Hope-filled Holiday

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anxious, Elizabeth, endure, Mary, Memorial Day, pandemic, persevere, re-connect, rejoice, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Zephaniah

Zephaniah, the ninth of the twelve minor prophets, is a rarely quoted text in the daily lectionary. Thus, it is a memorable moment when we read a message like the joyful one that is the first reading for today. Listen:

Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem…Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The Lord, your God, is in your midst. He will rejoice with you with gladness and renew you in his love. He will sing joyfully because of you…

It was significant today for me to read such an account of emotional experiences as I had just spent a heartfelt half-hour reading about families and other groups that have been spending this weekend re-connecting with loved ones. All across our country people are gathering in celebration of the incipient end of the pandemic. One after another, families and friends tell of the joy they have experienced upon spending time with one another. The stories are full of hugs, kisses, laughter and new stories from over the past year when such behaviors were not allowed. Love was the over-arching theme and the possibility of actually touching one another seemed almost miraculous. All of it gave credence to the second reading for this day from Paul’s letter to the Romans. We would do well to take his words to heart:

Brothers and sisters: Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality…

Above and beyond all that, there was the consummate example of love and hospitality—my favorite in the entire gospel (at least today…) where Mary “went in haste” to her cousin Elizabeth. Mary was a pregnant teenager seriously needing solace and she found it in Elizabeth (undoubtedly held tightly in her arms). How similar are some of today’s stories to Mary’s, how needy are we all of comfort after the past sixteen months!

May we find joy in the Lord as Zephaniah did, camaraderie as Paul and the early followers of Jesus did, and comfort at the possible end to the pandemic as Mary did in the person of her relative. And may we all remember on this Memorial Day to thank God for all the good that has been done for us.

Finding an Answer

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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.”

Dance to the Music

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Advent, celebration, gift, rejoice, spirit, the greatness of God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Since I sat down to write today, I have been accompanied in thought by a song that begins: My soul rejoices in my God; my spirit proclaims the greatness of the Lord. Holy is His name! Even if I mistake one or two of the words, the tune is there as is the meaning. It’s a very happy song and I’m happy to sing it. Probable cause? Likely the vaccine… Or maybe the electoral college vote (which should mark the end of the struggle toward election…) Could it be the impending celebration of high holy days for so many around the world, a celebration that has as much – if not more – to do with our inner lives as with outer expression?

It could be any of those things, or all of them. It could, on the other hand, simply be a little gift from God just for me, just so I know that God is here, that God is now, that God never leaves me comfortless. So I will listen and even hum whatever words come with the music…and maybe if I wake up enough, I will find myself dancing…I wouldn’t be surprised.

Gaudete!

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Advent, gaudete, joy, Kimberly Hope Belcher, rejoice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I am always grateful for my four years of Latin class in high school with Sister Thomas Aquinas. Today, perhaps more than any other, I can hear myself and my comrades greet her as she sweeps into the classroom hoping for us all to jump out of our seats to respond to her greeting of: “Gaudete!” with gusto: “Salve, Soror. Gratias tibi ago!*” She was never disappointed because she was the reason for our joy. Her deep love of learning and of the joy she engendered in us from deep within her was the impetus for our own. This feeling of remembrance is akin to the sensation of what I read this morning entitled Joy Creeping In,** a description that I think apropos of what I am trying to convey today about Advent. Listen and ponder, please.

The joy proper to Advent is a clear-eyed joy. Advent calls us to look directly at the world’s brokenness, to see the plight of the hungry, the poor and the prisoner, and to cry out for the coming of the day of justice and salvation. Listening to the season and the Scriptures (as we have done for the last two weeks), we feel joy creeping in. As we become aware of what the world is not, of what the world ought to be, we begin to rejoice in our knowledge of God: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.“

*”Thanks be to God!”

**Kimberly Hope Belcher, Give Us This Day, Liturgical Press, p.136

This Is the Day

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coronavirus, Holy Week, Palm Sunday, rejoice, ritual, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, This is the day the Lord has made.

“This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it.”

This line is for me like the “ticker tape” message on the New York Times Building in Times Square, NYC, this morning. It keeps running through my consciousness, calling me to attention. What’s the message?

It is Sunday. It is a Sunday of high ritual; we call it Palm Sunday. (Lots of people are sitting at home weaving crosses of palm fronds right now.) This Palm Sunday will be a challenge for religious people everywhere who are devoted to the rituals that we Christians call “Holy Week” because we have been told to stay home from Church to protect ourselves and one another from the pandemic (COVID-19) that is now ravaging the entire world.

Obedience is more difficult when you cannot see with your eyes the reason for the directive, i.e. in this case: “STAY HOME.” Spring is here. We have a proliferation of daffodils in our yard. The weeping willow trees have that light yellow-green haze that precedes the leafing out of other trees. Today promises to be warm enough for a light coat, and by next Sunday what we used to call “Easter finery.” We can’t see the reason for letting go of everything that we are told is necessary to our well-being, but we know now that it is a matter of life or death.

Reflection on this situation that we cannot see or touch but only know by its effects is perhaps a way to move from outside to inside, from action to intention, and then from head to heart. Take the case of the practicing Catholic who waits for this week to prepare each year for the rituals that end in the glorious feast of Easter. The moments of distress and horror as s/he walks with Jesus through trial, suffering (physical and mental) and ultimately death will be swallowed up in the glory of resurrection. How is all that possible this year?

Can we be satisfied — if we are lucky enough to have live-streamed services — to watch it all on television? If that is not available, can we read the relevant chapters in the Scriptures and put ourselves energetically into the scenes of the week? Can we move through the days in a silence of the heart, a spiritual communion, connecting ourselves to all of our brothers and sisters who are suffering across the world.

This is the day — as is every day — that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice that we are called to deeper understanding of the God who calls us. And may we rejoice in that knowledge that we belong to this God and to one another in a deeper way than ever before — a deeper way of the heart.

The Last Day

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accept the challenge, be grateful, be kind to yourself, New Year, pray, reflection, rejoice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, time, year in review

Today is the last day of the year. That is not “new news” to anyone but it does invite reflection. My mother used to tell us not to wish for time to pass more quickly no matter what we were waiting for, because as we got older things – time – would seem to speed up and we would wish it would slow down. She was a wise woman and now I know the truth of her prediction.

Today I hope to take some time to reflect on 2019 asking myself questions about the high points and the low points: what were they and why do I see them that way. I will consider the important happenings and the people who figured most importantly into my days. What have I learned from/during this year? Is there anything left “hanging” that needs to be completed and am I willing/able to complete it?

You have your own questions and memories from the year. In your review, should you wish to “accept the challenge,” be kind to yourself in judging it all. Be grateful for all you have learned about yourself that you wish to take into 2020 (a great image for seeing clearly) and thank God for another chance to begin. Rejoice that you are still alive and smile at the people who cross your path today. Pray for those who need your prayer and smile at God who knows how to answer better than we do. Have a blessed new year…

Gaude! Gaudete!

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gaudete, Incarnation, joy, Latin, rejoice, sing for joy, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Zephaniah

I often think of my high school Latin teacher. We – all eight of us – persevered through four years of Latin because of Sister Thomas Aquinas. We not only learned a great deal of Latin but were treated to at least 45 minutes each school day of rejoicing in the love of learning and sharing community. We were confident not only of the love Sister Thomas had for her subject but also the joy she took in us. And it was a great lesson in reciprocal feeding. We loved her and the language too.

Today is Gaudete Sunday in Christendom. One can hardly get through the lectionary readings without a feeling of joy and confidence entering our inner space at the command to rejoice (Gaudete!). Zephaniah, a seldom heard from voice in the Hebrew Scriptures, leads off with the call to rejoice and be glad with all your heart because God will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his love – even singing for joy because of you.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Paul tells the Philippians and us this morning to rejoice in the Lord always and have no anxiety at all because that will bring us the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

I listened this morning to a vibrant young woman speak about what she called “the rejoice choice”* – choosing a way to be that is not tied to outcome or circumstance but rather to a deep conviction of God’s presence. What a great message for this Sunday when the celebration of the Incarnation is so near. Let us all remain in this stance of expectancy and rejoice!

*Catholic Women Preach – Elyse Galloway

Vacation

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being together, family, heart, joy, rejoice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vacation, wonderful

Today I anticipate joy in abundance. If you read yesterday’s post you’re probably thinking I’m referencing the acclamation: This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it! I must admit I was relieved that I remembered to say it to myself when I got out of bed this morning. If nothing else, I ought to practice what I preach! But I digress!

In an hour or two I will get in my car and drive to Massachusetts with the goal of arriving in no more than six hours – maybe less if conditions are right – at the neighborhood of my childhood memories. My young, beautiful cousin, Molly, is to be married today to Dan, who seems the perfect addition to our family. In itself, that event will certainly be a joy but add to it the opportunity to spend time with cousins of three generations and I can imagine nothing better. There is lots of love that binds us and surely the spirits of our parents will be with us. I heard recently that Molly’s wish was to be married ‘in Grandmother’s church” and so it shall happen!

The added bonus to all this comes at its conclusion, however. Because my brother and sister-in-law will be here, my sister has engineered a plan for us to spend the week together – something that hasn’t happened for the past five years! It is a fact of life now that siblings routinely live at a distance from each other – 3,000 miles of distance for us: Cape Cod, MA to San Diego, CA! It is quite difficult in our case so I am sure today that the saying “what’s seldom is wonderful” will be our experience this week. The plan is simple: just being together!

In the spirit of being “all in” to the experience, I am planning to be as present as possible with little interference. Thus, in a rare moment of self-care, I plan to take a vacation from writing this blog until Monday, April 16th. Wish me luck in letting it go, if you will. Perhaps there is something that you ought to take a vacation from…or maybe you simply ought to ask the question today of what you have not done in awhile that gives you the kind of joy that makes your heart sing. That’s where you’ll find me this week!

 

 

 

 

 

This Day

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declaration, Easter, glad, message, psalm 118, rejoice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It has not escaped my notice that each day since the vigil of Easter the gospel acclamation has been the same verse. From Psalm 118:24 we hear or read, This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. This morning I think I finally got the intended message.

What if, upon rising from sleep, as soon as consciousness kicks in, we took as a practice to repeat – preferably aloud and with conviction – THIS IS the day the Lord has made! Let us be GLAD and REJOICE in it!!! (Emphasis mine, of course.) Maybe, even if we didn’t change the world by that declaration, it might come to have a positive effect on our personal day – every day.

 

 

 

 

 

Moving On

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anticipation, Eastertide, faith, glad, goodness, rejoice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth, wake up

There seem to be lots of reasons to get moving this morning and greet the day with anticipation. The reasons don’t come from the outside; the day (as much as I can determine it from the vantage point of my bedroom window) is looking rather dismal. But the lectionary readings declare the truth that the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord and the verse before the gospel shouts out the recognition that this is the day that the Lord has made! Rather like “Wake up!” or “Don’t miss it!” that declarative is followed with the imperative: Let us be glad and rejoice in it!

More than the steps that led up to what we call Eastertide or “the 50 days of Easter,” we now have the responsibility of living the life of faith. Our faith has been verified by Christ who could not be contained by earthly laws. Resurrection has transformed our sometimes wobbly faith into certainty. Now we are to believe not only in Jesus the Christ but in ourselves because the whole of creation is redeemed in him, the One who is risen to new life.

How are we changed? How will we live in ways that manifest the truth that the earth is, indeed, full of the goodness of the Lord unless that truth is visible in our own lives? Let us be glad and go forth rejoicing in our call!