Does Not Wisdom Call?

Something about understanding the universe

2012-02-02T21:09:00.000-06:00

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner

Here are two very interesting quotations taken from an interview of the mathematical cosmologist Brian Swimme:

The more I learn about light the more I realize, man, we don't know anything about light... It's just bizarre... a particle has it's own proper time which slows down as you speed up. But at the speed of light... there's no time. That's bizarre ... that we can, right now, as you know, see — interact with the light that has come from the birth of the universe. So ... from our point of view, that light traveled for 14 billion years but from the point of view of the light it's the moment of creation.
...
So I do think I do think absolutely that ... there will be a flourishing of religions, not a withering away. And they will flourish to the degree that they will move into the context of planet and universe. I even think that as a matter of fact that ... some of the central insights of the religions are more powerfully presented by what we know about the universe now then when they were first formulated.

~~~

Something about self-pity

2012-01-29T16:17:00.000-06:00

Artist: Henri d Toulouse-Lautrec

Image from Wikimedia Commons

One of my Facebook friends posted the following today by Inayat Khan. I do think it is a very insightful observation:

"If one studies one's surroundings one finds that those who are happy are so because they have less thought of self. If they are unhappy it is because they think of themselves too much. A person is more bearable when he thinks less of himself. And a person is unbearable when he is always thinking of himself. There are many miseries in life, but the greatest misery is self-pity."

Now, I want to hasten to add that self-pity is not the same as self-compassion. It's very important that we have compassion for ourselves because (among other reasons) if we don't, we are likely to project that lack of compassion onto others.

Self-pity is not only unattractive, it is profoundly dis-empowering.

When you think about it, Jesus was never given to self-pity. But he certainly had compassion on himself as well as on others.
~~~

Spiritual practice idea

2012-01-27T18:30:00.000-06:00

Artist: Georg Friedrich Kersting

Image from Wikimedia Commons

My goodness. I have actually done this (and it is a work in progress). I didn't realize before that Ralph Waldo Emerson recommended the practice:

“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”

I have benefited hugely from my little collection, by the way. I really do urge everyone to try it.
~~~

The power of empathy

2012-01-25T13:45:00.000-06:00

Artist: Alexej Kondratjewitsch Sawrassow

Image from Wikimedia Commons

All right. The following is actually a Zen koan but just think about it for a while and I think it will come to you why I put it here.

One day Chao-chou fell down in the snow and called out, "Help me up! Help me up!" A monk came and lay down beside him Chao-chou got up and went away.

~~~

The big problem with self-righteousness

2012-01-23T22:54:00.001-06:00

Artist: Nicolas Poussin

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The late William Sloane Coffin was (and still is) one of my heroes in life. Here's something he said that I'm not sure I ever came across before today:

The temptation to moralize is strong; it is emotionally satisfying to have enemies rather than problems, to seek out culprits rather than flaws in the system. God knows it is emotionally satisfying to be righteous with that righteousness that nourishes itself on the blood of sinners. But God also knows that what is emotionally satisfying can be spiritually devastating.

Yes, it is spiritually devastating to judge others and, more than that, to justify judging others. Oh, certainly we can be intensely provoked at times. I suppose what really matters is if, upon recognizing how judgmental we have become, we are grieved by that state of affairs or whether we are determined to continue feeling smug and gratified.
~~~

Radiating from one center

2012-01-21T19:29:00.001-06:00

Artist: Henri Rousseau

Image from Wikimedia Commons

For what it's worth, this really resonates with me:

Mystics report that every bit of the world radiates from one center - every cricket, every grain of dust, every dream, every image, everything under the sun or beyond the sun, all art and myth and wildness. If they are right, then we have no more important task than to seek that center.

-- Scott Russell Sanders
~~~

The delicacy of Christ

2012-01-20T09:45:00.001-06:00

Artist: Albert Edelfelt

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I know I post a lot about silence on this blog. I want to mention here that a person does not have to have an aptitude or preference for long periods of silence to benefit from the principle so beautifully honored in the quotation below. Just a minute or so of intentional silence from time to time makes a huge difference in a person's life. Please trust me on this one!

"It is only in identifying with Christ, it is only by plunging into the great silence of God within myself, that I can love and identify with others. It is by listening to the great silence of God, and having this strange, passive dialogue in which I become aware of the silence which is the speech of God--it is only by listening to this that I am able to speak to my brother. It is only by listening to this silence that I can acquire the ingenuity of love, the delicacy of Christ in my human relationships. In this silence I become identified with Christ, I acquire a listening heart."

-- Catherine de Hueck Doherty

Interconnectedness

2012-01-14T12:09:00.000-06:00

Artist: Caspar David Friedrich

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here is a passage from a book by Terence Grant entitled The Silence of Unknowing. I think he's saying something terribly important here. Our collective lack of comprehension regarding how fundamentally connected we are is directly responsible for the prevailing belief that we can only succeed through competition and hostility.

Christ is the vine, we are the branches. We labor under the delusion that we are isolated from other people. The consequences are fear, suspicion and conflict--all of which are destroying our world today. Imagine what would happen if people were to drop this fantasy of separateness. What if even just the Christians were to let go of this delusion? What if we were to move beyond our little, separate self to discover our true Self, this shining sun that each of us is? There would be a revolution.

~~~

Something about purpose

2012-01-10T21:23:00.001-06:00

Artist: Fritz von Uhde

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I'm quite certain I've posted the following before but I'm not sure where. I think it is utterly true and worthy of ongoing reflection:

"What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?"

-- George Eliot

~~~

Making friends with silence

2012-01-07T21:20:00.003-06:00

Artist: Vincent Van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes I think that the loveliest, wisest, most generous thing we can do for ourselves is to make friends with silence. I see much suffering taking place within and also surrounding those unfortunates who cannot tolerate the depth and richness of experience with true silence. Here are a few thoughts and observations:

Silence is exhilarating at first - as noise is - but there is a sweetness to silence outlasting exhilaration, akin to the sweetness of listening and the velvet of sleep.- Edward Hoagland

Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary.- Peter Minard

Silence is as deep as eternity; speech, shallow as time. - Thomas Carlyle

Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment. - Henry David Thoreau

And then, of course, there is my favorite (and this has been said by many but it was first told me by Bishop Mark Dyer):

"Silence is the language of God; anything else is a bad translation."
~~~

Twelfth Night reflections

2012-01-05T20:33:00.003-06:00

From an essay by Dan Clendenin:

As I think about Epiphany, the disclosure or unveiling of the birth of Christ in all its multi-faceted dimensions, it is clear to me that the experience of disclosure is a life long journey. It is an always unfinished task. The issues of exclusion and power above are only the tip of the iceberg. Every day we ask the Lord to reveal, to unveil to us, aspects of our lives that the Christ Child claims—work, money, family, use of our time, friendships, and on and on. We pray that he would remove the scales from our spiritual eyes so that by some miracle we understand our own lives in the same manner that He does, as far as that is possible for fallen human beings.

(Image above from Wikimedia Commons)
~~~

Receptivity to the Christ

2012-01-02T21:51:00.002-06:00

Artist: Donatello

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Is this not, perhaps, what we mean at Christmas time when we ask Christ to be born in us?

We cannot make the Kingdom of God happen, but we can put out leaves as it draws near. We can be kind to each other. We can be kind to ourselves. We can drive back the darkness a little. We can make green places within ourselves and among ourselves where God can make his Kingdom happen.

-- Frederick Buechner

~~~

Some thoughts for beginning a new year

2011-12-31T12:32:00.002-06:00

Our poor flesh

2011-12-30T22:23:00.001-06:00

Artist: Arthur Hughes

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The blessed son of God only
In a crib full poor did lie;
With our poor flesh and our poor blood
Was clothed that everlasting good
The Lord Christ Jesu, God's son dear,
Was a guest and a stranger here;
Us for to bring from misery,
That we might live eternally.
All this did he for us freely,
For to declare his great mercy;
All Christendom be merry therefore,
And give him thanks for evermore.

-- Miles Coverdale

~~~

Another implication of the Incarnation

2011-12-29T21:20:00.000-06:00

Artist: Caravaggio

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here's something the great theologian, Karl Barth, said:

“This much is certain, that we have no theological right to set any sort of limits to the loving-kindness of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. Our theological duty is to see and understand it as being still greater than we had seen before.”

I would submit that this is one reason it is important to experience Christmas in a fresh way each year. Even though we may know the old story very well indeed, we have the opportunity to see and understand in a greater way every time we celebrate this great Feast of the Incarnation.
~~~

A particular kind of peace

2011-12-28T08:15:00.000-06:00

Artist: Master of the Trebon Altarpiece

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Remember, it's still Christmas, people, and will be through January 5 - Twelfth Night.

,,,there is a...kind of peace...(that) does not come either from the denial of evil or the acceptance of oppression. This kind comes from the center of us and flows through us like a conduit to the world around us. This kind of peace is the peace of those who know truth and proclaim it, who recognize oppression and refuse to accept it, who understand God’s will for the world and pursue it. This kind of peace comes with the realization that it is our obligation to birth it for the rest of the world so that what the mangers and crèches and crib sets of the world point to can become real in us—and because of us—in our own time.

- Sr Joan Chittister

Sr. Joan is definitely one of my heroes in the religious life.
~~~

One powerful implication of the Incarnation

2011-12-26T23:01:00.001-06:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here is a wonderful thought to keep before us during Christmastide:

“By virtue of Creation, and still more the Incarnation, nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see.”

-- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
~~~

Joy!

2011-12-25T12:06:00.003-06:00

Margret Hofheinz-Döring/ Galerie Brigitte Mauch Göppingen
Image from Wikimedia Commons

"...keep knocking, and the Joy inside will eventually open a window and look out to see who's there."
-- Rumi
~~~

Giving Christmas away

2011-12-23T10:01:00.001-06:00

Margret Hofheinz-Döring/ Galerie Brigitte Mauch Göppingen

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I'm offering the following largely because of the words, "exuberant armfuls". That strikes me as very wonderful image:

Let me not wrap, stack, box, bag, tie, tag, bundle, seal, keep Christmas.
Christmas kept is liable to mold.
Let me give Christmas away, unwrapped, by exuberant armfuls.
Let me share, dance, live Christmas unpretentiously, merrily,
responsibly with overflowing hands, tireless steps and sparkling eyes.
Christmas given away will stay fresh—even until it comes again.

-- Linda Felver

~~~

Something about Christmas

2011-12-22T11:54:00.002-06:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here's a delightful story:

A few years back, under a cultural exchange program, a Texan family hosted a rabbi from Russia. It was Christmas time. The family took him to a local Chinese restaurant to celebrate a traditional Jewish Christmas. At the end of the meal, the waiter brought the check and presented each of them with a small brass Christmas tree ornament. They all laughed when someone pointed out that the ornaments were stamped “Made in India”, but the Rabbi began quietly crying. The family assumed that he was offended by the focus on Christmas but he smiled and said to them, “No. I was shedding tears of joy to be in a wonderful country in which a Buddhist gives a Jew a Christmas gift made by a Hindu.”

You can find it here.
~~~

Bearing God in this world

2011-12-18T08:55:00.001-06:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Part of a reflection by one of my favorite preachers, Kathryn Matthews Huey:

"Barbara Brown Taylor, not surprisingly, addresses with great insight the question of Mary's "choice," her freedom to respond in this most unusual situation, and our freedom as well. Yes, Taylor has said that the angel announced the impending birth and didn't ask Mary for her assent, but there is a choice for Mary, "whether to say yes to it or no, whether to take hold of the unknown life the angel held out to her or whether to defend herself against it however she could." We have a similar choice in our own lives, Taylor says: "Like Mary, our choices often boil down to yes or no: yes, I will live this life that is being held out to me or no, I will not; yes, I will explore this unexpected turn of events, or no, I will not." You can say no to your life, Taylor says, "but you can rest assured that no angels will trouble you ever again." And then she takes a bold turn that calls for courage on our part, if we say yes to our lives: "You can take part in a thrilling and dangerous scheme with no script and no guarantees. You can agree to smuggle God into the world inside your own body" ("Mothers of God" in Gospel Medicine). How are you bearing God in this world?"

I would suggest that this is probably the most important question we could ask ourselves this time of year. (Or at any time, for that matter.)
~~~

The Absolute; the Beloved

2011-12-15T23:33:00.001-06:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

"The bridegroom is arising." And so it seems that the following is wonderfully appropriate for Advent:

“It is not for the concept, but for the experience, that we use the term the Beloved. The experience of this enormity we falteringly label divine is unconditioned love. Absolute openness, unbounded mercy and compassion. We use this concept, not to name the unnameable vastness of being-- our greatest joy-- but to acknowledge and claim as our birthright the wonders and healings within.”

-- Stephen Levine

~~~

Hope

2011-12-11T22:45:00.007-06:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Lindy Black offers the following for Advent on her Sermon Nuggets page:

Rabbi Hugo Grynn was sent to Auschwitz as a little boy. In the midst of the concentration camp, the death and horror many Jews held onto what ever shreds of their religious observance they could. One cold winter's night Hugo's father gathered the family in the barracks. It was the first night of Chanukah...the feast of Lights. The young child watched in horror as his father took the family's last pd of butter and made a makeshift candle using a string from his ragged clothes. He then took a match and lit the "candle". "Father , no!" Hugo cried. "That butter is our last bit of food! How shall we live?"

"We can live for many days without food! We cannot live for single minute without hope. This is the fire of hope. Never let it go out. Not here. Not anywhere."

-- Willimon

~~~

Letting God participate

2011-12-05T09:50:00.004-06:00

Artist: Giovanni Fattori

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here's another problem with the so-called "prosperity gospel". If we only believe that God is made known in the things we want and prefer, we miss an experience of God's precense in the things that are difficult:

We can't love what we won't experience.... God enters the world through those of us who are willing to let God participate fully in our lives, in our suffering as well as our celebrations.
-- Nancy Mairs
~~~

Waking up to oursevles

2011-12-04T09:47:00.005-06:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Although not overtly about John the Baptist, the following speaks to the spirit in which the Baptist preached:

Advent is a time of being deeply shaken, so that man will wake up to himself. The prerequisite for a fulfilled Advent is a renunciation of the arrogant gestures and tempting dreams with which, and in which, man is always deceiving himself.... The shaking, the awakening: with these, life merely begins to become capable of Advent. It is precisely in the severity of this awakening, in the helplessness of coming to consciousness, in the wretchedness of experiencing our limitations that the golden threads running between Heaven and earth during this season reach us; the threads that give the world a hint of the abundance to which it is called, the abundance of which it is capable.
-- Father Alfred Delp

Jesuit priest, Alfred Delp, was imprisoned and then executed by the Nazis. On the way to his execution, he whispered, "In half an hour, I'll know more than you do," to the prison chaplain accompanying him. Amazing sense of humor at such a time!

~~~

Peace - the real thing

2011-12-01T22:07:00.007-06:00

Artist: Nikolai Galakhov

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I certainly agree with this:

"PEACE. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of all of those things and still be calm in your heart."
-- unknown

Perhaps this is part of what St. Paul meant by "the peace that passes understanding".
~~~

Sleepers, wake!

2011-11-27T01:27:00.001-06:00

If you listen carefully to the bass line, you can hear the watchman on the heights - pacing up and down.

Happy Advent, everybody!

We plow the fields and gather...

2011-11-24T11:08:00.003-06:00

Artist: Camille Pissarro

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

~~~

The prayer of a great bishop

2011-11-18T14:49:00.003-06:00

Artist: Philip De Laszlo

Image from Wikimedia Commons

By one of my heroes, Archbishop William Temple:

O God of love, we ask you to give us love:

love in our thinking, love in our speaking, love in our doing,

and love in the hidden places of our souls;

love of our neighbours, near and far;

love of our friends, old and new;

love of those whom we find it hard to bear with us;

love of those with whom we work,

and love of those with whom we take our ease;

love in joy, love in sorrow,

love in life and love in death;

that so at length we may be worthy to dwell with you,

who are eternal Love. Amen.

~~~

Self emptying

2011-11-15T22:44:00.004-06:00

Artist: Marie Ellenrieder
Image from Wikimedia Commons

This, by Karen Armstrong, is so wonderfully expressed:

“Theologians in all the great faiths have devised all kinds of myths to show that this type of kenosis, of self-emptying, is found in the life of God itself. They do not do this because it sounds edifying, but because this is the way that human nature seems to work. We are most creative and sense other possibilities that transcend our ordinary experience when we leave ourselves behind.”

It's from her book, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness.
~~~

Tell me

2011-11-13T07:53:00.005-06:00

Artist: Tsuji Kakô

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I've probably already posted this somewhere but never mind. It's by that astonishing marvel of a poet, Mary Oliver, and I truly love it. She (more than any other poet writing today, I would assert) teaches us what it means to pay attention:

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean--

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

~~~

Where is the promise of renewal?

2011-11-09T11:27:00.004-06:00

Artist: Fra Angelico
Image from Wikimedia commons

I can hardly imagine how things would look myself:

“If contemporary Christians took seriously the possibility that those outside the boundaries of the church might hold the promise of renewal, if we ceased regarding ourselves as the source of salvation and the secular world as a potential threat, and if we emulated Jesus' example in accepting the faith and the courage of those who live beyond conventional standards of purity, well, I can hardly imagine how things would look.”
-- Greg Carey

~~~

Something about preparation

2011-11-06T12:34:00.006-06:00

Artist: Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Some parishes will be observing All Saints today but I want to focus on the propers for Pentecost 21.

I found the following over on Lindy Black's page:

In Palestine, young couples wouldn't go away for a week-long honeymoon, instead, they would stay at their home and would have a sort of "open house" for their friends. Everyone treated the couple as royalty, the week following their wedding ceremony was undoubtedly the best week of their lives. Before the wedding, the maidens kept the bride company outside of the groom's house as she waited for him to arrive. They'd bring lamps to use while they waited because they were not allowed in the streets at night without light. Because the groom could come at any time, even at night, they had to stay and wait. No one knew exactly when he'd arrive. They didn't print invitations and invite people to come at a precise time for the wedding, it happened whenever the bridegroom came. It could be today, it could be tomorrow or it could be next week. When the bridegroom approached, a messenger would go out into the streets and declare, "Behold, the bridegroom is coming" then the maidens would accompany the bride into the house for the wedding ceremony and the week-long celebration to follow. (Barclay 354) There was a small window of opportunity to walk through the door into the house. Once the wedding began, no one else was admitted. In other words, it wasn't possible to be too early, but it was possible to be too late, you couldn't just walk in and find a seat in the back, when the door was shut, it was shut and it wouldn't be opened again. So when Jesus told this parable, His listeners had a cultural point of reference that made it come alive to them. They immediately got his point about the importance of preparation.

And I would be remiss if I didn't share this gem with you!

Back in the days when only young men prepared for pastoral ministry, a certain Dr. Eislen, president of Garrett Seminary, preached on this parable in chapel. When he reached the climax of his message, he yelled at his seminarians, "Young men, tell me, would you rather be in the light with the wise virgins, or out in the dark with the foolish virgins?" Such laughter arose that chapel was dismissed early that day!
-- Mickey Anders

If you're not familiar with the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, please go right here.

~~~

Those who have gone before

2011-11-02T08:20:00.007-05:00

Artist: Antonello da Messina

Image from Wikimedia Commons

It's All Souls Day. Yesterday was All Saints Day. On both days we think about the departed about whom we care or who have influenced us in some way and for whom we're grateful.

Here's something I found that I really, really like:

Sometimes the saint is loved not simply for his closeness to God but for his patent humanity. The saint has a temper, flies off the handle, loses his or her cool in pursuit of a great ideal. St. Jerome, the first translator of the Bible into Latin, was famously irascible, once writing that one of his detractors "walked like a tortoise." To take another example, St. Peter is beloved not only because he was a great apostle, but for his many flaws: denying Jesus three times before the crucifixion, among them. Holiness makes its home in humanity. That insight says, “They’re not perfect. Maybe I could aspire to this level of achievement.”

-- James Martin

It reminds me of that wonderful hymn I learned as a child: "I sing a song of the saints of God..." that quite wonderfully ends, "And I mean to be one too."

May it be so for each one of us.

(A tip of the hat to Kirkepiscatoid)

~~~

Cherishing the ordinary

2011-10-30T11:09:00.004-05:00

Artist: Mikhail Natarevich

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I've emphasized the following principle before on this blog. It bears pondering again from another writer's point of view:

The great lesson from the true mystics . . . is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's back yard.

— Abraham H. Maslow in Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences
~~~

A kind of taking stock

2011-10-27T18:17:00.006-05:00

Artist: Paul Gauguin

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I have recently come across some material about the spiritual teacher, Robert Benson. Here's something he said that speaks to me.

Sometimes letting go of a spiritual practice can be as important as adding a new one. Sometimes reshaping one to account for a new set of circumstances is needed. Sometimes there is a hole in our spiritual practice that must be filled, and we can tell it because we are beginning to run on empty.

No one knows those things unless they have a rule, formal or informal, and unless they stop to look at it from time to time and make note of what is to be found there.

Many of the people I've talked to over the years are convinced that in cultivating a spiritual and interior life we are required to take on new practices. I really like Benson's outlook here about sometimes needing to do just the opposite.

~~~

Love and pain

2011-10-26T17:30:00.006-05:00

Artist: Dmitri Minaevich Sinodi-Popov

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I'm offering you something very brief today. It's by Ralph Waldo Emerson and I think it is profoundly focused and powerful. I plan to spend quite a bit of time reflecting on it because I think there's a lot being said here - a lot:

The love that you withhold is the pain that you carry.
~~~

Psalm 33 chanted

2011-10-26T08:16:00.001-05:00

Oh, dear people. This is so pure, precise and very, very lovely:

Contemplation and solitude

2011-10-23T10:45:00.006-05:00

"Hermit Woman"

Artist: Wojciech Gerson

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here is definitely one of my favorite sayings from the Desert Mothers:

Amma Syncletica said, "There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town; they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd; and it is possible for those who are solitaries to live in the crowd of their own thoughts."

This saying is one I rely upon when people remark to to me, "Funny; you don't look like a hermit."

I tend to answer, "When I look like a hermit, nobody sees me."

More to the point, however, is that the value of solitude is more in one's state of mind than whether one is literally (physically) around other people or not.

~~~

Looking within

2011-10-21T08:57:00.003-05:00

Artist: Edwin Harris

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The following was included in the email newsletter of the Diocese of Oklahoma. Including an "examen of consciousness" in one's daily routine is something I was taught in the convent. It's really a very powerful (and soothing) practice:

The Daily Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God's presence and discern his direction for us. The Examen is an ancient practice in the Church that can help us see God's hand at work in our whole experience.

The method presented here is adapted from a technique described by Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises. St. Ignatius thought that the Examen was a gift that came directly from God, and that God wanted it to be shared as widely as possible. One of the few rules of prayer that Ignatius made for the Jesuit order was the requirement that Jesuits practice the Examen twice daily-at noon and at the end of the day. It's a habit that Jesuits, and many other Christians, practice to this day.

This is a version of the five-step Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced.

1. Become aware of God's presence.

2. Review the day with gratitude.

3. Pay attention to your emotions.

4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.

5. Look toward tomorrow.

~~~

Becoming more fully human

2011-10-19T22:06:00.001-05:00

In case anyone is not familiar with the works of Walter Wink, you can find out more about him right here.
~~~

Our challenge

2011-10-16T08:26:00.003-05:00

Artist: Nicholas Roerich

Image from Wikimedia commons

I was very influenced by Fr. John Main starting about twenty years ago or so. He was very much a major player in the revival of meditative practices in contemplative Christianity. Here's something he said that I like very much:

“...Our challenge as Christians is not to try to covert people around us to our way of belief but to love them, to be ourselves living incarnations of what we believe, to live what we believe and to love what we believe.”

~~~

Walk slowly, smile, drink tea

2011-10-15T23:41:00.004-05:00

Artist: Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here's something that I think is really quite lovely and wise:

“From time to time, to remind ourselves to relax and be peaceful, we may wish to set aside some time for a retreat, a day of mindfulness, when we can walk slowly, smile, drink tea with a friend, enjoy being together as if we are the happiest people on Earth.”

It's by the marvelous Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.
~~~

Another comforter

2011-10-14T12:56:00.002-05:00

Take the time to listen to this, please, and let yourself be uplifted and consoled. It's only two minutes and ten seconds long!

~~~

With the heart of anyone in need

2011-10-11T20:55:00.005-05:00

Artist: László Mednyánszky
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Dorothy Day has been one of my personal heroes for many, many years now. Here's something she said that is so very pertinent today:

Christ is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts. But now it is with the voice of our contemporaries that he speaks, with the eyes of store clerks, factory workers, and children that he gazes; with the hands of office workers, slum dwellers, and suburban housewives that he gives. It is with the feet of soldiers and tramps that he walks, and with the heart of anyone in need that he longs for shelter. And giving shelter or food to anyone who asks for it, or needs it, is giving it to Christ.

~~~

The need to give

2011-10-10T10:18:00.003-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The other day, I came across a book published in 1946 called Peace of Mind by Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman. It was given to my mother by her aunt Freida for Christmas of 1948. My mom would have been pregnant with me at the time.

Here's an excerpt:

The primary joy of life is acceptance, approval, the sense of appreciation and companionship of our human comrades. Many people do not understand that the need for fellowship is really as deep as the need for food, and so they go throughout life accepting many substitutes for genuine, warm, simple relatedness....

There comes a time in the development of every ego when it must love its neighbors or become a twisted and stunted personality. The normal mature man and woman has with him a surplus "urge to give."
...
Man's restless yearning to give something of himself, whether it be a physical child or a spiritual child - the child of his mind - a bridge, a poem, a song, an invention, a cure of disease - is the true answer to all cynics and pessimists who maintain that man is total selfishness.

I think I'm going to read the whole book. It's dated, yes. But it seems to contain a lot of wisdom.

~~~

Under the weather...

2011-10-05T17:23:00.000-05:00

So sorry for the lack of posting. I'm down with a really bad cold, I'm sorry to say, and will be back to normal posting when I'm feeling a bit better.

Take care, everyone!
~~~

God and the human mind

2011-10-02T20:42:00.006-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I think both of these by W. Tozer are worthy of considerable reflection:

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
...
If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?

~~~

Greening the desert; scaling the mountain

2011-09-30T12:47:00.005-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I was very influenced by Elizabeth O'Connor during the period in which I was attempting to discern whether or not to enter the religious life. Here's something quite wonderful that she said:

Every single one of us has a good work to do in life. This good work not only accomplishes something needed in the world, but completes something in us. When it is finished, a new work emerges that will help make green a desert place as well as scale another mountain inside ourselves.

I don't think by "good work to do in life" she means anything particularly grand as the world would evaluate such work. It can be very hidden indeed or really quite simple. Nevertheless, that good work is something that is truly needed and something that helps us grow interiorly as well.

~~~

St. Michael and All Angels

2011-09-29T12:36:00.000-05:00

Here's another re-post for your edification:

St Michael, 12th-century mosaic

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Remember Maslow's hierachy of needs? They are ususally depicted on a pyramid with our most basic requirements for survival and well being at the bottom. Maslow hypothesized that we must get those foundational needs met before we can access the motivation to address the higher ones such as self-actualization and self-transcendence.

After the physiological needs of food, air, water and the like, our most fundamental need is safety. And here's where St. Michael and All Angels come in to the picture. In addition to being messengers, they are protectors - especially Michael himself. We need the assurance of protection, the assurance that our safety matters (not only to ourselves but to the Most High), in order to do the kind of spiritual work that will enable us to be courageously compassionate and faithful to the end. God knows this. The Church knows this. And so we have today's feast.

My favorite safety prayer is the ancient exorcism from the office of Compline:

Visit this place, O Lord, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy. Let your Holy Angels dwell with us to preserve us in peace and let your blessing be upon us always. Amen.

Here's what I want to recommend. Get some holy water (or make it yourself; I think water can be "dedicated" as well as "blessed"). Then walk through your house sprinkling a little water against every window and door reciting the prayer above as you go. It's a wonderful space clearing exercise and, if you let it, will give you a sense of being truly cherished by all the spiritual beings that inhabit creation.

A very interesting observation about love

2011-09-28T19:46:00.004-05:00

Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Image from Wikimedia Commons

The following passage is by Howard Thurman. It's something to think about the next time we are faced with hostility or indifference in another person:

Here is a mystery: If sweeping through the door of my heart there moves continually a genuine love for you, it by-passes all your hate and all your indifference and gets through to you at your center. You are powerless to do anything about it. You may keep alive in devious ways the fires of your bitter heart, but they cannot get through to me. Underneath the surface of all the tension, something else is at work. It is utterly impossible for you to keep another from loving you.

~~~

Sunday art blogging

2011-09-25T18:37:00.003-05:00

Artist: Vasily Surikov

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Genuine love for one another

2011-09-24T19:48:00.008-05:00

Artist: Van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Do you love someone only to find yourself trying to change that person? Take a look at this observation:

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
~ Thomas Merton

It is very hard to be the one who is twisted to conform to another's image. And there is nothing more wonderful than to be loved for oneself. Looking for our own reflection in another, however, can stem from an unhealthy degree of narcissism.
~~~

An unsettling gospel

2011-09-20T20:09:00.005-05:00

Artist: Alessandro Allori
Image from Wikimedia Commons

One of my heroes said this. I refer, of course, to Oscar Romero:

A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed - what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don't bother anyone, that's the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.

~~~

Valuing all the great religions

2011-09-19T23:01:00.004-05:00

Artist: Jan van Eyck

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The quotation I have for you this evening is sadly controversial. Fundamentalism is rampant in our world today and fundamentalists of every stripe believe that those who follow a faith other than their own are damned. I know that there are traditionalist members of my own church who would brand me a heretic for saying I agree with these words of Gandhi and yet I will say it anyway. We need to mature past the desire to feel secure that we're "in" by knowing that other people are "out".

I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world. I believe that they are all God-given and I believe that they were necessary for the people to whom these religions were revealed. And I believe that if only we could all of us read the scriptures of the different faiths from the standpoints of the followers of these faiths, we should find that they were at bottom all one and were all helpful to one another.
- MK Gandhi

Adherents of different faith traditions can come together with great success through meditation. The mind works the way the mind works. This is true for all of us regardless of our belief system.

~~~

Becoming human -- and free

2011-09-16T21:42:00.004-05:00

Artist: Nikolai Galakhov

Image from Wikimedia Commons

A book that certainly has influenced me as prfoundly as any other is Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl who survived his incarceration in one of the Nazi concentration camps. Here's a brief passage:

One day, a few days after the liberation, I walked through the country past flowering meadows, for miles and miles, toward the market town near the camp. Larks rose to the sky and I could hear their joyous song. There was no one to be seen for miles around; there was nothing but the wide earth and sky and the larks' jubilation and the freedom of space.
I stopped, looked around, and up to the sky--and then I went down on my knees. At that moment there was very little I knew of myself or of the world--I had but one sentence in mind--always the same: "I called to the Lord from my narrow prison and he answered me in the freedom of space."
How long I knelt there and repeated this sentence memory can no longer recall. But I know that on that day, in that hour, my new life started. Step for step I progressed, until I again became a human being.

Perhaps it would be valuable for all of us to ask just what it would take - step by step - to become a human being. There are, after all, so many dehumanizing experiences that take place in almost everyone's life.

Something to soothe you and restore your peace

2011-09-14T23:01:00.001-05:00

Free will and religion

2011-09-10T10:57:00.005-05:00

Christ the True Vine (16th Century icon)
Image from Wikimedia Commons

I do wish this were more widely understood among those who try to force or pressure others to practice Christianity:

Religion is not to be defended by putting to death, but by dying. Not by cruelty, but by patient endurance. Not by guilt, but by good faith. For the former belongs to evil, the latter to the good... For if you wish to defend religion by bloodshed, tortures, and guilt, it will no longer be defended. Rather, it will be polluted and profaned. For nothing is so much a matter of free will as religion. If the mind of the worshiper is disinclined to it, religion is at once taken away and ceases to exist...

We (Christians), on the contrary, do not require that anyone should be compelled to worship our God, whether he is willing or unwilling.

Nor do we become angry if anyone does not worship Him. We trust in the majesty of Him who has the power to avenge contempt shown towards Him.

We leave vengeance to God. We do not act as those persons who would have it appear that they are defenders of their gods, who rage without restraint against those who do not worship them.
-- Lactantius (about 260 -340 C.E.)

~~~

The healing stream of the spirit

2011-09-09T17:54:00.006-05:00

Detail of 16th Century cucifix in Ravensburg
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Years ago a cynical friend of mine and I happened to wander inside a small chapel that had a reputation for being very beautiful. Above and behind the altar was a life sized and very moving (to my mind) crucifix. My friend shuddered as she looked at it and said derisively, "You Christians worship suffering."

Now, I'm usually pretty tongue-tied in situations like that but this time some grace gave me the following: "No; we worship a God whose love stops at nothing - even this."

She was silent for a moment and then kind of snorted: "Well! You ought to put a sign next to every crucifix, then, explaining it!"

Here's something to ponder with regard to what the cross is all about:

It is the suffering already present in the world which we can either ignore or identify with. If pain were not real, if it were not the lot of so many, the way of the cross would be pathological. But in our world with its hungry and homeless and hopeless, it is pathological to live as if pain did not exist. The way of the cross means letting pain carve one's life into a channel through which the healing stream of the spirit can flow to a world in need.
-- Parker Palmer

Not a tame Christ

2011-09-08T21:51:00.005-05:00

Thirteenth century fresco

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Something that has disturbed me for a long time now is the Church's tendency to domesticate the gospel, to offer a "safe" Christ - safe in a tame way, I mean. Richard Rohr will have none of that. I suppose that's a core reason I've respected him and his ministry for so many years now:

"Jesus truly was dangerous. He was creating a following with a kind of thinking that was much more on the side of inclusiveness than exclusiveness.... Jesus is always moving the boundaries out while still respecting the center. That's the key to wisdom: being grounded in the center and still, from that deep foundation, knowing how to move out."
~~~

Worth and worthiness - the paradox

2011-09-07T20:12:00.003-05:00

"St. Martin and the Beggar" - El Greco

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Today's society - in the United States at any rate - is very caught up with the idea of personal and individual worthiness. Many of us believe that we shouldn't assist anyone who isn't worthy of being assisted according to our own understanding of what that means. Such an approach is not, however, the Christian way:

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can."
-- Thomas Merton

The dreaming and the wanting

2011-09-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Many, many years ago (I was a teenager, probably) I learned from the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke to love questions more than answers. Here is one of his poems:

I am, you anxious one.

Don’t you sense me, ready to break into being at your touch?
My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.
Can’t you see me standing before you cloaked in stillness?
Hasn’t my longing ripened in you from the beginning
as fruit ripens on a branch?

I am the dream you are dreaming.
When you want to awaken, I am that wanting.
I grow strong in the beauty you behold.
And with the silence of stars I enfold your cities made by time.

Praying in Christ's name

2011-09-03T21:45:00.001-05:00

I'm offering you another re-post this evening. It happens to be one of my favorites:

Christus Ravenna Mosaic

I've always been bothered by what has seemed to me to be an almost supersitious need to tack on "in Christ's name" at the end of prayers as if were some sort of incantation. It is eroneous to believe that we are required to do this as Christians so that in an interfaith setting we feel we must impose certain language on non-Christians. The following expresses my views on this subject wonderfully:

Many people have a very strangely childish notion, that "praying in the name of Christ" means simply the addition of the words "through Jesus Christ our Lord" at the end of their prayers. But depend upon it, they do not by adding these words, or any words, bring it about that their prayers should be in the name of Christ. To pray in the name of Christ means to pray in such a way as represents Christ. The representative always must speak in the spirit and meaning of those for whom he speaks. If Christ is our representative, that must be because He speaks our wishes, or what we ought to make our wishes; and if we are to pray in the name of Christ, that means that we are, however far off, expressing His wishes and intentions.
-- Charles Gore

Self-revealing activity of God

2011-09-02T18:41:00.002-05:00

"Still Life with Bible"

Artist: Vincent van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The following is not a new idea, of course, to people who visit this site. However it is wonderfully articulated in this paragraph:

Literalism gets its name from its insistence that what we find in the Bible is not just the Word of God but the very words of God. The distinction is of tremendous importance. The phrase "Word of God" as used in the Bible itself, notably in the opening sentences of the Fourth Gospel, is an English translation of a Greek word, Logos, which was in wide use among philosophers at the time the New Testament was written. It connotes the creative, outgoing, self-revealing activity of God. The Logos was not a particular divine utterance, but God's overall message to mankind. It was not necessarily communicated verbally in speech or writing. Indeed, the whole point of Christianity is that the supreme communication of the Word took place when it was expressed through a human life and personality in Jesus Christ.
-- Louis Cassels

I remember reading somewhere that the sacred syllable "Om" is used for that Greek word "Logos" when the New Testament is translated into Sanskrit. Here's a sentence I just found on the web:

"Yet another interpretation equates Om with the Greek, “logos,” “the word”, found at the beginning of St John’s gospel."

You can find it right here.

~~~

A steady illumination

2011-08-28T20:39:00.004-05:00

Artist: Poul Friis Nybo

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The explanation of how the words "prayer" and "precarious" are related is what prompted me to want to share the following with you:

“Precarious” comes from the same Latin root as the word “prayer.” Here prayer does not mean pleading with a distant deity who may or may not pay attention. It may not even be a request at all. Prayer in this sense means rather that we reconnect with the very Source from which we come. We open the eyes of our heart to the inner light abiding in everything. We feel connected to this Source – through a hovering hummingbird, a toddler’s giggle, the aroma of fresh-baked bread – yet in a flicker, the connection seems gone and we are plunged into grief. This teaches us to let go, courageously, again and again. None of us would have the heart for this task if we did not begin to see that the light has a steady presence in spite of appearances. With joy we realize that the radiance we glimpse flows steadily and illumines all creation in an everlasting glow.

This is from a marvelous essay called Grief/Joy on the Gratefulness.org site.

~~~

Rejoice, O Virgin

2011-08-27T14:08:00.003-05:00

Ah! Just let yourself be cradled by this soothing and gorgeous music.

Translation:

Rejoice O Virgin, Theotokos [God-bearer],
Mary full of grace, the Lord is with You.
Blessed are You among women,
and blessed is the Fruit of Your womb,
for You have borne the Savior of our souls.

~~~

A prayer for us all

2011-08-26T12:31:00.003-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here's another re-post for you. (Different art work though.) Somehow, this seems to fit with what I posted yesterday:

Quite a number of years ago, someone gave me a prayer on a little card that seemed just right for me. I was deeply moved by it and taped it to a bookcase in my office so that I could see it often. Later, I came across it on line. Here's the prayer:

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

It is, of course, by Thomas Merton from his wonderful book, Thoughts in Solitude.

An editorial review on Amazon says this about the book:

What has made this book such an enduring and popular work is that it recognizes how important solitude is to our morality, integrity, and ability to love. One does not have to be a monk to find solitude, notes Merton; solitude can be found in the act of contemplation and silent reflection in everyday life. Also, this is not a pious book that assumes that a relationship with the divine can be obtained only by denying our humanity and striving for saintliness. Instead, Merton asserts that connection with God can most easily be made through "respect for temperament, character, and emotion and for everything that makes us human."

Sadly, a lot of common approaches to Christian formation do suggest that we need to deny our humanity in order to please God. Of course, paradoxically, that has the effect of making us more self-conscious rather than less. Making friends with ourselves is an important first step on the spiritual path. Think about it. Why would we give a self that we hate as an offering to God? I actually like that old T-shirt that says, "God doesn't make junk". So do remember this wonderful saying of Irenaeus: "The glory of God is the human being fully alive!"

~~~

A spacious environment

2011-08-25T11:42:00.007-05:00

Artist: Peter Mauch

This is a repeat from a while back. But I think it is actually quite timely given the political and religious climate of today. And so I offer it again.

It has grieved me for some time now that the fundamentalist expression of Christianity has held sway in the public imagination and has conditioned many people in our society to believe that Christianity is all about condemning others and controlling its own. And so I really loved this quotation when I stumbled upon it - particularly the last sentence:

There are a number of Hebrew words about salvation which also mean "to bring into a spacious environment", "to be at one's ease", "to be free to develop". "Salvation" can be seen then as the new life in Christ, in which we are to be "free to develop" into Christ-like people. For this maturing to take place, there needs to be a breaking down of barriers, a breaking up of the soil of our personalities, and a healing of inner wounds and hurts. The soil is softened, the clay becomes malleable through the experience of the tender love of God and the accepting, non-judgmental love of Christians. We cannot be beaten into shape.
--Michael Harper

Why certainty is not really an option

2011-08-17T22:43:00.004-05:00

Artist: Gentile da Fabriano

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Truly among the more helpful things C.S. Lewis ever said:

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask - half our great theological and metaphysical problems - are like that.

Therefore, I would assert that it behooves us not to become too attached to our theological constructs. From our limited viewpoint, we can't really know if they actually make any sense or not.
~~~

Speaking rightly

2011-08-15T17:14:00.005-05:00

Artist: Simon Ushakov

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Yes, it's a paradox:

Teaching about Christ begins in silence.... In so far as the Church proclaims the Word, it falls down silently in truth before the inexpressible: 'In silence I worship the unutterable' (Cyril of Alexandria). The spoken Word is the inexpressible; this unutterable is the Word.... Although it is cried out by the Church in the world, it remains the inexpressible. To speak of Christ means to keep silent; to keep silent about Christ means to speak. When the Church speaks rightly out of a proper silence, then Christ is proclaimed.

This was said by the great Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

~~~

Side roads in the mist

2011-08-13T10:53:00.005-05:00

Artist: Claude Monet

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Some years ago, I came across the blog of a clergyperson who calls himself Real Live Preacher. He is a very interesting, thoughtful writer indeed.

Here are just a couple of quotations:

Every path may lead you to God, even the weird ones. Most of us are on a journey. We’re looking for something, though we’re not always sure what that is. The way is foggy much of the time. I suggest you slow down and follow some of the side roads that appear suddenly in the mist.
...
When someone is giving you their theology, their God words, you should listen hard and be very gentle. The time to deliver your God words is when you are asked.
~~~

A little levity for something different

2011-08-09T23:19:00.005-05:00

Artist: Wolfgang Krodel the Elder

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Goodness! I have to admit I never thought about it quite this way before:

God tells Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If this was the only way they could understand the difference between good and evil, how could they have known that it was wrong to disobey God and eat the fruit?
--Laurie Lynn*

* I can't seem to find any information on this person but I found the quotation right here.

~~~

Something about missing the obvious

2011-08-07T09:11:00.006-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Today's gospel reading is the story of Jesus (and Peter) walking on the water. Here's something I found on Lindy Black's site that is both humorous and intriguing. There's actually a lot here when you think about it:

There is an old story that has often been re-told in especially the Eastern Orthodox part of the church. According to the tale, a devout abbot from a monastery decided to take a prolonged spiritual retreat in a small cabin located on a remote island in the middle of a large lake. He told his fellow monks that he wanted to spend his days in prayer so as to grow closer to God. For six months he remained on the island with no other person seeing him or hearing from him in all that time. But then one day, as two monks were standing near the shore soaking up some sunshine, they could see in the distance a figure moving toward them. It was the abbot, walking on water, and coming toward shore. After the abbot passed by the two monks and continued on to the monastery, one of the monks turned to the other and said, "All these months in prayer and the abbot is still as stingy as ever. After all, the ferry costs only 25 cents!" Humor aside, the point of the story is that it's amazing how easily we may sometimes miss the significance of something that is right in front of us. It’s the kind of thing that could motivate one to take a fresh look at even the very familiar, like the story in Matthew 14 about Jesus (and then Peter) walking on water.
-- Scott Hoezee

~~~

The meaning of a blessing

2011-08-04T20:57:00.004-05:00

Artist: Helen Allingham

Image from Wikipedia Commons

I continue to be grateful for the life and writings of the Irish poet and philosopher John O'Donohue. His unexpected death at the age of fifty-two came as a shock to those of us who had discovered his contribution to the world-wide community of those who joyfully participate in contemplation and who embrace the spiritual journey. Here's something he said that speaks to what we want for ourselves and each other when we go to the deepest place of wisdom within:

"Our longing for the eternal kindles our imagination to bless. Regardless of how we configure the eternal, the human heart continue to dream of a state of wholeness, that place where everything comes together, where loss will be made good, where blindness will transform into vision, where damage will be made whole, where the clenched question will open in the house of surprise, where the travails of life's journey will enjoy a homecoming. To invoke a blessing is to call some of that wholeness upon a person now."
~~~

You know, there's actually a lot to this when you think about it:

2011-08-03T20:54:00.003-05:00

Some small weak tender part...

2011-07-30T22:34:00.004-05:00

Artist: Van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here is a poem I recently found. I'm using it for reflective reading. It presents an ideal, of course. An ideal undoubtedly impossible to live up to - although some of the great saints have come pretty close, I'd say. I think this kind of wondering is an antidote for cynicism as well as a remedy for discouragement and that's no small thing:

I wonder what would happen if
I treated everyone like I was in love
with them, whether I like them or not
and whether they respond or not and no matter
what they say or do to me and even if I see
things in them which are ugly twisted petty
cruel vain deceitful indifferent, just accept
all that and turn my attention to some small
weak tender hidden part and keep my eyes on
that until it shines like a beam of light
like a bonfire I can warm my hands by and trust
it to burn away all the waste which is not
never was my business to meddle with.
-- Derek Tasker

~~~

A river of grace

2011-07-28T14:29:00.003-05:00

Artist: Claude Monet

Image from Wikimedia Commons

It's possible that I have posted this before. Nevertheless, it bears repeating. I have long admired this writer. She is obviously intimately acquainted with silence as the great context for embracing the holy and the good:

Silence is like a river of grace inviting us to leap unafraid into its beckoning depths. It is dark and mysterious in the waters of grace. Yet in the silent darkness we are given new eyes. In the heart of the divine we can see more clearly who we are. We are renewed and cleansed in this river of silence. There are those among you who fear the Great Silence. It is a foreign land to you. Sometimes it is good to leap into the unknown. Practice leaping.
-- Macrina Wiederkehr

Loving ourselves

2011-07-27T20:24:00.005-05:00

Artist: Alexander Pushnin

Image from Wikimedia Commons

It grieves me enormously - truly it does - that so many Christians are caught up in self-loathing and believe that, in fact, they should not love themselves:

God's love for us is not the reason for which we should love him. God's love for us is the reason for us to love ourselves.
-- Simone Weil

Julian's wisdom

2011-07-24T11:00:00.005-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

For some reason, I happen to have Julian of Norwich on my mind this morning. Here are two quotations for your reflection:

Pray inwardly, even if you do not enjoy it. It does good, though you feel nothing. Yes, even though you think you are doing nothing.
...
If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.

Both of these obseverations call attention to two of the most pernicious mistakes in the spiritual life. The first is giving too much validity to feelings. Many people will say, "Well, if I don't feel what I'm praying, what's the point?" Fortunately, I had a classically trained spiritual director in my formative years who made it clear to me that feelings were largely irrelevant.

The second mistake actually gives rise to very great suffering and that is the idea that if we believe the correct things and behave in the correct way that our lives will turn out all right --- that nothing bad will ever happen to us. Technically, that is known as the "just world theory" and it is not the gospel.
~~~

I give my heart

2011-07-22T11:12:00.004-05:00

Artist: Giovanni di Paolo

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I remember many years ago when I first learned the true meaning of the word credo. It is tragic, really, that we seem to have forgotten this:

Credo is the word with which the great creeds of early Chistendom begin. “I believe. . .” we say. The Latin credo means literally, “I give my heart.” The word believe is a problematic one today in part because it has gradually changed its meaning from being the language of certainty so deep that I could give my heart to it, to the language of uncertainty so shallow that only the “credulous” would rely on it. Faith, as we have seen, is not about propositions, but about commitment. It does not mean that I intellectually subscribe to the following list of statements, but that I give my heart to this reality. Believe, indeed, comes to us from the Old English belove, making clear that this too is meant to be heart language. To say “I believe in Jesus Christ” is not to subscribe to an uncertain proposition. It is a confession of commitment, of love.
-- Diana L. Eck

The shattering love of God

2011-07-20T21:37:00.005-05:00

Artist: Anthony van Dyck

Image from Wikimedia Commons

You already know how very much I value the writings of Frederick Buechner. Here's another sample and I like this passage very much:

We try so hard as Christians. We think such long thoughts, manipulate such long words, and both listen to and preach such long sermons. Each one of us somewhere, somehow, has known, if only for a moment or so, something of what it is to feel the shattering love of God, and once that has happened, we can never rest easy again for trying somehow to set that love forth not only in words, myriads of words, but in our lives themselves.

Something about prayer

2011-07-18T21:39:00.006-05:00

Artist: Lev Russov

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Does anyone remember that radical little book of prayers entitled Are You Running With Me Jesus? by Malcolm Boyd? It came out back in the 60s and had a considerable influence on me. Here's something Fr. Boyd said:

I believe that God prays in us and through us, whether we are praying or not (and whether we believe in God or not). So, any prayer on my part is a conscious response to what God is already doing in my life.

I like this because it reminds us that prayer is not so much something we do as it is something to which we give our assent.

~~~

Something about forgiveness

2011-07-16T11:16:00.001-05:00

Hmm. Not exactly classical or high art this time but the message is spot on, I'd say:

Simply gorgeous chant

2011-07-14T22:39:00.001-05:00

Going back to God

2011-07-13T22:11:00.007-05:00

Artist: Paul Klee
Image from Wikimedia Commons

You know, there's something about this that gives me both consolation and great hope. I don't think I have words for why that is right this minute. Please just do take my word for it!

Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God. Really.
-- Lenny Bruce

~~~

Cost, risk, and harvest

2011-07-10T17:15:00.005-05:00

Artist: Matthias Stom

Image from Wikimedia Commons

First of all, dear people, I want to give you a link:

July 10, 2011 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A (Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 10)

It is rich with material for reflecting on today's scripture readings (which you can read right there by scrolling down).

First we have a sermon by Karen Georgia Thompson on the very troublesome first reading. That's the one about Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for "a mess of pottage" (as the older translations put it).

And, on that subject, I just have to share this little quip by Lord Byron:

Thou sold'st thy birthright, Esau! for a mess
Thou shouldst have gotten more, or eaten less.

Then my favorite preacher these days, Kathryn Matthews Huey, offers some reflections on the gospel reading: the parable of the sower. Here's something I particularly like:

The sower is remarkably free in throwing the seed on all sorts of potential "growth areas." There's no calculation or careful husbandry of the seeds in his pocket. In the face of all sorts of obstacles and dangers, the sower counts on the bountiful return of a few seeds; he imagines the plentiful harvest reaped when even a few of the seeds find fertile soil.

And this:

Thomas Long writes: "Therefore, the church is called to 'waste itself,' to throw grace around like there is no tomorrow, precisely because there is a tomorrow, and it belongs to God" (Matthew, The Westminster Bible Companion). To whom does your "tomorrow" belong?

I think I like those two brief passages because I see the Church so compulsively caught up in self-protection of late. And I refer specifically to protection of the institution. What would happen if we let God take care of the increase instead of engaging in the kind of calculation that often goes on today in the name of "church growth"? Now, I'm not saying at all that we don't need to exercise appropriate stewardship of the institution. I'm just saying that there's a vast difference between a commitment to all due responsibility and a fearful refusal to take the risks clearly demanded of us by the gospel.

~~~

A constant process

2011-07-08T20:39:00.003-05:00

Artist: Félix Vallotton

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I first enountered the writings of Joyce Rupp back when I was in the convent and I'm so very glad I did. I identified with her early on because she also sees spiritual direction as a kind of midwifery. I particularly like the feeling of rhythm that the following passage conveys:

...I have found the cup to be a powerful teacher for my inner life. The ordinariness of the cup reminds me that my personal transformation occurs in the common crevices of each day. The cup is an apt image for the inner process of growth. The cup has been a reminder of my spiritual thirst. As I've held it, filled it, drunk from it, emptied it and washed it, I've learned that it is through my ordinary human experineces that my thirst for God is quenched. In the cup I see life, with its emptiness, fullness, brokenness, flaws, and blessings.

A cup is a container for holding something. Whatever it holds has to eventually be emptied out so that something more can be put into it. I have learned that I cannot always expect my life to by full. There has to be some emptying, some pouring out, if I am to make room for the new. The spiritual journey is like that--a constant process of emptying and filling, of giving and receiving, of accepting and letting go.

A particular form of joy

2011-07-06T17:38:00.007-05:00

Artist: Jerry Weiss

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Have you ever had the experience of spontaneously feeling envious when someone has shared good news? It can be a really horrible feeling and, in some cases, can also lead to ongoing resentment. Rabbi Nilton Bonder speaks to this:

Yiddish has a very special verb, unknown to most other languages: farginen. It means to open space, to share pleasure; it is the exact opposite of the verb to envy. While envy means disliking or resenting the happiness of others, farginen means making a pact with another individual's pleasure or happiness. This unique word represents the space in which we allow others to express their happiness, feeling of success, or gladness.
...
Discipline is needed for farginen, because this feeling is rarely natural to human beings in their animal dimension. There is nothing wrong or false about seeking such learning. Like any other kind of social ability, such as not stealing, farginen comes through discipline. . . . When we are able to farginen someone spontaneously, it means we have done the required groundwork of dealing with our self-esteem, at least to some extent. But we will always have to work at reacting to opportunities for farginen, so as not to miss them.
...
It's much easier to suffer with a friend, to help someone who is less fortunate, than to farginen. It's much harder to sincerely share others' happiness. And the consequences are proportional: those whose suffering we share are eternally grateful, while those whose happiness we share will eternally care for us, as true friends.

Actually, there's a Sanskrit word that is very similar. The word is mudita and is usually translated into English as "sympathetic joy". It is that ability to be "in sympathy" with another in that person's joy as well as in his or her sorrow. Both mudita and farginen remind me of the biblical injunction to "rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep."

~~~

In honor of the day:

2011-07-04T21:29:00.000-05:00

An amazing performance:

What people really need

2011-07-03T19:35:00.011-05:00

Artist: George Frederic Watts

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Yes, yes, and yes again:

Sure, people need Jesus, but most of the time, what they really need is for someone to be Jesus to them.
— Reuben Welch quoted in The Body Broken by Robert Benson

Unusual teachers

2011-06-29T19:52:00.003-05:00

Artist: Georg Saal

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here is a very moving story from the book entitled Uncommon Prayer by The Rev. Kenneth Swanson:

A few years ago I prepared a group of young teenagers for confirmation. Near the end of our course I met with them individually to talk about developing a life of prayer. One of the girls came from an unchurched family. When I asked her if she ever prayed, she said yes, and described how she prayed every morning when she got up and every evening before she went to bed. I was very impressed both by the scope and quality of her devotion. When I asked her who taught her to pray like that, she said she learned from watching "Little House on the Prairie" on television. She took Laura as her confirmation name.

There is so much material, as it were, in our every day lives, in the world around us, that can support us in one way or another on the spiritual journey. I'm not at all suggesting that the journey needs to take the same shape described above or any other particular shape. Rather I'm observing that our life experiences are rich with material for helping our spiritual lives take the shape that is transforming and sustaining for each one of us.

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
~~~

Something about hospitality

2011-06-28T22:59:00.006-05:00

Artist: Nikolay Ge

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I still have yesterday's gospel reading on my mind - the passage in which Jesus says, "The one who welcomes you, welcomes Me," and "The one who give even a cup of cold water in my name will not go unrewarded."

And so I offer the following:

If it were not for guests all houses would be graves. (Kahlil Gibran)

Visitor's footfalls are like medicine; they heal the sick. (African Proverb)

Mighty proud I am that I am able to have a spare bed for my friends. (Samuel Pepys)

I really identify with that last one. Having a guest room is what I like the most, I should say, about my little house!

~~~

God will provide

2011-06-26T14:23:00.007-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The first reading appointed for this morning is the story of the near sacrifice of Isaac at the hand of Abraham, his father.

It's a powerful narrative: dramatic, suspenseful, riveting and, for many, deeply disturbing and upsetting. For the moment, however, let's leave aside all the implications regarding human sacrifice in the historical period during which this story emerged. Let's also leave aside what it triggers about child abuse for many people today as well as what some insist it indicates about the nature of God from a biblical standpoint.

Instead, let's consider the radical nature of unreserved commitment.

And then contemplate the play of light and shadow against deep darkness in the stunning painting above by Caravaggio. (Click or double click on the image for a larger version.)

Then these words from the reading:

Here I am! (Notice, Abraham says this three times: to God, to Isaac, and to God's angel.)

So the two of them walked on together. (Mentioned twice, by the way.)

The Lord will provide.

You can find all of today's readings right here.

~~~

A religion of wonder

2011-06-24T15:10:00.009-05:00

Artist: William Blake

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here's something Carl Jung said that gives me pause:

If our religion is based on salvation, our chief emotions will be fear and trembling. If our religion is based on wonder, our chief emotion will be gratitude.

Mind you, there are different connotations to that word "salvation" and I could wish Jung had picked another word or set of words actually. I think what he meant was "avoiding hell". But I certainly do get his point about wonder. And, with that bit, I certainly agree.

~~~

The great human flaw

2011-06-22T14:21:00.003-05:00

Artist: Francisco de Goya

Image from Wikimedia Commons

This is sad. And profound. And insightful:

God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.
-- Jacques Deval

Oh! Delight and Magnificence!

2011-06-21T07:28:00.001-05:00

A Facebook friend of mine posted the following this morning and it gladdened my heart!

Longing

2011-06-20T21:45:00.005-05:00

Artist: Fred Pansing

Here's a quotation I've cherished for many years now:

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I really don't think much is accomplished by arguing people into a religious point of view - much less by scaring them. It is the longing for something beyond or deeper than oneself (one's ego) that makes all the difference.

(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

~~~

Three in One; One in Three

2011-06-19T10:28:00.004-05:00

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I offer the following Celtic prayer in honor of the day:

I am bending my knee
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In friendship and affection.
Through your own Anointed One, O God,
Bestow upon us fullness in our need,
Love towards God,
The affection of God,
The smile of God,
The wisdom of God,
The grace of God,
The fear of God,
And the will of God,
To do on the world of the Three,
As angels and saints
Do in heaven;
Each shade and light,
Each day and night,
Each time in kindness,
Give us your Spirit.

Recollection

2011-06-18T18:58:00.007-05:00

Artist: Leon Wyczółkowski

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The old saints used to refer to awareness of God as "recollection" and I've always loved that word. Probably the word in current use that comes closest to what was meant would be "mindfulness". An interest in remembering, a willingness to remember, is part of that mindfulness, I would assert:

Wherever you have seen God pass, mark that spot, and go and sit in that window again.
-- Henry Ward Beecher

More about Pentecost

2011-06-14T07:29:00.003-05:00

Artist: Giotto di Bondone

Image from Wikimedia Commons

This is from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Frank Hegedus:

Perhaps the greatest marvel of Pentecost is that the peoples gathered at Jerusalem heard the disciples at all amid the din of the city and the bustle of their own lives. But hear them they did, each of them comprehending the message of the Gospel not only in Hebrew and Greek, the common languages of that time and place, but in the language of the human heart. Now as then, all nations and peoples yearn to hear words of forgiveness and peace. But we do not live in a world that likes to listen. Too often we hear what we want to hear and simply call it the voice of God.
...
All language about God is only an approximation to the reality of God, for human language cannot fully comprehend the divine mystery. No one owns the truth. No one owns God. But the more we listen, the closer we come to God. And the closer we come, the more there is to hear and understand of “God’s deeds of power” and great love for us. And then, just when we think we may finally have this God business all figured out, God surprises us yet again and challenges us to delve deeper: to love those we cannot possibly love and to forgive the unforgivable.

It would be beneficial to all (and for all) if we remembered that language about God is "only an approximation". That one awareness all by itself would serve as an antidote to much of the religious conflict abounding in our world today.

~~~