Clear Seeing

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George Floyd, Holy Spirit, pandemic, protests, seeing clearly, Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Anthony of Padua, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I just cleaned my glasses so I would see clearly what to write – or, eventually, what I have written. As I was doing that, I looked out my newly cleaned bedroom window and noticed that I missed a rather large smudge on the bottom left area of the glass pane. I wonder how many days it will be before I clear that distraction. And then I wonder what unplanned-for things will happen today. It is an important day for the Sisters of St. Joseph, Albany Province. Today we choose those five Sisters who will comprise our leadership team for the next five years.

It is a monumental moment for two reasons. Because of the COVID-19 strictures, we cannot have our election as usual so we will be gathering “virtually” on our computers, iPads or cell phones to cast the first electronic vote that, just like votes for our civil leaders, must be “secret”—something that could not have been thought of earlier in our lives. Secondly, we do this in a tumultuous moment in our country’s history. We are diminishing in numbers (although not in spirit!), we are in the middle of a pandemic, and the country is in upheaval and still seeing daily protests (on day 19 today) in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the issues of police brutality.

Seeing clearly will be imperative today for all of us – those who select and those who are selected. I can feel the stirrings of the Holy Spirit already as I prepare for the privilege that is ours today. We may be surprised by the Spirit in the selections but I never worry as we have always had what we need to persevere. We will listen to each of the nominees this morning and then, in the midst of prayer, we will vote this afternoon. I am pleased to recall that today is the feast of St. Anthony of Padua whose life was changed at an ordination ceremony where no one was prepared to speak. Franciscanmedia.org says that the humble and obedient Anthony hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading of sacred Scripture and of serving him in poverty, chastity and obedience had prepared Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the Spirit’s power to give people words.

How could I fail to trust the process that has been prepared for us and the women who offer themselves to the service of God and our Congregation? The Spirit is moving. Now it’s time to be sure that my technology is operating as well! God’s blessing on us all!

Breathing Lesson

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breath, exhale, inhale, pandemic, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Sometimes a few words can be more powerful than an entire book, perhaps because the briefer the message, the longer our memory of it. This morning I found that the team at info.franciscanmedia.org had opened a treasure chest of such brief messages in addition to longer writings — all offering different perspectives of how to meet life in a time of a pandemic. It’s worth a trip to their website to find your favorites. Here is one of mine.

Before we succumb to someday, let us inhale this day. (This Is the Life by Terry Hershey.)

Have a good day…and remember to both inhale and exhale!

What To Do?

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coronavirus, pandemic, prayers, present moment, thank you, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, to do list

The sun is playing hide-and-seek outside and everything is still. No movement in the trees, hardly a peep from the birds. That’s how it feels inside too…I am wanting only to hold on to what feels like nothing. (How can that make sense?) I ask myself if that means I have moved to another stage of this new mode of living, settling into what will surely be called “pandemic mode” but just as surely could be named listlessness or exhaustion. When I knew we were going to spend more than weeks in “quarantine” (the “just stay home” order), I had a vision of clearing away all sorts of excess in my living space and lack of order in my spiritual and physical routines. Now after almost two months of this new kind of opportunity, I see little progress.

We don’t have any idea of what the future holds and can’t hold on to any past certainties so have been told repeatedly to “live the present moment.” Therein lies the rub on days like today when I have a list of tasks in my head but no sense of how to go about them.

So finally I picked up a little, lovely, home-made book of prayers that our friend Carolyn created a couple of years ago and sent as a gift. There I found near the end of her prayers a possible way to meet each hour of this day. Carolyn speaks:

Dear Jesus, I inhale your words and exhale doubt, fear, anger, judgment and despair so your breath may reach my heart whole, clean, unencumbered, pure, alive and joyous. Thank you.

And I say, “Thank you, Carolyn” for a way through this day, this collection of present moments that I can use as an offering that becomes my best gift of self today.

On the Second Day of May

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creation, light, pandemic, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, wholeness

Today feels like what Thomas Merton might describe as “the first day of Creation.” I feel the warmth of a sun that is already shining so bright and full through my window that I am unable to see my computer screen. I need to lean toward the south to shade the brilliance enough to type. It is glorious in both heat and light and leads me to shout silently to God that “this is what May is supposed to be like!” In my mind I am already out picking up branches that were victims of the wind these last three days. I can already imagine that by sunset there will be tiny leaves on branches everywhere—a gift from the mixture of sun and rain…just how things are supposed to be.

It’s difficult on a morning like this to remember words like pandemic. The reality slowly seeps in but at the same time I begin to wonder if there isn’t a way—or more than one way—to see a wholeness in what seems an overwhelming dissonance. Would I be able (or even willing to try) to maintain the lightness of being produced by the sun’s warmth and the consequent burgeoning of life in creation today while holding the reality of death and dying that is all around? It would seem an impossible task but I sense a worthy challenge in it for myself today.

Of Sun and Wind

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blessing, centered heart, inspiration, Macrina Wiederkehr, pandemic, present moment, seven sacred pauses, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The wind has been roaring mightily since late yesterday. The sky is very gray. A few moments ago as I looked up and out my back window I saw what seemed like a capture of the sun by the sky. As I watched (it was only a few seconds) a light appeared over the mountain, delineating the movements and the thrust of the wind. Suddenly the sun appeared in the midst, a small circle of hope seized and muted by the clouds, taken prisoner and being shunted along across the sky. Just as suddenly he was gone, having fallen back into the depths of the wind carrying the entire retinue northward.

This little drama seemed indicative of what the day might hold. The lack of sunlight challenges my desire for moving forward with any worthwhile project. The wind makes me wonder if the earth is keening for us in this pandemic. I turn to Macrina Wiederkehr for a good prayer and find what may be my best companion for the day.

I long to live in the present moment. I want to stop trying to control the hours so that new paths of inspiration are free to unfold within me…Take my scattered thoughts, my fragmented moments. Breathe into them and draw them into your centered heart. Open my eyes that I may see the grace that waits for me in every moment. You are the Source of every moment’s blessing. Teach me to live awake. (Seven Sacred Pauses, p. 83)

Sentiments For Reflection

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COVID19, gift of time, opportunity, pandemic, reflection, Rev. Lynn Ungar, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems as if we could reflect daily on such sentiments that this poem by Rev. Lynn Ungar has expressed. This moment can perhaps be a gift of time and an opportunity to think of others more than ourselves as much as it is a fearful challenge.

How to Proceed…

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action, Meg Wheatley, pandemic, perseverance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, thought

Today the reality of the word “PANDEMIC” has reached my consciousness in a way that calls for some decision-making about the immediate future, especially about work and travel. For help with that task I turn to Meg Wheatley to see if her book, Perseverance, can lead me in the search for rational thought and action. Here is–in part–what I found.

Being in not-knowing, open and aware, is how we discover right action — the appropriate means for what needs to happen. Right action usually doesn’t match our plans, conceived as they were from the outside. But now that we’re inside the situation, curious and uncertain, we’re able to notice what’s here…If we take this approach, in every situation, we discover that the resources we need are already here. We have more than enough to work with. It’s our task to notice this abundance, and then figure out how to work with it appropriately…The situation, no matter how difficult, doesn’t need to be different. We just need to see it differently. (p. 101)

Reflect on this. Pay attention and stay safe out there.

A World Together

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collaboration, faith, global effort, gratitude, pandemic, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, World AIDS Day

Since 1988, December first has been known as World AIDS Day, one of only eight official global health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization. This day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. As of 2017, AIDS has killed between 28.9 million and 41.5 million people worldwide, and an estimated 36.7 million people are living with HIV, making it one of the most important global public health issues in recorded history. Thanks to recent improved access to treatment in many regions of the world, the death rate from AIDS has been decreased nearly by half since its peak in 2005 – from 1.9 million to 1 million in 2016.

As people of faith gather today in prayer that gives gratitude to God for those who spend their lives researching improved treatments and those who treat victims of the disease, we realize that there is still much work to be done and more collaboration around the world necessary to conquer this worldwide pandemic. Let us add our voices in support of this effort in whatever way we are able, recognizing that we are all connected in this global community.