Thoughts on synchronicity

 

Saintly Synchronicity

Francis lived in a God-filled world. For the pilgrim of Assisi, the heavens declare the glory of God—and so do sparrows, wolves, and worms. Our cells and souls reflect divine wisdom and are constantly being energized and replenished, even inspired by God. In a God-saturated world, synchronous events populate our days, if our spirits and senses are open. Around each corner is a burning bush or a ladder of angels for pilgrims of the sprit. But, more than that, God wants us to move from mysticism to activism, midwifing and giving birth to God’s vision in our personal lives and public responsibilities. Synchronicities abound for those who live prayerfully, asking for guidance and then listening to God’s wisdom moving through their lives.

Francis believed in divine synchronicity and saw it as essential in the spiritual adventure. Surely it was synchronous that Francis showed up at the church of San Damiano and then listened to the guidance he received. No doubt it was synchronous for Francis to notice a leper as he traveled the roads of Umbria. Mortified and disgusted by leprosy, Francis may have wished to pass by on the other side of the road. But God’s still, small voice told him to stop, reach out, and embrace the man with leprosy. Both the man with leprosy and Francis were transformed in that moment. But, when Francis looked back as he continued the journey, the man with leprosy had disappeared. Francis wondered if the man was Christ in disguise; as he embraced the leper, was he embracing Jesus?

—from the book Walking with Francis of Assisi: From Privilege to Activism
by Bruce Epperly

Thoughts on walking

 

The Answer Found in Walking

I am a walker. Indeed, walking is one of my favorite pastimes. I rejoice in sunrise while striding on the beach near my home or through urban landscapes when I’m traveling on business. I delight in an afternoon saunter with my wife, Kate, and our goldendoodle, taking in the beauty of Cape Cod as my dog gallops across the beach. Knowing my love for walking, a dear friend once gave me a glass paperweight, inscribed with Augustine’s words: solvitur ambulando, “it will be solved in the walking.” Movement awakens novel visions and stimulates creative thinking. It’s difficult to hold onto old ideas when you’re on the move. Walking becomes the place of possibility, intimacy, and service. God is our companion as we venture toward new horizons.

—from the book Walking with Francis of Assisi: From Privilege to Activism
by Bruce Epperly

Thoughts on worrying

 

Are You Home?

Today worrying means to be occupied and preoccupied with many things, while at the same time being bored, resentful, depressed, and very lonely. I am not trying to say that all of us are worried in such an extreme way all the time. Yet there is little doubt in my mind that the experience of being filled yet unfulfilled touches most of us to some degree at some time. In our highly technological and competitive world, it is hard to avoid completely the forces that fill up our inner and outer space and disconnect us from our innermost selves, our fellow human beings, and our God. One of the most notable characteristics of worrying is that it fragments our lives. The many things to do, to think about, to plan for, the many people to remember to visit, or to talk with, the many causes to attack or defend, all these pull us apart and make us lose our center. Worrying causes us to be “all over the place,” but seldom at home. One way to express the spiritual crisis of our time is to say that most of us have an address but cannot be found there. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Spiritual life

 

Be in the World Without Being of the World

Being in the world without being of the world.” These words summarize well the way Jesus speaks of the spiritual life. It is a life in which we are totally transformed by the Spirit of Love. Yet it is a life in which everything seems to remain the same. To live a spiritual life does not mean that we must leave our families, give up our jobs, or change our ways of working; it does not mean that we have to withdraw from social or political activities, or lose interest in literature and art; it does not require severe forms of asceticism or long hours of prayer. Changes such as these may in fact grow out of our spiritual life, and for some people radical decisions may be necessary. But the spiritual life can be lived in as many ways as there are people. What is new is that we have moved from the many things to the Kingdom of God. What is new is that we are set free from the compulsions of our world and have set our hearts on the only necessary thing. What is new is that we no longer experience the many things, people, and events as endless causes for worry, but begin to experience them as the rich variety of ways in which God makes his presence known to us. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on religion

 

Making the World a Safe Home Healthy religion gives us a foundational sense of awe. It re-enchants an otherwise empty universe. It gives people a universal reverence toward all things. Only with such reverence do we find confidence and coherence. Only then does the world become a safe home. Then we can see the reflection of the divine image in the human, in the animal, in the entire natural world—which has now become inherently “supernatural.” That is the paradox, and all dualistic language will henceforth fail us. When the divine image is no longer present, why should I respect you, or anything? Why should I talk to you with tenderness if you do not reflect the divine image, if you are just another market product? —from The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder by Richard Rohr, OFM

Thoughts on change

 

Coping with Change

The word change normally refers to new beginnings. But transformation, the mystery we’re examining, more often happens not when something new begins, but when something old falls apart. The pain of something old falling apart—chaos—invites the soul to listen at a deeper level. It invites, and sometimes forces, the soul to go to a new place because the old place is falling apart. Most of us would never go to new places in any other way. The mystics use many words to describe this chaos: fire, dark night, death, emptiness, abandonment, trial, the Evil One. Whatever it is, it does not feel good and it does not feel like God. We will do anything to keep the old thing from falling apart. This is when we need patience and guidance, and the freedom to let go instead of tightening our controls and certitudes. Perhaps Jesus is describing just this phenomenon when he says, “It is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13–14). Not accidentally, he mentions this narrow road right after teaching the Golden Rule. He knows how much letting go it takes to “treat others as you would like them to treat you” (7:12). So, a change can force a transformation. Spiritual transformation always includes a usually disconcerting reorientation. It can either help people to find a new meaning or it can force people to close down and slowly turn bitter. The difference is determined precisely by the quality of our inner life, our spirituality.

—from The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder
by Richard Rohr, OFM

Thoughts on trusting God

 

Learn to Trust God

Most of us distrust God. Most of us think of God as a fearful, punitive authority or as an empty, powerless nothing. Jesus’ core message was that God is neither a powerless weakling nor a powerful boss, but a lover, whose only desire is to give us what our hearts most desire. To pray is to listen to that voice of love. That is what obedience is all about. The word obedience comes from the Latin word ob-audire, which means “to listen with great attentiveness.” Without listening, we become “deaf” to the voice of love. The Latin word for deaf is surdus. To be completely deaf is to be absurdus, yes, absurd. When we no longer pray, no longer listen to the voice of love that speaks to us in the moment, our lives become absurd lives in which we are thrown back and forth be- tween the past and the future. If we could just be, for a few minutes each day, fully where we are, we would indeed discover that we are not alone and that the One who is with us wants only one thing: to give us love. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on transition

 

Living in a Transitional Age

Living in a transitional age is scary: It’s falling apart, it’s unknowable, it doesn’t cohere, it doesn’t make sense, it’s all mystery again, and we can’t put order in it. Yet there is little in the biblical revelation that ever promised us an ordered universe. The whole Bible is about meeting God in the actual, in the incarnate moment, in the scandal of particularity, and not in educated theories—so much so that it is rather amazing that we ever tried to codify and control the whole thing. The Bible seems to always be saying that this life is indeed a journey, a journey always initiated and concluded by God, and a journey of transformation much more than mere education about anything. We would sooner have textbooks, I think. Then the journey would remain a spectator sport. The transformation model risks people knowing and sharing “the One Spirit that was given us all to drink” (1 Corinthians 12:13). So sad that we have preferred conformity and group loyalty over real change! But chaos often precedes great creativity. Darkness creates the desire for light. Faith actually precedes great leaps into new knowledge. That’s the good news. Our uncertainty is the doorway into mystery, the doorway into surrender, the path to God that Jesus called “faith.” 

—from The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder
by Richard Rohr, OFM

Thoughts on being grounded

 

Read with the Eyes of Compassion

There’s a moral realism in healthy and grounded people. They’re not ideological, on the left or the right. They can accept people whom others have judged for one reason or another. They don’t move up in their head and form great big explanations for why something is wrong or right. You can never shock them. They do not read reality, first of all, with their moral compass, but with the eyes of compassion. They don’t bring answers down from above, but find them within and evoke them from below. Also, for some reason, they don’t compare. They take what is right in front of them on its own, self-evident terms, giving each person the benefit of the doubt.

—from The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder
by Richard Rohr, OFM

Litany of St. Joseph for the Year 2021

 Litany of St. Joseph

Lord, have mercy.    Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.
Holy Trinity, one God.   Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary,   pray for us.
Saint Joseph, . . .
Noble son of the House of David, . . .
Light of patriarchs, . . .
Husband of the Mother of God, . . .
Guardian of the Virgin, . . .
Foster father of the Son of God, . . .
Faithful guardian of Christ, . . .
Head of the holy family, . . .
Joseph, chaste and just, . . .
Joseph, prudent and brave, . . .
Joseph, obedient and loyal, . . .
Pattern of patience, . . .
Lover of poverty, . . .
Model of workers, . . .
Example to parents, . . .
Guardian of virgins, . . .
Pillar of family life, . . .
Comfort of the troubled, . . .
Hope of the sick, . . .
Patron of the dying, . . .
Terror of evil spirits, . . .
Protector of the Church, . . .

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.          

Have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.          

Have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.          

Have mercy on us.

V.  God made him master of his household.
R.  And put him in charge of all that he owned.

Let us pray.

Almighty God,
in your infinite wisdom and love
you chose Joseph to be the husband of Mary,
the mother of your Son.
As we enjoy his protection on earth,
may we have the help of his prayers in heaven.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

R.  Amen.

Thoughts on freedom

 

Freedom Is Our Goal

While fear and anger are the most natural and most obvious reactions to a state of emergency, they have to be unmasked as expressions of our false selves. When we are trembling with fear or seething with anger, we have sold ourselves to the world or to a false god. Fear and anger take our freedom away and make us victims of the strong seductions of our world. Fear, as well as anger, when we look at them in solitude and quiet, reveal to us how deeply our sense of worth is dependent either on our success in the world or on the opinions of others. We suddenly realize that we have become what we do or what others think of us. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on compulsions

 

Embracing the True Self

The secular or false self is the self that is fabricated, as Thomas Merton says, by social compulsions. “Compulsive” is indeed the best adjective for the false self. It points to the need for ongoing and increasing affirmation. Who am I? I am the one who is liked, praised, admired, disliked, hated, or despised. . . . If being busy is a good thing, then I must be busy. If having money is a sign of real freedom, then I must claim my money. If knowing many people proves my importance, I will have to make the necessary contacts. The compulsion manifests itself in the lurking fear of failing and the steady urge to prevent this by gathering more of the same—more work, more money, more friends. These very compulsions are at the basis of the two main enemies of the spiritual life: anger and greed. They are the inner side of the secular life, the sour fruits of our worldly dependences. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on solitude

 

The Grace of Solitude

To have a place of solitude is an inestimable gift. It makes it easy to let the heart expand, to let the senses wake up, one by one, to come alive with fresh vitality. Yet, whatever our circumstances, we need to somehow set aside a time and a place for this kind of experience. It is a necessity in everyone’s life, not a luxury. What comes alive in those moments of solitude is more than eyes or ears; our heart listens and rises to respond. All of us—each in a different measure—have need of solitude, because we need to cultivate mindfulness.

—from the book The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Daily Life
by David Steindl-Rast, OSB

Thoughts on belonging

 

You Belong to God

At issue here is the question: “To whom do I belong? God or to the world?” Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me. . . . As long as we belong to this world, we will remain subject to its competitive ways and expect to be rewarded for all the good we do. But when we belong to God, who loves us without conditions, we can live as he does. The great conversion called for by Jesus is to move from belonging to the world to belonging to God. Henri Nowen

Thoughts on prayer

 

Prayer Shines a Light

In its fullness, prayer is an encounter with God that transforms the way we see and interact with the world. It is like a bright light that reveals what we otherwise do not see: When we wear glasses or look through a window away from the light, we can believe that the glass is perfectly clean. But turn our perspective and hold it up to the light, all of a sudden we are able to see smudges, scratches, and cracks that have been there all along but completely hidden to our normal consciousness. That is the effect that an encounter with God can have on our lives. When we stop for a moment the desire to convince God to give us what we want and simply encounter God—to aim our full attention at the light itself rather than using it to see what we want—our focus becomes clear. All of a sudden, we see ourselves and the world the way God does… and for the first time know that things are not the way that the should be. Something needs to change. Often, that something is us.

—from the book Called: What Happens after Saying Yes to God
by Casey Cole, OFM

Thoughts on journaling

 

Praying on Paper

“All journals have this in common: They give voice to what is inside,” Terry Hershey writes. “They become a safe space. In that way, journaling is like a sanctuary. A time and a place that allows us—gives us permission—to pause. To look inside and to embrace what is here, what is alive and well.”

Click here for this inspiring reflection—a perfect read for
the New Year!

Thoughts on change

 

Everything Changes

The Good News of Jesus Christ is precisely that things have changed and that they are going to change even more. He came to a world that was stuck, to a people that could not find a way out of their sinfulness, to announce that there was another way. Better yet, he came not simply to announce this path and carry us there as passive recipients of grace, but empowered his followers to bring about the kingdom of which he spoke. The kingdom of God is at hand. It is not simply a far distant reality, but something that is inbreaking here and now, something that can be felt and brought about by those who live in communion with him.

In the way we love one another, work for justice, and offer sacrifice—doing as Jesus did—we can actually make a difference in our world because it is in these moments that Christ dwells in us and the Holy Spirit is sent forth from us. What is it that we always pray? “Send down your Spirit and renew the face of the earth!” If we want to follow after Jesus, we must let go of our cynicism and bleak outlook on the world, and instead believe with all our hearts that Christ is in control of this mission. We must look beyond what is not yet redeemed and open our eyes to the overflowing torrent that is God’s love in our world, transforming and renewing the face of the earth. We must realize it is through us, those whom Jesus has called as his disciples, that this work is being accomplished.

—from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship
by Casey Cole, OFM

Thoughts on overcoming evil

 

How to Fight Darkness with Light By Rick Warren — 01/06/2021 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 (NIV) I don’t know if there’s anything more counter-cultural in the world today than responding to evil with good. And because it’s so counter-cultural, it can be one of the hardest things to do. When there’s a bully trying to make trouble in your life, you need to respond positively. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21 NIV). That’s a step of faith, isn’t it? Because everything in you probably wants to overcome evil with evil and fight darkness with more darkness. That’s what the world tells you to do: Fight dirty. That’s why it takes faith to go against what your flesh and culture are telling you to do and instead trust in God and respond to darkness with his light. You fight darkness with light. You fight hatred with love. You fight unkindness with kindness. You don’t let evil overcome you. You overcome evil with good. That’s tough to do. But it gets even tougher: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44 NIV). Is that easy? No. Is it unusual? Yes. Is it a choice? Absolutely. It’s your choice to be better than the bully. Choosing light over darkness means walking the way of Jesus. And Jesus wouldn’t just walk away from a fight and forget. He would lay down his life if that’s what he needed to do to show how much he loves someone—and that’s exactly what he did. God doesn’t want you to retaliate. He also wants you to do good. He wants you to show love to even the hardest hearts by praying for them and asking God to give them hearts like his. Jesus gave us the greatest example of responding in love and praying for enemies. When you follow his example, you’re going to stand out in a world where everyone thinks of themselves first. Taking the step of faith to overcome evil with good will not always be easy, but it will make you a powerful witness for Jesus. Rick Warren

Thoughts on listening to God

 

Your Heart is the Center of Your Being

In the biblical understanding, our heart is at the center of our being. It’s not a muscle, but a symbol for the very center of our being. Now the beautiful thing about the heart is that the heart is the place where we are most ourselves. It is the very core of our being, the spiritual center of our being. Solitude and silence, for instance, are ways to get to the heart, because the heart is the place where God speaks to us, where we hear the voice that calls us beloved. This is precisely the most intimate place. In the famous story, Elijah was standing in front of the cave. God was not in the storm, God was not in the fire and not in the earthquake, but God was in that soft little voice (see 1 Kings 19: 11–12). That soft little voice ... speaks to the heart. Prayer and solitude are ways to listen to the voice that speaks to our heart, in the center of our being. One of the most amazing things is that if you enter deeper and deeper into that place, you not only meet God, but you meet the whole world there. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on a new year

 

DAILY MEDITATION | JANUARY 1, 2021

A New Beginning! We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to the voice saying to us: “I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it!” Imagine. Is it possible that our imagination can lead us to the truth of our lives? Yes, it can! The problem is that we allow our past, which becomes longer and longer each year, to say to us: “You know it all; you have seen it all, be realistic; the future will just be a repeat of the past. Try to survive it as best you can.” There are many cunning foxes jumping on our shoulders and whispering in our ears the great lie: “There is nothing new under the sun... don’t let yourself be fooled.” When we listen to these foxes, they eventually prove themselves right: our new year, our new day, our new hour become flat, boring, dull, and without anything new. So what are we to do? First, we must send the foxes back to where they belong: in their foxholes. And then we must open our minds and our hearts to the voice that resounds through the valleys and hills of our life saying: “Let me show you where I live among my people. My name is ‘God-with-you.’ I will wipe all the tears from your eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past has gone” (Revelation 21:2–5). Henri Nouwen