A Sacred Day

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church, day of reflection, ever present in the now, keep holy the Sabbath day, pace of life, Sabbath, sacred, Sunday dinner, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, visit

Sometimes lately I have to look at the events scribbled in my calendar to remind myself of the date and what day of the week it is! I guess I could say that’s because of my advancing age, but I think it has as much or more to do with the pace of life now. Today is Sunday – for Christians, the Sabbath Day, set aside for rest and reflection on the spiritual side of life. I’ve been known to hear in my head the dictum “No unnecessary servile work on Sunday!” if I set about doing laundry or some other household duty. I was always grateful for that precept of the laws of the Church that guided our family life in that simpler time that was my youth.

Sunday really was a quieter day then, a time to go to church, to visit, have Sunday dinner and then sometimes to squeeze all of us (5 kids and two fathers in the early days) into Uncle Charlie’s station wagon and go for ice cream after feeding the ducks at Norumbega. I didn’t know that the dual purpose of those trips with our fathers gave the mothers – sometimes home with a baby or two – a bit of a respite and some quiet too.

For most of us, times have changed radically as the pace of life picked up and three-shift jobs became the norm. It’s more difficult now to allow ourselves a day of the week that is set apart from the others. Perhaps a more novel idea would be to train our hearts to a mindset of every day being a Sabbath – a sacred day of reflection. It wouldn’t need to mean staying home from work or ignoring necessary tasks at home. Maybe setting our inner clock to an hourly “stop!” to remember and give thanks to God would be enough to make each day as holy as the last and as anticipated as the next while staying ever present in the now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Circles of Hope

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Black Elk, circles, Exodus, family, happiness, holy, hoop of the world, hope, In A Sacred Manner I Live, Jesus, love, Oglala Sioux, sacred, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wedding

I come late today to this task because I sat with my coffee this morning recounting the story of the wedding reception I attended last evening. I have great hopes for this couple in their mid-twenties who have known each other since their first school dance in 7th grade and have grown in love until, at 1:00 yesterday afternoon, they joined in the sanctuary of the church with tears of joy (both of them!) that this moment had finally come. At the dinner reception I was reminded of the importance of family and friends in the lives of such a couple. Touching toasts to the groom and the bride, spoken by two brothers and two sisters, were concluded by two friends and followed by a beautiful  blessing by the father of the groom. As I heard the hopes for long life and “the blessing of children,” I was aware of the circle of life in this gathered community widening and being strengthened by this new family unit. There is no lack of wisdom in the elders who surround this couple and lots of companionship for the days to come.

I found fitting advice in the readings of today where I heard God warning us not to “oppress the alien, for you were once foreigners in a strange land.” (EX 22:20) and Jesus commanding us to “love our neighbors as ourselves.”

Unable to stop here in this reflection, I am pulled back into something I read during the past week from a book called In A Sacred Manner I Live. It is the line from Exodus, I think, that urges me to share a vision of Black Elk, holy man of the Oglala Sioux (when he was nine years old), that I would wish for our world and see as possible if we hold in our hearts the love generated at moments like those I experienced yesterday. Please indulge me and pray with me for such widening circles.

And a Voice said: “All over the universe they have finished a day of happiness. And looking down I saw that the whole wide circle of the day was beautiful and green, with all fruits growing and all things kind and happy. Then a Voice said: “Behold this day, for it is yours to make. Now you shall stand upon the center of the earth to see…”

Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw, for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.

May it be so. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Up, Up and Away!

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God's name, how wonderful your name, Israel, Kathleen Degnan, Lectionary, Lord, pilgrims, psalm 8, sacred, spiritual experience, spiritual journey, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

Psalm 8 is one of my “top three” favorites. It is no wonder that it should appear in the lectionary this morning as I leave home today to begin a pilgrimage that will take me to Israel tomorrow. The refrain, O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! is an apt title, I think, for what will be a voyage of some 5,600 miles (one way!) to reach a place that is sacred to the three Abrahamic faiths. Along the way I hope to see the sunset from above and know the clarity of the atmosphere from at least 6 miles above the earth. Flying – even in a plane – is a spiritual experience for me and I relish the time even as I look forward to the adventure on the ground.

Because I cannot predict what the days will hold and want to be free to immerse in all the activities and reflection on what we experience, I decided to dedicate the two weeks of my absence to Thomas Merton, as we continue to be mindful of him during the centennial year of his birth. I have probed Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours by Kathleen Deignan for snippets from various Merton texts and have asked our administrative assistant, Mary Pat Hyland to post one each day until I return. I trust this will be a worthy exercise.

Just as I do not travel alone but with 20 other pilgrims, so I am aware of connections to others near and far who share the spiritual journey with me. So I have packed everyone in my suitcase and look forward to the journey that will, I hope, culminate in a deepening of appreciation for all of us of God’s wonderful name in all the earth.