Trust

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guide, Romans, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

Sometimes it’s hard to hear lines from Scripture like this morning’s verse that says: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God…” (ROM 8). That’s especially difficult when things seem to be frustrating our schedules or our desires or the way “things ought to be.” It sometimes takes a long look back to find the reason for what happened along the way. I even suppose I will still have a few questions when I reach the end of my particular “road” in life. It’s very helpful if we can come to see the wisdom in what didn’t make sense when it happened, but sometimes that just isn’t the case.

I have lived long enough to know that we need to trust that line from St. Paul, just as the Romans had to trust it all those centuries ago. It’s helpful if we have some help in looking back from wise people who know us well and it’s a real grace if we can actually figure out meanings that were obscure along the way. For now, however, I’ve seen enough to trust the God I’ve come to know as a good and gracious and loving guide even when I can’t see how everything fits together. I figure it will all work out in the end. Since the end result, Paul says, is good “for those who love God,” I’m safe because I truly do love God. Oh yes, I truly do – no matter what.

“Big Teresa”*

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God alone suffices, patient endurance, St. Teresa of Avila, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

Today is the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, an extraordinary woman known for her untiring work in the reform of her own religious community, the Carmelites, and in the Church of the 16th century, one of the few women given the title of “Doctor of the Church.” She is well-eulogized at http://www.franciscanmedia.org on their “Saint of the Day” page today. For me, however, Teresa has always been the author of a prayerful quote that I was given on a card the year before I entered the convent that has guided me through the past 54 years and that I trust will remain with me for the rest of my life. I share it here in the hope that I am not alone in knowing the strength that that this sainted woman offers as advice.

Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you. All things are passing; God never changes. Patient endurance attains all things. The one who possesses God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.

*”Big Teresa” is a familiar way of distinguishing St. Teresa of Avila from St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, otherwise known as Therese of Lisieux, “the Little Flower.”

Two Choices

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avoidance, Blessed Mother, Jonah, Mary, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

If ever there was a “wild and crazy” juxtaposition in the Scripture readings from the U.S.Bishops’ Conference, it is today. To be honest, however, there are two different sets of readings: one from the “regular” lectionary calendar and one from the calendar of feasts. Today we honor the Blessed Mother Mary, mother of Jesus, as she is remembered in the prayer dedicated to her. It is the feast of the Most Holy Rosary. (Lots to learn on the internet about the provenance and development of that devotion.)

In the daily lectionary readings we have the very familiar story of Jonah and the whale (JON 1 &2) where Jonah tries everything to get out of completing the mission he has been given by God and ends up in the belly of the whale. It’s a cautionary tale, to be sure, and the moral is the futility of dismissing God’s uncomfortable directives. (To be fair to God, Jonah was saved by being harbored for a time in the belly of the whale and spewed out in the end after which he gave in to the mission he had been given…but that comes in a later chapter.)

The reading for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is the story in Luke’s gospel of the Annunciation of Mary’s call to be the mother of Jesus. There seems to be no hesitation in her affirmative response to this incredible message brought to her by an angel. (traditionally translated as: “Be it done unto me according to your word.”) The gospels are like shorthand, I think, and there are places where I would wish for a more complete description of the stated event. It seems unfair to have such a brief conversation (LK 1: 28-38) for such an important event. One translation (J.B. Phillips) that seems to speak more of who Mary is has always been my favorite. Mary says, “I belong to the Lord body and soul. Let it happen as you say.”

While Jonah was busy sleeping in the hold of a sinking ship, trying to avoid God, Mary was practicing the love that directed her entire young life and enabled a consistent response to something she didn’t really understand but was willing to trust. A telling juxtaposition…and something upon which to reflect when we are faced with a difficult assignment from God.

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)

Monday

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acceptance, change, opportunities, seasons, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, time passing, trust

Here come the geese flying south. They make quite a racket, even if there are only a few of them heading for the river at the border of our property. Soon I will know again – if I’m driving north on Interstate Route 81 for some reason – the thrill and danger of seeing hundreds (yes, literally hundreds of them) and trying to count as I drive. It is a fruitless activity of course; I usually give up quickly and just let the amazement of their “V” formation take my attention and gratitude as they cross the vast expanse of sky over the cornfields. It’s one of those late August signals of seasonal change – some would all it delight – like waking up to a temperature of 48 degrees F. and waiting for the sun to take us to 75 by mid-afternoon.

I remember hearing when I was much younger about the phenomenon of swifter time passage as we age. Now I know the truth of that feeling. “How did we get to the end of August?” I ask myself as I contemplate the date and the fact of facing another Monday upon awakening. There’s no sense in lamenting the days already gone; they won’t ever be back! Accepting what is and moving on, grateful for what is still to come, is the only way to travel this highway. There may be miracles hidden in the morning mist. We have only to trust until the sun breaks through and sets a clear course of opportunity for the gifts that this Monday holds.

A Level of Trust

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David, Genesis, healed, I am with you always, In you my God I place my trust, Matthew, psalm 91, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

All of the lectionary readings today hinge on the virtue of trust, making me consider how grounded I am in that particular quality of character. First, we have Jacob’s dream at Bethel and the covenant that God had made with him there. “Know that I am with you,” God says, and “I will protect you wherever you go…” (GN 28: 10-22A) Psalm 91 follows with vivid images of God’s protection to which the refrain responds, “In you, my God, I place my trust.” The gospel of Matthew (9: 18-26) has Jesus going with the plea of a father to heal his daughter but also stopping on the way to heal the woman with the hemorrhage with a simple look and the words, “Courage! Your faith has saved you” as she was wondering what would happen if she could just touch his cloak…

Were all these people extraordinarily faithful, saints perhaps in their living, so that God decided to reward them for their saintly behavior? We think of Jacob as special because of his placement in the lineage of Abraham but he, himself, says upon waking from his dream, “Truly, the Lord is in this spot although I did not know it!” His recognition of what was happening came while he was sleeping and his life changed because of it. The psalmist, traditionally thought of – at least for the majority of these sacred writings – as David, was loved by God and also chosen for a major role in salvation history. David’s life was not a seamless following of God, however, but rather a willingness to consider himself forgiven after the recognition of serious failure. And those two in the gospel? A girl and a woman – neither of whom Jesus had ever met – chosen for healing: one because of the faith of her father and the other from her own tentative hope.

What do I take from all this? It says to me today that maybe I am as likely to be healed of whatever defect of body, mind or spirit as anyone. I just need to continually fund the level of trust I have in the power of God that always resides within me and just waits to be activated. That seems today an exercise worthy of being practiced at all times…saying like I mean it: “In you, my God, I place my trust.” Amen.

Give It A Try

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Abraham, conversation, Genesis, God, interchange, love of God, relationship with God, Sodom, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

I love the image of God in today’s first reading from Genesis (18: 16-33). It’s a true anthropomorphic characterization that I think we ought to consider. God is thinking and expressing concerns about relationship with Abraham and to find out what He/God ought to do relative to the wickedness of the inhabitants of Sodom. (“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?…I must go down there to see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out.“)

Following that musing is the famous bargaining conversation that God had with Abraham. (“If there were 50…30…or 20…or even ten innocent people in the city, would you not destroy the city for the sake of the ten?”) God agrees all along the way of that conversation. It’s such a wonderfully human interchange – sounding somewhat like a child to parent or even a bargaining of equals.

How wonderful it would be if we were that confident in “having God’s ear” and talking with that kind of confidence with God. I’m not actually talking about begging for a good outcome, necessarily, but rather just the manner of conversation that God and Abraham actually had with each other. If love and trust are the virtues that we share with our God, shouldn’t we be able to find that kind of confidence? It’s my bet that God would be as happy as we would with that comfortable interchange. Why not begin the conversation and listen for God’s response?

Trust

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danger, do not be afraid, hope, Jesus, John, mercy, psalm 33, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust, walking on water

Both the psalm response and the gospel in today’s lectionary put the word “trust” front and center for our consideration. Four times Psalm 33 is interrupted with the refrain: Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. It’s a statement of exchange, a bit of a challenge for God, it seems. If we trust God, God must be counted on to be merciful OR is it a “hoping against hope” situation where we close our eyes, grit our teeth and hold our breath hoping for a good outcome?

It would seem that the gospel (JN 6: 16-21) presents the perfect situation to illustrate the necessity of trust. Only twice have I been in a boat when a storm came up. Once was on a large cruise ship when the only danger from the wind stirring the water was a bad case of nausea for the majority of us. All we needed to do was stay in our cabins and wait it out. The other was at a smallish lake where we needed to get back to shore, rowing as the two of us had never done, before the storm broke. It was that second case that might be compared with the situation of the apostles in the boat. I wonder if our inner distress would have been increased or calmed by the presence of Jesus walking on the water toward us! He appeared to the apostles to be a ghost. Why would it be different for anyone in that situation – especially as he appeared in his “resurrection body” that seems from all accounts a detriment to recognition for all who encountered him?

Would his words (It is I. Do not be afraid.) have been enough? Are they enough for us to engender trust in situations of inner or outer distress? Saturday is sometimes the perfect day to give in to what we don’t expect and let our trust in Christ take us home.

Nothing Left…but Everything

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Christ is risen, clearer, hope, hope for the resurrection, Mary Magdalene, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transformation, trust, truth, waiting

Last night I went to bed worrying that the torrents of rain would surely mean our rivers overflowing their banks by morning. I went to sleep – surprisingly – to a roll of thunder (did I dream that?) and the cacophony of wind and water against glass and roof shingles. I thought the uneasiness would keep me awake, watchful – maybe like Mary Magdalene at the tomb of Jesus. But no, I could not claim that kind of fidelity. I went to sleep.

This morning is a bit of a surprise. I have not solicited information about water damage in our village or beyond but the rainstorm has worn itself out, having cleansed everything sooner than expected. One could say that all earth’s tears have been shed and now we have only to wait in hope for resurrection. I am sitting in the same stillness as the tree across the yard, waiting…feeling spent and not ready to move forward with the day. Jesus remains in the tomb.

What will it take for me to recognize the transformation that is resurrection? Can it be done in me by nightfall? What will I know tomorrow (“the great feast of Easter”) that will be testament to this process of Holy Week? Will I be clearer of purpose? More dedicated to mission? A slight breeze ripples through my bedroom curtain and is mirrored by the tree outside. Can I take that as a sign, a conviction that tonight’s ritual will let me know that Christ is risen once again in my heart and in the world?

I recognize that now it is up to me to answer my own questions, to be the catalyst of my own truth and trust. Each of us must know that and come to stand ready for what is to come in the light of Christ’s return.

Once More With Feeling!

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Happy New Year, joy, reboot, slow work of God, Teilhard de Chardin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton, trust, vigor

As I opened to my last post to add a new one today, I had to check my calendar to verify that we are already on the fourth day of this new year. I guess I should wish everyone a belated “Happy New Year!” My sister has been home from the hospital since Sunday, the nurse and physical therapists are amazed at her progress and I traveled home yesterday on what appeared to be the least traveled day of the holiday season because of very little traffic and none of the usual slowdowns along the way. The year seems to be flying by already!

So now what? It feels as if a “reboot” is in order. While I looked around a room that I had hoped would be totally de-cluttered and re-arranged by year’s end, I thought of Teilhard de Chardin’s adage: Trust in the slow work of God. Then I sat up a little straighter because of having randomly opened Thomas Merton’s book, The Wisdom of the Desert, in preparation for a February retreat. Here’s what I read:

Abbot Pastor said: If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad. (p. 42)

So it looks like today will need to be a time to dive in to the new with vigor and joy at having a new start – even if I have to create it as I go. May it be so with all of us!