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Advent, Christmas, consciously, happiness, Holiday, love, love of Christ, One God, slowing down, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, travel

Today I sit staring at a blank page, feeling a bit empty, as happens sometimes on the Monday after an important holiday. While I was not counted in the millions of people who took to the road or the sky over the weekend to be with faraway relatives or friends (the return trip perhaps not concluded yet), the Thanksgiving holiday just concluded seemed to me to hold more energy than usual in the wishes of “Happy Thanksgiving!” shared sincerely among friends and strangers alike. Maybe we needed some distraction from all the distress of our country and the world that made us try harder to find the joy of sharing. Maybe it was just the slowing down and relaxing together that pervaded our household. Whatever the source, I feel the need to regroup today so that I will live consciously throughout the wonderful season of Advent leading to Christmas. As the world turns from another beginning to a conclusion marked by the calendar of feasting and celebrations, I am heartened and challenged by Thomas Merton’s words to wake up and get about this new day.

Let us live in this love and this happiness, you and I and all of us, in the love of Christ and in contemplation, for this is where we find ourselves and one another as we truly are. It is only in this love that we at last become real, for it is here that we most truly share the life of the One God…

 

 

 

 

 

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Signposts

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Alan Cohen, awake, breath, connected, conscious, destination, direction, Gandhi, journey, Meg Wheatley, reminders, slowing down, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

Today I am conscious – maybe just because it’s Monday – of the need to be aware of what surrounds me as I live today. There are already so many reminders and it isn’t yet 7:00AM!

• For at least the fifth day in succession there has been dense fog in the morning which could be mistaken for cloudiness portending rain later. Only if I am awake will I not be taken by surprise when the sun comes blazing out from under the mist.
• Alan Cohen’s morning reflection is entitled “Enjoy the Journey” and is peppered with reminders of the wisdom of slowing down so as not to miss what is just ahead of us. For example, he begins with a quote from Gandhi which wisely states that there must be more to life than increasing its speed, and from his own musings on creating a bumper sticker: Going nowhere faster will not get you somewhere.
• From Meg Wheatley: If you can’t get destination, go for direction.
• And most simply, when I wanted to access our website to write this: You’re not connected.

So I take a deep breath and jump into the depths of the day…

 

 

 

 

 

Snow

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light, schedule, silence, slowing down, snow, spiritual direction, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I had a schedule change for today. I was supposed to have two spiritual direction appointments but circumstances (not mine) changed and gave me a day at home. I spent my first hour (uncharacteristically) in the kitchen chatting since, wanting to tell the Sisters about the change in schedule, I sat down and ended up having coffee and leisurely conversation with Liz. As I came back to my room and looked out my window I noticed that it was snowing very gently. I had a thought that I’m sure many people would think ridiculous. It came quickly and with a smile. I heard myself say in my mind, “I’m so lucky to live in the Northeast where it snows!” While it is true that the snow today is not likely to cause accidents on the road or loss of electricity in homes so the concept does admit of exceptions, there is certainly an upside to snow events. Young people and teachers know the enthusiasm of snow days from school! My reflection includes that feeling, but is somewhat deeper. Watching the soft, slow falling to earth of it makes the snow a model of slowing down and the fact that it doesn’t make a sound as it falls is the major benefit. If I take the opportunity to go outside later today, I know I will be enveloped in silence and light. Who could ask for more than that?

Take a Deep Breath

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busyness, deep breath, heart, listen, Luke, mind, Pharisees, Sabbath, slowing down, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of the things I am most grateful for about the process of the 3-day meeting that I am attending is the schedule. We gather from 9AM to 4PM with a 20-minute break in the morning and the same in the afternoon, as well as an hour for the noon-day meal. There is little possibility that we will complete our agenda but, as our charge has a goal of total completion in mid-2017, we are not anxious about the progress. Since most of us were experiencing some level of jetlag yesterday (perhaps continuing today) and because the mental energy expended is considerable, this schedule seems a wise way to proceed. I have had a number of conversations already about the busyness of our “normal lives” and how difficult it is to find “time off” on a regular basis.

This morning at the beginning of chapter 6 of Luke’s gospel, we find the disciples of Jesus walking through a field on the Sabbath. Because they are hungry, they begin to pick the grain and are immediately criticized by the Pharisees (Where did they come from??) for breaking a Sabbath law about such a “work” task. Jesus responds with the example of David entering the temple and taking the bread reserved for the priests to speak to the necessity of doing what is necessary when circumstances warrant it. The goal of Sabbath rest was and is always to take time to remember God, giving thanks for our lives, and to connect with the deepest part of ourselves. That can take many forms, some of which might be a necessary letting go of perfection because of lack of time or ability to complete a task. Other times we may be called to do something out of the ordinary, perhaps what seems selfish, in order to get out of our minds and into our hearts – taking care of our “being” which is in need of rest.

In a multicultural society such as ours in the United States it is impossible to designate a “Sabbath Day” – or even a common hour – so we need to make a personal decision about how we will achieve such a time of renewal on a regular basis. Today is a good day to wake up to the possibility – and the necessity – of slowing down enough to hear God’s call to us. It starts with a deep breath…