Encouragement

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Br. Curtis Almquist, dignity, encouragement, gratitude, recognition, support, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, worth

I am not accustomed to posting in the afternoon but being off schedule today got me to play catch-up and I found the second-in-a-row message that comes from the monks of St. John the Evangelist. (See yesterday’s post). I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share it as we all need encouragement once in awhile and I thought this a good reminder. (I especially liked the first line about being “rescued by love.”)

We are rescued by love when someone bequeaths dignity, worth, recognition, gratitude upon us, encouragement for us because of who we are and what we do. We simply cannot grasp this alone: that we are precious, and amazing, and of inestimable value, unless this truth is mirrored into our being by another person. We need to give and receive support and encouragement for one another as “daily bread.” (Br. Curtis Almquist.)

Deeper into Stillness

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ears, eyes, hear, heart, John Philip Newell, light, listen, Praying With the Earth, presence, recognition, remember, Romans, silence, St. Paul, stillness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Everything is so still this morning. It reminds me of the line in Paul’s Letter to the Romans where he says that “all creation is on tiptoe, waiting for the children of God to come into their own.” That image is my favorite translation because it is so visual but also because it implies for me an intense use of both ears and eyes. We won’t see it if we have our eyes closed and we won’t hear it if we’re not really listening. Even if all of our five outer senses are engaged, there needs to be an interior readiness for the in-breaking of God’s presence. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is an incremental thing, sparked either by our own silence or by a communal encounter of recognition. Deeper than silence, the stillness becomes palpable and we know something that we didn’t know before – indescribable but deeply true. Again it is John Philip Newell whose prayer suffices for this morning.

It is when we are still that we know. It is when we listen that we hear. It is when we remember that we see your light, O God. From your Stillness we come. With your Sound all life quivers with being. From You the light of this moment shines. Grant us to remember You at the heart of each moment. Grant us to remember. (Praying with the Earth, p. 44)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Your Sins Are Forgiven

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courage, faith, forgive sins, forgiveness, heal, healing, humility, Jesus, Matthew, paralyzed, recognition, sinner, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The gospel holds a question that I have never before stopped to consider in the way I heard it today. As I reflected, I noticed even a lot more in the short passage that led me to a deeper place. In MT 9:1-8, Jesus has just returned to “his own town” where he encounters a paralyzed man, brought to him on a stretcher by people who obviously have faith in his power to heal. There is no conversation; Jesus just saw their faith and immediately said, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”

I probably wouldn’t have thought much about the encounter in this very familiar passage but a second look at the entire event gave me much more to ponder. When the scribes who were in hearing distance thought to themselves that Jesus was speaking in a way that could be called blasphemy (speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things), Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked them, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Rise and walk?’ My guess is they were quite surprised that he was reading their thoughts.

My original intent in writing about this passage was to consider the question just raised by Jesus. I wondered what the scribes would have answered if Jesus had given them a chance. He did not do that, however, but indicated that his purpose was to show his “authority on earth to forgive sins” rather than his ability to heal the body. Most likely because they were not at a level of development to understand what that meant, he then told the man to “rise, pick up your stretcher and go home.” The conclusion of the passage illustrates a lack of understanding on the part of the whole crowd of who Jesus really was, noting that “when the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to men.”

So what is my point? In a sense it is the thought I started with: a consideration of internal and external healing. We are living in a time when the consciousness of the connection of body, mind and spirit is evident in the literature of mainstream culture as well as in spiritual circles. Meditation is touted as essential to health and wholeness as is physical exercise. Healing of memories is as important as dealing with present-day conflicts. The soul and the body are both in need of healing. Jesus was talking about the former while observers were waiting for the cure of the latter.

My wondering has now come full circle. My question to myself was: If I were the paralyzed person to whom Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven,” would I be shocked and resistant at being judged a sinner (and thereby, probably not cured) or would I recognize the need for forgiveness and let that be enough, whether or not my body was freed from paralysis? It’s a question of humility and recognition, it seems, as well as a trust in God’s unconditional love that takes more than a quick look inside to answer honestly.

 

 

 

 

 

Epiphany Today

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Christ, compassion, epiphany, essential meaning, experience, insight, intuitive, occurrence, perception, recognition, Revelation, success, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universal love

I just read my post from yesterday to refresh my memory of what I said or didn’t say about Epiphany. As it happens, I think that post turned out to be a bit of an example of the meaning of the word. As celebrated in Christianity, the Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles represented by the Magi: a moment of great revelation. In a modern dictionary definition it is seen as “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”

I was talking yesterday about the possibility of overcoming fear through simple, commonplace practices of eating, walking and talking to a friend. It isn’t the practices themselves, however, that overcome the fear. It is rather our recognition of our ability to achieve success in those things that gives us new confidence in facing what frightens or stops us.

It is all well and good for us to celebrate the revelation of Jesus to the larger world 2000 years ago but that revelation is only “activated” in our day if something related to the event is triggered in our lives. If we consider the most important lessons we have learned from the life of Christ, which I believe to be universal love and compassion, it would seem that our job is to manifest the reality of those lessons in our daily lives.

What does love of neighbor mean in 2018? How are we able to practice compassion when we see a need – either spiritual or physical? It takes keeping our hearts open and, yes, “eating our vegetables” to push us beyond our limits – one step at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shining Lights

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achievements, beatitudes, gratitude, humility, interior beauty, Jesus, let your light shine, light, Matthew, recognition, talents, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

At the end of the text in Matthew that we call the Beatitudes (Ch. 5), there is encouragement from Jesus for all of us to let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. In that single sentence Jesus has told the people that they (and all of us) have in them the wherewithal to mirror God’s presence to the world as well as the fact that our good deeds are to be seen by others. Those words should keep us from the false humility that denies our achievements and convince us that we have been gifted by God with interior beauty and goodness. The caveat is the last part. We need to remember at all times where our gifts and talents come from. So in the midst of receiving the praise of others, we acknowledge what we are able to do and who we are but also give the glory to God who has given us breath and life and the inspiration necessary for our good deeds and achievements. It is a dance of joy but also a delicate balance of receiving and letting go. All it takes is recognition and gratitude: simple but not easy, the on-going work of a lifetime.

 

 

 

 

 

Have Mercy On Me, O God!

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acceptance, acknowledgment, contrition, David and Bathsheba, evil, forgiveness, grace, guilt, just, personal sin, Pope Francis, psalm 51, recognition, relationship with God, repentance, Samuel, sinfulness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Year of Mercy

Yesterday I was having a conversation about sin – not sins but sin, as in “the sin of the world” or “social sin.” It’s much easier to look at it that way, not so difficult then to exclude myself from the topic rather than talking about my personal sin and guilt. Today, however, I could not avoid such a “close encounter” in the face of the story about David and Bathsheba. (2 SM 11:1-17) David’s actions of adultery and the subsequent plotting the death of Uriah when his attempts to hide Bathsheba’s pregnancy from her husband had failed sound like a modern movie plot! This from God’s chosen one, the king of Israel, the one whose reign was to last forever through his descendants!

Most of us know our own sinfulness and try to hide our shadow side from others for fear that we would be abandoned if anyone “really knew me.” David’s story gives us opportunity for a different way to proceed. It comes in a series of steps: recognition, acknowledgment, contrition, repentance, forgiveness and finally acceptance – all of which come in his relationship with God. His waking up to the seriousness of his sin came at the death of the child born of his liaison with Bathsheba but that recognition was so deeply felt not only by the loss but also because of his great love for God and the knowledge that he had severely damaged that covenant. Thus, his sorrow matched his guilt as he sang, “I have done such evil in your sight that you are just in your sentence…Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness; the bones you have crushed shall rejoice. Turn away your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt!” (PS 51) It is because of the depth of relationship that David could come to trust God’s forgiveness. Still cognizant of the enormity of what he had done, David was then able to accept himself and let go of his guilt to live into God’s welcoming embrace. I am confident that we are called to the same willingness in the face of our sin.

Serendipitously as I was pondering all this, my eye fell on a quote that seems apt for both this reflection and this “Year of Mercy.” Pope Francis writes that the Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the gospel, which in its own way must penetrate the heart and mind of every person. Having received the grace and ability to acknowledge our own sins, may we be moved to extend such mercy to our companions and, yes, to our broken world.

God’s Desire

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attention, centering prayer, God's eyes, God's presence, intention, love, Psalm 147, recognition, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

Last evening I shared some thoughts on contemplative prayer with a friendly group of people in Syracuse, NY. We were speaking specifically of the method of Centering Prayer, different from other forms of meditation in that the practice is one of intention rather than attention. One simply makes the intention to be in God’s presence and then lets go of all thoughts as they arise during the period of silence. I said at one point that God’s presence is assured; it is our consciousness that wanders away. All we need to do is to return to the One who always waits for us.

In this morning’s psalm, I read a line from a modern translation that supports my image of God companioning me during the prayer. It reminds me of something I heard long ago that says, “Our desire for God is also God’s desire for us” but goes even deeper in touching my heart. Listen as you read it aloud. Then picture yourself looking at God and seeing this desire in God’s eyes.

God searches out the faces turned in love and trust with eyes that long to catch our glimpse of recognition. (PS 147:12) May we all be blessed with the ability to recognize God in this day.