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Tag Archives: purpose

Finding an Answer

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

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disappointment, mission, purpose, rejoice, solution, St. John Neumann, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There are days when each of us questions our place in “the grand scheme of things.” It usually happens when we feel that something we have tried seems to fail (although we should not be too hasty to judge!). Sometimes it’s just because we have been working too hard or not working enough but feel we are just “worn out” from trying. Sometimes (like today) there is no sunshine and it is very cold outside. What do you do on a day like that? There are always answers; it’s just a question of finding one…

Today is the feast of St. John Neumann, a bishop who lived only 49 years. Born in Bohemia, he wanted to become a priest but, I read today, “his local diocese had a surfeit of priests.” Instead of wringing his hands or finding something else to do, he traveled to America and was accepted in a seminary in New York. He was ordained in 1836 and worked among various immigrant populations because of his gift for languages. He became a naturalized citizen and eventually became the fourth bishop of Philadelphia. Among his accomplishments were the establishment of the first network of parochial schools in the country, the founding of a congregation of teaching Sisters, the construction of a cathedral, and the introduction of the still popular Forty Hours Devotion in American parishes. He died on January 5, 1860 and was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1977.

Noting that his life was changed by his solution to a disappointment early on, we might not be as energetic or creative but we would do well to attend to his advice today as we wait for the sun to shine, knowing that whatever is ours to do or become, it is worth the effort. He said the following: Everyone who breathes…has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random…God sees every one of us; God creates every soul…for a purpose. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.”

Morning Musing

09 Wednesday Dec 2020

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breath of life, God's presence, opportunity, purpose, reflection, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It’s very cold outside in Windsor, New York today. And it’s snowing, that persistent, almost invisible kind of flakes that could come all day long and only equal about an inch of what we know to form when the humidity quotient is low. I am partial to snow of any kind. Of course the kind that allows snowman-building and good skiing is prettier but not so helpful for people who have to drive through it.

I may have said this recently but I always think when I see snow in the morning of something I heard long ago from someone whom I do not remember. “Snow is a new beginning,” the phantom person told me and so I hold on to that hope today, as I do each time I wake up to a snowy morning. Concomitantly, snow is a quiet happening, which always brightens my day.

Earlier this week I found a sheaf of smallish lime-green papers stuck in a 15-year old journal from my annual retreat in 2005. There were several pages of quotes from various sources (most likely to help with reflection in quiet moments), but just one page without a source. Somehow, it feels perfect for this slow, quiet, snowy morning. Do with it what you will.

Each day is a gift, an opportunity, a treasure—because God is the one who gives us the breath of life, places before us a purpose and direction, allows us to enjoy the wonder of God’s presence and the union of God’s love. You are not here by chance but by God’s choosing. God’s hand has formed you and made you the person you are. God compares you to no one else…You are one of a kind…You lack nothing God’s grace can’t give you. God has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill God’s special purpose for this generation. (Anonymous)

Weather Report

02 Friday Mar 2018

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flourish, gifts, Isaiah, Peace, purpose, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weather

asnowfallOnce again the meteorologists seem to have been correct in their predictions. No wonder all the announcements of school closings were made last evening instead of waiting to see what would really happen. It had just started raining when those decisions were made around the supper hour and was still raining when I went to bed sometime later. Now, with the dawn, we have that combination of heavy snow covering what can only be a frozen base on our roads and the eerie quiet that means no traffic thus far this morning. I pray for all the “necessary staff” folks who are on their way to work because the snow is still coming at what appears to be a faster rate than any plow can match.

Even as I send out prayers for safety and give thanks for the gifts of home and heat, I am once again awed by the natural world that is playing out what may be (we hope) the last gasp of serious winter weather for this season. As I watched the snow intensify over the past hour and the wild swaying of the trees that seems like keening for some reason today, I heard the voice of Isaiah in my head offering a goad to perseverance.

“Even as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,” says the Lord, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (And here is that purpose – the part of the message for this morning that I did not hear but was happy to read as I searched the Scriptures for Isaiah’s prophecy.) “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (IS 55:10-12)

And so we wait…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Praying for Strength

18 Thursday Jan 2018

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A Prayer for Strength, belief, change, courage, fortify, insurmountable, Joyce Rupp, love, Prayer Seeds, provider, purpose, serenity, strength, suffer, support, sustain, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust, worries

astormstrandedI went to sleep last night in my safe and warm bedroom with images from the internet news of cars and trucks smashing into utility poles and one another on icy roads in South Carolina and Georgia. Weather gone wild has stranded thousands in airports and shelters and the only happy people are the children who are playing in the snow that has closed their schools. It is a trying time in our country – for this and many other reasons.

Having no words of my own today, I turn to Joyce Rupp, a wonderful spiritual guide who always seems to have something helpful to say. I am never disappointed by whatever book of hers that comes into my hands. She has a way of comforting and challenging me at the same time. Here is part of “A Prayer for Strength” from her book Prayer Seeds.

Provider of Purpose, Firm Foundation, Enduring Love, support my determination to give the best of myself to others. Fortify the forgiveness you have placed and nurtured in my heart. Sustain a solid belief that I can get through what appears insurmountable. Bolster my efforts to be a person who reaches out to those who suffer. Foster greater trust in you when worries and anxieties attempt to prevail. Impart the courage I need to change what appears to be unchangeable. In you I find sufficient strength, abounding love, and secure serenity. (p.56)

 

 

 

 

 

Oops!

11 Thursday Jan 2018

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lessons, mishap, mistakes, purpose, serendipity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, thinking

acorrectionFor any of you who follow the Catholic Bishops’ website to find Scripture readings for each day, and/or anyone who hears those readings at daily liturgies, you must have been wondering yesterday why I used the reading from next Thursday. I was wondering that myself just now since the battle I spoke of as a great success for Saul and David had not happened by then or in this morning’s text either! It’s not even as if I skipped down to the same day in next week on the calendar. (Yesterday was Wednesday!) My only conclusion is about serendipity. The jealousy theme was already in my head when I opened to the Scripture texts and the story of Saul and David gave me a great example of what I was thinking.

Significant, I think, to this “mistake” is the fact that the correct reading for yesterday was about God’s call to Samuel. The fact that the boy – Samuel – had mistaken God’s call for that of his mentor Eli makes me think that maybe God was interested in having the topic of jealousy come up yesterday for someone. Me? Maybe. You? Perhaps. That might just be my way of making an excuse for my mistake but I’m pretty careful about checking the date as well as the whimsical nature of my cursor sometimes. And the fact that I have written over 1,300 of these posts without such a happening makes me want to attribute it to something other than carelessness.

Whatever the reason for yesterday’s mishap, perhaps the words of Barbra Streisand suffice for today when she sings, “There are no mistakes, just lessons to be learned.”

 

 

 

 

 

Of Integrity and Song

06 Monday Nov 2017

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Andrew Harvey, common purpose, concert, conscience, conviction, good, humanity, justice, love, Peace, purpose, raised voices, shared values, song, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

apeaceukeleleI was thrown back a few decades on Saturday evening at an anniversary concert that brought together entertainers who have sung out for justice, peace and love in many ways over many years. What a joy know that their voices had not lost any of their power and purity and that new songs held the same integrity as the old ones did when we were all “young.” (The audience was also “of a certain age” and loving every minute of both the familiar and newly penned messages.) There is a feeling that arises during an experience like that. It is a strength in the camaraderie of common purpose and understanding, a sense of integrity that pervades the space. The feeling sparks a renewal of energy for right living, knowing that shared values for the good of the world still exist and can be expressed by raising our voices in that moment of song and remembered later when difficult situations arise.

A quote from Andrew Harvey that I read this morning amplified and clarified the message of the weekend for me. In the introduction to a chapter on Integrity in the book, One Heart: Wisdom from the World’s Scriptures, he writes the following:

How easy it is to flatter when we need something, or lie when we have to get out of a tedious obligation. Yet we all know that when we don’t follow our conscience and profoundly held beliefs, something worse than disaster or derision falls upon us: a loss of ourselves, a hemorrhage of our innermost reality that leaves us feeling empty and drained of strength and hope. We know that when we do act from our deepest conviction, whatever the cost or consequence, a sense of peace descends on us, steadying us to endure and witness anything…God’s plan for humanity is dependent upon each person having the integrity to enact his or her own deepest nature and its laws and responsibilities in the world. The failure to do this, on the deepest level, is a betrayal of God’s purpose both for oneself and for the world.

So get out those well-worn CDs (and records?) and sing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fully Human

11 Tuesday Jul 2017

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call, generosity, human, Meg Wheatley, open-hearted, Paulo Freire, purpose, purpose-filled, receive, religious life, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Turning To One Another, vocation

acaregiverThe word “vocation” is sitting under many of my thoughts these days as I walk through this 50th year of religious life. It surfaces each time a gathering comes along where I am called to answer the question, “How are you?” asked by people who haven’t seen me in awhile. It comes from the Latin verb meaning to call and as a noun is used to define our work in life. Meg Wheatley quotes Paulo Freire, a Brazilian and world educator who often said that we have a “vocation to be fully human.” She goes on from there to give some thoughts worthy of pondering. See what you think.

We don’t decide what our vocation is, she says, we receive it. It always originates from outside us. Therefore, we can’t talk about vocation or a calling without acknowledging that there is something going on beyond our narrow sense of self. It helps remind us that there’s more than just me, that we’re part of a larger and purpose-filled place.

Even if we don’t use the word vocation, most of us want to experience a sense of purpose to our lives…I believe we become more fully human with any gesture of generosity, any time we reach out to another rather than withdraw into our individual suffering. To become fully human we need to keep opening our hearts, no matter what. At this time when suffering and anxiety continue to increase, when there is always reason to weep for some unbearable tragedy inflicted by one human on another, I try to remember to keep my heart open.

In my own experience, I notice I like myself better when I am generous and open-hearted. I don’t like myself when I’m afraid of others or angry at them…At those times, I don’t feel more human but less. I become more fully human only when I extend myself. This is how I define for myself what it means to have a vocation to be fully human. (Turning To One Another, pp. 58, 59)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here Comes July!

01 Saturday Jul 2017

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A Deep Breath of Life, A Way Without Words, Alan Cohen, cycle of growth, divine expression, incentive, independence, intention, learn, love, new projects, purpose, renewed, serve, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

abutterflyThree impressions opened before me a moment ago that were like steps to a conclusion. Here was the order: 1. As I turned on my computer I thought: “July first. New month, new incentive.” 2. My eye fell on the title of a book that someone had recently given me for our library. It’s called A Way Without Words and is subtitled A Guide for Spiritually Emerging Adults. 3. I read the prayer and affirmation for July first in Alan Cohen’s book, A Deep Breath of Life. Taken together those two said, “Help me remember my purpose and live the highest life possible. I honor my purpose of divine expression. I am here to love, learn and serve.

I’d say that’s a good start for the month that holds our country’s celebration of  independence, traditional vacation time for many, the fullness of nature’s cycle of growth and so much more. It’s a good day to renew myself, to begin where new projects appear on the horizon or begin again to put energy into intentions that have lost their verve. May we all be renewed physically and spiritually as we accept this day, the half-way point of 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Good Perspective

17 Wednesday May 2017

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A Deep Breath of Life, Alan Cohen, consciousness, experience, force, good, love, painful, purpose, raw material, recycled, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

amanureQuotes from Pendle Hill: Today’s quote comes from Alan Cohen in his book A Deep Breath of Life.

Think and act as if everything that shows up in your field of consciousness is for your good. Imagine that there is only one power – love – and it is the force behind every experience. Even if something seems painful or insulting in the moment, use it as raw material with which to grow. Even repulsive manure is good fertilizer, when put in its proper place and recycled for the farmer’s purpose.

Today let me recognize Your voice behind every voice. Help me to take Your signs and signals and build a life of beauty and abundance.

Purpose and Meaning

09 Tuesday May 2017

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affected, care, forgotten, global results, goals, hurt, Joan Chittister, meaning, productive, profit, purpose, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, touched, why, Wisdom Distilled Daily, wise woman

agraduatesJoan Chittister  gave me a paragraph to ponder this morning from her book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. I thought it was worth sharing, not necessarily for others to agree but simply to measure the reflections of this wise woman against my own to see if there is resonance there. I offer it today in that spirit.

Purpose has something to do with being productive and setting goals and knowing what needs to be done and doing it. It is easy to have purpose. To write seven letters today, to wax that floor, to finish this legal brief, to make out those reports, to complete this degree, that’s purpose. Meaning, on the other hand, depends on my asking myself who will care and who will profit and who will be touched and who will be forgotten or hurt or affected by my doing those things. Purpose determines what I will do with this part of my life. Meaning demands to know why I’m doing it and with what global results. (p. 102)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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