Hoping Against Hope

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Acts of the Apostles, go deeper within, Jesus, John, love, Ordinary Time, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

We are moving swiftly toward “Ordinary Time” – the season after Pentecost when we are left to our own devices, when Jesus leaves the earth for good and tests our trust in the Holy Spirit for faith and inspiration. The lectionary readings today are full of “foreshadowing” and are mixed between miracles with St. Paul in prison (Acts16) and Jesus in his disturbing message to the apostles (JN 16) where he says things like: “It is better for you that I go.” I can hear myself responding to that with “NO! You can’t go! What will we do without you? How will we know how to live in this confusing time?”

As I wrote that last part, I was reminded of the commentary on the news last night on MSNBC about all the unbelievable political issues and the violence in the world. So I ask again of Jesus: “How are we to live without your presence?” and I get the same difficult answer: Go deeper. Love as best you can and trust that I am with you. You need to find me in your best selves, in the evidence around you: the light that returns every morning without fail, the burgeoning of springtime, the kindness of strangers…everything that speaks of the good in the world.

Think of the best person you know and consider why that person is “best.” Make a list of all the good things in your life. Watch internet videos of babies interacting with one another…Do anything that shows the goodness in life. And trust in God, hoping against hope that God is, in fact, truly with us. And never stop doing your best to love one another as Christ loves us.

Ordinary Time

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blank slate, liturgical seasons, Ordinary Time, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s liturgical calendar in my Church announces that it is Monday of the first week in Ordinary Time. What I learned a long time ago is that “ordinary” in this case means “counting” or “ordinal” time. There could be lots going on in our lives – amazing or tumultuous things – but, liturgically, the Christmas season is over and Lent hasn’t started yet. In Church circles I suppose it could be a moment to take a breath, to make sure everything is in its right place (holiday decorations stored perhaps) and planning for the future to begin in earnest. Ash Wednesday (2/26 this year) will be here before we know it, however, and most places are already deep in purple thoughts. It’s hard to live in the present for those in charge.

In an ironic twist on this “first day of the rest of my life” I have found myself with a “blank slate.” I just got my computer back from the Geek Squad after a week without it because of a serious malady. As predicted, all was wiped clean in the process of restoring it to health. Today is a day of starting over, wishing I had done a better job of protecting certain things but finding it necessary to begin again without regret or rancor.

I’m reminded of a wildly popular quote of some years ago that ought to guide my day (and maybe yours, for some reason). It’s from Dag Hammarskjold who said: “For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.”‘

So on we go…

Sturdy Shelters

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Arizona, Cynthia Bourgeault, experiences, faithful friend, Ordinary Time, Peru, return, shelter, Sirach, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, travel, Wisdom School

Here I sit, finally home again and happy to be. As I often think and sometimes say, I believe travel to be one of the best means of education. I’m sure it will take a long time for me to understand exactly how much I have learned from the people and the environments of Peru and Arizona over the past six weeks. How amazing that both of those experiences happened in such a short period of time and how wonderfully expressive of today’s first lectionary reading they both were.

In the Book of Sirach, chapter 6, we find that a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; the one who finds one finds a treasure...and, as I read it this morning, faces flooded through my consciousness. The welcome of our Sisters in Lima and the joy of my longtime friend and traveling companion, Maryjean, created a virtually seamless and delightful dive into a very different culture in Peru. Several familiar faces from past Wisdom Schools became a comfort zone in the desert during this past week and the sharing with many seekers of deep spiritual truths whom I met for the first time bolstered my confidence that the world will indeed endure. To share such an experience under the tutelage of the extraordinarily gifted Cynthia Bourgeault is always a privilege – never more than in this experience.

Not the least notable were the moments of return, sitting in our living room with photos and attempts at recounting all the happenings as well as hearing what had happened in my absence. And there will be phone calls and meetings in the days ahead with the others who share the “ordinary time” of my life. In knowing all of this, I know too that I am most blessed with all those who make up the collage of my life.

Who makes you grateful to be living in this moment of time?

Back to Ordinary

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healing, holidays, Jesus, Mark, Ordinary Time, praying, preaching, surprise, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, work

This morning as I checked to be sure I was reading the correct lectionary selections for this date I noticed the heading: Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time. Not really meaning ordinary in the “ordinary” way, I know that I should be thinking of it as ordinal/counting time. It struck me as the former, however, as it seems that way. Holidays are over, routines have returned and, whether or not we are happy about it, life goes on as it always does. We may have done a year-end inventory – financial or spiritual. We may be grieving large or small losses or celebrating gains as individuals, but on a macro level, the world is still turning.

Jesus is busy in the beginning of Mark’s gospel. (Mark’s writing always reminds me of the saying, “Just the facts, Ma’am” as there is little embellishment in this shortest gospel.) Today in just eleven verses of chapter one (29-39), Jesus finishes his worship in the synagogue, heals Simon’s mother-in-law, has a meal – served by the former invalid, cures “many” including those possessed by demons, spends some time before dawn the next day in the desert praying and then leaves to preach and heal in the nearby villages. That’s quite an agenda!

Some of us are lucky enough to have variety in our work but, seen in another way, sometimes a routine job is more comforting. At least in that way we know what the day will look like. Here’s a nod to the Christmas story that we’ve just left, however. Our God is a God of surprises. If the long-awaited Messiah could be born as a baby of what were reputed to be poor, insignificant parents in the eyes of the world, we ought to be looking deeper than our “ordinary” circumstances for the extraordinary work of God. Life does, in fact, go on and it is ours to stay awake to the little miracles inherent in the everyday.

 

 

 

 

 

What’d I Say?

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breathe, defile, hateful, Jesus, Matthew, negativity, Ordinary Time, Peter, speech, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unkind words, violent, walking on water, words

Interestingly on this “ordinary day” – Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time in our Church calendar, to be exact – there are two possible gospel readings from which to choose. If I’m not mistaken, that usually happens on big feast days or when a long gospel passage appears first and is followed by a shorter version of the same one. Today we have two completely different texts – the first being the familiar aftermath of the feeding of the five thousand that includes not only Jesus but Peter walking on water (MT 14:22-36). There’s a lot to talk about in that passage. It is the second text, however, that caught me this morning (MT 15:1-2, 10-14). It’s all worth pondering but it includes a sentence that I think is uniquely timely and important for each of us and all of us as foundational to our spirituality. Jesus says, It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles a person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.

The verb defile is quite strong. Synonyms include: to mar, sully, spoil, impair, debase or degrade. What Jesus is pointing out is the importance of the words we use every day. We might intuit from this that unkind words can devolve into unkind actions and hateful or violent thoughts or speech often lead to violence. It actually says that our speech can ruin things. We have many examples of this truth in the world today so in addition to praying for peace and enlightenment, it seems that an essential practice for all of us is to watch our speech. If negativity is becoming a constant in our lives we need to pay more attention and leave negative conversations behind. Awareness is key to success in these situations. As a wise woman once said to me, “Energy follows thought.” The train of negative speech gathers steam very quickly after leaving the station. So putting on the brakes and jumping off that train becomes crucial to our own health and that of all those in our circles of conversation.

My plan for today will include an attempt to watch every word that comes from my mouth and (even better) work to see if I can catch the negatives while they’re still rolling around inside me. If I am able to do that, I might also be able to breathe them out so that they dissipate in the air without damage to me or the world around me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ordinary Time

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extraordinary days, liturgical seasons, maturing, ordinal, Ordinary Time, quiet growth, rhythm of life, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes I find myself looking ahead in my calendar to do a survey of “coming events” thinking that once something major has happened things will turn back to normal (whatever that is!) and I’ll be able to return to a rhythm of exercise, good eating and prayer. I’m reminded of that by the notation on the US Catholic Bishops’ website calendar that we Catholics are solidly back in “Ordinary Time” after the extraordinary seasons of Lent and the 50 days of Easter.

Ordinary Time, in Church parlance, is akin to the word ordinal, the kind of numbers that are a well-ordered set, a sequence. It is counted time, in Latin tempus per annum (time during the year). I like the sentence from one online source that says, “The rhythm of liturgical seasons reflects the rhythm of life – with its celebrations of anniversaries and its seasons of quiet growth and maturing.” My point is that ordinary time is not in the least ordinary in the way we think of the word. For instance, my day today has already included a muted sunrise accompanied by quiet birdsong and a view of greening occasioned partially by a lovely rain from yesterday afternoon. This afternoon I will participate in a meeting where we will talk about a year of interfaith gatherings, hopefully leading to a return trip to Israel in 2017. After that I will offer a prayer of sacred gesture at a liturgy celebrating religious Sisters and Brothers who are marking anniversaries of 25 to 80 years (yes, 80!) of living in religious community. What an honor for me to pray with such people who give me strength from the witness of their fidelity to God! There will be nothing “ordinary” about this – or any day – if I am willing to look with inner eyes.

So here’s to extraordinary days of all kinds! May the little things be significant and the great things be great so that we all appreciate the seasons and rhythms of God’s gift of life.

A Snap Decision?

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Andrew, Bible, casting nets, Christianity, decision, fishermen, fishers of men, impulsive decision, Jesus, life's calling, Mark, Ordinary Time, Simon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Zebedee

Today is the first day of the first week of what some Christian Churches call “Ordinary Time” – which might be construed as what the world is like after all the Christmas hubbub is over and the best of the merchandise is gone from the stores. Actually though, it is really nothing like that unless we look at the baptism of Jesus which we celebrated yesterday as an end rather than a beginning. “Ordinary” in Church-speak doesn’t mean the opposite of extraordinary. It comes from a Latin word, ordinalis, which refers to numbers in a series and from which we get the word order, thus indicating the ordered life of the Church between the major seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. It might be akin to “It’s three weeks till school is out for the summer” but doesn’t mean that there won’t be great things learned in the interim.

Today then, we begin with chapter one of the Gospel of Mark which tells us that John the Baptist has been arrested (a story for another day) and Jesus has begun walking about preaching. It’s often frustrating that the gospels aren’t more forthcoming with details about the events. Today, for example, has this news.

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,, he saw Simon and his brother, Andrew, casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked on a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him. (MK1:16-20)

Doesn’t it make you wonder if there was any conversation in between the summons of Jesus and the responses of the fishermen? I know it wouldn’t be very economical to have all the detail (the Bible is already a very big book!) and the stories were not written down until much later, Mark’s being the first gospel that didn’t appear until sometime in the 50’s or 60’s. I wonder, though, about what appears to be an impulsive decision. I have many questions. Had they heard about Jesus before they saw him? Were they unhappy as fishermen – some of whom at least – and probably all – in the family business? What did Zebedee think about all this?? How old were they anyway? Was the presence of Jesus so compelling that it was impossible for them to refuse? Didn’t they ask him any questions about what “fishers of men” might mean?

You get my point, I’m sure. Unfortunately, we don’t have more to go on from the text. Theologians have written much through the history of Christianity about the events that we find in the gospels as well as the meaning of the words that actually appear. We can only know so much of the truth of this scenario, but we would do well, I think, to reflect on our own history of response to Christ’s invitations in our life. I know that when I entered the convent at 18 years of age, I had a strong desire to give my life to God but I had little understanding (regardless of how sure I felt) of what would be called for as I lived the life. I think this is true of most people, even if not circumstantially the same. Those who “go into the family business” might have a clearer idea at the start but the world continues to change at such a rapid pace that there is little clarity about the future these days. The evidence of the gospels tells us that most of those chosen in those early days as the closest followers of Jesus – the ones who are named anyway – failed him occasionally along the way but were able to forgive themselves and be forgiven so as to remain faithful to their commitment to the end of their lives. And I’m sure they understood then what that meant in a way that they could not even have imagined that day on the beach.

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