Tags
affected, care, forgotten, global results, goals, hurt, Joan Chittister, meaning, productive, profit, purpose, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, touched, why, Wisdom Distilled Daily, wise woman
Joan Chittister gave me a paragraph to ponder this morning from her book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. I thought it was worth sharing, not necessarily for others to agree but simply to measure the reflections of this wise woman against my own to see if there is resonance there. I offer it today in that spirit.
Purpose has something to do with being productive and setting goals and knowing what needs to be done and doing it. It is easy to have purpose. To write seven letters today, to wax that floor, to finish this legal brief, to make out those reports, to complete this degree, that’s purpose. Meaning, on the other hand, depends on my asking myself who will care and who will profit and who will be touched and who will be forgotten or hurt or affected by my doing those things. Purpose determines what I will do with this part of my life. Meaning demands to know why I’m doing it and with what global results. (p. 102)
All the readings are familiar today. That sometimes makes it more difficult for me to find a new “spin” that will be worthy of attention. I think it’s fair to say that one of the most recognizable utterances of Jesus is today’s gospel verse: I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you. (JN 13:34) As is often the case, however, it was one word that caught my eye, the word new. People have been hearing or reading and preaching about that line for centuries; some of us have known it since early childhood. I thought this morning that perhaps we come to know it daily in a different way according to the people and experiences that bump up against our own as we proceed along our spiritual path. One of the best examples of this truth for me is from St. Augustine, whose passionate words on this topic never get old.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 