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Tag Archives: spiritual growth

Elder Wisdom (Part Two)

04 Saturday Apr 2020

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celebrate, destination, fear, spiritual growth, struggle, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

As promised, today’s entry follows that of yesterday. Listen and learn, if you will.

There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid, who will try to hold on to the shore. They are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.

Know that the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore. Push off into the middle of the river, and keep our heads above water.

And I say see who is there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves, for the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves. Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. For we are the ones we have been waiting for. (Oraibi, Arizona 7/8/2000)

God In All Things

04 Thursday Oct 2018

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blessings, drink, eternal life, fire, flame, God, love, Nikos Kazantzakis, spiritual growth, St. Francis of Assisi, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, water

abonfireflamesToday in churches and schools far and wide there will be infrequent guests lining up for blessings. It is the feast of St. Francis, of course, who loved all of creation but chose to possess nothing in order that he could be totally dependent on God. My favorite story about Francis may not be factual and it is not the one of the sweet stories of his relationship with the birds and the beasts (although those are also compelling). It comes from a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis entitled  simply Saint Francis, in which the narrator, Brother Leo, says something like the following:

Once I asked him, “Brother Francis, how does God reveal himself to you when you are alone in the night?” He answered, “Like a glass of cool water,” Brother Leo. “God is like a glass of water?” I asked. “Why, yes,” he replied. “We take and drink it and we are satisfied unto eternal life.” But some years later, when he was simply a lump of skin and bones, Brother Francis called me to him and whispered: “God is a conflagration, Brother Leo. He burns and we burn with him!”

I know there are a few incorrect words in that telling of the story but I have to go searching for my copy of the book to be more precise. The point is made, however, if we consider the process of spiritual growth in Francis as he struggled to do everything for God and to spread the message of God’s all-consuming love with all those he encountered.

Fire is a mighty image for that love: beautiful – for those of us who wish to sit by a fireplace and watch wood flicker into life and then burn uproariously with energy and color – but totally consuming if we consider the result for the wood. That was the fire that ignited Francis to become all flame and calls to us, perhaps, to that same willingness, that unstinting love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selfless Service

09 Thursday Aug 2018

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camaraderie, Celebration of Discipline, Fully Awake and Truly Alive, hidden service, hospitality, Jan Phillips, No Ordinary Time, Rev. Jane E. Vennard, Richard Foster, service, spiritual deepening, spiritual growth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

abagbreakEvery two weeks on Wednesday I meet with two sections (afternoon and evening) of a book study group. We have come to be known among ourselves as NOW (No Ordinary Women) after the title of our first great read, No Ordinary Time, by Jan Phillips. These gatherings have become an oasis of camaraderie and spiritual deepening for all of us, I believe, and yesterday was no exception. Almost at the end of Fully Awake and Truly Alive: Spiritual Practices to Nurture Your Soul by Rev. Jane E. Vennard, we considered the practices of Hospitality and Service. The beauty of this book is found in its practicality. One does not need to go looking to do something extraordinary but rather to look into everyday choices and activities familiar to us for our on-going spiritual growth. Some of the suggestions are simply a matter of attitudinal shifts.

Such was the last suggestion in the section called “hidden services,” a concept that Rev. Vennard takes from Richard Foster, author of the wonderful book, Celebration of Discipline. Foster speaks of the goodness that comes when we serve others without being noticed. “These are not acts done in secret,” he says, “but rather are ways of relating to other people that slip by their awareness. However, the results of these acts of service impact both the individual and the community in which they take place.”

Rev. Vennard’s illustrations of such practices were all quite apt but none more than the last entry. “A final hidden service is quite paradoxical,” she writes. “It is the practice of willing to be served. Service cannot happen if there is no recipient, yet we are often reluctant to accept the help being offered…Your grocery bag splits in the parking lot and someone comes to help. “Thank you,” you say. “I can take care of it myself.”

Agreeing that this kind of refusal is ingrained in most of us, we agreed to consider occasionally setting aside our fiercely independent nature and offering to others this most uncomfortable (for us) opportunity to serve. What about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Morning After

02 Monday Jul 2018

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diversity, divine, future, God, grace, innerness, Rainer Maria Rilke, retreat, reveal, Rilke's Book of Hours, spiritual growth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

acockcrowingThe weekend just ended brought both old friends and new faces to our tiny “island of grace” (the way I see our small retreat center these days). The privilege of preparing meals for them allowed me observation time of their interactions with one another and the alternation of their movements to and from the conference room – so often peppered with “thank you” or smiles of appreciation for every little thing. I cannot help feeling judgments about people melt from me as I observe the gifts that diversity brings to a retreat where everyone is desirous of spiritual growth. The ways that people dress or speak or choose their food are all overshadowed by the blinding light of their intention toward unity with the Divine (however they perceive the One I call God).

I was prompted to this realization this morning by Rainer Maria Rilke’s thought, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy in a book entitled Rilke’s Book of Hours. I wasn’t looking for anything special as I pulled the book from my side table but here is what I saw upon opening to page 177.

You are the future, the red sky before sunrise over the fields of time. You are the cock’s crow when night is done, you are the dew and the bells of matins, maiden, stranger, mother, death. You create yourself in ever-changing shapes that rise from the stuff of our days – unsung, unmourned, undescribed, like a forest we never knew. You are the deep innerness of all things, the last word that can never be spoken. To each of us you reveal yourself differently: to the ship as coastline, to the shore as a ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pruning

29 Sunday Apr 2018

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bear fruit, energy, pruning, spiritual growth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

apruneI never liked the task of pruning. Even removing the suckers from tomato plants seemed too destructive and painful (for me as well as the plant!) People told me it was important for the plant that I remove the suckers – and even branches from growing trees. I thought it was just to make everything look neat and even beautiful. It was my least favorite task in outdoor work until I read an article that told me “the sucker should be removed to prevent it from sucking away the plant’s energy.” (http://www.maximumyield.com) (That sounds a little like what should be done for small children with a big bag full of Halloween candy.)

Jesus liked to use examples from nature to talk about spiritual growth and this morning it was about the necessity of pruning. With himself as the vine and God as the vine grower, he imaged the disciples (and us) as the branches in need of pruning in order to bear more fruit. It’s helpful to hold that image when I recognize or am told that I’m straying off my path. It’s sometimes very difficult to look into the mirror of truth about ourselves, but as I grow, allowing the pruning gets easier as I come to see the freedom in new growth.

It’s almost time to tidy up the plants outside. While I’m at that task, I will check on what needs to be clipped from the inside too. Won’t you join me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say What You Mean…If Possible

29 Monday Jan 2018

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Gerard Manley Hopkins, grandeur of God, hearts, holy, miraculous, Peace, ritual, sides, spiritual growth, spirituality, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, unity of being

apinkskyThis afternoon I am scheduled to be guest speaker to a Women’s Group of about 15 to 20 people. In discussing a topic, the contact person said the members are always interested in information about resources in the community and that perhaps I ought to talk about our spirituality center. In writing up a “blurb” about the proposed topic, I titled it The Spiritual Side of Life. I’ve been thinking about it off and on for the past month and have had some difficulty settling on how to frame the topic. I realized yesterday that my thesis sentence would have to be something about the fact that there are no sides! Spiritual is who and what we are, spiritual beings in physical form, “made in the image and likeness of God.”

Certainly there are rituals that we call holy – and people as well. (We name them saints.) But as Gerard Manley Hopkins so famously said in the second half of the 19th century: The world is charged with the grandeur of God! We can find that reality looking at a flower or a sunset – as I did yesterday while driving to an evening service of prayer. I felt as “spiritual” in my car observing the glorious pink and golden sky with the soft blue background as I did chanting softly the words of a plea for God to come and fill our hearts with your peace…

If each of us would stop occasionally throughout the day, listening and/or looking for the grandeur of God in our surroundings or in the words being shared by the person in front of us, we would know that there is no separation between the physical world and the spiritual. And, actually, the place to start is with ourselves. How often do you marvel about the miraculous workings of all systems of the human body! How does one separate breathing from the beating of the heart? Body and spirit are truly one and nothing is profane except as the mind denigrates it.

Although I am not able to sufficiently explain my thesis about “no sides” – rather a unity of being – I am convinced now that the women I meet today will be able to share lots of experiences that prove the truth of it. In that certainty, I can go forward into this day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Sky In the Morning

07 Tuesday Nov 2017

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affliction, bless, cheerfulness, diligence, endure, evil, generosity, good, hate, honor, love, persevere, prayer, rejoice, rejoice in hope, Romans, see, sincere, spirit, spiritual growth, St. Paul, Thanksgiving, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weep, zeal

aredsunriseSometimes opportunity is so fleeting that we easily miss it if we aren’t paying attention. Take, for example, the coming of light to the sky. That’s something that happens every morning so it’s often taken for granted. Today, because of the shift to Daylight Saving Time, I was happy to see that it was in process as I started the trek downstairs for my coffee. Had I not been paying attention when I sat to write on my return I would have missed a breathtaking red sky whose glory dissipated within two minutes. I was almost too busy reading Paul’s staccato-like advice to the Romans in chapter 12 to look out the window. Both “feasts for the eyes” were worthy of a pause.

I could have just glided over that reading (ROM 12:5-26) because of what seemed self-explanatory as well as familiar. I mean, why would I need to think about how to exercise our differing gifts as I read: “let us exercise them: if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation…” since it follows automatically in that way. I got stopped, however, by the last three elements on the list: “if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, with diligence; if one does works of mercy, with cheerfulness.” Generosity, diligence and cheerfulness are certainly qualities to be pondered.

Had I not been slowed down by those three important words, I could have missed the brilliance of what came next. I find it impossible not to share the totality of this message because every bit of Paul’s exhortation is so vital to our spiritual growth. If we took each one of the following clauses for a day’s reflection we would be much richer when Thanksgiving rolls around. And then it would be a good practice to start again for the season of Advent! But I’m getting ahead of myself. I plan just to bask in the sunshine of this morning and read the text – the entire remainder – aloud, to hear Paul’s words again as if for the first time.

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. Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise  hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.

Blessings on us all!

 

Think On These Things

08 Sunday Oct 2017

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daily practice, gracious, honorable, just, life, mindfulness, Philippians, pure, qualities, spiritual growth, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, true, wisdom

aprayercenteredI’m interested this morning in the lectionary text of St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians (4:6-9) as he is ready to conclude his message to them. He exhorts them to keep in mind certain qualities that will help them remain steady on the path of spiritual growth. He calls them to what is true, honorable, just, pure and gracious. I think that is a noble bundle of traits for the spiritual person. Living from that list, I can see myself acting in ways that will assure deeper wisdom and the peace that Paul promises them today.

So what will be required to develop those qualities for consistency in practice? Just that: practice! And in addition, I will need to stay awake when I begin to fall away from truth-saying or graciousness, etc. so that I can call myself back to mindfulness without delay. A big order. A plan for life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fat Tuesday

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

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40 days, chocolate, Fat Tuesday, generosity, Jesus, Lent, Mardi Gras, Mark, penance, Peter, reward, sacrifice, spiritual growth, spring, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

amradigrasIt seems too soon to say that we are on the verge of springtime. Did you know that is the meaning of the word Lent? It sounds funny to some of us living in the Northeast who know the possibility of still more snowstorms before the season really comes. Moreover, I doubt there are many of us who were taught associations with that word that rivaled the beauty of the season of spring. We face into Lent with visions of penance, deprivation and sacrifice. (How many of us have never given up chocolate for Lent?) There’s nothing wrong with any practice we might take on in Lent as long as the goal is spiritual growth without grumbling. I’m one of those whose Lenten practice has taken on a more positive spin in my adulthood. Rather than giving up something that tastes good, I try to do something that takes me out of my way for someone else’s good. And I try to smile while doing it, even if it isn’t my favorite thing to do.

I smiled as I read the first line of today’s gospel because it sounded like Peter was pouting about the cost of following Jesus and wanted Jesus to be aware of what was being asked (as if He didn’t know!). Peter says, “We have given up everything and followed you!” (MK 10:28) I can almost hear Jesus sighing as he explains (probably not for the first time) the concept of the “hundredfold” that is promised to the faithful. Peter did eventually get the message that it’s not about the reward but about the generosity of our becoming in love that is the goal of our striving. That seems a good thing to remember as we approach the journey to Easter, placing our willingness at the feet of the Christ.

So today, on this vigil called Mardi gras (fat Tuesday), eat all the chocolate – or whatever – you want and drink – but not really to excess – and be merry in a way that leads you to a different kind of merriment for the next 40 days of growing in love. And then, in the end, keep on with the good habits you have achieved because that’s what it’s really about anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Growing the Kingdom

30 Friday Jan 2015

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attentiveness, consciousness, delicate balance, God, groundwork, growth, Jesus, letting go, Mark, master gardener, mustard seed, seed, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, surrender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

EPSON DSC PictureThe question Jesus asks today: To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God? (MK 4:26-34) which he answers with the mustard seed growing into the “largest of plants” is very familiar. He has already spoken at the beginning of the passage about the growth of grain, observable in very clear stages. I always substitute corn for grain because I see it everywhere around me in the early summer and am always amazed at the process. There are lots of ways to speak of growth but the most important thing about the process, I think, is imperceptibility; we don’t know how it happens – it just does if we have done the groundwork. Jesus says that it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of it’s own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

So the question arises: Does the reign of God grow in us the same way? Surely we have to do the “groundwork” of spiritual practice and consciousness of how we are living. Lately though I have begun to notice some changes in myself for which I can’t take credit or blame. I won’t go into the wrinkles that a friend kindly calls “the windstorms of our lives” but I have been surprised in my work by a new sense of confidence and a less judgmental stance than ever before. Once in awhile now I recognize that things which seemed so important when I was younger hold no sway now. Sometimes, it’s other people who tell me I’ve changed and upon reflection I can understand their reasoning.

The moral of this story seems to be once again a delicate balance of consciousness and surrender, an attentiveness to doing the groundwork of planting God’s intention for us deep within while letting go of the need to control the outcome. God is, after all, the master gardener.

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