Somehow in the night I began thinking about the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Christmas cards often picture them with a donkey but they may well have gone the whole way on foot. When they got there the inn was full so they had to make do with the covering of a stable. Their position in the world was lowly. And we know from all that Mary said and did that she had no other desire except to do the will of God. ( I remember this phrase: "have not other desire except to do the Will of God" from my youthful reading of John of the Cross!)
"Behold the servant of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word." Luke 1:38. Mary was poor in spirit. She knew well that all is gift. She received love from God with an open heart her whole life. This love made her strong in adversity so that she stood by the cross of Jesus. And she did not abandon the disciples of Jesus after he died. I think we can presume with St. Ignatius that she was there when Jesus rose from the dead. And she was there in the Cenacle after the Ascension. Acts 1:14
It seems to me that she was wholeheartedly poor in spirit and obviously also actually poor without complaint. "Blessed are the poor in spirit theirs is the kingdom of God." Mt 5:3. How is it possible for us to be poor in spirit? I think it is the work of God in us when we walk in the faith that God has loved us, is loving us, and will always love us. It is good to remind ourselves of this reality. ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. ‘ This gratuitous giving is what we are celebrating on Christmas. And every day really.
When we sit in silence and recognize that God is present, our constant companion, and then simply say a prayer word or phrase over and over, we are trusting all to God. We come to God without an agenda. We come without telling God what we need or what to do. We just trust all to God. This is a time to let God work in our hearts as God wills. With Mary, we say "behold the servant of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word."
Our part is to take the time to pray. This is the watering of our faith. And to remember that it is God who gives the increase. God who does the transforming, in secret, and in great love. Freely.
Let us meditate.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Silence and the Presence of God
Real prayer comes from faith: faith in the reality of God, "in whom we live and move and have our being." We can make an act of faith in God, saying we believe He is present. We need to do this very often.
John of the Cross said in one letter "You owe it to your heart to give it this peace and stillness, since your heart is a place where the Spirit is pleased to dwell."
He also writes of "the Spirit’s constant presence." Now it seems to me that God desires our company more than we desire the constant company of God, because God never takes his love and attention from us. Think of Jesus saying "Abide in me as I abide in you." All of us enjoy loving relationships with other humans. And all of us actually have a loving relationship with God.
What matters then is that we give more attention to this reality. We do this in many ways. One important way is to develop the habit of a walking prayer. Saying a short prayer as we go about our day hither and yon. Another is to try our best to pray the Liturgy, really say those prayers those words we are all saying to God. And then as John of the Cross says. Provide your lives with stillness. In Liturgy at St. Augustine, there is also stillness times when it is good to pray, not just ogle the crowd…
We provide ourselves with stillness in Christian Meditation or Centering Prayer. We use a prayer word or phrase because that keeps us attentive and keeps us from just being '‘spacey'. Or filled with restless thinking. We want to be mindful that we are with God in the stillness no matter how we are feeling. Whether we feel nothing or are up or are down, we cling to the fact that God is with us sustaining us in life, loving us and calling us to walk in faith.
We walk by faith. Faith in the constant presence of the Holy Spirit, faith in the love that God has proved to us by the life and death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the children’s song, we need to say O God I believe in your dear love for me.
John of the Cross said in one letter "You owe it to your heart to give it this peace and stillness, since your heart is a place where the Spirit is pleased to dwell."
He also writes of "the Spirit’s constant presence." Now it seems to me that God desires our company more than we desire the constant company of God, because God never takes his love and attention from us. Think of Jesus saying "Abide in me as I abide in you." All of us enjoy loving relationships with other humans. And all of us actually have a loving relationship with God.
What matters then is that we give more attention to this reality. We do this in many ways. One important way is to develop the habit of a walking prayer. Saying a short prayer as we go about our day hither and yon. Another is to try our best to pray the Liturgy, really say those prayers those words we are all saying to God. And then as John of the Cross says. Provide your lives with stillness. In Liturgy at St. Augustine, there is also stillness times when it is good to pray, not just ogle the crowd…
We provide ourselves with stillness in Christian Meditation or Centering Prayer. We use a prayer word or phrase because that keeps us attentive and keeps us from just being '‘spacey'. Or filled with restless thinking. We want to be mindful that we are with God in the stillness no matter how we are feeling. Whether we feel nothing or are up or are down, we cling to the fact that God is with us sustaining us in life, loving us and calling us to walk in faith.
We walk by faith. Faith in the constant presence of the Holy Spirit, faith in the love that God has proved to us by the life and death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the children’s song, we need to say O God I believe in your dear love for me.
Monday, November 19, 2007
For the wisdom of the wise is doomed. Is 29:14
I read in the NYTimes on Monday that there is a new book out by a former Christian who writes that all the suffering in the world proves that the Bible is wrong and there is no God. It is a so-called learned book because he is very familiar with the Bible and had memorized whole sections of the Gospels when he was young. Then I remembered a passage from St. Paul
1Cor. 1:20-25. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Now there are times when Christians who believe still want signs or want some way to have complete understanding of suffering. Jesus says no sign will be given except that of Jonah in the whale… the Resurrection of Jesus. And Jesus once cried out loud in prayer:
Lk.10:21 I thank you, Father, for you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones.
Do we too ask why me? Why my loved one? Or are we content to be little? To walk by faith and not by sight? Are we convinced that our crucified Christ is indeed the power of God and the wisdom of God? The witness to this reality is the resurrection. When we say Amen, we are saying yes to the Will of God. We need to ask God to sustain this yes in us as He did in Mary. Her yes at the beginning went on steadfastly to the foot of the Cross, to the resurrection , to the Cenacle where all were filled with the Holy Spirit. We are Christians not just for our own sake but the sake of bringing the good news to others.
When we meditate, quietly giving our attention to a prayer phrase repeated for about 30 minutes,, we are consenting to our ‘litheness’, consenting to walk by faith. We trust in the power and the wisdom of God – at least for this time – and hope God will have mercy on us and do what He wills in us..
1Cor. 1:20-25. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Now there are times when Christians who believe still want signs or want some way to have complete understanding of suffering. Jesus says no sign will be given except that of Jonah in the whale… the Resurrection of Jesus. And Jesus once cried out loud in prayer:
Lk.10:21 I thank you, Father, for you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones.
Do we too ask why me? Why my loved one? Or are we content to be little? To walk by faith and not by sight? Are we convinced that our crucified Christ is indeed the power of God and the wisdom of God? The witness to this reality is the resurrection. When we say Amen, we are saying yes to the Will of God. We need to ask God to sustain this yes in us as He did in Mary. Her yes at the beginning went on steadfastly to the foot of the Cross, to the resurrection , to the Cenacle where all were filled with the Holy Spirit. We are Christians not just for our own sake but the sake of bringing the good news to others.
When we meditate, quietly giving our attention to a prayer phrase repeated for about 30 minutes,, we are consenting to our ‘litheness’, consenting to walk by faith. We trust in the power and the wisdom of God – at least for this time – and hope God will have mercy on us and do what He wills in us..
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Free us Lord from our blind spots
"Free us, Jesus, from our inner Pharisee, from every inclination to self-righteousness, from every notion of being morally superior, from every tone of voice, every gesture or glance that could shame others or flatter ourselves. Let no cause, no matter how worthy, seduce us into idolizing ourselves or demonizing others. In a world where so many feel isolated and alone, let us be builders, nor destroyers, of bridges. Teach us how to admit and overcome our blind spots.” Bishop Ken Untener
As I reflected on these words of Bishp Untener,I thought that it remains terribly true that people of every religion, every race, every nation, every language, have engaged in horrendous evils. And yet our true response surely is not the trivial feeling of moral superiority. Rather, such evils ought to sadden us, and impel us to examine what seeds of violence lie hidden within our own selves. We will not make much headway in building bridges by trying to make someone else feel inferior. And yet for some of us, in small ways and out of weakness in ourselves, we do this to others.
There is a time and place for political action. There is a time and place for reflection and prayer.
So we meditate. We stand in need of the mercy of God and meditation is a way to open our hearts to the transforming love of God. God looks on us with such tender mercy. And God does indeed will our healing. Even more wonderful, it is well to realize that this standing naked before God in meditation is of more value to the world and to our neighbor than anything else we could do.
How do we know this? Because Our Savior Jesus Christ Our Lord, prayed. And he continued to pray even during the hours he was on the receiving end of horrendous evils, during his suffering and dying and death.
Was not his response to evil one of love? To the thief: This day you will be with me in paradise. And then: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. It seems to me that this was said first to those who cricufied him but also to all of us sinners.
Let us meditate in great trust. When we come before God without an agenda, without having to think up things to say to God, but simply opening our hearts to God and saying our prayer word as a symbol and a reminder that we are in the hands of God. By meditation we create a space in the universe where God is allowed to freely work his mercy and love. We seek to place no obstacle in the way of the peace which God wants to give us. At least for this ½ hour!
As I reflected on these words of Bishp Untener,I thought that it remains terribly true that people of every religion, every race, every nation, every language, have engaged in horrendous evils. And yet our true response surely is not the trivial feeling of moral superiority. Rather, such evils ought to sadden us, and impel us to examine what seeds of violence lie hidden within our own selves. We will not make much headway in building bridges by trying to make someone else feel inferior. And yet for some of us, in small ways and out of weakness in ourselves, we do this to others.
There is a time and place for political action. There is a time and place for reflection and prayer.
So we meditate. We stand in need of the mercy of God and meditation is a way to open our hearts to the transforming love of God. God looks on us with such tender mercy. And God does indeed will our healing. Even more wonderful, it is well to realize that this standing naked before God in meditation is of more value to the world and to our neighbor than anything else we could do.
How do we know this? Because Our Savior Jesus Christ Our Lord, prayed. And he continued to pray even during the hours he was on the receiving end of horrendous evils, during his suffering and dying and death.
Was not his response to evil one of love? To the thief: This day you will be with me in paradise. And then: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. It seems to me that this was said first to those who cricufied him but also to all of us sinners.
Let us meditate in great trust. When we come before God without an agenda, without having to think up things to say to God, but simply opening our hearts to God and saying our prayer word as a symbol and a reminder that we are in the hands of God. By meditation we create a space in the universe where God is allowed to freely work his mercy and love. We seek to place no obstacle in the way of the peace which God wants to give us. At least for this ½ hour!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
We have come to believe in the Love God has for us. 1 John
This is the foundation of what it means to be a Christian at all. To believe in God’s love. And this is to say that we walk in mystery.
We do not know the future. We do not know the whole of our own lives. We hardly realize that there are depths to our own being, those caverns within.
Because we believe, we can turn to the life of Jesus and see how trusting Jesus was in the love the Father had and has for Him. We can see that the Spirit led Jesus. We can see that Jesus could feel agony as in the Garden, and really desire to be free of suffering, and still submit Himself with perfect love to the mysterious and unsearchable ways of God in human life. This trust can be ours too, and with it goes the great virtue of Hope.
Hope deals with our memory. Without memory of our past we would be lost and would not know who we are. Se we don’t discard memory. Yet memories of our past definitely affect the present. Memories can feed resentment, feed anger and aggression, promote unmanageable desires, and false pride. They can tyrannize our emotions.
We need to ask God to show us how to unhook from memories that get us all worked up. And what about the other role of memory which makes us anxious about the future? “Do not be anxious for tomorrow for tomorrow with be anxious for itself. Let the day's own troubles be sufficient for that day. The build up of anxiety or worry which problems or crises bring in no way help to bring about a better situation. Makes us worse off.
Hope is that refreshing realization that Jesus rose from the dead/ That there is a future of goodness for us, that sorrows or evil do not have the last word at all.
When we take the time to meditate or center, we are taking the time to entrust our whole life to the mystery of the love God has for us. Meditation is a path to increasing trust and hope and so to more peaceful living. As Jesus says to us, too, My peace I give you, not as the world gives peace. Not in any form of violence, but in coming to believe in the love God has for us.
Let is meditate.
We do not know the future. We do not know the whole of our own lives. We hardly realize that there are depths to our own being, those caverns within.
Because we believe, we can turn to the life of Jesus and see how trusting Jesus was in the love the Father had and has for Him. We can see that the Spirit led Jesus. We can see that Jesus could feel agony as in the Garden, and really desire to be free of suffering, and still submit Himself with perfect love to the mysterious and unsearchable ways of God in human life. This trust can be ours too, and with it goes the great virtue of Hope.
Hope deals with our memory. Without memory of our past we would be lost and would not know who we are. Se we don’t discard memory. Yet memories of our past definitely affect the present. Memories can feed resentment, feed anger and aggression, promote unmanageable desires, and false pride. They can tyrannize our emotions.
We need to ask God to show us how to unhook from memories that get us all worked up. And what about the other role of memory which makes us anxious about the future? “Do not be anxious for tomorrow for tomorrow with be anxious for itself. Let the day's own troubles be sufficient for that day. The build up of anxiety or worry which problems or crises bring in no way help to bring about a better situation. Makes us worse off.
Hope is that refreshing realization that Jesus rose from the dead/ That there is a future of goodness for us, that sorrows or evil do not have the last word at all.
When we take the time to meditate or center, we are taking the time to entrust our whole life to the mystery of the love God has for us. Meditation is a path to increasing trust and hope and so to more peaceful living. As Jesus says to us, too, My peace I give you, not as the world gives peace. Not in any form of violence, but in coming to believe in the love God has for us.
Let is meditate.
The consolation and the challenge of the Holy Spirit praying in us
We know from Romans 8:26-27 that the Holy Spirit of God prays in us, with groans and sighs
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us' with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
However we are praying, in our weakness or our blindness or our selfishness, the Holy Spirit is praying in us according to the will of God..
This is a great consolation. What matters is that we pray, whether it be a groaning prayer, a rote prayer, any way of praying. We can trust that our prayer is transformed by the Spirit to be in accord with the will of God. I love the words in Psalm 86:
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name for ever.
For great is your steadfast love towards me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
There is also a challenge to us to open our hearts and minds to let God heal our divided hearts. And in Christian Meditation or centering prayer, we just sit without an agenda,, without seeking to achieve anything, without intending to look good in our own eyes. We sit and say a simple prayer phrase or word over and over gently, quietly so that we are open to what God wants to do with us. We accept the mystery that God is truth and beauty and goodness and we entrust our whole being into the hands of God for this 20-30 minutes.
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us' with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
However we are praying, in our weakness or our blindness or our selfishness, the Holy Spirit is praying in us according to the will of God..
This is a great consolation. What matters is that we pray, whether it be a groaning prayer, a rote prayer, any way of praying. We can trust that our prayer is transformed by the Spirit to be in accord with the will of God. I love the words in Psalm 86:
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name for ever.
For great is your steadfast love towards me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
There is also a challenge to us to open our hearts and minds to let God heal our divided hearts. And in Christian Meditation or centering prayer, we just sit without an agenda,, without seeking to achieve anything, without intending to look good in our own eyes. We sit and say a simple prayer phrase or word over and over gently, quietly so that we are open to what God wants to do with us. We accept the mystery that God is truth and beauty and goodness and we entrust our whole being into the hands of God for this 20-30 minutes.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
"The Spirit prays in us"
“This is the holiest consolation in our prayer.” Karl Rahner, S.J.
Do read Romans 8 this week where we see that the Spirit prays in us. The Spirit of God does not depend on the quality of our prayer to pray in us. Rather the Spirit goes on praying in us with a Divine Energy that gives glory to God. And as Paul then says, the Spirit always prays according to the Will of God for us.
Remember in one resurrection scene, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says: “ Receive the Holy Spirit.” And then exhorts them to forgive sins. Without mutual forgiveness there can be no peace among us, or in our own hearts. He had said to them: just before this:: My peace I give to you. Earlier in John’s Gospel we find Jesus talking about giving peace. There he was quite specific. “My own peace I give to you, a peace that the world cannot give. This is my gift to you.” John 14:27. So Jesus in breathing upon us his Holy Spirit, gives peace in our hearts even when we are feeling otherwise. If we connect these sayings of Jesus and look at our human life, we can know for sure that getting even, holding grudges, even in so-called little ways, or making war, are totally failing ways to get peace. Then we remember that the Spirit of God prays in us and we know that within us is the divine energy to live the way of peace that Jesus showed us by his words and by his life.
Now just think of this: When we pray, the Spirit of God, praying in us and with us, gives immense dignity to our prayer. However poorly we imagine we are doing when we pray, because the Spirit of God is praying in us, our prayer becomes wonderful to God. This is why Paul tell us to pray always. And this is why it is of such value to meditate twice a day and to develop the habit of a walking prayer.
One way to remind ourselves of this gift of God is to make our meditation prayer or our centering a breath prayer. Say your prayer word or prayer phrase on your breath. Giving attention to both your breath and your word. E.g. Breathing in – Ma; breathing out – ra-na-tha..
As Rahner also says: “because (the Spirit) helps, our prayer is a piece of the melody that rushes through the heavens, an aroma of incense that sweetly rises to the eternal altars of heaven before the Triune God. Let us pray.
Do read Romans 8 this week where we see that the Spirit prays in us. The Spirit of God does not depend on the quality of our prayer to pray in us. Rather the Spirit goes on praying in us with a Divine Energy that gives glory to God. And as Paul then says, the Spirit always prays according to the Will of God for us.
Remember in one resurrection scene, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says: “ Receive the Holy Spirit.” And then exhorts them to forgive sins. Without mutual forgiveness there can be no peace among us, or in our own hearts. He had said to them: just before this:: My peace I give to you. Earlier in John’s Gospel we find Jesus talking about giving peace. There he was quite specific. “My own peace I give to you, a peace that the world cannot give. This is my gift to you.” John 14:27. So Jesus in breathing upon us his Holy Spirit, gives peace in our hearts even when we are feeling otherwise. If we connect these sayings of Jesus and look at our human life, we can know for sure that getting even, holding grudges, even in so-called little ways, or making war, are totally failing ways to get peace. Then we remember that the Spirit of God prays in us and we know that within us is the divine energy to live the way of peace that Jesus showed us by his words and by his life.
Now just think of this: When we pray, the Spirit of God, praying in us and with us, gives immense dignity to our prayer. However poorly we imagine we are doing when we pray, because the Spirit of God is praying in us, our prayer becomes wonderful to God. This is why Paul tell us to pray always. And this is why it is of such value to meditate twice a day and to develop the habit of a walking prayer.
One way to remind ourselves of this gift of God is to make our meditation prayer or our centering a breath prayer. Say your prayer word or prayer phrase on your breath. Giving attention to both your breath and your word. E.g. Breathing in – Ma; breathing out – ra-na-tha..
As Rahner also says: “because (the Spirit) helps, our prayer is a piece of the melody that rushes through the heavens, an aroma of incense that sweetly rises to the eternal altars of heaven before the Triune God. Let us pray.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
"The Lord is with you" Luke 1:29
These are the words of the Angel to Mary whom that angel addressed as one who enjoyed God’s favor. The angel sounds a bit surprised.
Mary is not surprised about these particular words because she knew that God was with her. We have abundant evidence that Mary was a person of prayer. Mary lived the prayer of the heart.
This reality of the Presence of God with us is central to our faith. I think sometimes we say prayers and this is good, for it leads us to open our hearts to God. and then there is prayer which recognizes the intimacy of the Presence of God.. Sometimes we seek psychological states when the greatest reality is that of the Presence of God who looks upon us with love and desires an intimate relationship with each one of us. As it says in the book of Revelation: Behold I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in and sup with you, and you with me.”
Christian Meditation or centering prayer, or breath prayers or walking prayer are all ways to give attention to the reality that God is with us; that we open our hearts and minds to the desire that God has for us. Often we need to say to God: I believe you are with me, I believe you love me and seek my response – you are knocking at my inner door. You are asking me to open to you. Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. Or as Mary said: Here am I, the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.
God then serves us and so there is no longer servant relationship but we are friends. As Jesus Said -–I no longer call you servant I call you friends.
Let us begin each time of prayer with this profound act of Faith You, God of my heart, are with me. I believe You are here, that I live in you always. And You in me. Let us pray.
Mary is not surprised about these particular words because she knew that God was with her. We have abundant evidence that Mary was a person of prayer. Mary lived the prayer of the heart.
This reality of the Presence of God with us is central to our faith. I think sometimes we say prayers and this is good, for it leads us to open our hearts to God. and then there is prayer which recognizes the intimacy of the Presence of God.. Sometimes we seek psychological states when the greatest reality is that of the Presence of God who looks upon us with love and desires an intimate relationship with each one of us. As it says in the book of Revelation: Behold I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in and sup with you, and you with me.”
Christian Meditation or centering prayer, or breath prayers or walking prayer are all ways to give attention to the reality that God is with us; that we open our hearts and minds to the desire that God has for us. Often we need to say to God: I believe you are with me, I believe you love me and seek my response – you are knocking at my inner door. You are asking me to open to you. Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. Or as Mary said: Here am I, the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.
God then serves us and so there is no longer servant relationship but we are friends. As Jesus Said -–I no longer call you servant I call you friends.
Let us begin each time of prayer with this profound act of Faith You, God of my heart, are with me. I believe You are here, that I live in you always. And You in me. Let us pray.
Monday, September 03, 2007
The Presence of God
"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it." ... Brother Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God.
This goes right along with what St. Paul tells us: Pray always. Or with what Jesus says to us: Abide in me as I abide in you.
And I was quite delighted to find Karl Rahner saying that since we are to pray always it is also OK to be always talking about prayer.
Continual conversation with God can be so simple. First we must believe that God is with us. That we live and breathe always in the Presence of God. There is never a moment of life that God is not with us because if God were not, we would not even be. Once we take that to heart, it is so simple: just refer all to God in almost any prayer at all that is addressed to God.
There is a certain kind of pride in thinking that we have to wait until we have it just right, or until we have it “all together” We are just human and that is why Jesus says to us Blessed are the poor in spirit’ theirs is the kingdom of God. That is, we just admit our life is a gift, we own nothing that we can take with us. we are not perfect, we are on a journey to fullness, In the meantime, we pray
A walking prayer is a good way to get into praying always. Just find a psalm verse or other short prayer and try saying it when ever you are walking to the car, to a store, from the car. . Up or down a flight of stairs. Standing in line. When you wake in the night. There are multiple opportunities. Just ask like the disciples did: Lord teach us to pray. Or Help me to remember you are with me. Or from Ps 23 Thou art with me.
Or as someone I know does, just keep saying Our Fathers, or Hail Marys.
Let us meditate.
This goes right along with what St. Paul tells us: Pray always. Or with what Jesus says to us: Abide in me as I abide in you.
And I was quite delighted to find Karl Rahner saying that since we are to pray always it is also OK to be always talking about prayer.
Continual conversation with God can be so simple. First we must believe that God is with us. That we live and breathe always in the Presence of God. There is never a moment of life that God is not with us because if God were not, we would not even be. Once we take that to heart, it is so simple: just refer all to God in almost any prayer at all that is addressed to God.
There is a certain kind of pride in thinking that we have to wait until we have it just right, or until we have it “all together” We are just human and that is why Jesus says to us Blessed are the poor in spirit’ theirs is the kingdom of God. That is, we just admit our life is a gift, we own nothing that we can take with us. we are not perfect, we are on a journey to fullness, In the meantime, we pray
A walking prayer is a good way to get into praying always. Just find a psalm verse or other short prayer and try saying it when ever you are walking to the car, to a store, from the car. . Up or down a flight of stairs. Standing in line. When you wake in the night. There are multiple opportunities. Just ask like the disciples did: Lord teach us to pray. Or Help me to remember you are with me. Or from Ps 23 Thou art with me.
Or as someone I know does, just keep saying Our Fathers, or Hail Marys.
Let us meditate.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Quandary of being human
Quandary is inescapable for us simply because we are human and therefore not sufficient of ourselves. As St Paul said:
What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! 1Cor.4:7
We have no security except in God, even though we imagine that more of this or more of that will make us secure. This delusion leads ultimately to war.
But on the every day level this delusion is the opposite of poverty of spirit. What St. Paul says is a good solid way to express poverty of spirit. What have you that you have not received? All is gift, life itself and the freedom to do this or that, to choose this or that. But if we want to choose to be truly human we need to consent to live in a quandary which is to depend radically on the mystery we call God. When we say we walk by faith, we are also saying we walk in mystery. And so long as we are in mystery we remain in a quandary. What then? The faith in which we walk tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We are so loved. In this love alone do we find our security.
I guess that is why I like some of the phrases St. Therese Couderc uses to explain “surrendering to God.” To surrender oneself is to be no longer concerned with self except to keep it continually turned toward God.
If and when in our quandary we are aware of our faults and failings, we can again turn to words from St. Paul : Who will deliver us from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord.” (Rom 7:24) Here you see Paul too turning to God.
That is certainly one great value in taking time for centering or Christian Meditation. In this prayer, we are just putting ourselves in the hands of God, entrusting ourselves to God. Not telling God what we need, that is for another time of day. Here we just remember God is present, loving us and we entrust our whole being to Him. For me, that act of faith in the reality of our here and now relationship to God is vital. I believe God is here, we are immersed in this mystery. Let us pray
What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! 1Cor.4:7
We have no security except in God, even though we imagine that more of this or more of that will make us secure. This delusion leads ultimately to war.
But on the every day level this delusion is the opposite of poverty of spirit. What St. Paul says is a good solid way to express poverty of spirit. What have you that you have not received? All is gift, life itself and the freedom to do this or that, to choose this or that. But if we want to choose to be truly human we need to consent to live in a quandary which is to depend radically on the mystery we call God. When we say we walk by faith, we are also saying we walk in mystery. And so long as we are in mystery we remain in a quandary. What then? The faith in which we walk tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We are so loved. In this love alone do we find our security.
I guess that is why I like some of the phrases St. Therese Couderc uses to explain “surrendering to God.” To surrender oneself is to be no longer concerned with self except to keep it continually turned toward God.
If and when in our quandary we are aware of our faults and failings, we can again turn to words from St. Paul : Who will deliver us from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord.” (Rom 7:24) Here you see Paul too turning to God.
That is certainly one great value in taking time for centering or Christian Meditation. In this prayer, we are just putting ourselves in the hands of God, entrusting ourselves to God. Not telling God what we need, that is for another time of day. Here we just remember God is present, loving us and we entrust our whole being to Him. For me, that act of faith in the reality of our here and now relationship to God is vital. I believe God is here, we are immersed in this mystery. Let us pray
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
"Be it done to me according to your word."
Since August 15 the Feast of the Assumption of Mary – which just means she is in heaven, body and soul, I have been pondering how she saw herself simply as the servant of the Lord. That is how my mother in the hiddeness of her life saw herself too. So too this is our call. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God.
“ a feather on the breath of God” ( Hildegarde of Bingen.).
The life of Mary surely looked ordinary, lowly, absolutely unremarkable from the point of view of our culture which says you must be rich and famous and own many things if expect to matter at all. You must make a name for yourself.
Not so Mary. She just went about the ordinary business of caring for Joseph and Jesus, and later Jesus and his followers. I don’t imagine she was popular either, because did she not say:
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
d lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:51-53)
And we see her there at the foot of the Cross. And there with the believing community as they waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.(Acts 2)
So waiting was and is part of ordinary human life. In the army we used to say “hurry up and wait”. Because we would rush to be on time and then wait an hour for whatever it was we had to be on time for.
We know Mary prayed. We have one of her prayers. So too, we pray and we wait. Our Christian Meditation or Centering is a prayer in which we simply sit in the Presence of God and await His work of love in our inmost being.
We too say Look upon me Lord. I am your servant, Be it done to me according to your Word. As John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote: I do not ask the distant shore to see, one step enough for me. Lead Thou me on.
It is also a work for the world, because there is one more person letting God’s love into the world. Let us meditate often. This is a way to wait on God with open heart and open mind..
“ a feather on the breath of God” ( Hildegarde of Bingen.).
The life of Mary surely looked ordinary, lowly, absolutely unremarkable from the point of view of our culture which says you must be rich and famous and own many things if expect to matter at all. You must make a name for yourself.
Not so Mary. She just went about the ordinary business of caring for Joseph and Jesus, and later Jesus and his followers. I don’t imagine she was popular either, because did she not say:
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
d lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:51-53)
And we see her there at the foot of the Cross. And there with the believing community as they waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.(Acts 2)
So waiting was and is part of ordinary human life. In the army we used to say “hurry up and wait”. Because we would rush to be on time and then wait an hour for whatever it was we had to be on time for.
We know Mary prayed. We have one of her prayers. So too, we pray and we wait. Our Christian Meditation or Centering is a prayer in which we simply sit in the Presence of God and await His work of love in our inmost being.
We too say Look upon me Lord. I am your servant, Be it done to me according to your Word. As John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote: I do not ask the distant shore to see, one step enough for me. Lead Thou me on.
It is also a work for the world, because there is one more person letting God’s love into the world. Let us meditate often. This is a way to wait on God with open heart and open mind..
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The Place to go is our heart.
August 8, 2007
The Place to go is our heart.
St. Paul tells us that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. (1Cor. 6:19) And Jesus also tells us to pray in secret. Of course we know that Jesus prayed also in the Temple with others, in common worship as we do at Sunday Mass. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that the followers of Jesus, after Pentecost, celebrated together what we now call Mass or Eucharist. They called this “the breaking of the bread” But we most certainly have the example of Jesus going apart to pray. His whole life was steeped in prayer.
So if the Holy Spirit dwells within us, which I do believe, help my unbelief. Then within is the place of prayer. By going into our own hearts to pray, we communicate with God. With this intimacy we are letting the Holy Spirit of God lead us from our hearts. Little by little if we are faithful to interior prayer, our community prayer becomes more real to us. We are at one with the believing community when we gather for Eucharist or any common prayer. All over the world there are believing people who together honor God in praise, thanksgiving and repentance. We are one with all these people
The place to go is the heart. That way our lives become more real and less superficial. Why? Because there is the Spirit of God loving us. We are not at all aiming at nothingness in our head! We are communing with God who is present. For me the simplest way to pray in the heart is by centering or Christian Meditation. We just turn our hearts to God in trust, let go of all our discursive thinking, or anxious thinking and just call on the name of Lord with a prayer word or phrase. As you know since I was a young sister, I did this with the psalm verse: O God come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me. Then I met up with Father Thomas Keating who suggested praying a single word, Then I met sister Eileen O’Hea from the the World Community for Christian Meditation who recommended Maranatha. The phrase in the New Testament is also Maranatha Jesus. So there are a variety of words to pray while we sit quietly, going into our hearts with God, though it is well to say the same word all the way through the time you have set aside. Let us pray
The Place to go is our heart.
St. Paul tells us that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. (1Cor. 6:19) And Jesus also tells us to pray in secret. Of course we know that Jesus prayed also in the Temple with others, in common worship as we do at Sunday Mass. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that the followers of Jesus, after Pentecost, celebrated together what we now call Mass or Eucharist. They called this “the breaking of the bread” But we most certainly have the example of Jesus going apart to pray. His whole life was steeped in prayer.
So if the Holy Spirit dwells within us, which I do believe, help my unbelief. Then within is the place of prayer. By going into our own hearts to pray, we communicate with God. With this intimacy we are letting the Holy Spirit of God lead us from our hearts. Little by little if we are faithful to interior prayer, our community prayer becomes more real to us. We are at one with the believing community when we gather for Eucharist or any common prayer. All over the world there are believing people who together honor God in praise, thanksgiving and repentance. We are one with all these people
The place to go is the heart. That way our lives become more real and less superficial. Why? Because there is the Spirit of God loving us. We are not at all aiming at nothingness in our head! We are communing with God who is present. For me the simplest way to pray in the heart is by centering or Christian Meditation. We just turn our hearts to God in trust, let go of all our discursive thinking, or anxious thinking and just call on the name of Lord with a prayer word or phrase. As you know since I was a young sister, I did this with the psalm verse: O God come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me. Then I met up with Father Thomas Keating who suggested praying a single word, Then I met sister Eileen O’Hea from the the World Community for Christian Meditation who recommended Maranatha. The phrase in the New Testament is also Maranatha Jesus. So there are a variety of words to pray while we sit quietly, going into our hearts with God, though it is well to say the same word all the way through the time you have set aside. Let us pray
"to live through love in His Presence" Ephesians 1:4
August 1, 2007
I love this passage from Ephesians Before the world began, God chose us in Christ to be holy and spotless and to live through love in His Presence.
Many times I have wondered about the word holy. And I have come to think that it means totally loving. Only love and goodness and mercy without a shadow of anything less. This is our God. We cry out Holy Holy Holy Lord God of host., Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
So how shall we become this? I believe this is the work of God in us, and that our part is to cling to God, to turn to God, to acknowledge in faith that we are immersed in God. We live in God and can have an intimate and personal relationship with God. Who teaches us.
God teaches us through the Bible, so we listen or read with open heart. God teaches us through events. St. Therese Couderc tells us "Events make know the Will of God." God teaches us in prayer. Our human life is meant to be a shred life so that we can also learn from each other.
When we practice Christian Meditation or centering Prare, we are quite simply just coming to the Lord without any agenda except to be open to His Love. We begin by remembering the reality of the Presence of our God and by acknowledging God in as personal a way as we are able. Then we repeat our prayer word gently over and over and when ever we find any thought or image coming to our head we just go back to our word because that is when we are just open to whatever way God wants to love us and heal us.
We are to let go of all our thinking in a discursive sense, but we are not to let go of that faith by which we know we are in God and God is in us.
As Jesus said: Abide in me as I abide in you
I love this passage from Ephesians Before the world began, God chose us in Christ to be holy and spotless and to live through love in His Presence.
Many times I have wondered about the word holy. And I have come to think that it means totally loving. Only love and goodness and mercy without a shadow of anything less. This is our God. We cry out Holy Holy Holy Lord God of host., Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
So how shall we become this? I believe this is the work of God in us, and that our part is to cling to God, to turn to God, to acknowledge in faith that we are immersed in God. We live in God and can have an intimate and personal relationship with God. Who teaches us.
God teaches us through the Bible, so we listen or read with open heart. God teaches us through events. St. Therese Couderc tells us "Events make know the Will of God." God teaches us in prayer. Our human life is meant to be a shred life so that we can also learn from each other.
When we practice Christian Meditation or centering Prare, we are quite simply just coming to the Lord without any agenda except to be open to His Love. We begin by remembering the reality of the Presence of our God and by acknowledging God in as personal a way as we are able. Then we repeat our prayer word gently over and over and when ever we find any thought or image coming to our head we just go back to our word because that is when we are just open to whatever way God wants to love us and heal us.
We are to let go of all our thinking in a discursive sense, but we are not to let go of that faith by which we know we are in God and God is in us.
As Jesus said: Abide in me as I abide in you
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Reservoirs of Grace
The evening of June 5, I attended a program about Raissa Maritain, a married woman.Here is a good quote from her Journal.
Are we reservoirs of his grace and his love? Even that we leave to God. But it is well to go on asking for love and grace as St. Ignatius did. Our prayers are heard in heaven "in the glorious presence of Almighty God" (Tobit)
However as we persevere in prayer, even walking with prayer, as much as possible throughout the day, we are certainly part of the unfailing memory of the Eternal aomng us. We remember God, we remember the life of Jesus, his wisdom, his mercy, his dying and his resurrection. And the eternal reality that Jesus is risen. Christ in you, your hope of glory. (Col. 1)
And it always consoles me what is written in the Cloud of Unknowing:
What is the role of contemplatives in this world, among the troubles of mankind? ...the role of contemplatives among us is to be mirror of the image of God, reservoirs of his grace and his love, the unfailing memory of the Eternal among us. (p.266m Maritain, Raissa. Raissa's Journal. Albany. Magic BooksWe might ask ourselves are we contemplatives? What we do when we meditate or center is to prepare our hearts for God. We take the step to say yes, God, I open my heart for you to fill me with your love and your grace. For 20-30 minutes we let go of all our concerns, our thoughts, our images, our anxieties, our own agendas, and entrust our lives to God. We do not give God a schedule, like please give me a monthly donation. We simply trust that it is God's will that we abide in Jesus as Jesus abides in us. And so the only desire we bring to this half-hour or prayer is that God will make of us what pleases him.
Inc. 1974)
Are we reservoirs of his grace and his love? Even that we leave to God. But it is well to go on asking for love and grace as St. Ignatius did. Our prayers are heard in heaven "in the glorious presence of Almighty God" (Tobit)
However as we persevere in prayer, even walking with prayer, as much as possible throughout the day, we are certainly part of the unfailing memory of the Eternal aomng us. We remember God, we remember the life of Jesus, his wisdom, his mercy, his dying and his resurrection. And the eternal reality that Jesus is risen. Christ in you, your hope of glory. (Col. 1)
And it always consoles me what is written in the Cloud of Unknowing:
A naked intent toword God, the desire for hm alone is enough. If you want to gather all your desire into one simple word that the mind can easily retain, choose a short word rather that a long one. A one-syllable word such as 'God' or 'love' is best. But choose one that is meaningul to you. then fix it in your mind so that it will remain there come what may. This word will be your defence in conflict and in peace. Use it to beat upon the cloud of darkness above you and to subdue all distractions, consigning them to the cloud of forgetting beneath you.
The Cloud of Unknowing, Ch.7
For I tell you this, one loving desire for God alone is more valuable in itself, more pleasing to God and to the saints, more beneficial to your own growth and more helpful to your friends, both living and dead, than anything else you could do.
The Cloud of Unknowing, Ch.9
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
To welcome the Spirit of God
What a Pentecost celebration we had! A beautiful liturgy with singing and then a brunch together. And then the long ride home.
And the reminder that God wants to pour love into our hearts. Rom. 5:5 How shall we prepare? I think we first need to acknowledge that always we stand in need of love. Never enough love in this world. Never enough forgiveness, never enough compassion, never enough peacemaking. I found this Memorial Day a day of sadness. How futile all this warring, all the getting even in this world, .all the falsity of trying to make peace by killing. I read a great book Left to Tell. A woman who survived the killing in Rwanda and all her family butchered except one brother Yet she forgave all.. Her ability to forgive came out of her deep prayer, her recognition of her utter helplessness without God.
Have we really come to know the depth of these words of Jesus: without me you can do nothing. Are we as honest as many twelve - step people who know without God nothing, Only God can deliver them. And so they turn their lives and wills over to the care of God.
WE need time to be alone before God, waiting to be touched with the love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
The waiting is an active contemplative prayer. This prayer is the soul of our work, and our relationships with each other, our witnessing to the good news! Dorothy Day once said that neither work nor prayer are enough by themselves. As Americans we have no trouble keeping busy! Even if all we are doing is puttering! We do have trouble doing something that does not seem to produce a product. Yet we need to remind ourselves that without God we do nothing…
How do we make the journey to the center? By letting go and letting God. On the ego level we are in charge, we control the operation. In Meditation, we let go and let God take charge. We repeat our prayer and listen to it as a symbol of our selfless attention to the active loving Presence of God.
Sometimes it is helpful to sit a few moments and just listen to whatever sounds there are. Then to acknowledge that we are immersed in the Presence of God. Then we start our prayer word and go on listening to that within ourselves.
And we acknowledge the wisdom of the body. Which is our friend at prayer. We sit straight. We breathe deeply, we listen quietly. We have our feet on the floor and our hands loose, and our eyes gently closed. We are trusting in the transformative power of Love.
Therese Lisieux: “Let us love our littleness, let us love to feel nothing; then we shall be poor in spirit, then Jesus shall come to look for us and transform us into flames of love”
God is at our center…but we must journey through layers of obstruction and follow the lead of the Spirit. Strong and brave. A gift of God.
A gift that God is eager to give. With great trust we open our hearts and minds to the transforming power of Love for God is Love.
It always delights me that in the middle of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, so full of lament over the terrible things happening, the author burst forth in trust.: “The mercies of the Lord are new every morning. Great is thy Faithfulness, O Lord.”. Lam 3:22-23
And the reminder that God wants to pour love into our hearts. Rom. 5:5 How shall we prepare? I think we first need to acknowledge that always we stand in need of love. Never enough love in this world. Never enough forgiveness, never enough compassion, never enough peacemaking. I found this Memorial Day a day of sadness. How futile all this warring, all the getting even in this world, .all the falsity of trying to make peace by killing. I read a great book Left to Tell. A woman who survived the killing in Rwanda and all her family butchered except one brother Yet she forgave all.. Her ability to forgive came out of her deep prayer, her recognition of her utter helplessness without God.
Have we really come to know the depth of these words of Jesus: without me you can do nothing. Are we as honest as many twelve - step people who know without God nothing, Only God can deliver them. And so they turn their lives and wills over to the care of God.
WE need time to be alone before God, waiting to be touched with the love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
The waiting is an active contemplative prayer. This prayer is the soul of our work, and our relationships with each other, our witnessing to the good news! Dorothy Day once said that neither work nor prayer are enough by themselves. As Americans we have no trouble keeping busy! Even if all we are doing is puttering! We do have trouble doing something that does not seem to produce a product. Yet we need to remind ourselves that without God we do nothing…
How do we make the journey to the center? By letting go and letting God. On the ego level we are in charge, we control the operation. In Meditation, we let go and let God take charge. We repeat our prayer and listen to it as a symbol of our selfless attention to the active loving Presence of God.
Sometimes it is helpful to sit a few moments and just listen to whatever sounds there are. Then to acknowledge that we are immersed in the Presence of God. Then we start our prayer word and go on listening to that within ourselves.
And we acknowledge the wisdom of the body. Which is our friend at prayer. We sit straight. We breathe deeply, we listen quietly. We have our feet on the floor and our hands loose, and our eyes gently closed. We are trusting in the transformative power of Love.
Therese Lisieux: “Let us love our littleness, let us love to feel nothing; then we shall be poor in spirit, then Jesus shall come to look for us and transform us into flames of love”
God is at our center…but we must journey through layers of obstruction and follow the lead of the Spirit. Strong and brave. A gift of God.
A gift that God is eager to give. With great trust we open our hearts and minds to the transforming power of Love for God is Love.
It always delights me that in the middle of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, so full of lament over the terrible things happening, the author burst forth in trust.: “The mercies of the Lord are new every morning. Great is thy Faithfulness, O Lord.”. Lam 3:22-23
Friday, May 18, 2007
HOPE
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Heb.11:1
John of the Cross says that as the object of hope is something unpossessed,
the less we clutter our lives with possessions, the more capacity there is to hope for what is unseen and yet promised.. We need to let there be space in our minds and memories too. Not just a limit to possessions, but a limit to the endless chatter of our minds. Sometimes people can spend days and nights rehashing something that has happened, getting upset over and over. This is not the peace promised. Instead we are urged to pray always. Take every confusion, doubt, and darkness to prayer. Hold them up to the healing love that God has for us, the healing love that Jesus showed us in word and in deed. I believe that the promises of God are not just for the life after death. No. Jesus has promised us peace. "My peace I give you, my peace I leave you, not as the world gives peace.". The world, and our government imagines that peace comes from owning more, bossing more, winning war. Out of the barrel of a gun. Not so. Jesus love was too great for all that, He only offered healing love, in word and in deed.
In Letter 19 to Juana de Pedraga, John of the Cross wrote: Live only in dark and genuine faith, and sure hope, and unmitigated love. Be joyful and trust in God"
Hope is an immense openness to a promised unseen future. As My Mother said off and on while dying: ":trusting in your infinite good ness and promises." Hope moves through and beyond the present moment. Not restlessness but anticipation. That is why my father, in much pain dying of lung cancer, could go right on being joyful. He had been gifted with hope and trust. He was eager for the promised future.
So part of hope is confidence that God’s love is certain, yet mysterious, with us in every possible situation whether felt or unfelt. That is why faith hope and love are intertwined.
When we sit in silence and sound our prayer word in our inmost being, we are opening our hearts to the gift of hope. And faith and love. In the poverty of this way of prayer, we are not seeking an out of the body experience, we are not seeking to be better than another. We are just entrusting God with our lives as Jesus did. Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. Let us meditate.
Heb.11:1
John of the Cross says that as the object of hope is something unpossessed,
the less we clutter our lives with possessions, the more capacity there is to hope for what is unseen and yet promised.. We need to let there be space in our minds and memories too. Not just a limit to possessions, but a limit to the endless chatter of our minds. Sometimes people can spend days and nights rehashing something that has happened, getting upset over and over. This is not the peace promised. Instead we are urged to pray always. Take every confusion, doubt, and darkness to prayer. Hold them up to the healing love that God has for us, the healing love that Jesus showed us in word and in deed. I believe that the promises of God are not just for the life after death. No. Jesus has promised us peace. "My peace I give you, my peace I leave you, not as the world gives peace.". The world, and our government imagines that peace comes from owning more, bossing more, winning war. Out of the barrel of a gun. Not so. Jesus love was too great for all that, He only offered healing love, in word and in deed.
In Letter 19 to Juana de Pedraga, John of the Cross wrote: Live only in dark and genuine faith, and sure hope, and unmitigated love. Be joyful and trust in God"
Hope is an immense openness to a promised unseen future. As My Mother said off and on while dying: ":trusting in your infinite good ness and promises." Hope moves through and beyond the present moment. Not restlessness but anticipation. That is why my father, in much pain dying of lung cancer, could go right on being joyful. He had been gifted with hope and trust. He was eager for the promised future.
So part of hope is confidence that God’s love is certain, yet mysterious, with us in every possible situation whether felt or unfelt. That is why faith hope and love are intertwined.
When we sit in silence and sound our prayer word in our inmost being, we are opening our hearts to the gift of hope. And faith and love. In the poverty of this way of prayer, we are not seeking an out of the body experience, we are not seeking to be better than another. We are just entrusting God with our lives as Jesus did. Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. Let us meditate.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Oil of Gladness
I. I so enjoyed the messiness of the anointing of the newly baptizedat the easter Vigil. It used to be even messier. Listen to these words about 4th century Baptisms by a modern scholar who has studied those days.
A Rite of Passage by Aidan Kavanagh, OSB
"I have always rather liked the gruff robustness of the first rubric for baptism found in a late fourth-century church order, which directs that the bishop enter the vestibule of the baptistery and say to the catechumens without commentary or apology only four words: Take off your clothes. There is no evidence that the assistants fainted or the catechumens asked what he meant. Catechesis and much prayer and fasting had led them to understand that the language of their passage this night in Christ from death to life would be the language of the bathhouse and the tomb—not that of the forum and the drawing room."
He then describes how Oil is poured over their whole bodies Deacons…deaconesses do the job… And after they go into the water of the baptismal pool, they are again anointed, only this time with perfumed oil. It was perfumed oil that the woman poured over the head of Jesus, as we read in Mark 14:
"While Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the Leper, as he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head."
We read in 1 John "The anointing that you received from God abides in you."
A Rite of Passage by Aidan Kavanagh, OSB
"I have always rather liked the gruff robustness of the first rubric for baptism found in a late fourth-century church order, which directs that the bishop enter the vestibule of the baptistery and say to the catechumens without commentary or apology only four words: Take off your clothes. There is no evidence that the assistants fainted or the catechumens asked what he meant. Catechesis and much prayer and fasting had led them to understand that the language of their passage this night in Christ from death to life would be the language of the bathhouse and the tomb—not that of the forum and the drawing room."
He then describes how Oil is poured over their whole bodies Deacons…deaconesses do the job… And after they go into the water of the baptismal pool, they are again anointed, only this time with perfumed oil. It was perfumed oil that the woman poured over the head of Jesus, as we read in Mark 14:
"While Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the Leper, as he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head."
We read in 1 John "The anointing that you received from God abides in you."
*******
II. What is this anointing? The seal of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of wisdom and love, as it says God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Quote from St Cyril of Jerusalem:
"The oil of gladness with which Christ was anointed was a spiritual oil; it was the Holy Spirit himself who is the oil of gladness because he is the source of all spiritual joy. But you also have been anointed with oil, and by this anointing you have entered into fellowship with Christ and have received a share in his life. Beware of thinking of this chrism as merely ordinary oil. As the Eucharistic bread after the invocation of the Holy Spirit is no longer ordinary bread but the body of Christ, so also the oil after the invocation is no longer plain ordinary oil but Christ’s gift which by the presence of his divinity becomes the instrument through which you receive the Holy Spirit. While symbolically, on your foreheads, ..your bodies are anointed with this oil that we see, your souls are sanctified by the holy and life-giving Spirit."
*******
III Christ Jesus, the anointed one. That is what ‘christos’ means..from the Hebrew ‘messiah’ which means the anointed one. Jesus the anointed one did not turn out to have the political and economic power some were looking for. He had the real power of the world, the power of cherishing love. Christians, then are the anointed ones.
So now so well anointed, you are one with Christ for he abides in you and you in Him. And yes this is a mystery, and yes this seems foolishness. But again it is Jesus Christ crucified who is the power and the wisdom of God. That anointing means we are called to be witnesses of Christ to the world, called to know that resurrection follows suffering and Resurrection follows death. In the humdrum of life, the ordinariness of every day, Jesus is saying: abide in Me. By abiding in Jesus, we are with Jesus redeeming our times. Walking with Jesus, we will hear very particular calls, calls to compassion, to forgive others as we have been forgiven, to let go of resentments, to let go of the desire to retaliate. Invitations from God to be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful, even to take the last place without needing to be top dog. And indeed, there is that very difficult invitation from Jesus: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you....as Jesus did upon the Cross. Called to a ministry of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5
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IV. What then? That oil poured over us is the anointing by the Holy Spirit, It is a sign of God pouring His strength into our weakness. It is the Oil of gladness.
And when we get together for worship or prayer, we remember who we are, we remind each other of who we really are and to what goodness and compassion we are called and what good news we have to share.
That overflowing oil. That oil of gladness set a seal in us so that each moment and forever we are to live in union with Jesus in the world, discerning and doing the will of God in good times and in bad. The Spirit of God is here, and now, with us, with the Divine power, within us. In season and out we are to call on the name of the Lord and to know the power we have received in this anointing. Pray always the apostle tells us. Our help is in the name of Lord who has made heaven and earth!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Why are sitting there?
Many years ago, I was sitting meditating in my room that was at the end of a corridor. Being an extravert I guess, I had left my door open a crack. someome else in the house came by and said why you are just sitting there! Well the other day I read this story of St. Serapion, who wandered around a lot and came to Rome where they asked him to go to see a woman who was, as best I can figure, an anchorite.. People were worried about her. When he got to her, he said why are you sitting there? She answered: I am not sitting, I am on a journey.
If we believe what Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the life, then we can say that too.
To be a Christian is to be a traveler. We are on a journey to our heart. To our innermost being where God dwells.
In the Acts of the Apostles (19:23ff) we read: "About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way." Actually it bothered people especially a man who made silver shrines to Artemis. In other words, the Way, the people following the way of Jesus, were not contributing enough to the world of trade, not buying enough stuff, not busy buying and selling. As William Wordsworth the poet wrote
"The world is too much with us late and soon, getting and spending we lay waste our powers."
This is something I will explore another time, But for today, it has made me think about how this life is a journey into the depths of our hearts where the Heart of God dwells. A journey into love, A way of life that opens us up to be changed by the Love God has for us so that we may live by love as Jesus did.
This journey into our innermost being has ups and downs, light and darkness, bumps in the road, deserts and mountains., But through it all, there is the constant Presence of God, looking on us with love. We can be sure that nothing can separate us from the love God has for us. This is why we meditate or center. We entrust ourselves to God. We let go of all concerns for 20 minutes as we gently repeat a prayer word. Whenever our mind starts thinking about many things we gently come back to our prayer word.
By saying our prayer word with attention we are really giving our whole attention to the journey!. Let us pray.
If we believe what Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the life, then we can say that too.
To be a Christian is to be a traveler. We are on a journey to our heart. To our innermost being where God dwells.
In the Acts of the Apostles (19:23ff) we read: "About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way." Actually it bothered people especially a man who made silver shrines to Artemis. In other words, the Way, the people following the way of Jesus, were not contributing enough to the world of trade, not buying enough stuff, not busy buying and selling. As William Wordsworth the poet wrote
"The world is too much with us late and soon, getting and spending we lay waste our powers."
This is something I will explore another time, But for today, it has made me think about how this life is a journey into the depths of our hearts where the Heart of God dwells. A journey into love, A way of life that opens us up to be changed by the Love God has for us so that we may live by love as Jesus did.
This journey into our innermost being has ups and downs, light and darkness, bumps in the road, deserts and mountains., But through it all, there is the constant Presence of God, looking on us with love. We can be sure that nothing can separate us from the love God has for us. This is why we meditate or center. We entrust ourselves to God. We let go of all concerns for 20 minutes as we gently repeat a prayer word. Whenever our mind starts thinking about many things we gently come back to our prayer word.
By saying our prayer word with attention we are really giving our whole attention to the journey!. Let us pray.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Making Space for God
This is really a strange saying. After all, we are immersed in God; there is no space anywhere that is not in the presence of God. As we say in Ps 139 Where can I flee from your presence?
What is true though is that we have so many things floating around in our brains, so many things that we imagine we have to give our attention to that our attention is very divided. We are great at multi-tasking.
Well, I think we can put this ability to multi task to good use.
The secret is to worship God in spirit and in truth. .The truth is that God is paying utmost attention to us, to our hearts as well as our activities. We have a faithful Friend always available to us, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, never to part.
Now we have abundant historical evidence that the early Christians made it hard & fast practice to pray in the early morning. My Mother used to tell us: you must seek God in the morning if you want Him through the day.
When we take up the discipline of meditating in the morning and taking some time to read and ponder a scripture passage, we are more likely to remember God is with us. It is so amazingly simple to turn our attention to the reality of the Presence of God. Think of how we are able to be aware of the presence of each other..or the absence of someone we love.
How shall we multitask with God? Meditate faithfully every morning and some other time in the day, even if it has to be twice in the morning. Then make the walking prayer a prayer that reminds you of the reality that God is looking at you with love in every moment of every day. This is where the walking prayer is helpful . Try to have a prayer that you say briefly and often all through out the day.
When we meditate we need to give our whole heart attention to it the way we would if we were trying to do some difficult physical task that required total attention so that we do not fall! Le me tell you I have the distinct memory of climbing down a rope ladder with a pack on my back and I knew I had to be total attentive so I would not fall into the sea! Or even fall onto the edge of the boat receiving me. Giving this attention to meditation gradually alerts our whole being. Then more and more throughout our day, all will be given to God with Love.
What is true though is that we have so many things floating around in our brains, so many things that we imagine we have to give our attention to that our attention is very divided. We are great at multi-tasking.
Well, I think we can put this ability to multi task to good use.
The secret is to worship God in spirit and in truth. .The truth is that God is paying utmost attention to us, to our hearts as well as our activities. We have a faithful Friend always available to us, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, never to part.
Now we have abundant historical evidence that the early Christians made it hard & fast practice to pray in the early morning. My Mother used to tell us: you must seek God in the morning if you want Him through the day.
When we take up the discipline of meditating in the morning and taking some time to read and ponder a scripture passage, we are more likely to remember God is with us. It is so amazingly simple to turn our attention to the reality of the Presence of God. Think of how we are able to be aware of the presence of each other..or the absence of someone we love.
How shall we multitask with God? Meditate faithfully every morning and some other time in the day, even if it has to be twice in the morning. Then make the walking prayer a prayer that reminds you of the reality that God is looking at you with love in every moment of every day. This is where the walking prayer is helpful . Try to have a prayer that you say briefly and often all through out the day.
When we meditate we need to give our whole heart attention to it the way we would if we were trying to do some difficult physical task that required total attention so that we do not fall! Le me tell you I have the distinct memory of climbing down a rope ladder with a pack on my back and I knew I had to be total attentive so I would not fall into the sea! Or even fall onto the edge of the boat receiving me. Giving this attention to meditation gradually alerts our whole being. Then more and more throughout our day, all will be given to God with Love.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Easter Love
Yesterday we listened to talks by Sister Rose on Karl Rahner the great 20th century Catholic theologian. And I was reminded of the time Rahner quoted Ruysbroeck:
Ruysbroeck writes about how God expects of us both work and enjoyment and rest. And that God is with us in all,. However he then says that the interior person is recollected in all circumstances. So Rahner then observes rightly that only God can rescue us from being lost to the things of this world. That word recollection was new to me years ago. Re collect. Re collect my attention, my wandering mind, even in the midst of many and varied daily tasks. Well this is certainly not something we can do of ourselves. This is the work of God. God who knows so well how to give undivided attention to the multiplicity of his works. For without the attention of God we would cease to be.
So it is God whose great love - Easter love! - can save us from being lost to the things and events of our daily life. Rahner says that love, God’s love for us that "can allow my daily routine to remain routine and still transform it into homecoming to God". God can give us this love, We need to beg for this gift. What could be more fulfilling than to live more totally in love.
To ask God to open our hearts and minds and to take steps to be open.
This is what do in Christian Meditation or Centering prayer., We say our prayer gently, over and over, and in this way let go of all our preoccupations
Try to do this for 20 minutes twice a day. Any simple prayer word will do. Although John Main OSB recommends saying Maranatha (come Lord) which is prayer at the end of the Book of Revelation.
If we add a walking prayer to our day, we are again making ourselves available for the transforming power of the love God has for us. Find a prayer you can say over and over with the rhythm of your steps as you go about the day, or drive to work and back. God’s love never ceases, is not lessened by what we do or fail to do. We are immersed in Love every moment of every day. God's love does not take away the ordinariness of our daily routine lives, and yet love does indeed transform everything. Love makes our activities "homecoming’ into God. We can learn from our Buddhist friends. Thich Nhat Hanh has a wonderful book called: The Miracle of Mindfulness. Meditation is not just for the one who meditates. "Meditation is for everyone". That is, when we take the time to sit in meditative prayer, we are united to all people on earth for all people on earth are immersed in God . And so we are making a space for love in our world. Let us pray.
Ruysbroeck writes about how God expects of us both work and enjoyment and rest. And that God is with us in all,. However he then says that the interior person is recollected in all circumstances. So Rahner then observes rightly that only God can rescue us from being lost to the things of this world. That word recollection was new to me years ago. Re collect. Re collect my attention, my wandering mind, even in the midst of many and varied daily tasks. Well this is certainly not something we can do of ourselves. This is the work of God. God who knows so well how to give undivided attention to the multiplicity of his works. For without the attention of God we would cease to be.
So it is God whose great love - Easter love! - can save us from being lost to the things and events of our daily life. Rahner says that love, God’s love for us that "can allow my daily routine to remain routine and still transform it into homecoming to God". God can give us this love, We need to beg for this gift. What could be more fulfilling than to live more totally in love.
To ask God to open our hearts and minds and to take steps to be open.
This is what do in Christian Meditation or Centering prayer., We say our prayer gently, over and over, and in this way let go of all our preoccupations
Try to do this for 20 minutes twice a day. Any simple prayer word will do. Although John Main OSB recommends saying Maranatha (come Lord) which is prayer at the end of the Book of Revelation.
If we add a walking prayer to our day, we are again making ourselves available for the transforming power of the love God has for us. Find a prayer you can say over and over with the rhythm of your steps as you go about the day, or drive to work and back. God’s love never ceases, is not lessened by what we do or fail to do. We are immersed in Love every moment of every day. God's love does not take away the ordinariness of our daily routine lives, and yet love does indeed transform everything. Love makes our activities "homecoming’ into God. We can learn from our Buddhist friends. Thich Nhat Hanh has a wonderful book called: The Miracle of Mindfulness. Meditation is not just for the one who meditates. "Meditation is for everyone". That is, when we take the time to sit in meditative prayer, we are united to all people on earth for all people on earth are immersed in God . And so we are making a space for love in our world. Let us pray.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
LOVE IS HIS MEANING
"Love is His meaning" (Julian of Norwich).
Here we are about to embark on long ceremonies to celebrate the goodness of God. And I am convinced that any other meaning that you have heard besides love is pagan, not Christian. The very title of the Gospels means good news.
We gather to receive the Gift of God. Jesus speaks of his longing to eat with them before he suffers and dies. Over and over we read the good news that God wants to share God’s self with us in love. And that is what he has done. And as we say He was a victim on the cross we need to realize that Jesus has completely changed the meaning because in myths, the victim is considered the one who has caused all the harm. As an example, during the plague in Europe, that people persecuted the Jews, having decided to put all the blame on them. In the Gospel story, we know that Jesus is the innocent one.. It is those who victimize who are the cause of evil in the world. So it is in today’s world.
So as we spend more time in prayer, it is good to recall that prayer is opening our innermost being to the love God has promised to give us. Our prayer is not a technique, it is a relationship. When we decide to give time to meditating, it is to allow God to act in our hearts. We trust the love God has for us . So it is when we gather for Mass. We are remembering and – mysteriously reliving – the wonderful deeds God has done for us. It is an act of faith. Not a feeling.. Not scientific evidence. NO we walk by faith and not by sight. Easter is that greatest work of God, greater than all of creation, because by Easter, Jesus has overcome all the non-loving works of us all, and witnesses to a Love that overcomes death.
We pray: For freedom, Christ has set us free, You are the Savior of the world.
As a Carmelite of today Ruth Burrows writes in her latest book, Essence of Prayer: "What we have to do is allow ourselves to be loved. To be there for Love, who is God, to love us." All is gift: the life we have, the energy we have to do things, the intelligence we have, the growth in maturity, all are gifts that we cooperate in. Our life is a shared enterprise. And when it comes to prayer, our share is to be open to God. "For the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Rom 5:5 Let us meditate for twenty minutes twice a day.
Here we are about to embark on long ceremonies to celebrate the goodness of God. And I am convinced that any other meaning that you have heard besides love is pagan, not Christian. The very title of the Gospels means good news.
We gather to receive the Gift of God. Jesus speaks of his longing to eat with them before he suffers and dies. Over and over we read the good news that God wants to share God’s self with us in love. And that is what he has done. And as we say He was a victim on the cross we need to realize that Jesus has completely changed the meaning because in myths, the victim is considered the one who has caused all the harm. As an example, during the plague in Europe, that people persecuted the Jews, having decided to put all the blame on them. In the Gospel story, we know that Jesus is the innocent one.. It is those who victimize who are the cause of evil in the world. So it is in today’s world.
So as we spend more time in prayer, it is good to recall that prayer is opening our innermost being to the love God has promised to give us. Our prayer is not a technique, it is a relationship. When we decide to give time to meditating, it is to allow God to act in our hearts. We trust the love God has for us . So it is when we gather for Mass. We are remembering and – mysteriously reliving – the wonderful deeds God has done for us. It is an act of faith. Not a feeling.. Not scientific evidence. NO we walk by faith and not by sight. Easter is that greatest work of God, greater than all of creation, because by Easter, Jesus has overcome all the non-loving works of us all, and witnesses to a Love that overcomes death.
We pray: For freedom, Christ has set us free, You are the Savior of the world.
As a Carmelite of today Ruth Burrows writes in her latest book, Essence of Prayer: "What we have to do is allow ourselves to be loved. To be there for Love, who is God, to love us." All is gift: the life we have, the energy we have to do things, the intelligence we have, the growth in maturity, all are gifts that we cooperate in. Our life is a shared enterprise. And when it comes to prayer, our share is to be open to God. "For the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Rom 5:5 Let us meditate for twenty minutes twice a day.
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