Reflection for April 11, 2012

“The Golden Rule”

Christianity

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Judaism

What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor.

That is the entire Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and learn.

Islam

No one is a believer until you desire for another

That which you desire for yourself.

Baha’i

Blessed are those who prefer others before themselves.

Zoroastrianism

Human nature is good only when it does not do unto another

Whatever is not good for its own self.

Sikhism

Be not estranged from one another for God dwells in every heart.

Janism

In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief…

Regard all creatures as you would your own self.

Buddhism

Hurt not others in ways that you yourself find hurtful.

Art: Mary Southard, CSJ 2003 Congregation of St. Joseph

www.ministryofhearts.org

142V Printed by St. Joseph Press

Reflection for April 4, 2012

HOLY WEEK

Christians speak of the "paschal mystery," the process of loss and renewal that was lived and personified in the death and raising up of Jesus. We can affirm that belief in ritual and song, as we do in the Eucharist. However, until we have lost our foundation and ground, and then experience God upholding us so that we come out even more alive on the other side, the expression "paschal mystery" is little understood and not essentially transformative. Paschal mystery is a doctrine that we Christians would probably intellectually assent to, but it is not yet the very cornerstone of our life philosophy. That is the difference between belief systems and living faith. We move from one to the other only through encounter, surrender, trust and an inner experience of presence and power. From Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 62, 63 Prayer: "Faith is a journey into darkness, into not-knowing." Richard Rohr

Reflection for March 28, 2012

The Physics of Attention

First comes the sitting. You should be relaxed

but comfortably straight as you align

your head and torso, shoulders, neck and spine,

your leg right-angled: soles are roots, feet flexed.

In this position you will find your head

afloat, not heavy. Rest there. Now begin

attending to your breathing, out-and in-

the street noise there but filtered, edited.

Quiet the voice that asks: That's all? Just sitting?

Just being there and breathing? Breathe. Align

your body with the earth, your flitting mind

with all that flies, and welcome, in the One

in whom you live and move and have your being,

things as they are: this chair, this you, this time.

MARY O'CONNOR

Mary O'Connor, R.S.M., has taught literature and writing

in the San Francisco Bay Area and in South Dakota. She

now conducts writing retreats.

Reflection for March 21, 2012

Ancestors

my ancestors surround me

like walls of a canyon

quiet

stone hard

their ideas drift over me

like breezes at sunset

we gather sticks

and make settlements

what we do is only partly

our own

and partly continuation

down through the chromosomes.

……………………………Harvey Ellis

Reflection for March 7, 2012

Hope has two beautiful daughters---

their names are anger and courage;

anger at the way things are, and

courage to see

they do not remain the way they are.

St. Augustine

Reflection for February 29, 2012

Jesus clearly says the kingdom of heaven is among us (Luke 17:21) or “at hand” (Matthew 3:2, 4: 17). One wonders why we made it into a reward system for later, or an evacuation plan for the next world. Maybe it was easier to obey laws and practice rituals for later than to actually be transformed now.

The price for real transformation is high. It means that we have to change our loyalties from power, success, money, and control (read: “our kingdoms”) to the Lordship of Jesus and the kingdom of God. Henceforth, there is only one thing that is Absolute and in relationship to that, everything else is relative – everything – even the church, even our nation, even national security, even our wealth and our possessions, even our identity and our reputation.

Your god is whatever you trust to validate you and secure you, and the Gospel is saying, “Will the real God please stand up?”

Richard Rohr, O.F.M.

February 22, 2012

Be a gardener

Dig a ditch,

toil and sweat,

and turn the earth upside down

and seek the deepness

and water the plants in time.

Continue this labor

and make sweet floods to run

and noble and abundant fruits

to spring.

Take this food and drink

and carry it to God

as your true worship.

Julian of Norwich