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Tag Archives: vision

Step Two

12 Tuesday May 2020

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mind, Peace, period of silence, stillness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, turning inward, vision

Well, I feel as if I made a start yesterday. It was a small step, a toe in what seems like an ocean of tasks before I sense a concomitant clearing of mind and vision, but it was a start. With a desire to accept whatever hardship accompanies this day, I look to those whose words first energized me yesterday (see yesterday’s post).

There are many wise people recommending a period of silence in each of our days and many modes of prayer that can lead us there. In my notes from yesterday, however, there was a sentence that focused in a slightly different direction from most but engaged me quite strongly, partially because the hoped for state was not silence but stillness — a related but not matching outcome. It said simply:

If your mind is still, you can sense the peace that emanates from the earth.

As I consider this, I reflect on the appropriateness of the thought for today when it would have seemed highly inappropriate yesterday. Today peace abounds outside. The sun is shining. There is no wind, no snow or sleet or rain. (We had examples of each of those conditions yesterday.) I am confident that stepping outside to experience the light, to breathe in the fresh air, to feel the earth under my feet, to bow to the steadiness and longevity of the trees and the fragile strength of flowers who are still alive after the storms…all of this leads me to stillness. And I am renewed with confidence in this day because, you see, stillness comes from the inside, regardless of outer events.

You may think I’m contradicting myself in comparing yesterday and today as regards the source of peace and how it comes to us. I would agree but the value of assessing both experiences is the conviction that, while silence is more easily achieved when there is no noise or disturbance around (not an easy place to find sometimes), stillness does not depend on any outer circumstance but comes simply by turning inward and taking a breath. While we cannot always control noise vs. silence, we can move to stillness as long as we live, literally until our last breath.

Weather Report

15 Wednesday May 2019

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, Lynn Bauman, pray, presence of God, psalm 67, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision, voiceless

This spring has been unusually cold and rainy. Today promises to be the only day this week with no rain but predictions also say we may be wet again by 6:00 this evening. Before I start to moan and groan about it I need to pay attention to Psalm 67 which today reminds me to look farther and deeper than my own back yard. As Lynn Bauman suggests, Our task as contemporary creatures is not simply to pray for ourselves, or narrowly for those around us who are dear to us, but to give voice for the whole earth…Imagine yourself as creation’s voice, as an instrument through which those without a voice can enter with praise the presence of God.

He is speaking, of course, about more than the weather although in some places the loss occasioned by that one element in the world has lately been monumental. He goes on to offer a challenge to us that carries us beyond the borders of our own lives and our own times to a larger vision. Listen:

Reflect upon your vision of the future for the world. There is often a wide gap between the the vision of beauty held out for the world and the experience of pain and ugliness we find within it. Those who pray hold these two regions together and will not let them fall apart.

As you pray this prayer (Psalm 67) imagine yourself praying for the voiceless creatures of earth, and for those human beings who have lost hope that such a future might even exist. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 166)

Never Give Up

14 Wednesday Nov 2018

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fear, immigrants, Mother Cabrini, perseverance, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, stamina, teacher, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision

acabriniNote: This post was created for November 13, 2018.

Today is the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, a woman born in Italy who became the first United States citizen to be canonized in the Catholic Church. Her life sounds to me today like that of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” whose motto was “I ain’t down yet!” Here are a few of the reasons that I found at www.franciscanmedia.org why such a designation seems to fit her for sainthood.

1. When she was refused entrance to the religious community that had educated her to be a teacher, she began charitable work at an orphanage in Cadogno, Italy and subsequently made religious vows there.

2. When the bishop closed the orphanage, she became prioress of The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, joined by seven young women who became her community.

3. When her childhood dream of being a missionary to China was put aside at the urging of Pope Leo XIII, she obediently went to the United States to care for the Italian immigrants in New York City, having been promised an orphanage in which to serve.

4. Upon her arrival, she found the house was not available and the archbishop advising her to return to Italy. Undeterred, she spent the next 35 years founding 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick as well as establishing schools and adult education classes for Italian immigrants.

5. Since childhood, she was frightened of water and feared drowning, yet she traveled by ship from New York to Italy over 30 times in her life to do God’s work.

Thanks be to God for the vision, the stamina and the perseverance of this woman we honor today as Mother Cabrini.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the Life of the World

01 Saturday Sep 2018

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compassion, forgiveness, God, John Philip Newell, love, Peace, prayer, Praying With the Earth, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust, vision, world

asunflowerfieldIn his small book, Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace, John Philip Newell writes each morning and evening of the week a prayer for the life of the world. Brief as they are, they are compelling in their depth and intensity, calling out to God with vision and yearning, always capturing quickly and quietly a trust of the God that will never disappoint. Here is what he offers on this – and every – Saturday morning.

To the home of peace, to the field of love, to the land where forgiveness and right relationship meet we look, O God, with longing for earth’s children, with compassion for the creatures, with hearts breaking for the nations and people we love. Open us to visions we have never known, strengthen us for self-givings we have never made, delight us with a oneness we could never have imagined that we may truly be born of You makers of peace. (p. 52)

 

 

 

 

 

Clare of Assisi

11 Saturday Aug 2018

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contemplation, humility, light, love, poverty, presence of God, St. Clare, St. Francis of Assisi, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision

astclareSt. Clare of Assisi, whom we celebrate today, was a great example of the adage “Behind every good man, there is a good woman.” While he did not see her often, St. Francis counted on her holiness and wisdom to shore up his determination in times of doubt and difficulty. Clare was a clear mirror of the presence of God for Francis and for those women who followed her to the convent of San Damiano, and he was the same for her. She was a woman of great strength and perseverance who believed that she was the one who knew best what should be written in a rule for women in a religious order. Although she easily accepted the rule that Francis has written in the early days, after the death of Francis she continued for 27 years to submit a revised rule to bishops and popes until she finally received and signed a constitutional document of her own two days before her death on August 11, 1253.

Living in the freedom of poverty and the humility of a cloistered community, motivated by love alone, Clare wrote to a younger woman to encourage her in her living of religious life:

Happy, indeed is she to whom it is given to share the sacred banquet, to cling with all her heart to Him Whose beauty all the heavenly hosts admire unceasingly, Whose love inflames our love, Whose contemplation is our refreshment, Whose graciousness is our joy, Whose gentleness fills us to overflowing, Whose remembrance brings a gentle light, Whose fragrance will revive the dead, Whose glorious vision will be the happiness – of all the citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Praise be to God for this wonderful woman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter, Paul and Us

29 Friday Jun 2018

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Christianity, energy, saints, St. Paul, St. Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision

astpeterstpaulWe all come to God in our own time and in our own way. Whether we are born into a religious tradition that nurtures our faith in an organic way for the duration of our life or have a moment of recognition brought on by an extraordinary event, our life journey is as unique as our thumbprint and just as special.

Today we celebrate the lives of Saints Peter and Paul, perhaps the two people most responsible for the spread of Christianity. Peter was with Jesus from the beginning of his public life. His commitment to Jesus was total even though his impulsive words and actions often got him into trouble. Paul came later, never having seen Jesus until a shocking vision changed his life forever.

As we contemplate the lives of these two giants of faith let us consider that everything about us is important to the God who created us. Our personality – whether steady or erratic, our natural inclinations and ways of working, our gifts for mathematics or poetry and more…all create an energy in the world that would not be released had we not come to birth.

So let us be grateful for the sainthood in each one of us – hidden for now or manifest – as we celebrate Paul and Peter, the man of means and the fisherman, who joined forces and changed the world. And let us not be self-effacing in the possibility that lies within us to do our part in what is evolving in our own day.

 

 

 

 

 

Step By Step

27 Wednesday Jun 2018

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, heart, insights, law, lesson, messages, prayers, psalm 119, soul, teach, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, thought, treasure, truth, vision

astaircasePsalm 119, the longest in the book of 150 psalms, has 176 verses and can be the study of a lifetime. In a commentary this morning I read that the subject of these prayers is the hard learning one gains in light of a multitude of hardships and circumstances encountered on the spiritual path…Experiences are often repeated again and again. As we go over the same territory learning it in new ways, truth becomes grounded. Insights are gained from each spiral of ascending experience.

How true that seems to me! The great thing is that as we grow older and if we are paying attention it becomes easier to accede to what is being taught. Our resistance to the messages and thinking we are right all the time wanes and God’s voice becomes stronger – but only if we are listening deeply.

Today’s lectionary section is early in the psalm and sounds either like a young person who is full of enthusiasm for the journey, or someone who knows from experience the pitfalls and is ready to surrender to God’s dream. Either way, I find it a lovely morning offering.

Even now, O Lord, if you will but teach me, I shall keep as treasure all you say. Give me an understanding heart to grasp what lies alone in you, the outlines of your law, your thought; imprint them on my soul. My deep desire is for a heart whose compass-point is aimed at your true north and not some weaker pole. I desire eyes as well that do not wander but hold your vision fast for all eternity. (vs. 33-37, Ancient Songs Sung Anew)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Opening of Eyes

09 Friday Mar 2018

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blind, demon, eyes, Jesus, life, love, Luke, Mark, seeing, speak, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision

aeyeopenedLast Sunday, as I listened to a dramatic reading of the entire gospel of Mark, I was struck by the number of exorcisms Jesus performed. In the different ways that “evil spirits” manifested in people, Jesus commanded those “spirits” to “come out!” and the people were healed. I’m wondering this morning if all the synoptics were similarly engaged in reporting such events. My attention was a caught because today’s gospel from Luke (11:14-23) begins with Jesus “driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.”

That makes me think that the gospel writers use the term “demon” as we might not only when speaking about any sort sinful habit, as in “the demon rum,” but also with some physical conditions that are not easily dealt with. There are examples of physical cures in the gospels, as in “the man with the withered hand” but I wonder what I would learn by re-reading the texts with the intent to identify “demons,” how Jesus dealt with them, and what was the transformation that occurred upon the release.

As is often the case, a paper protruding from among my side-table books this morning gave me a clue to my wondering expressed above. We would do well, I think, to ponder moments in our lives when a light appeared in some way and see if it deepens our understanding of something heretofore inexplicable.

The Opening of Eyes
by David White

That day I saw beneath dark clouds
the passing light over the water,
and I heard the voice of the world
aaaaaa speak out,
I knew then as I had before
Life is no passing memory of what
aaaaaa has been,
Nor the remaining pages in a great book
aaaaaa waiting to be read.

It is the opening of eyes, long closed.
It is the vision of far off things,
aaaaaa seen for the silence they hold.
It is the heart after years of secret conversing,
aaaaaa speaking out loud in a clear air.
It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees
aaaaaa before the lit bush.
It is the man throwing away his shoes
aaaaaa as if to enter heaven,
And finding himself, astonished,
Opened, at last, to falling in love
aaaaaa with solid ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deeper Meaning

20 Monday Nov 2017

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Alan Cohen, answers, blind, enlightenment, faith, God, inner work, inspiration, Jesus, light, Luke, Peace, quiet, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision

aseethelightThe gospel this morning tells Luke’s version of the encounter Jesus had with a blind man. I am always struck in the healing stories when Jesus asks the desire of the person he meets who is in need. I never doubt that he can see that condition in the person, so either he is looking for a statement of faith or he wants to be sure of the depth of the person’s intention or desire to be healed. Although life might be easier for the man if he gets his sight, there may be new responsibilities attached to the healing as well. Maybe he will have to find a job, rather than sitting by the side of the road begging. Certainly he will need to become attentive to people who are in need of help with certain life tasks because of infirmities. Who better since he has been there himself?

My wondering when I hear Jesus ask “What do you want me to do for you?” is whether there are nuances to the question – as well as to the answer, especially in this case of: “Please let me see.” My train of thought about all that this morning was verified by a great example of synchronicity in Alan Cohen’s reflection for today. In speaking about enlightenment he writes the following prayer: Give me inspiration to look within for my answers. Help me to take the time to be with myself and find the peace I seek. Then, as an affirmation, he ends with: In quiet I look within and discover the light I am.

So it’s not only a question of seeing with our physical eyes. It seems we must be willing to do the deeper inner work in order to truly see the light that God offers us if we have the courage to ask for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisdom Work

16 Thursday Nov 2017

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Book of Wisdom, leadership, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision, wisdom, Wisdom Schools, wisdom work

awisdomtreeI have a conference call today, the third (or maybe fourth?) in a month, as my colleagues and I do our best to prepare for the event we are offering at the end of this month. It is the first of its kind for us – similar in a way but not matching all the “Wisdom Schools” we have presented over the past five years. This one is called “Wisdom Group Leadership Training” and is defined as practical training in skillful “post-holding,” including ’embodying the wealth of wisdom’s vision’ and developing group skills for greater integration.

This work seeks to recover the deep and meaningful, mystical and unitive tradition in Western Christianity that seems to have been buried in the structure of one of the largest organizations in the world over the past several centuries. People often ask for a definition of “Wisdom work” and we are hard-pressed to offer a simple explanation. It is more easily known as a felt sense, a rightness, a recognition of God’s presence that leads to a way of life directed by a desire to live more deeply into God within ourselves and community. We often speak of “post-holders” rather than leaders because no one is seen as “higher” or “lower” but rather responsible during a certain time or situation in a role of service to the whole. The work of Wisdom spans the breadth of Christian denominations and speaks sometimes to those who have abandoned traditional church practice as well.

I speak of this now because of the first lectionary text for today from the Book of Wisdom, (7:22-8:1) that uses 37 words and phrases to describe Wisdom. I will not repeat them all here but the list begins with Wisdom being “intelligent, holy, unique” as well as “manifold, subtle and agile.” What I will offer as conclusion is indicative to me of the recognition that the spirit of Wisdom is caught, not taught and may be  more about our quality of being than the practices we offer when we gather for this event.

And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; and passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets. For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom. For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she takes precedence; for that, indeed, night supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.

 

 

 

 

 

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