Breathe In, Breathe Out

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breathe, gratitude, new reality, one breath at a time, possibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transition

Today is a day to rejoice in the ability of the human spirit to rise to challenge and see what promise there is in each day. We had a day of ceremony yesterday here in the United States of America. It was a day of gratitude for technology and creativity, a day to participate in the unfolding of a new day, a new reality. I sat in our living room all day, unwilling to miss a moment of what was happening in the transition of leadership in government. It had to be simple and we had to intuit the smiles on faces that were masked but that was easy to do because we knew a new day had dawned and the eyes of the country were shining with hope.

President Biden said at one point that he had been asked recently to describe the United States in one word. His answer was: POSSIBILITY. If he had been asked to expand his answer to a sentence, I have no doubt that he might have said, “All things are possible for those who love God.” That’s how I feel today. It’s as if we have hardly been able to breathe lately and now we understand a way forward: one breath at a time.

The Assumption of Mary

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Assumption, devotion, Mary Mother of God, Pope Pius XII, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transition

I rarely think about the last days of the life of Mary, Mother of Jesus. It couldn’t have been easy for her to live through the events that precipitated the death of Jesus and the aftermath – having him back and then gone again…Tradition offers some theories about the end of her life: e.g., that she lived out her days in or near Ephesus or Jerusalem and that John “the beloved disciple” took her into his home, but nothing is certain. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary (that she was, at her death, taken “body and soul into heaven”) was promulgated (dogmatically defined) only in 1950 in an encyclical by Pope Pius XII but has been traditionally believed and taught especially in the Orthodox Church since the 6th century.

Whatever our personal beliefs and relationship with Mary, she is the “go-to” person for people the world over. Women, especially mothers and pregnant women, are comforted by their prayers to her. Men, as well, use the rosary as their daily prayer. There are devotional groups – Sodalities, Legion of Mary – religious orders and more, dedicated to her and places of pilgrimage that witness to miracles through her intercession.

Having had a beautiful mother of my own – one whose name was Mary and whose devotion to her was deep – my image of the mother of Jesus is easily conjectured in her daily life. Loving, caring of her children, worried sometimes, patient, always teaching by her manner of life…and blissful at transition to divine life with God at the moment of her death, I give thanks for this day, this feast of life.

Life in Death

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All Souls Day, death, eternity, happy death, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transition

Today’s liturgical feast in Christian churches (All Souls Day) is twinned with that of yesterday: All Saints Day. It makes sense really that those we celebrate as saints while they are alive ought to be more vividly in relationship with God in the spiritual realm afforded by their death to this one. The wonderful thing about today’s feast, however, is that we believe we’re all headed to a fuller life and presence of God when we’re finished here. We have evidence from so many people who have had “near death experiences” or other visions of being in God’s presence during their lives on earth that no one should fear death. But we do.

It could be fear of the unknown or resistance to the pain that often accompanies our last moments on earth that causes us concern. Some of us think we have wasted time and wish for more of it to become better people. Whatever the reasons, all evidence is that what awaits us is more amazing than we can imagine. Here’s a snippet of the way Fr. Jim Van Vurst, OFM reflects on death this morning on the blog.franciscanmedia.org. It offers what may be helpful to our own thoughts or those of someone we may know who struggles with the concept or the reality.

One common misperception is that death is something dreadful that takes life away. Death is neither something or someone that acts upon us. It is, rather, the moment when we transition from our life in earth time into timeless eternity. When we die, we gather all of our life’s moments as we give ourselves to our Creator. It may sound poetic, but in reality it is we who embrace the transitional moment of death — rather than it taking us.

Let us celebrate today those for whom we pray and ask them and God to assure for us the grace of a happy death.

Transition

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division, inauguration, justice, kindness, Peace, protest, psalm 85, reconciliation, salvation, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transition, truth

Transition ceremonies for the inauguration of a new president of the United States have already begun.  The early morning news is reporting the use of pepper spray by police to quell what seemed to portend a violent protest. Today begins in trepidation and – for me – sadness that we are in such a position of fear of disruption and disrespect from within our own country as well as from foreign terrorists. I have not been enamored of every president who has been elected during my life but I learned early on to respect the office. “How have we come to this?” I ask myself. The only answer I am able to offer myself is: “It’s not that simple.”

There’s no sense in wringing our hands and longing for “the old days.” I find it ironic that the refrain for lectionary psalm for the morning, Psalm 85, announces that kindness and truth shall meet. The verses 11-14 that appear tell us that justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth and justice shall look down from heaven, promising also that the Lord himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him, and salvation, along the way of his steps.

It seems impossible even to conjecture how that might happen here and now for us, in this “winter of our discontent.” There is so much division in the country; what will heal us? “Well, nothing but every person’s recognition and responsible participation,” I hear as I read the gospel acclamation: God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Call me Pollyanna if you will; I know that unity in this “land of opportunity” seems a far distant goal at the moment. What I believe, however, is that if I work toward reconciliation inside myself as well as in all the situations and with all the people in my life, by acting with love as the impetus and prayer for unity as the guiding principle of each day, I will have done my part. And I trust that I will continue to find like-minded people willing to do the same. In that way we will undoubtedly, someday, reach “critical mass” and see the renewal of justice and peace.

May God bless our efforts and our country today and in the days to come!

Change of Seasons

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Autumn Equinox, innocence, love, praise God, respect, The Sign of Jonas, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, transition

I have been slow to notice – or perhaps just to admit – that we are close to the Autumn Equinox, yet this morning I cannot ignore the fact that things are changing.

It’s 6:30AM and the sun is nowhere to be seen; mist still lies heavy outside veiling the trees in shadow. The lamp in my bedroom still shines brightly and necessarily if I am to see what I’m reading. We have begun to feel the transition in cool nights that follow warm, sunny days and mowing the lawn is a challenge as the grass is thick in some areas and just patches of brown in others. There is some wistfulness in the recognition of this shift; it calls for those who would wish to still be engaged in the lighter activities of summer to “buckle down” and return to routine. I can always count on Thomas Merton to put a good spin on any morning, encouraging me to look at the day with new eyes and gratitude for the God who offers it to us with an aura of possibility. Today I read the following:

The Lord God passes suddenly, in the wind, at the moment when night ebbs into the ground. He Who is infinitely great has given to His children a share in His own innocence. His is the gentlest of loves: whose pure flame respects all things…He keeps giving to them, giving them all that they are, asking no thanks of them save that they should receive from Him to be loved and nurtured by Him, that they should increase and multiply, and so praise Him. (The Sign of Jonas)