This Day

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declaration, Easter, glad, message, psalm 118, rejoice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It has not escaped my notice that each day since the vigil of Easter the gospel acclamation has been the same verse. From Psalm 118:24 we hear or read, This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. This morning I think I finally got the intended message.

What if, upon rising from sleep, as soon as consciousness kicks in, we took as a practice to repeat – preferably aloud and with conviction – THIS IS the day the Lord has made! Let us be GLAD and REJOICE in it!!! (Emphasis mine, of course.) Maybe, even if we didn’t change the world by that declaration, it might come to have a positive effect on our personal day – every day.

 

 

 

 

 

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Smiles All Around

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A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, consciousness, contemplative, dialogue, Divine Presence, inspiration, kindness, listening, message, mindfulness, psalm 57, smile, smiling, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wellness

I have to smile this morning as I sit here waiting for a message to arise when prompts are all around me. My brain feels like a broken record and I wonder if I will ever move through a day – or even an hour – without falling out of consciousness. Here’s what I mean.

1. On Tuesday I met with the two other persons who are working with me to create a second series on Mindfulness to complement what we offered last year during Lent. We’re moving toward weekly presentations on contemplative listening and dialogue – skills that are not easily practiced in our culture. We easily talk about them but practicing is another matter.

2. On Wednesday I was at a pharmacy waiting for a prescription to be filled when my eye fell on what appeared to be a coloring book in the magazine rack at the checkout counter. It was, rather, a creative magazine called Breathe: The Well-being Special. A banner that ran across the cover announced Wellness, Kindness, Mindfulness, Inspiration. Since I had never before seen anything like it, surrounded as it was with offerings of Hollywood gossip and political distress, I had to buy it! I have not been disappointed.

3. This morning Psalm 57:8 sings out: Awake, O Spirit that sleeps within…So I myself can wake the dawn with music in the morning’s light. The commentary speaks of the divine Presence as so powerful that it can affect changes in the outer world.

4. Last but not least, Alan Cohen (A Deep Breath of Life) uses the image of how shoes are all lined up neatly at the entrance of a Japanese house – except his which were “criss-crossed and strewn out of line.”

Happily, I have come to feel that God is not wagging a finger at me when I fall out of consciousness these days. I trust that God is smiling with me when I return from the mindless, interfering thoughts to renewed awareness of the Divine Presence that comes with my next breath in the now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Little Prince

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Christmas, images, message, right seeing, seeing, The Little Prince, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There’s a subtle shift for me today in the Advent theme. Perhaps it will only last until tomorrow but the message of anticipatory waiting is given an additional push from the gospel acclamation – in a rather unusual way. After the psalm I read: Alleluia, alleluia. The Lord will come; go out to meet him! He is the prince of peace. Alleluia, alleluia.

Immediately I saw in my mind’s eye an image from The Little Prince, one of my favorite books, and perhaps the only one that I could still successfully read in French as I know most of the text by heart. The picture was of the Little Prince walking toward me carrying his scepter high in a manner that said, “Here I am; look at me!” I was unable in his presence to just look; I had to stand up and move toward him, smiling.

That may sound absurd but that’s precisely the way things happen sometimes in the spiritual life. Unbidden images are triggered by something – words, weather, music, a photo…and meaning is hidden somewhere inside. The message for me was two-fold. From the words of the psalm I gleaned the truth that the Christ will definitely come to us, no matter our response or lack thereof. We could just notice…or not. The imperative (“Go out to meet him!”) adds an energy that I find in the appearance of the Little Prince today. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,” he says. “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

As we lean ever closer to Christmas, let us add this wisdom tenet to our preparation, searching always for impetus of “right seeing” that is born of love.

 

 

 

 

 

This Is the Day

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depth, Gospel, Lectionary, message, paying attention, psalm 118, purpose, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I scrolled through today’s lectionary readings, I realized that I was skipping over the gospel acclamation (often called “the alleluia verse”) without much thought. It says: This is the day the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it. (PS 118:24) “Why,” I asked myself, “am I not paying attention?” “Most likely,” I answered, “because it is so familiar.” “And why,” I pursued the thought, “is that the case?” The answer was quick in coming as I looked back over the daily texts for the past week. On all but one day, the verse was the same, so of course it would sound familiar.

When I begin my search for a message for the day, I always begin with the Scriptures. Sometimes I do not end up there, but it is always my first stop. One of the dangers of having listened to the same Scripture passages over one’s whole life – albeit in a 3-year cycle, is that familiarity often causes distraction, i.e. skimming over a passage that one can almost quote verbatim without really paying attention for some new nuance. I often now make myself go back to re-read when I recognize that happening because, although the Scripture reading may be the same as the last time it appeared, I may be different, having learned something new in the interim.

This morning I feel like a very young child for whom God has an important message. On this fifth day of reading it, I think I finally hear God saying, Do you understand the depth of those words? Do you know that it entails a recognition that I have created every day with just what you need to live a full and meaningful life, whether or not it seems so to you? Even though it’s gloomy outside and the outlook for the coming week at work may be dismal, or your plan for tomorrow may be changing, can you not allow that whatever happens may have a purpose for your good? And when things are going well, can you celebrate the blessing in that?

Perhaps I should tape a copy that verse to the door leading from my bedroom to my every morning, just so I begin the day with the correct attitude, knowing that every day is the day God has made and every day is worthy, in some small or grand way, of joy and gladness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postscript

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age, community, Jubilee, message, St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is Monday – time to resume the “headset” of the workaday world after a weekend of blessed celebration. One of the loveliest parts of the weekend was coming home yesterday to mark the actual feast of St. Joseph, our patron, which this year in community we noted on the day before and in the Church celebrate today on the day after (because of the pre-eminence of the third Sunday of Lent). We had a delicious dinner and I got presents from my housemates! Tucked in one of the jubilee cards was a colorful stiff square of a card written on both sides whose message was the following, which I believe will find itself in a central place in my bedroom and my life for what I hope will be years to come!

SIDE ONE: Each age has its own special joys and experiences. I am always  the perfect age for where I am in life.

SIDE TWO: I am at peace with my age.

Get Up and Get Going!

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Cynthia Bourgeault, full attention, grace of God, Hebrews, holiness, intention of peace, Lord, message, Peace, staright paths, strengthen, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom School

There is no possibility of missing the message in today’s text from the Letter to the Hebrews. No time for what was called “lollygagging” in the old days. These are serious times that demand our full attention. Listen then to how we are to conduct ourselves:

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one is deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled. (Heb 12:11-15)

I’m heading out this morning for the northern coast of Maine, to meet with a dozen or so colleagues who will consider just what that striving might entail. With our teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, we will strive to further the agenda of inner peace and wisdom in order that those qualities may be manifest in the outer world as well. I know it will be a week well spent but may not allow for daily postings. If nothing appears on this site over these days until next Thursday, I invite your intention of peace to join with ours. I cannot imagine a better gathering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Words

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books, Jesus, life, meditation, message, seeking, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

No matter how I try, there is nothing in me able to string enough words together to make a comprehensible message. Books at my side give me nothing appropriate or worthy. There is no light yet outside to ignite something from inside (and vice versa). I look around the room and the words I can read as titles of the books standing at attention in their rows are the following: Life, integral, Selling All, Jesus, Seek My Face, Compassion, Meditations, Silence.

Perhaps that is enough for today. What do you make of it?

 

 

 

 

 

What Would You Say?

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Alleluia, captives, Good News, Jesus, love, message, poor, sent by the Lord, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I read the gospel acclamation for this morning (the “Alleluia verse”) which said, “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives” (LK 4:18), a question passed through my mind. If you were the one being sent by the Lord, I heard, what would be your message to the poor and the captives? In the following of Jesus, that is perhaps a great question for us. How do I – how do you – see the “good news” of God? What glad tidings do we have to share with the world, particularly for the benefit of those most in need?

My answer would certainly include the concept of love made concrete, but how would that look? Although it will take more than today to adequately answer that question (probably the rest of my life in actuality…), I can’t imagine putting it off now that it was such a clear message. Small steps may be all there are today, but small is, I trust, enough for God. It’s about keeping the intentional consciousness of the question before my eyes and heart. May God bless the effort!

Epiphany

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Christ Child, discovery, Emmanuel, epiphany, essential nature, gifts, intuitive, light, Magi, manifestation, Matthew, message, perception, presence of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

“What gift will you bring to the Christ Child?” we were always asked in Catholic school when we were young. Our answers were all about ways in which we could be “good boys and girls” – behaviors that would make the Christ Child smile and our parents happy. There was certainly a devotional value to that practice, a teachable moment that gave us a sweet and kind image of God “in flesh” to whom we could easily relate. Of course there was still the hope that we might get the gifts for which we were so longing, usually in those days rather simple and less expensive gifts than what is “expected” in today’s society.

The story of the gifts brought by the Magi from far away lands perhaps factored in to the consideration of what our gifts to the Baby Jesus would be. We needed to give him our best. Reading the gospel this morning for this feast of Epiphany (MT 2:1-12) brought back those memories as well as songs about the little drummer boy (with his drumming) and the shepherd boy (with his lamb). Importantly, in the end, the child who had nothing to give determined to give Jesus his heart.

The dictionary meaning of the word epiphany is a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something, an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking, or an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure: a revealing scene or moment. We think of the Magi’s search for and meeting with God-come-to-earth as indicative of the world-wide importance of the Incarnation. Their recognition of Emmanuel (God-with-us) was intuitive and clear.

It is for us in our day, I believe, to recognize the presence of God – however we perceive this presence – and to spread the message of that presence in deeper and broader ways. May each of us be open to on-going epiphanies in our lives so that we move toward the light that we are seeking and share that light with the world.

Joseph the Dreamer

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angel, assurance, dream, Emmanuel, faith, Mary, Matthew, message, St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, thoughts

Often when I wake up in the morning I know I’ve been dreaming but I rarely have any idea of the content of the dreams. Sometimes I feel as if I have been very busy in the night and I wonder what I have been working out during sleep, but my mind usually goes quickly in other directions so I hope that my soul knows any message that I was supposed to hear. I am confident that if God wanted me to know something of import in a dream, it would remain clear enough on a conscious level for me to grasp it upon awakening – but perhaps I should revisit my “Awakening the Dreamer” materials (a self-taught course from long ago). I wouldn’t want to miss anything…

These thoughts were occasioned by the story of Joseph in today’s gospel and by a conversation with nine women a week ago as we reflected together on the Incarnation. I was asking their opinions on Joseph’s state of mind and heart when he learned that Mary was pregnant…and then after he was visited by an angel in a dream (MT 1:18-24). Our compassion for Joseph was great. We listed shock, helplessness, betrayal, love, disappointment, loneliness, compassion…and more as our thoughts of what it must have been like for him. We concluded that it would be difficult for us who live in such a different culture to apprehend all that he faced even after his dream directing him not to “divorce Mary quietly” but rather to take her into his home. Neither he nor Mary could possibly have fully understood what was happening. It was, we decided, his love for Mary and his trust in God that allowed him to move forward as he did.

And Scripture offers one more point of affirmation. In speaking of the child to be born, the angel echoed the message of the prophet Isaiah – a message that Joseph had surely known since his early youth. Both texts tell us that a virgin will conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel. And Joseph likely knew, as the angel reminded him, that Emmanuel means God is with us. With this assurance, and our faith as assent, the way forward – for us as for Joseph – becomes possible.