Oneness

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John Philip Newell, Life Is a Verb, lightning, oneness, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When things in the world seem dark and dreary and fragmented, we seek encouragement from any source available to us. Today it will be sunshine – if the predicted weather gives us one of those amazing October days. We hang on to “October’s Bright Blue Weather” as we know that winter will surely soon be upon us. As on the outside, so we hope for solace for our inner selves. I find it in the words of John Philip Newell today in Praying with the Earth.

All things are born of you, O God. We carry within us your light and your life. In the mystery of matter and deep in the cells of our souls are your longings for oneness. The oneness of the universe vast and vibrating with the sound of its beginning. The oneness of the earth greening and teeming as a single body. The oneness of the human soul a sacred countenance in infinite form. Grant us your longings for oneness, O God, amidst life’s glorious multiplicities. (p. 28)

Mother’s Day

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child, gratitude, mother, Mother's Day, openess, Peace, pure love, relationships, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is what many Americans call, somewhat cynically, a “Hallmark holiday.” In addition to cards – often purchased from Hallmark – we spend a great deal of money on flowers and other purchases to tell our mothers that we love them. Sometimes those material things are a substitute for the words “I love you,” words that would be enough for most mothers.

I know that for many people this is a difficult day because mother-daughter or mother-son relationships can be difficult or even tragic and I pray for the healing of those relationships as there are no closer ties than those between mother and child. The time of nourishing a child from within one’s own body cannot be measured or replicated but the longing and waiting of a prospective adoptive mother certainly qualifies as a different kind of pregnancy.

My siblings and I were some of the “lucky ones,” having hit the jackpot in the “good mother” department. A bright, loving partner for our father, our mother, Mary Frances, aka “May,” was born on the first day of this beautiful month and flowered in different ways throughout her 87 years of life. Even in the throes of her last years with Alzheimer’s disease, she never lost the ability to convince us of the truth of her love. All we needed was her smile and the look in her eyes.

Today I pray for all mothers and their children. For those who share a great love and for those who wish they did, I ask a blessing of gratitude and peace. For those who never knew their mothers or those abandoned, I pray for solace. For each of us, I pray a prayer of openness and pure love, that we will love as unselfishly and kindly as the Divine Lover of the universe loves each of us and all of us.

Happy Mother’s Day!

No Words of My Own

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care, heart, inspiration, Joyce Rupp, love, open our hearts, Peace, Prayer Seeds, respect, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, words, worthy

Sometimes it’s necessary to count on the words of others for inspiration or solace. That’s one of the primary reasons for my frequent references to biblical texts or modern inspirational writers at this season when bad news seems to vie with inclement weather to wipe out most, if not all, spiritual energy. Joyce Rupp is my “saving grace” this morning with the conclusion to a prayer service for peace in her book, Prayer Seeds. May it be a motivator for you as well.

Peace-Bringer, create in me a heart filled with the kind of love that reflects your own. Send this love to those I care about and respect. Open my mind to those I want to reject. Open my heart to those I prefer to avoid. Open my eyes to see beyond the surface of individuals and recognize your presence in each one. May my thoughts, words and deeds be devoid of violence in any form. Soften whatever is hardened in my heart so that I bring your peace wherever I go. Remind me often that I, too, am in need of this love and worthy to receive it. (p. 53)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clinging to Hope

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alive, beginnings, Celtic Treasure, Christ, Easter, faith, Holy Week, hope, Jesus, John Philip Newell, Lent, love, new life, promise, solace, sorrow, stay the course, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, turmoil

For so many people I have encountered in so many places recently, life seems to be a continual walk in the dark. For Christians who are following the path of Lent, walking with Jesus ever closer to the events of what we call Holy Week, the heaviness of these days can be an opportunity even as we find our energy sapped by news of a world in deep turmoil. Another school shooting yesterday, panic in Austin, Texas over serial bomb explosions, wildly destructive coastal storms and personal tragedies or disappointments leave us wondering when and how it will all end. Will Easter bring us solace and the promise of new life?

Today it is a prayer from John Philip Newell’s book, Celtic Treasure, that calls me to consciousness. May it be a reminder and an encouragement for us to “stay the course” in hope, clinging to the transformative power of faith and love.

You are within and among us, O Christ, as the one who is alive for ever. In the sorrows and sufferings of our lives you are with us as the one who holds the keys of new beginnings. There is no ending in the world, there is no fear in our lives, there is no despair in our hearts, that your living presence cannot unlock. You are within and among us, O Christ, as the one who is alive for ever. (p. 214)

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Praise of Women

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Annunciation, beauty, blessed, child, courage, destiny, Elizabeth, God's name, hard grace, holy, justice, Luke, Mary, praise, pregnant, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, willingness, womb, women

I love the feast that we celebrate today: the Visitation of Mary to her kinswoman, Elizabeth. This was no “stopping ’round for tea” visit. Mary traveled “to the hill country” and stayed for three months. Elizabeth was a woman past child-bearing age – whatever that meant in those long-ago days. In her 30s, perhaps, and probably concerned since she had heretofore been unable to conceive. Mary was just a teenager, and likely frightened by the process of carrying a child. For both of them this “favor” wrought by God was what many would have called “hard grace.” On a human level, how lucky they were to have each other! We speculate that Elizabeth was further along in her pregnancy so it must have been a relief to have Mary around to help her. The Scriptures intimate that Mary had rushed off to Elizabeth soon after receiving the message from God that she was pregnant. Her comfort would likely have been an older woman, who obviously loved her, to lean on and share with as she interiorized what was happening to her body and her life. Such a great story!

The gospel passage from Luke (1:39-56) doesn’t stop with this loving, relational scene, however. Perhaps it was on her trek from Nazareth to Elizabeth’s home that Mary’s process of acceptance that began with her “yes” at the Annunciation was fulfilled. Or perhaps it was Elizabeth’s recognition of the child Mary was carrying that caused her own baby to “leap” in her womb. Whatever the transformation in Mary, her testimony to the power of God that she sang out on that day of her arrival in response to Elizabeth’s greeting was that of a strong woman who knew her role in the great drama of religious history that was unfolding within her. From this day, she proclaimed, all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name!

Those words are followed with a vision of God’s power to overturn the order of powerful and poor in a restoration of justice. Certainly, Mary did not know the specifics of how that would happen – nor did anyone, but she knew she had been chosen for a role in it. And the courage to speak, I believe, came not only from God’s grace but from the relationship of the older, more worldly-wise woman standing beside her.

Let us today (men and women alike) rejoice in those women in our lives who give us solace and courage when we need it and the companionship that keeps us on track in our living. Let us remember also, those who have gone before us who still stand as examples of the willingness to accept God’s grace in our lives that we might fulfill our destiny in praise and beauty.

If Only…

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Christ, encouragement, God, heart, humble, love, others, Peace, Philippians, psalm 131, quiet, Scripture, selfishness, solace, spirit, St. Paul, stillness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vainglory

Reading today’s assigned Scripture texts for liturgy made me wish everyone – from the famous to the infamous – would pay attention to the messages. First we have Paul pleading with the Philippians to be united and then in what we actually call the psalm response the psalmist takes a humble tone that might actually turn things around if all were to act out of it. I imagine it as a conversation between God and us today. See if that makes sense and what might be the result if everyone took it to heart.

GOD: Brothers and sisters, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for your own interests but also everyone for those of others. (PHIL 2: 1-4)

US: O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes haughty; I busy not myself with great things, nor with things too sublime for me. Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap, so is my soul within me. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace. (Ps 131: 1-2)

One More Wake Up Call

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charity, contemplation, corruption, divisions, mystic, news, Peace, prophets, saints, sanctity, solace, spiritual maturity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, violence

It is sometimes counter-productive to read the news in the morning. I don’t often do so before taking up this writing task. I should always move toward what I know to be my priorities. After twenty minutes or so this morning of breaking my own rule and falling deeper into distress, I moved away from stories of corruption, violence and division in the world and turned to Thomas Merton for solace. Here is what he gave me as a motivational word for today:

If the salvation of society depends, in the long run, on the moral and spiritual health of individuals, the subject of contemplation becomes a vastly important one, since contemplation is one of the indications of spiritual maturity. It is closely allied to sanctity. You cannot save the world merely with a system. You cannot have peace without charity. You cannot have social order without saints, mystics and prophets. (A Thomas Merton Reader, p. 375)