What To Do?

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coronavirus, pandemic, prayers, present moment, thank you, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, to do list

The sun is playing hide-and-seek outside and everything is still. No movement in the trees, hardly a peep from the birds. That’s how it feels inside too…I am wanting only to hold on to what feels like nothing. (How can that make sense?) I ask myself if that means I have moved to another stage of this new mode of living, settling into what will surely be called “pandemic mode” but just as surely could be named listlessness or exhaustion. When I knew we were going to spend more than weeks in “quarantine” (the “just stay home” order), I had a vision of clearing away all sorts of excess in my living space and lack of order in my spiritual and physical routines. Now after almost two months of this new kind of opportunity, I see little progress.

We don’t have any idea of what the future holds and can’t hold on to any past certainties so have been told repeatedly to “live the present moment.” Therein lies the rub on days like today when I have a list of tasks in my head but no sense of how to go about them.

So finally I picked up a little, lovely, home-made book of prayers that our friend Carolyn created a couple of years ago and sent as a gift. There I found near the end of her prayers a possible way to meet each hour of this day. Carolyn speaks:

Dear Jesus, I inhale your words and exhale doubt, fear, anger, judgment and despair so your breath may reach my heart whole, clean, unencumbered, pure, alive and joyous. Thank you.

And I say, “Thank you, Carolyn” for a way through this day, this collection of present moments that I can use as an offering that becomes my best gift of self today.

Saturday Morning

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Celtic Benediction, J. Philip Newell, prayer, rebirth, renewal, thank you, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There is so much to pray for these days – so many distresses and sadnesses to endure – that sometimes we forget the words “thank you.” As we come to the end of another week, it is good to remember gratitude, even in our asking, so I turn again to J. Philip Newell who has a wonderful way to lead us there.

For the night followed by the day, for the idle winter ground followed by the energy of spring, for the infolding of the earth followed by bursts of unfolding, thanks be to you, O God. For rest and wakefulness, stillness and creativity, reflection and action, thanks be to you. Let me know in my own soul and body the rhythms of creativity that you have established. Let me know in my family and friendships the disciplines of withdrawal and the call to engagement. Let me know for my world the cycles of renewal given by you for healing and health, the pattern of the seasons given by you for the birth of new life. (Celtic Benediction, p. 76)

A Heartfelt Promise

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mercy, pray, proclaim, psalm 52, thank you, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

This morning’s lectionary psalm response evoked in me an image of a young person kneeling by her bed, praying to God in sincere and fervent declaration, her first prayer of the day. See what it offers for you.

“ I, like a green tree in the house of God, trust in the mercy of God forever. I will thank you always for what you have done and proclaim the goodness of your name before your faithful ones.” (PS 52: 10-11)

Thanks Be To God!

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creation, give thanks, God, psalm 139, thank you, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I smile each time I read Psalm 139 and get to the lines: Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works. (vs. 13-14) First I give thanks for my mother and how well I was loved from the beginning of my life. Then I think of my friend who did workshops on positive thinking who used to ask: “How many of you get up in the morning, look in the mirror, smile and say ‘WHAT A WOMAN!’ or ‘GOOD MORNING, HANDSOME!’ Everyone used to laugh until she said she was serious and that God would want us to remind ourselves of the marvelous creation that we are. We could all do well to take her advice. Why not find a mirror somewhere and try it until you believe it and end the exercise with a hearty “THANK YOU!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forgiveness

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Always With You, chanting, forgive me, forgiveness, Ho'oponopono, i love you, i'm sorry, Jan Phillips, Jesus, Luke, music, thank you, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transgressions

I had a lovely drive home yesterday through the majestic Green Mountains of Vermont and the surprisingly still yellow maple stands near Troy, NY. Between periods of silence I  listened to some of my favorite music. One song reminded me of our repetitive chanting from the weekend and then this morning of the gospel text for today where Jesus says, “If your brother sins, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” (LK 17)

The song is from Hawaii and is a simple repetition that runs on this CD almost 5 minutes. My guess is that it is meant to be sung for as long as it takes for the practice set out in the lyrics to be interiorized. It says simply I’m sorry. Forgive me. Thank you. I love you. As I began to listen to the song the first time, without reading the jacket for background, I kept waiting for a verse – more words to tell a story. As I listened longer, I began to feel the power of it and by the end I was deeply touched by the complete cycle of what should be the process in every transgression in relationship. In saying that, I am aware that some ruptures are difficult to bear and take longer to rectify, but the point is made – by the song and the gospel – that true sincerity in repentance deserves a response of forgiveness and the circle is not complete until we can say again, “I love you.”

The CD is from Jan Phillips and is called Always With You. You can also find it online as Ho’oponopono. Give it a listen and see if it deepens in you the complete movement of forgiveness.