Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 27, Give Up, Take On, Pray

― Anthony de Mello* 1931-1987

    If you knew that this would be the very last time we would speak to each other, would our conversation be different?  We have those moments every day with store clerks, shoppers, people on elevators, those we sit next to in church, at a concert, or sporting event. And then there are our families and friends. What feelings, thoughts, awareness arise if you realize we are all dying. A shocking thought! But it’s true. Some sooner, some later. Some at length and painfully, and some quite suddenly. Some will have a comfortably long life and quietly and peacefully go. Most of us take daily living for granted and yet none of us know the time or the hour [Matthew 25:13]. So let us all LIVE while we can with all that life brings and even all it takes away. Let us turn our eyes to the Creation that our Creator surrounds us with and look for joy in all the life within it, accepting those moments when joy must await our return, as return to it we will and we must. Let us live for those who can no longer and who want us to go on as they walk with us in heart and memory. Embrace LIFE!

Dear Lord of Life:
     You have given each of us this precious gift of the breath of life; what are we doing with it? Is it wasted on the young, regretted by the old, dismissed by those in-between who are too busy to recognize it for what it is?  For today, I will give up taking breathing and life for granted and take on the understanding and compassion that even if the next breath isn't my last it will be for someone. I'll pray for the fullness of breath that inhales Your love, patience, and understanding and with each exhale to disperse anger, frustration, and bitterness. Today may be the last chance we'll have in this life and any days beyond it will truly be a gift. Help us to not waste it by being oblivious to all the gifts we have, thoughtless about the needs of others, chronically cranky, and especially not forgetting to remember You.  amen.   


*Anthony de Mello was a Jesuit priest from India and a psychotherapist who wrote a number of books and made videos on spirituality with an eastern flavor. His first published book Sadhana: A Way to God contained spiritual exercises influenced by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Long after his sudden death, then Cardinal-Prefect Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, convened a commission to study de Mello's work and seemed to find some of his writings and lectures theologically problematic.  There was a temporary ban on them for Roman Catholics which has since been lifted. Millions of Catholics and non-Catholics alike, however, have found great wisdom and transformational thought in de Mello's writings, many more of which were published posthumously. 

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Meditation Moment in Lent, Day 26: Give Up, Take On, Pray

Holding on to anger is like drinking poison 

and expecting the other person to die. 

 

Holding on to anger is like holding hot coals you intend to throw at someone

but you're the one who gets burned.

 

Anger is an acid that does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored 

than to anything on which it is poured.

     All of the above quotes, in a variety of similar iterations, have variously been attributed to The Buddha, Mark Twain, Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca, 12-Step programming, and any number of contemporary authors. It is often difficult to pin down the actual origin of almost epigrammatic expressions especially when widely quoted. Nonetheless, whoever said them first, the consensus of the above is that anger is more dangerous to oneself than to others. Anger that escalates to rage and/or combines with desperation, however, can certainly be dangerous for everyone around.

    But not all anger is bad or dangerous ~ it's quite appropriate and justified, when it's directed at or a result of personal loss, instances of gross injustice, discrimination, economic hardship, and so on. It is how we use our anger, how we respond that makes the difference between poisoning ourselves and resolving an issue. Thoughtful response rather than impulsive reaction? Some days are better than others. How can I pull back when pushed over an edge? Counting to 10? Deep breathing? 

   So much depends on when and how the anger surfaces and who is pushing my buttons and what else is going on within me that may be completely unrelated. For one who is constantly seething over things small and large, “itching for a fight” consciously or otherwise, or keeping it all inside unexpressed with an all-gracious exterior, seeking outside help, pastoral and/or professional is a useful step in self-care.

  We all know that Jesus says to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. If I’m spending much of my brief life raging at others, even just inside, it says more about how I feel about me than how I actually feel about her, him, and them.   

 Dear God,
      There are days when I want You to be Your Old Testament Self ~ smiting and plaguing, wrathful and condemning, thundering, destructive, and vengeful, oh my! That gives me permission, sort of, to impose the eye for eye/tooth for tooth thing as I plot my revenge against a perceived enemy.  But mostly, I want ~ and need ~ Your New Testament Self in the form of Jesus who relieves my angst and anger and shows me a quieter yet equally satisfying path. For today, I'll give up attempting to bend my part of the world to my will by shouted recrimination or internal rage. I'll take on seeking more positive outlets to right injustice, overcome discrimination, promote understanding, or get involved with organizations that work to resolve large issues that affect us all. I'll also work toward calming my inner upsets, examining the why and how of what bothers me, and continuing my quest for the inner peace that will reflect outwardly. I'll pray for the guidance and blessing of the Holy Spirit, the support and friendship of a loving community of faith, and the collective wisdom and love of family and close friends. Oh, and I'll keep working on what I'm thinking about those other drivers when I’m in the car. amen. 

 

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Meditation Moment in Lent, Day 25: Give Up, Take On, Pray

 

The way to misuse our possessions is to use them as an insurance against the morrow. Anxiety is always directed to the morrow, whereas goods are in the strictest sense meant to be used only for to-day...time is the most valuable thing that we have, because it is the most irrevocable.

                                                                   ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer*  1906-1945

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s date on the U.S. Episcopal Calendar is April 9 but this year that is Easter Day. So here he is now as he rises again in my consciousness with the desire to re-read his writings. Bonhoeffer has long inspired me through his writing and especially through a biography by American Charles Marsh entitled Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that showed the young and privileged arrogance of a brilliant mind grow into a passionate and compassionate theologian for all of humanity; and, the spiritual torture of deciding to join the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Another quote of his: We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. As he said, time is the most valuable thing we have, and we only have NOW.

What will I do with it....what will you?

Holy God of Yesterday, Today, and (maybe) Tomorrow,
       The manna You give me today will not last until tomorrow so cajole me not to waste it, fritter it away, or misuse it.  For today I will give up the worry about what might come tomorrow.  I will take on seeing to the necessary business of the day, but more importantly, letting those I care about KNOW, specifically, deliberately, intentionally, definitively, that I care. I will pray that we will each be part of each other's lives for much longer and for the gift of grace to let God interrupt my plans and help me to understand, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said also, “There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler.”  amen.

*Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian, Lutheran pastor, dissident anti-Nazi.  His book The Cost of Discipleship is considered a modern classic.  Polish by birth, he studied at the University of Tubingen and received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees and his Doctor of Theology at the University of Berlin.  He completed a second doctorate - all before the age of 25. He did post graduate study at Union Theological Seminary in New York and was introduced to and was profoundly inspired by the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.  His teachings and writings continue to inspire generations after his death.  With great angst but complete abhorrence of the Nazi dictatorship and violence, he was involved with the German Military Intelligence Office's plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.  He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and executed on April 9, 1945, 23 days before the German surrender. His "time is the most valuable thing we have..." comes from his Letters and Papers from Prison.  He never justified or excused his action but accepted that he was taking guilt upon himself as he wrote "when a man takes guilt upon himself in responsibility, he imputes his guilt to himself and no one else. He answers for it...Before other men he is justified by dire necessity; before himself he is acquitted by his conscience, but before God he hopes only for grace." There is so much more that can be said about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and all in his own words.

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Meditation Moment in Lent, Day 24: Give Up, Take On, Pray

       The power of faith is the power of goodness and truth, which is the power of God…The opposite of faith is therefore fatalism...[that] finds expression in statements like 'Nothing can be done about it.' and 'There is no hope.' These are the statements of people who do not really believe in the power of God, people who do not really hope for what God has promised.   

~ Albert Nolan, O.P.* 1934-2022

Faith....do I have it?  I think I do ~ I must, I go to church, I pray ~ but then there are those moments when I am unsure of what God means to my life. There are times when I am certain there is nothing I can do that will make any useful difference in the world. I even struggle with hope as the world seems to be in constant chaos and turmoil, twisting and turning in violence and calamity. I question my faith often and I suppose I always will. And then what helps is seeing that tiny mustard seed ~ is that really all I need? I think I can muster that much in my way of Faith. Just that much…

Dear Jesus,
   You said that if I have faith as small as a mustard seed I can move mountains [Matthew 17:20]. I feel that strength and know I can move anything larger than myself on those "good days." On those not so good days, sometimes it's all I can do to move myself. But when I look at that tiny seed, I begin to approach hope. For today, I'll give up pondering the details of what I'm sure I believe and what I'm not so sure of. I'll take on walking through each day with that mustard seed as a tangible sign of Your love and inspiration ~ from its tiny beginnings to its full leafing of surprising height that produces more seeds to give flavor and warmth to my life. I'll pray for more hope and more confidence in my faith. In the meantime, I have faith in that tiny seed's magic ~ within it there is the potential for tremendous growth, just as there is within me when I feel my faith reaching for You. amen.

Full Grown Israeli Mustard Tree

*Albert Nolan, OP, was born in Cape Town as a 4th generation South African of English descent. With inspiration from reading the works of Thomas Merton, he entered the Dominican Order in 1954. He taught theology to and had been Vicar General of the Dominicans in South Africa. The author of several books, his 1976 Jesus Before Christianity is the most well-known and has been reissued several times and as recently as 2001, its 25th Anniversary edition.  In it, Nolan discusses Jesus' radical struggle for the full humanity of the poor in the time of first-century Palestine. Nolan writes that Jesus "challenged the rich to identify in solidarity with the poor," a universal theme that is persistently relevant across time and culture.

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Prayers of the People: Unbound From Fear ~ 5th Sunday in Lent '23 Yr A

For Sunday, March 26, 2023 ~ Readings: Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 130, Romans 8:6-11, John 11:1-45

  He said to me "Mortal, can these bones live?" ..."Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones hear the word of the Lord...I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you...and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord." [Ezekiel 37:1a, 3-5, 6b]

    Out of the depths have I called to  you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice...For there is forgiveness with you...I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope. [Psalm 130: 1, 3a, 4]

  But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. [Romans 8:10-11]

     Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I’m the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." [John 11:24-26]

     I know people who have had to hunker down in full-on desert sandstorms in Iraq. They tell me it's blinding, abrading, choking, and all-around frightening. The dunes shape-shift so swiftly as to bury and lay bare concurrently. When the particles settle, the air is so dry it's nearly electric. Without shelter and protection, flesh peels off limbs in sheets and, in the aridity of the desert, you cannot tell the old bones from the new.

     The bones of Ezekiel's valley were very dry, empty, and scattered, each from the other. I’m sure even in his vision, Ezekiel had difficulty in imagining them re-connected, re-fleshed, and re-animated, yet through God’s instructions and Ezekiel’s obedience in prophesying, they were. We, as Christians, see this as a foreshadowing of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. The Pharisaic teaching, that Martha and Mary knew, was that all the righteous would be raised on “the last day.”

     Martha and Mary must have felt scattered and lost at the death of their beloved brother; so painful a loss that Jesus also wept. Who among us cannot understand that while shedding an ocean of tears in the midst of immediate grief, there can be a sense of emptiness that feels as vast, as dry, and as deep as the sands of the Sinai? They wondered why Jesus, who could have saved Lazarus, didn’t come sooner. The teaching of the time was that a soul lingered nearby for 3 days after death. Mary was clear to Jesus that Lazarus was now dead 4 days. All was truly lost, until…      

     We don’t expect or believe that Jesus will call our loved ones out of the grave and restore them to full life and health, certainly not in this life. We hope for it, perhaps dream about it. But the reality of the earthly loss arrives very quickly and never leaves. Yet Paul reminds us that setting our minds on the flesh of this life is death to eternal life. We are to set our minds on the Spirit which is life and peace. No, it definitely isn't easy, especially in the times of life when we feel blown about as in a sandstorm; frightened of the next few days or weeks or months as in the time of the recent pandemic. Some of us are covered over and some of us laid bare. But no matter the age or wellness of our bones, hope is always the best antidote to despair and the best place to find hope is in a community of faith.

      A community exists even when we are at a distance from each other as do family members who live in different states or countries. Some of our Church family simply fell out of the habit of being in Church during the days of the pandemic. Some are physically unable and reaching out regularly is heart-giving for the one who gives and the one who receives. For those with whom we have simply lost regular contact sending an email, a note, or a phone call may be all that's needed to say I'm thinking of you and you are missed but you are still part of "us." Even if the outcome doesn't change, the effort is still worth the time in the family of Christ.

     We all believe and hope in different ways for different outcomes in life’s events, but as a community we must gather our bones, and come alive together in whatever ways, old and new, we can discover. The psalmist says in his word is my hope. The Word of the Gospel can re-animate our hope as we seek the Spirit of Christ within us. We are not alone, even at a distance from each other whether across deserts, oceans, or one street, as long as we choose hope and reach out to each other in love. In Christ we are unbound from fear of the unknowns yet to come, the Light fills and surrounds us, distance fades as we gather together in faith.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Most Merciful GOD, unbind us from the desires and fears that dry our souls, our hearts, and our bones. Set our minds on the Spirit of life and peace, that we may seek, believe, and follow Christ Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life.

                                                      O Lord, our GOD                                  

RESPONSE:                          Rest Your hand upon us

~  Most Merciful GOD, endow those who govern with the capacity, foresight, and willingness to act decisively for the benefit of all Your people throughout this Community, this Nation, and this Planet. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our GOD                

                                                       Rest Your hand upon us

~ Most Merciful GOD, bestow Your healing touch upon all in ill-health, emotional turmoil, or despair; and for those who give them care, rest for today and hope for tomorrow. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our GOD                

                                                       Rest Your hand upon us

~ Most Merciful GOD, let our tears be dried and our grief released, for as Jesus called Lazarus from his tomb, You call our loved ones to the joy of new and eternal life. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our GOD                

                                                       Rest Your hand upon us

~ Most Merciful GOD, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our GOD                

                                                       Rest Your hand upon us          

~ Most Merciful GOD, hearten the spirits of those sent to us to lead Your Church as they prophesy Your Word, and bring us together into the Light of Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O Lord, our GOD                

                                                       Rest Your hand upon us                                                                                   

The Celebrant adds: Lord God of us All, breathe into our mortal bones and awaken us from the death of sin, as our waiting souls turn toward the radiance of Your mercy, forgiveness, and everlasting life. We ask through Jesus, our Redeemer Christ; and the Holy Spirit, our Compass and our Guide; who together with You are One God, now and forever. Amen. 

 

 

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Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 23: Give Up, Take On, Pray

 

 

Just as how we conceptualize God affects what we think the Christian life is about,

so do our images of God.

~ Marcus Borg* 1942-2015           

    Have you ever thought about what your image of God is? There have been lifelong influences, some more unconscious than others. In your mind does he look like the illustrations in Children's Bibles, photos of Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, the ultimate grandfather or, the ultimate disciplinarian? What about Jesus as a sun-tanned, blue eyed European with long flowing locks sun-kissed by expensive-looking highlights or a middle eastern semite, a young Jewish man from Palestine?  And, the Holy Spirit ~ an upside down white dove? 

    Of course it's easier to relate to and feel comfortable with someone we can picture in our minds. Have you ever had the experience of meeting up with a friend from childhood or schooldays ~ you have that old photo in your mind and suddenly you're confronted with the reality.  Perhaps it all works fine or perhaps the memory and the reality are difficult to mesh. Just as we watch children grow from newborns, to toddlers, older children, teens, young adults...and just as we sometimes want to hold on to them at a certain moment in time, it's important for our relationships with them to grow and allow who they become to deepen our bonds. 

    Obviously, we don't have the luxury of knowing what God looks like ~ and if we did, would it be God? ~ but we can look at how or if our early ideas about the image of God have or have not evolved and what that means to us about the maturity of our faith. 

     Sr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM, STD, Professor Emerita of New Testament Studies and Christian Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley has said, God is more than two men and a bird. 

    Has your Trinity ever looked like two men and a bird in your mind's eye? How does your current mind's image affect your prayer, your relationship, your sense of who God is in your life?

Dear God,
       I'm concerned that I might have the wrong image of You in my mind. I want so much to capture the right picture of You in my imaginings ~ all of You, the Trinity ~ God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, so that I can feel that I'm relating to You correctly. And yet somehow that doesn't seem quite right, either.  Well then, for today I'll give up trying to apply and accept someone else's image of You. I'll take on thinking about how I am made in Your image rather than You being made in my image. I'll pray for the security and  spiritual freedom to let You out of the box I keep trying to keep You in. And as I mature in my relationship with You, perhaps I will be able to realize that all I need to do to know You in my mind and heart and soul, is to look in the mirror and at all those I meet daily and then I will see the faces of My Trinity.  amen.


*Marcus Borg, was a Fellow of the Jesus Seminar, and the first person to be designated as Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University. Educated at Moorhead College in Concordia, Minnesota; Union Theological Seminary, in New York City; he also earned a Masters degree in theology and a Ph.D. at Mansfield College, Oxford, England. A progressive Christian with a significant record of scholarship and research on the Historical Jesus, a prolific author and lecturer, and known internationally through videos, lectures, and television, Borg was a frequent collaborator with other theologians with whom he both agreed and disagreed. He remains one of the most recognized and influential theologians of today. Two of his best known works are Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus & The Heart of Contemporary Faith; and, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously but Not Literally. 

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Meditation Moment in Lent ~ Day 22, Give Up, Take On, Pray

I

Am

A Hole

In A Flute

That the Christ's Breath

Moves Through - 

Listen to This

Music.

~ Hafiz 1320-1389*

 

O Breath of God,
        waft through my body, permeate my soul, fill my consciousness to overflowing and let me breathe You into the World. For today I will give up the oblivion of mindless breathing and take on the wonder of inhaling and exhaling with purpose beyond the obvious. I will stop and notice several times today as I breathe in with intention and breathe out with awareness. I will pray at those moments to experience the Radiance of Christ entering in and the humility of conveying the Glory of Christ as I release His music to the world around me. amen.



*Hafiz (Shams-ud-din Muhammad) was a beloved poet of 14th century Persians and his mystical verse has come down through the ages influencing the work and lives of Goethe and Ralph Waldo Emerson, both of whom translated his work. Arthur Conan Doyle had his character Sherlock Holmes quoting Hafiz and Johannes Brahms used several lines in his own compositions. It has been said that in difficult moments, Queen Victoria also went to the work of Hafiz. The quote above was translated by Daniel Ladinsky in his book, A Year With Hafiz.

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