Tags
accept, hope, Joyce Rupp, patience, Peace, Prayer Seeds, refuge, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weakness
As I contemplate the tumultuous times in which we live, the words of a familiar song float in. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” Do we ever really take that to heart? Joyce Rupp urges me along today toward that goal. Listen.
“Rock and Refuge, Stronghold of Souls, Unshakeable One, infuse your strength into the places where I feel the greatest weakness. Permeate the parts of my life that continually challenge my patience. Increase my ability to accept those who seem to be most unacceptable. Lessen any tendency in my spirit that gives way to a loss of hope. Reinforce an awareness of the daily manifestations of your presence. Boost my spirit when I think I cannot manage what is mine to be and do.” (Prayer Seeds, p. 56)
Blessings on your day.
The lectionary gospel for today tells the story of the fig tree which for three years after it had been planted had produced no fruit, such that the owner told his gardener to cut it down. The gardener must have been a compassionate environmentalist as he responded in the following way: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.” Instantly I had the image before me of a small plant that my family had bought in memory of my father. We had wanted a hydrangea bush and planted it in a place we thought it would thrive. For six years we waited for some sign of life. We should have known from the branches that were tightly entwined but very tree-like that it was not what we had ordered but this was many years ago and none of us was very savvy about the plant world.
Last evening we sat, a group of 12 seekers, to begin what is the last in a series of events that have taken place over the last six years in different places in the Northeast United States. We call them “Wisdom Schools.” Drawn first by the work of our teacher Cynthia Bourgeault to delve into the Wisdom Tradition of Christianity, we have joined an ever-growing network of people who choose spiritual practice as a discipline for deepening our living. Explaining how that happens, we admit, is something difficult to do and generally only seen in retrospect. We will spend the next three days “swimming in that sea” and hope to go home ready to meet the challenges of our everyday lives with more determination and willingness because of having been together.
Often a saint’s memorial in the Church calendar brings lots of diverse thoughts to mind. Today Christianity celebrates the feast of St. Monica whose son, St. Augustine of Hippo, had much more overt influence on Church practice than she did. Monica has special remembrance, however, in the lives of Christian mothers who trust God to hear their prayers for their children. Monica is remembered for her perseverance in prayer and thereby credited in large part with the conversion of her son. Clearly, the story of their lives is more complex than that and other influences on Augustine (e.g. St Ambrose) had a part to play. Nevertheless, Monica has been a friend of mothers down through the ages.
Often when I open the USCCB website where I find the lectionary readings for the day there is a line that jumps out from the page and calls for my attention. Today I didn’t have to look too deeply as it was already italicized. The sentence from chapter 12 of Matthew’s gospel has God saying, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” I thought immediately of Pope Francis and the focus early in his pontificate which has continued unabated. He even wrote a more than one book about mercy so it’s very easy to quote him on the subject. Here is something from his homily in 2013 on Divine Mercy Sunday that reminds us of the fact that even the closest friends of Jesus needed mercy for their failings – and they got it!