to have an opportunity to do the same with radically different outcomes. I am certainly not comparing myself to St. Paul and his gift of preaching! The only similarity is that I will leave in a few hours for a destination in Pennsylvania, close to 225 miles away. Unlike in Paul’s day, the trip will take me about four hours and the travel conditions will simply necessitate paying attention while I drive.

I’m going to lead a retreat for members of a parish in Maryland  – a “getaway” weekend for them in what I’m told are beautiful surroundings. Of the almost 50 participants, I only know the person organizing the retreat. That’s always daunting as there’s no guarantee that my presentations about “putting on the mind of Christ” with a focus on centering prayer meditation will please them. It was the first line of the first reading that began to put me at ease this morning, however. I read, “One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.'” (ACTS 18:9 – I love those instances when it seems God is speaking directly to me!)

One of the pieces of information I received from the organizer of the event as she was describing the venue for the retreat was the fact that there is very little cell service unless you climb a hill to get it. Knowing just that fact, I’m thinking that it will be better to decide right now that I will not be blogging again until Monday when I will be back home after the conclusion of this experience. Given that we are in the moment and mode of expectation for the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, I ask your prayer for the retreat participants and for me, that we all give and receive what is needed for the word of God to grow in us this weekend. And we can be sure of God’s response as the last line of the gospel this morning has Jesus promising: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” (JN 16:23)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Morning

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action, contemplation, Contemplation in a World of Action, contemplative life, creative work, dedicated love, inner, inner discipline, integration, meditation, outer, positive attitude, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, work

Although there are many people now in our country whose work lives do not fit the traditional Monday through Friday schedule, the majority still head to work this morning, hopefully somewhat refreshed from the weekend. The challenge for many is to bring a positive attitude into the workplace. It sometimes takes conscious effort to put one’s best foot forward, so to speak, depending on the work itself, our fitness for it and the companions we encounter there. It helps if we can take God along on the bus or the highway, especially on Mondays, with the understanding that our spiritual/inner life is not separate from the outer/busy life in the world.

Thomas Merton wrote a book whose title I find an instructive and helpful reminder today. It is entitled Contemplation in a World of Action and still sits on the bookshelf to my left after 45 years. I found the rather lengthly paragraph that I want to share this morning quoted elsewhere but I believe it speaks well of a good attitude for this Monday morning.

When I speak of the contemplative life I do not mean the institutional cloistered life, the organized life of prayer. I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development, which are not compatible with a purely external, alienated, busy-busy existence. This does not mean that they are incompatible with action, with creative work, with dedicated love. On the contrary, these all go together. A certain depth of disciplined experience is a necessary ground for fruitful action. Without a more profound human understanding derived from exploration of the inner ground of human existence, love will tend to be superficial and deceptive. Traditionally, the ideas of prayer, meditation and contemplation have been associated with this deepening of one’s personal life and this expansion of the capacity to understand and serve others. (Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours, p.73)

Today, then, let us seek the integration of outer and inner, of work and intention, that we may lift up our “little corner of the world” in love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the Time

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centering prayer, constantly, Divine Presence, judgment, meditation, morning, Psalm 105, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Synonyms for constantly: continuously, persistently, always, again and again, frequently, repeatedly, over and over…(You get the picture, yes?)

The first verse of today’s lectionary psalm calls to us: Look to the Lord in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. (PS 105:4) That adverb strikes a chord in me immediately. I think of the days I am very busy or late leaving for work in the morning and find myself grumpy or less effective during the day and wondering why. Then I realize that I did not take the time for my 20 minutes of centering prayer, an essential part of my morning routine. No kidding! It really makes a difference. It’s like taking vitamins or doing physical exercise.

Centering prayer is probably the simplest (although not always easy) meditation practice of all. It just requires the practitioner to sit down, make an intention to be in the Divine Presence and let go of thoughts. As the practice has deepened in me over the last eleven years, I have come to recognize the ability to let go of the habit of judgment – of myself, of other people and of situations or circumstances that used to bother me. Why would I not consent to God’s action in this brief pause each day? Good question as I prepare to sit and set my timer…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will You Try?

Tags

danger, discipline, exercise, heart, Jan Phillips, meditation, No Ordinary Time, safe, soul, spiritual practices, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning I have just spent my first hour preparing for session 2 of our 6-session study series on the book No Ordinary Time by Jan Phillips. The study grew out of response to Jan’s visit and our meaningful workshop with her in April. We have 19 women gathering to continue pondering the fact that our ordinary lives can truly be extraordinary if we allow them to be so. Our chapter heading for tomorrow is “Discipline” and it contains several possible spiritual practices. I thought it auspicious to choose one – a simple exercise that can be easily done – as a suggestion here. See what you think about the possibility of inserting this into your everyday routine.

Come into a comfortable seated position. Sit with the back flat, crown of the head lifted, shoulders relaxed, and chest open. Rest you hands in the lap or on the knees. Close your eyes, deepen the breath and release any thoughts from the mind. Gently repeat the following softly out loud or in your mind:

May I be safe from all danger. May I be held in the arms of God. May I be strong in spirit and body. May I be true to my heart and soul.

Repeat the phrases again, changing “May I” to “May you” while you think of a specific person, or a group of people, or of the whole planet. Finish with a few slow, deep breaths, feeling compassion, love,, and kindness flowing through your body. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day. (p. 38-9)