Thursday, October 30, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Reflection for October 22, 2008

To a Tree

Oh, tree outside my window, we are kin,

For you ask nothing of a friend but this:

To lean against the window and peer in

And watch me move about! Sufficient bliss

For me, who stand behind its framework stout,

Full of my tiny tragedies and grotesque grieves,

To lean against the window and peer out,

Admiring infinites’mal leaves.

Elizabeth Bishop, 1927

What do you ask of friendship?

(What do you ask of God?)

Reflection for October 15, 2008

Holy Now – Peter Mayer

When I was boy each week…on Sunday we would go to church

And pay attention to the priest…and he would read the holy word,

And consecrate the holy bread…and everyone would kneel and bow,

Today the only difference is…everything is holy now.

Everything, everything, everything is holy now.

When I was in Sunday school…we would learn about the time

Moses split the sea in two…Jesus made the water wine.

And I remember feeling sad…that miracles don’t happen still

But now I can’t keep track…’cause everything’s a miracle,

Everything, everything, everything’s a miracle.

Wine from water is not so small…but an even better magic trick

Is that anything is here at all.

So the challenging thing becomes…not to look for miracles,

But finding where there isn’t one.

When holy water was rare at best…it barely wet my fingertips,

But now I have to hold my breath…like I’m swimming in a sea of it

It used to be a world half there…heaven’s second rate hand-me-down,

But I walk it with a reverent air…’cause everything is holy now.

Read a questioning child’s face…and say it’s not a testament,

That’d be very hard to say.

See another new morning come…and say it’s not a sacrament,

I tell you that it can’t be done.

This morning, outside I stood…and saw a little red-winged bird,

Shining like a burning bush…singing like a scripture verse.

It made me want to bow my head…I remember when church let out,

How things have changed since then…everything is holy now.

It used to be a world half there…heaven’s second rate hand-me-down,

But I walk it with a reverent air…’cause everything is holy now.

(From the CD: Million Year Mind by Peter Mayer)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Reflection for October 8, 2008


On Monday Oct 13 we celebrate Columbus Day – the discovery of America. But today, let us consider the wisdom of the Native Peoples of this country whose way of life was changed forever by this event.

PRAYER TO THE FOUR DIRECTIONS

Great Spirit of Light, come to me out of the East (red) with the power of the rising sun. Let there be light in my words, let there be light on my path that I walk. Let me remember always that you give the gift of a new day. And never let me be burdened with sorrow by not starting over again.

Great Spirit if Love, come to me with the power of the North (white). Make me courageous when the cold wind falls upon me. Give me strength and endurance for everything that is harsh, everything that hurts, everything that makes me squint. Let me move through life ready to take what comes from the north.

Great Life-Giving Spirit, I face the West (black), the direction of sundown. Let me remember everyday that the moment will come when my sun goes down. Never let me forget that I must fade into you. Give me a beautiful color, give me a great sky for setting, so that when it is my time to meet you, I can come with glory.

Great Spirit of Creation, send me the warm and soothing winds from the South (yellow). Comfort me and caress me when I am tired and cold. Unfold me like the gentle breezes that unfold the leaves on the trees. As you give to all the earth your warm moving wind, give also to me ao that I may grow close to you in warmth.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Reflection for October 1, 2008


Simplicity is openness to the beauty of the present, whatever its shape, whatever its lack. Simplicity, clearly, leads to freedom of soul. When we cultivate a sense of "enoughness", when we learn to enjoy things for their own sakes, when we learn to be gentle even with what is lacking in ourselves, we find ourselves free to be where we are and to stop mourning where we are not. We find that simplicity is an antidote to depression.
Joan Chittister

Here's a test: James Thurber wrote that people "Should strive to learn before they die/ What they are running from, and to, and why". Simplicity, in other words, is knowing what my life is really all about. Which of Thurber's questions are you able to answer?
Joan Chittister
Songs of Joy: New Meditations on the Psalms for Every Day of the Year

Reflection from September 17, 2008

Praying


It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks; and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Mary Oliver