Reserves of reverence

Cat's Eye Nebula

I've come across this quotation twice today and so I think maybe it's a good idea to post it:

A religion that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by traditional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge.

-- Carl Sagan

Of course, "such a religion" has already emerged but it is often well hidden. I refer, of course, to the mystical and contemplatative aspects of the religions we already have. Sadly, these aspects are often ignored or even disparaged by authoritarian, legalistic types of practitioners.

Ah, Carl Sagan, you are very missed, indeed!

Autumn is here!

Artist: Jules Cowan

Autumn arrived today - my favorite season! Perhaps these will explain a little bit:

"Behold congenial Autumn comes,the Sabbath of the Year."

- John Logan, 1748 - 1788

"Summer is already better, but the best is autumn. It is mature, reasonable and serious, it glows moderately and not frivolously ... It cools down, clears up, makes you reasonable ..."

- Valentin


"The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop away from you
like the leaves of Autumn."

- John Muir


"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn."

- Elizabeth Lawrence

Real life theology

"The Dance of Life"

Artist: Edvard Munch

I don't think that the sort of theology that ties up every loose end or hands people unexamined certainties is very helpful. So you can see why I appreciate this:

Life isn't like a book. Life isn't logical or sensible or orderly. Life is a mess most of the time. And theology must be lived in the midst of that mess.

-- Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832)

Mystical prayer

"The Lovers"

Artist: Iris Sonnenschein

Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystics long for the moment when in prayer they can, as it were, creep into God.

--Soren Kierkegaard

The flame of love

"Red Run"

Artist: Tao, the elelephant

Some time ago I posted a video on another one of my blogs about the painting elephants. These are elephants who were previously working animals and who have had to be "retired" as they have outlived their usefulness. They now live on an elephant sanctuary. They have been taught to paint in order to help raise money for their upkeep. Above is one such painting. Below is a quotation from, to my mind, the most astute psychologist of the spiritual life ever:

The flame of love grows as it is divided
it increases by being shared
from one, then two, then three
and darkness is transformed into glory
and the walls reflect its light
Share your flame!
Share your flame!

- St. John of the Cross

Capacity for delight

"Still-life with grapes, flowers and shells"

Artist: Juan de Espinosa

I does not surprise me that a devout Quaker (someone accustomed to keeping silence) would have such a capacity for delight and appreciation:

I should express amongst my blessings how much I am enabled to take pleasure in the various beauties of nature, flowers, shells, etc., and what an entire liberty I feel to enjoy them . I look upon these things as sweet gifts and the power to enjoy them as a still sweeter. I am often astonished when my mind is so exceedingly occupied and my heart so deeply interested, how I can turn with my little children to these objects and enjoy them with as great a relish as any of them. I mention it as a renewed proof that the allowable pleasures of life, so far from losing their zest by having the time and mind much devoted to higher objects are only thereby rendered more delightful.

-- Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845)

Elizabeth Fry was a tireless worker for social justice - particularly regarding the humane treatment of prisoners. Somehow she managed to do this in addition to having eleven children.

Union with all that God is

Artist: Mickie Acierno

An important part of embarking on the spiritual path is to realize who and what we really are. We are, in fact, made in the image and likeness of God. Here's a way of understanding this teaching that is new to me and I think it is very helpful:

One way of imagining the question of image and likeness is to think of a lock and the key made to fit it. A key and its lock do not look like each other, one is not a big version of the other. But a key is made after the image and likeness of the lock, it fits and meshes with it, it belongs in it and its purpose and destiny is to move in it. We are not miniatures of God... but our mysterious evolution influenced by the Spirit working in creation has made us able to "fit" the being of God, our beings match and mesh with God's. Our deepest needs as persons are met and fulfilled by who God actually is. Every aspect of ourselves as persons-in-relationship is blessed and completed by contact and union with all that God is.

--Martin L. Smith from The Word Is Very Near You

The luminous value of "nothing"

Mother Teresa Icon

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best things she ever said:

Reporter: When you pray, what do you say to God?
Mother Theresa: Nothing. I just listen.
Reporter: What does God say to you?
Mother Theresa: Nothing. God just listens, too. And if you don't understand that, I can't explain it to you.

Let us be careful not to use prayer as a commodity. That's not what it's all about.

And the rock was Christ

Artist: Kim Solga

The mystical world view is one in which Christ is truly the All in all. "There is no spot where God is not." I love this image of the multi-colored, sweet tasting mountain:

One day I saw with the eyes of my eternity
in bliss and without effort, a stone.
This stone was like a great mountain
and was of assorted colours.
It tasted sweet, like heavenly herbs.
I asked the sweet stone: Who are you?
It relplied: I am Jesus.

-- Mechtild of Magdeburg

The difficult, the beautiful

"Beauty"

Artist: Olafur Eliasson

I now realize, God, how much you have given me. So much that was beautiful and so much that was hard to bear. Yet, whenever I showed myself ready to bear it, the hard was directly transformed into the beautiful.

— Etty Hillesum quoted in God-Birthing by Michael Dwinell

Can you lift a person's heart?

Heart Art

I think all of us know what it means for our heart to be lifted and also what it's like for our heart to be brought down. It takes a lot of sensitivity and observation and prayer and interior willingness to know how to lift someone's heart, I think:

... some things don't matter much. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now, that matters. The whole problem with people is ... they know what matters, but they don't choose it... The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.

-- Sue Monk Kidd

Overcoming the world

St. Cyprian

Artist: Sir Ninian Comper

Once Christianity became respectable and mainstream we Christians seem to have forgotten what it was like to have "overcome the world":

This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden, under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see--brigands on the high roads, pirates on the seas; in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds; under all roofs misery and selfishness. It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasures of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians -- and I am one of them.

--St. Cyprian

Inward silence

"Listen to the Silence"

Artist: Monica Karppinen

As I have said on my meditation blog, we are now definitely in a period of considerable national tension as the election campaign intensifies. It is therefore, very important to be intentional about maintaining our spiritual equanimity and centeredness. The following quotation is very encouraging, I think:

It is of great importance that you endeavour, at all times, to keep your hearts in peace; that you may keep pure that temple of God. The way to keep it in peace is to enter into it by means of inward silence. When you see yourself more sharply assaulted, retreat into that region of peace; and you will find a fortress that will enable you to triumph over all your enemies, visible and invisible, and over all their snares and temptations. Within your own soul resides divine aid, and sovereign succour. Retreat within it, and all will be quiet, secure, peaceable, and calm. Thus, by means of mental silence, which can only be attained with divine help, you may look for tranquility in tumult: for solitude in company; for light in darkness; for forgetfulness in pressures: for vigour in despondency; for courage in fear; for resistance in temptation; and for quiet in tribulation.

-- William Backhouse

An ear that will listen

"Eli listening to Samuel"

Artist: John Singleton Copley

To say that an unwillingness to listen is "the beginning of the death of the spiritual life" is a very strong statement, indeed. And I'm quite certain that it is true. Not only does this represent an utter lack of compassion, it closes us off from insight and receptivity. Of all people, Bonhoeffer understood this:

Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God, either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God, too. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there will be nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words ... never really speaking to others.

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The wild wonder of God's love

"The Sending of the Twelve"

Artist: Duccio di Buoninsegna

Why dogmatism is so unhelpful as well as uncharitable:

What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn.

-- Madeleine L'Engle

Another penetrating comment on prayer

"Monk in Prayer"

Artist: Edouard Manet

The "propserity gospel" that is often preached in today's mega-churches is a very troublesome heresy. My main quarrel with it is a pastoral one. It does not bother me hugely people want great blessings from God. That strikes me as both understandable and normal. Rather, it grieves me when those same people end up feeling forsaken by God when the blessings are not forthcoming. It is unspeakably cruel to teach people that God will shower them with riches and shield them from all adversity if only their faith is strong enough. Then when something terrible happens - a child dies or a dread disease appears - they have no consolation at all:

The childish idea that prayer is a handle by which we can take hold of God and obtain whatever we desire, leads to easy disillusionment with both what we had thought to be God and what we had thought to be prayer.

-- Robert Short

The soul's house

"I am your man"

Artist: Ines Zgonc

We are socialized, conditioned, to compartmentalize our lives. But it won't work to try that if we're truly on a spiritual path. Here's why:

Most of our conflicts and difficulties come from trying to deal with the spiritual and practical aspects of our life separately instead of realizing them as parts of one whole. If our practical life is centered on our own interests, cluttered up by possessions, distracted by ambitions, passions, wants and worries, beset by a sense of our own rights and importance, or anxieties for our own future, or longings for our own success, we need not expect that our spiritual life will be a contrast to all this. The soul's house is not built on such a convenient plan; there are few soundproof partitions in it. Only when the conviction -- not merely the idea -- that the demand of the Spirit, however inconvenient, rules the whole of it, will those objectionable noises die down which have a way of penetrating into the nicely furnished little oratory and drowning all the quieter voices by their din.

--Evelyn Underhill

A language of flowers

Artist: Ambrosius Bosschaert, the Elder

I like Christopher Smart a lot - even though he was considered mad:

For the flowers are great blessings. For the Lord made a Nosegay in the meadow with his disciples and preached upon the lily. For the flowers have great virtues for all senses. For the flower glorifies God and the root parries the adversary. For the flowers have their angels even the words of God's creation. For there is a language of flowers. For there is a sound reasoning upon all flowers. For flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ.

-- Christopher Smart

The eternal youth of God

"Sun and Moon"

Artist: Gretchen Raisch-Baskin

Oh my. This is just lovely:

A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

- G. K. Chesterton

Loving our neighbor

"Two friends"

Artist: Lia Sadagashvili

Oh my. What a wonderful question. What an important question:

The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say, "What are you going through?"

-- Simone Weil

Sadly, many people believe it's okay, even commendable, to tell others what they should be going through. That is never helpful. In fact, it is hugely disheartening and discouraging.

The function of prayer

"The Prayer"

Artist: Laura Thomson

It has always bothered me when I hear people talk about prayer as if the purpose of it is to tell God what God wouldn't know otherwise and then to convince God how things ought to be. The following approach is more reverent, I think, and really about true submission to God:

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

-- Soren Kierkegaard

Freedom from confusion

Desert Fathers

Here is an interesting saying from one of the Desert Fathers:

Do not want things to turn out as they seem best to you, but as God pleases. Then you will be free of confusion and thankful in your prayer.

— Abba Nilus in Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers

I think it's interesting that the outcome of letting go of our own preferences is the freedom from confusion as well as gratitude. Perhaps that is because if we are constantly attached to our preferences we end up never being satisfied.

David Pendleton Oakerhater

Artist: America Meredith

From a letter by Making Medicine - known to us today as David Pendleton Oakerhater, whose memory we observe today:

I know god likes to hear little children pray to him for it was of these the Savior said, of such is the Kingdom of heaven and very often visit the sick almost every day. I tell about my heathen people I will tell about that he is the son of God. Some old mens to me he say how you know this is the Son of God in heaven. I study I find this Bible Say So. How you know for got good hearts but I say that Holy Bible Said repent Believe and obey. What it means repent he say but I say I repent believe and obey because I am Baptized and Confirmed and eat Lord Supper. again I say to them I am an Indian. but my eyes have been opened to see the light I love and go to the Holy house on the Holy day. I love to hear the Holy Book. The Great Spirit words. I have been washed in the water. I have eaten the Bread and drunk the wine of the Holy fellowship I love all the ways of the Great Spirits laws. I do not know much yet but I will go on to know. Perhaps I will grow up in his knowledge as the tall tree grows up, and up, and up. the white mens who have come to teach us are wise. The sacred men work with their own hands as well as learn and teach from Book So they are strong and wise and excellent that the Indian people all very much surprised to hear me they think that very good History of Jesus and God that is all I say to you

How very, very moving.

He knew such great hardship and sorrow. And yet he had genuine joy in his faith.

May we be strengthened by his example and aided by his prayers.

St. Aidan

Today is the traditional feast day of St. Aidan, missionary Bishop to Northumbria in the seventh century. Here's a traditional story about him that was told by our priest in the sermon at Christ Church this morning:

An inspired missionary, Aidan would walk from one village to another, politely conversing with the people he saw and slowly interesting them in Christianity. According to legend, the king gave Aidan a horse so that he wouldn't have to walk, but Aidan gave the horse to a beggar. By patiently talking to the people on their own level Aidan and his monks slowly restored Christianity to the Northumbrian communities. Aidan also took in twelve English boys to train at the monastery, to ensure that the area's future religious leadership would be English.

Christ our Sun

"Sunrise"

Artist: Margret Hofheinz-Döring

The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise.

- Clement of Alexandria

Unfathomable mysteries

"Beatrice Addressing Dante"

Artist: William Blake

Wonder encourages us to stand humbly before the unfathomable mysteries of human life, trusting that, in them, we encounter God.

— Melanie Svoboda in Traits of a Healthy Spirituality

Complicity and hope

"Battle in the Heavens"

Artist: Nicholas Roerich

Black and white thinking is almost always problematic in developing insight and awareness. It's important that we exercise care not to project our own capacity for wrongdoing onto others. We are all mixtures:

"Resurrected" people prayerfully bear witness against injustice and evil — but also agree compassionately to hold their own complicity in that same evil. It is not over there, it is here.

— Richard Rohr in Hope Against Darkness

Blogging sabbath

Hello, friends.

I need a little break from blogging today. Be back tomorrow or Friday!

Blessings to you all!

Be a lover of silence

"Sunlight"

Artist: Jean Gabriel Lambert

I really cannot collect too many quotations on the subject of silence. I found this one today and I think the juxtaposition of an auditory reference with a visual one is quite wonderful:

If you love truth, be a lover of silence. Silence, like the sunlight, will illuminate you in God.

-- St. Isaac (7th Century Hermit Monk)

Dreams, shadows and projection

"Jacob's Dream"

Artist: Dovid Friedman

Oh my. Wait 'til you see what I have for you today.

I subscribe to a spirituality journal called The Rose published by Emmanuel Church in Athens, Georgia. Today these "new lyrics" were published along with permission to copy freely:

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine;
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine;
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

This little dream of mine, it's gonna be my guide;
This little dream of mine, it's gonna be my guide;
This little dream of mine, it's gonna be my guide,
Be my guide, be my guide, be my guide.

This little shadow I see, it's just a part of me;
This little shadow I see, it's just a part of me;
This little shadow I see, it's just a part of me,
Part of me, part of me, part of me.

Project it on other people... NO!
I'm gonna make it mine;
Project it on other people... NO!
I'm gonna make it mine;
Project it on other people... NO!
I'm gonna make it mine,
Make it mine, make it mine, make it mine.

This little journey I take, it's not a piece of cake;
This little journey I take, it's not a piece of cake;
This little journey I take, it's not a piece of cake,
Piece of cake, piece of cake, when I'm awake.

It is necessary to be awake and aware, folks. I actually preached about that yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't write the sermon out so I can't post it here. But don't ever forget that, as Richard Rohr says, "pain that is not transformed will be transmitted." How true, how true.

You might like to read up on "the shadow" in Jung's thought right here.

This good life

Artist: Alev Necile Din

I think this is an important prayer:

Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.

-- Garrison Keillor

Prayer of Forgiveness

Here is a prayer of forgiveness that I found many years ago and saved. This prayer makes it clear that true forgiveness is a decision - not a feeling. If the hurt in my heart is very great, using these words is a huge help:

Healer of Hearts, Counselor of Souls,
Each morning the miracle of life is renewed in me;
As I have been restored, time after time
So now do I pass on the merciful gift to ______________.
On my part I release him/her/them from any bond of anger, blame, recrimination.
May all corrosive links between us be dissolved.
By the blessed balm of peace and concord.

I believe this was written by Caitlin Matthews .

The sweetness of devotion

Artist: Sibylla deBondorff (1478)

"Sweetness" was a very important word for Francis de Sales. It was he who recommended carrying a "spiritual nosegay" throughout the day from one's morning devotions. It's a lovely concept.

Devotion is the real spiritual sweetness which takes away all bitterness from mortifications, and prevents consolations from disagreeing with the soul; it cures the poor of sadness, and the rich of presumption; it keeps the oppressed from feeling desolate, and the prosperous from insolence; it averts sadness from the lonely, and dissipation from social life; it is as warmth in winter and as refreshing dew in summer; it knows how to abound and how to suffer want, how to profit alike by honour and by contempt; it accepts gladness and sadness with an even mind, and fills the human heart with a wondrous sweetness.

-- Francis de Sales

Now HERE'S a prayer!

Loch Lomond *

Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change; and when we are right, make us easy to live with.

-- Peter Marshall

* Peter Marshall was born in Scotland.

Worship

"Women coming to worship the lamb" from Ghent altar piece

Artist: Jan van Eyck

Something to ponder:

A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The essential nature of solitude

"Solitude"

Artist: Frederick Leighton

There are so many words that can be reflected upon in this short quotation by the very wonderful Henri Nouwen: solitude, transformation, victim, entanglement, illusion, false self... One could take each word in turn and write down everything that comes to mind about it. That would be a powerful spiritual exercise:

Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.

-Henri J. M. Nouwen

Serenity Prayer with a twist

"Angel Serenity"

Artist: Janice Howell

Most of us have heard the usual form of the "Serenity Prayer". But today I found this variation and I like it a lot!

God grant me the serenity
To accept the people I cannot change,
Courage to change the one I can,
And wisdom to know it's me.

I found it here.

Approaching infinity

Neighborhood of Infinity

Artist: Jane Callister

Something wonderful about the movement from loneliness to true solitude:

Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.

-- Thomas Merton

Last night's moon

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.

-- Mohandas Gandhi

The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

The above is the Lady Shrine at St. John's Center for Spiritual Formation. I found the icon while on vacation some years ago in New Mexico.

Today I have found some interesting quotations by the great reformers about Our Lady. Here are a few by Martin Luther. Take a look:

Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees . . . If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother.
...
There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know. And since the Holy Spirit has told us nothing about it, we can make of it no article of faith . . . It is enough to know that she lives in Christ.

The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart.
...
[She is the] highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ . . . She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough.

Let us give thanks this day for Mary, Christ's mother and ours.

The appearance of the Holy

"Bird at the Window Looking in"

Some time ago, I blogged about "thin places" and how I had experienced those - particularly when I lived in Ireland. A couple of days ago, some anonymous person left a book on my assistant's desk entitled Thin Places: Where Faith is Affirmed and Hope Dwells by Mary Treacy O'Keefe. Thank you so much, whoever you are! Here's a passage that O'Keefe herself quotes:

One of the things we easily forget while in the depths of pain is to look for the Holy. We are simply preoccupied with daily survival. But sometimes the Holy sneaks up on us, in ways that surprise us, like the gentle caring word from a nurse, an angel-like appearance in a therapist's office, a word from scripture that sustains us, the appearance of a friend we haven't seen for years, or a bird that will not leave our window sill. These little things help us make it through the day or a week and help us see that we are not alone or forgotten.

-- Janet O. Hagberg

Apologies

Hello, friends!

No blogging today, I'm afraid. It's been a busy day and I'm kinda wiped out right now. But I'll be back tomorrow!

Blessings,
Ellie

The Feast of St. Clare of Assisi

St. Clare

Artist: Simone Martini

I want to recommend an inspiring little article called Clare: A woman for our times. Here's one paragraph:

She was also the first woman in church history to write a rule of life for religious women and to get it approved. This was something very close to her heart, as several different religious rules had been imposed on them, none of which reflected the Franciscan ideal that she wanted to live. So, she set about writing her own ‘Form of Life', and had it approved by the pope on her deathbed, just the day before she died! Two years later (1255) her name was enrolled among the saints.

Light and strength

Bearing the Light

Artist: Camilla Brunschwyler Armstrong

For some time now at Christ Church, our vicar has used the following for the final blessing:

God be your comfort, your strength;
God be your hope and support;
God be your light and your way;
And the blessing of God,
Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life,
Remain with you now and for ever. Amen.

I have experienced it as hugely consoling.

Prayer in the name of Christ

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

The most ignored teaching, maybe?

Probably the aspect of the religious right that disturbs me the most is the apparent disregard of the insistence of Jesus that we are to love our enemies. I have pondered the following today and it brings me both compunction and consolation:

Ye have enemies; for who can live on this earth without them? Take heed to yourselves: love them. In no way can thy enemy so hurt thee by his violence, as thou dost hurt thyself if thou love him not. And let it not seem to you impossible to love him. Believe first that it can be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good can thy neighbor's ill do to thee? If he had no ill, he would not even be thine enemy. Wish him well, then, that he may end his ill, and he will be thine enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at enmity with thee, but his sin.

-- St. Augustine of Hippo

Silence and distance

Mandala ~ Healing
Artist: Jennifer

I think I told you a while back that I had the very great privilege of hearing Fr. Henri Nouwen give a whole series of lectures back in the 70s. In that series he talked a lot about what he called "downward mobility". That concept was a huge influence on me regarding my willingness to listen to God about what was to become my vocation. Here's something else about the ability to pay attention to the God who is ever present as well as to each other:

Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.

- Henri Nouwen

Transfiguration

I've lived in Ireland and the bit about "thin places" is very true. I've experienced them:

Barbara Brown Taylor, one of the best preachers in the Episcopal Church today, once gave a sermon on the Transfiguration in which she spoke of "thin places." She had just returned from Ireland, and it seems the Irish have a notion of something they call "thin places." Thin places are the soft, porous, permeable places where the veil between this world and the next is so sheer that it is easy to see through them and perhaps get a glimpse of the power of Jesus' life penetrating into our lives. I remember the noted biblical scholar, Marcus Borg, also referring that to Celtic, Irish spirituality as he wrote about "thin places, opening the heart."
...
I am suggesting that the disciples with Jesus on the mountain had encountered a thin place between this world and the future that Jesus was revealing to them. They suddenly recognized Jesus for who he really was, for what he represented both in this life and the one to come. And as the light of Jesus' presence shone on them, they were transfigured that day, to see the next steps in their lives in terms of their potential.

Think about it: in this transfiguration story, Jesus does not focus on himself, but on those who were with him. The story is as much about them as it is about him. It is here that they see the connection of their lives to the stories they grew up with about Moses and Elijah. Now their eyes were finally opened to the direction Moses and Elijah had pointed, the direction that Jesus was now revealing.

-- from a sermon by The Reverend Elton O. Smith, Jr.

The Comforter and courage

Holy Spirit Window

At St. John's Center, the ongoing meditation classes have been in a series on the topic of "courage" for some weeks now. The following is pertinent:

The word "Comforter" as applied to the Holy Spirit needs to be translated by some vigorous term. Literally, it means "with strength." Jesus promised His followers that "The Strengthener" would be with them forever. This promise is no lullaby for the faint-hearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living.

-- E. Paul Hovey

The infinite desire of God

Theotokos and Crucifixion

Artist: Marc Chagall

This is a teaching of great consolation, encouragement, and true hope:

Oh, plain, and easy, and simple way of salvation! wanting no subtleties of art or science, no borrowed learning, no refinements of reason; but all done by the simple natural motion of every heart that truly longs after God. For no sooner is the finite desire of the creature in motion towards God, but the infinite desire of God is united with it, co-operates with it; and in this united desire of God and the creature is the salvation and life of the soul brought forth.

-- William Law

It has been aptly said (I can't remember by whom at the moment) that our love for God and God's love for us is the same love.

Life's greatest teacher

Holy Silence

I will be having some oral surgery in a couple of months and I chose my surgeon by trying to find one who does not have music playing in the waiting room or the treatment room. (I will be awake for the procedure.) Amazingly, I found one. When I went for my consult I felt cradled and soothed by the peaceful silence. It's so unusual, I'm sorry to say. Most medical offices even have televisions these days.

We need to come reacquainted with silence. Here's why we don't:

Silence frightens us because it is silence that brings us face to face with ourselves. Silence is a very perilous part of life. It tells us what we’re obsessing about. Silence reminds us of what we have not resolved within ourselves. Silence shows to us the underside of ourselves, from which there is no escape, which no amount of cosmetics can hide, that no amount of money or titles or power can possibly cure. Silence leaves us with only ourselves for company. Silence is, in other words, life’s greatest teacher. It shows us what we have yet to become, and how much we still lack to become it.

-- Sister Joan Chittister

God's Presence

"God's Presence"

Artist: Viviana Siddhi Vid

O Christ Jesus,when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things.

--- St. Ignatius of Loyola

Choosing love instead of fear

"Flow of love"

Artist: Michael McDyer

Fear is a problem that plagues many, many people. I want to make a distinction between the feeling of fear and the decision to let our fear exercise authority over our choices. Please do not fret about the feeling itself; that is something to be healed, not condemned. Simply have compassion for yourself in your fear and care for your fear tenderly as if it were a small child. The fear, rather, that we need to renouce is the kind exercised by the ego, the fear that insists on playing itself as some kind of trump card. I really like what Marianne Williamson has to say about this:

The ego has a pseudo-life of it’s own, and like all life forms, fights hard for survival. As uncomfortable as our life might be, as painful or even desperate at times, the life we are living is the life we know, and we cling to the old rather than try something new. Most of us are so sick of ourselves, in one way or another. It’s unbelievable how tenaciously we cling to what we’ve prayed to be released from.

The ego is like a gravitational force-field, built up over eons of fearful thinking, which draws us away from the love in our hearts. The ego is mental power turned against ourselves. It is clever, like we are, and smooth-talking, like we are, and manipulative, like we are. Remember all the talk about the silver-tongued devil? The ego doesn’t come up to us and say, “ Hi, I’m your self-loathing.” It’s not stupid, because we’re not. Rather, it says thing like, “Hi, I’m your adult, mature, rational self. I’ll help you look out for number one.” Then it proceeds to counsel us to look out for ourselves, at the expense of others. It teaches us selfishness, greed, judgment, and small-mindedness. But remember there is only one of us here: What we give to others, we give to ourselves. What we withhold from others, we withhold from ourselves. In any moment when we choose fear instead of love, we deny ourselves the experience of paradise. To the extent that we abandon love, we will feel it has abandoned us.