Reflection for December 29, 2010

Some don’t believe in miracles.
The say, “What happens is by chance”
They rush through God’s creation,
Without a passing glance.

But for those that look and listen
Throughout each precious day
They will find the tracks of Angels,
As they move along their way!

Andie Hellem

May you create a wondrous
2011 full of fun, joy
and laughter.

Reflection for December 22, 2010

And then that girl the angels came to visit,

she woke also to fruit, frightened by beauty,

given love, shy, in her

so much blossom, the forest,

no one had explored, with paths leading everywhere.

They left her alone to walk and to drift

and the spring carried her along.

Her simple and unselfcentered Mary- life

became marvelous and castlelike.

Her life resembled trumpets on the feast days

that reverberated far inside every house;

and she, once so girlish and fragmented,

was so plunged now inside her womb,

and so full inside from that one thing

and so full – enough for a thousand others—

that every creature seemed to throw light on her

and she was like a slope with vines, heavily bearing.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Reflection for December 15, 2010

WHEN I WAS THE STREAM

When I was the stream, when I was the forest,

when I was still the field, when I was every hoof,

foot, fin, and wing, when I was the sky itself,

No one ever asked me did I have a purpose,

no one ever wondered was there anything I might need . . .

for there was nothing I could not love.

It was when I left all we once were that the agony began,

and the fear and questions came and I wept. I wept.

And tears I had never known before.

So I returned to the river. I returned to the mountains.

I asked for their hand in marriage again. I begged––I begged

to wed every object and creature.

And when they accepted,

God was ever present in my arms.

Meister Eckhart

(1260-1328)

Reflection for December 8, 2010

Meditations with Meister Eckhart

What good is it to me

If this eternal birth of the divine Son

Takes place unceasingly

But does not take place

Within myself?

And

what good is it to me

If Mary is full of grace

And if I am not also full of grace?

What good is it to me

For the Creator to give birth to his/her Son

If I do not also give birth to him

In my time

and my culture?

This, then,

is the fullness of time:

When the Son of God

is begotten

In me.

We are all meant

To be mothers of God.

God does not ask anything else of you except

That you let yourself go

And let God

Be God

In you.

Every single creature is full of God

And is a book about God.

To grasp God in all things,

That is the sign

Of your new birth.

Reflection for November 24, 2010

Thoughts on Gratitude

While we cry ourselves to sleep,

gratitude waits patiently to console and reassure us;

there is a landscape larger than the one we can see.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

*

Darkness deserves gratitude.

It is the alleluia point at which we learn to understand

that all growth does not take place in the sunlight.

Joan Chittister, Uncommon Gratitude

*

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant,

to enact gratitude is generous and noble,

but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.

Johannes A. Gaertner

*

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners

who make our souls blossom.

Marcel Proust

Reflection for November 10, 2010

Welcome Morning

There is joy

in all:

in the hair I brush each morning,

in the Cannon towel, newly washed,

that I rub my body with each morning,

in the chapel of eggs I cook

each morning,

in the outcry from the kettle

that heats my coffee

each morning,

in the spoon and the chair

that cry "hello there, Anne"

each morning,

in the godhead of the table

that I set my silver, plate, cup upon

each morning.

All this is God,

right here in my pea-green house

each morning

and I mean,

though often forget,

to give thanks,

to faint down by the kitchen table

in a prayer of rejoicing

as the holy birds at the kitchen window

peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,

let me paint a thank-you on my palm

for this God, this laughter of the morning,

lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard,

dies young.

~ Anne Sexton ~

(The Awful Rowing Toward God)

Reflection for November 3, 2010

The Reike Ideals
(Rea-Key means Universal Life Force)

Just for today - do not anger.

Do not worry, and be filled with gratitude.

Devote yourself to your work.

Be kind to People.

Reike Founder - Usui Mikao

Quilts by Larissa

Reflection for October 27, 2010

Celebration of 'Day of the Dead'

Remembrance of loved ones; they continue to bless our lives.

Reflections of October 6, 2010

THE SACRAMENT OF WAITING

Slowl
She celebrated the sacrament of letting go
First she surrendered her green,
Then the orange, yellow, and red
Finally she let go of her brown.
Shedding her last leaf
She stood empty and silent, stripped bare.
Leaning against the winter sky
She began her vigil of trust.

Shedding her last leaf
She watched its journey to the ground.
She stood in silence
Wearing the color of emptiness,
Her branches wondering;
How do you give shade with so much gone?

And then,
The sacrament of waiting began.
The sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness.
Clothing her with silhouettes
They kept her hope alive.

They helped her understand that
Her vulnerability,
Her dependence and need,
Her emptiness,
Her readiness to receive
Were giving her a new kind of beauty.
Every morning and every evening they stood in silence
And celebrated together
The sacrament of waiting.

Macrina Wiederkehr

From drkirkwebb.com

Reflection for September 29, 2010

Salutation to the Dawn

Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In it’s brief course lie
All the Verities and Realities
Of your Existence:
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty.
For Yesterday is but a Dream
And Tomorrow if only a Vision:
But Today, well lived, makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope
Look well, therefore, to this Day!

From the Sanskrit

Quilt of the 'altar' made by Judy D

Reflection for September 22, 2010

"When will justice come to Athens they asked Thucydides. He answered.

"Justice will not come to Athens until those who are not injured are

as indignant as those who are. Anonymous

Never doubt that a small group of committed persons can change the world;

in fact that is all that ever has. Margaret Mead

Unless souls are saved, nothing is saved; there can be no world peace

unless there is soul peace. Fulton Sheen

Reflection for September 15, 2010

For Retirement

This is where your life has arrived,

After all the years of effort and toil;

Look back with graciousness and thanks

On all your great and quiet achievements.

You stand on the shore of new invitation

To open your life to what is left undone;

Let your heart enjoy a different rhythm

When drawn to the wonder of other horizons.

Have the courage for a new approach to time;

Allow it to slow until you find freedom

To draw alongside the mystery you hold

And befriend your own beauty of soul.

Now is the time to enjoy your heart’s desire,

To live the dreams you’ve waited for,

To awaken the depths beyond your work

And enter into your infinite source.

John O’Donohue

To Bless the Space Between Us

Reflection for September 8, 2010

"All living creatures are, so to speak, sparks from the radiation of God's brilliance, and these sparks emerge from God like the rays of the sun."

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1178)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_Ignota This is the web site about her 'Mystical Writing"

Reflection for September 1, 2010

Instruments of God

A small, wooden flute,

an empty, hollow reed,

rests in her silent hand.

it awaits the breath

of one who creates song

through its open form.

my often empty life

rests in the hand of God;

like the hollowed flute,

it yearns for the melody

which only Breath can give.

the small, wooden flute and I,

we need the one who breathes,

we await one who makes melody.

and the one whose touch creates,

awaits our empty, ordinary forms,

so that the song-starved world

may be fed with golden melodies.

Sr. Joyce Rupp

May I Have This Dance

Reflection for August 25, 2010

Ukraine Orthodox Angelic Icons

I thank God for this day, for bringing me together with this space, for allowing me to be a clear and present vessel for Your energy.

I ask that I am able to detach and release from all that no longer serves.

I ask that I am able to detach and release from the outcome of this, my prayer, so that all may be offered in the Highest Good.

I ask for this or something better with all my brothers and sisters.

Amen


Song sung after meditation - Bread and Roses
by James Oppenheim (1882-1932)

As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill-lofts gray
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing, "Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses."

As we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men --
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes --
Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses.

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient song of Bread;
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew --
Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for Roses, too.

As we come marching, marching, we bring the Greater Days --
The rising of the women means the rising of the race --
No more the drudge and idler -- ten that toil where one reposes --
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses.

Reflection for August 18, 2010

When Death Comes

When death comes

Like the hungry bear in autumn;

when death comes and takes all the bright colors from his purse

to by me, and snaps the purse shut;

when death comes

like the measles-pox;

When death comes

like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:

what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything

as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,

and I look upon time as no more than an idea,

and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common

as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth

tending as all music does toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something

precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say; all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don't want to wonder

If I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,

or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Mary Oliver

From: New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver

reflection for August 11, 2010

It is never my responsibility to:

Give what I really don't want to give.

Sacrifice my integrity to anyone.

Do more than I have time to do.

Drain my strength for others.

Listen to unwise counsel.

Retain an unfair relationship.

Be anyone but exactly who I am.

Conform to unreasonable demands.

Be 100% perfect.

Follow the crowds.

Put up with unpleasant people.

Bear the burden of another's misbehavior.

Do something I cannot really do.

Endure my own negative thoughts.

Feel guilty towards my inner desires.

Submit to overbearing conditions.

Meekly let life pass me by.

Reflections for August 4, 2010

Matins

i
The authentic! Shadows of it
sweep past in dreams, one could say imprecisely,
evoking the almost-silent
ripping apart of giant
sheets of cellophane. No.
It thrusts up close. Exactly in dreams
it has you off-guard, you
recognize it before you have time.
For a second before waking
the alarm bell is a red conical hat, it
takes form.

ii

The authentic! I said
rising from the toilet seat.
The radiator in rhythmic knockings
spoke of the rising steam.
The authentic, I said
breaking the handle of my hairbrush as I
brushed my hair in
rhythmic strokes: That’s it,
that’s joy, it’s always
a recognition, the known
appearing fully itself, and
more itself than one knew.

iii

The new day rises
as heat rises,
knocking in the pipes
with rhythms it seizes for its own
to speak of its invention—
the real, the new-laid
egg whose speckled shell
the poet fondles and must break
if he will be nourished.

iv

A shadow painted where
yes, a shadow must fall.
The cow’s breath
not forgotten in the mist, in the
words. Yes,
verisimilitude draws up
heat in us, zest
to follow through,
follow through,
follow
transformations of day
in its turning, in its becoming.

v

Stir the holy grains, set
the bowls on the table and
call the child to eat.
While we eat we think,
as we think an undercurrent
of dream runs through us
faster than thought
towards recognition.
Call the child to eat,
send him off, his mouth
tasting of toothpaste, to go down
into the ground, into a roaring train
and to school.
His cheeks are pink
his black eyes hold his dreams, he has left
forgetting his glasses.
Follow down the stairs at a clatter
to give them to him and save
his clear sight.
Cold air
comes in at the street door.

vi

The authentic! It rolls
just out of reach, beyond
running feet and
stretching fingers, down
the green slope and into
the black waves of the sea.
Speak to me, little horse, beloved,
tell me
how to follow the iron ball,
how to follow through to the country
beneath the waves
to the place where I must kill you and you step out
of your bones and flystrewn meat
tall, smiling, renewed,
formed in your own likeness.

vii

Marvelous Truth, confront us
at every turn,
in every guise, iron ball,
egg, dark horse, shadow,
cloud
of breath on the air,
dwell
in our crowded hearts
our steaming bathrooms, kitchens full of
things to be done, the
ordinary streets.
Thrust close your smile
that we know you, terrible joy.

Denise Levertov, “Matins” from Poems 1960-1967

Reflection for July 28, 2010

I remember taking up meditation in a formal way when I found I was unable to watch a sunset. Looking out over the interminable blue and gold interior of Queensland with the last parrots sweeping home, I could assess, comment, have opinions, but was unable to let the landscape and the vanishing light simply act upon me; my disorderly awareness deprived me in the midst of plenty...Meditation then is a fasting of the heart in which, for a time we do not go with our wanting and our fear. We cease to attach so strongly to the things of our lives. This is not because they lack worth, but because, when we are full of them, there is too little of us; we cannot discriminate between things, or love them enough.

The Light Inside the Dark--Zen, Soul, and the Spiritual Life
by John Tarrant

Reflection for July 21, 2010

I AM that I AM

Reflection for July 14, 2010

Reflection for July 7, 2010

LESSONS FROM GEESE - BY MILTON OLSON

1. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an "uplift" for the bird following. By flying in "V" formation, the whole flock adds 7% greater flying range than if the bird flew alone.

LESSON: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

2. Whenever a goose falls out of formation it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the "lifting power" of the bird immediately in front.

LESSON: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to others.

3. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.

LESSON: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. With people, as well as geese. we are interdependent on each other.

4. The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

LESSON: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging and not something else.

5. When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again or dies.

LESSON: If we have as much sense as geese, we too will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

Reflection for June 30, 2010

Reflection for June 23, 2010

Psalm 139

O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;
are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

You know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and

wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Reflection for June 16, 2010

Holy as a Day is Spent

Holy is the dish and drain

The soap and sink, and the cup and plate

Warm wool socks, the cold white tile

Showerheads and good dry towels

And frying eggs sound like psalms

With bits of salt measured in my palm

It’s all a part of a sacrament

As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the busy street

And cars that boom with passion’s beat

And the checkout girl counting change

The hands that shook my hands today

And hymns of geese fly overhead

And spread their wings like their parents did.

Blessed be the dog, that runs in her sleep

To chase some wild, elusive thing

Holy is the familiar room

The quiet moments in the afternoon

And folding sheets like folding hands

To pray as only laundry can

I’m letting go of all I fear

Like autumn leaves made of earth and air.

For the summer came and the summer went

As holy as the day is spent

Holy is the place I stand

To give whatever small good I can

The empty page, the open book

Redemption everywhere I look

Unknowingly we slow our pace

In the shade of unexpected grace

And with grateful smiles and sad lament

As holy as the day is spent

And morning light sings “Providence”

As holy as a day is spent

-Carrie Newcomer

(From the CD: A Gathering of Spirits)

Reflection for June 9, 2010

In a game of cards or tennis there may come a moment when you

see you cannot possibly win. The same can happen with your hope

of a happy marriage or a brilliant career. Can you go on playing still,

with no expectation of a win? Play not for the victory, though you have

to strive for that, but for the game itself. Playing is a form of worship.

John Donne and George Herbert were ambitious men. Both hoped

to serve the state in some high capacity. Both were disappointed.

Both became clergymen. A cynic might conclude that they had settled

for a second best. But can a second best turn out better than the first?

Can defeat be met in such a way that it yields a greater prize than victory?

Most of us are destined to failure, which is a form of suffering. How to

use our suffering, how to turn the lead of our defeat into the gold of

something else, is the object of religious alchemy. Not the only one, but

one that most of us are interested in.

Sydney Carter, Dance in the Dark

Reflection for June 2, 2010

Good Judgement comes from Experience;

Experience comes from Bad Judgement

Reflection for May 26, 2010

THE RHYTHM OF EACH

I think each comfort we manage—

each holding in the night, each opening

of a wound, each closing of a wound, each

pulling of a splinter or razored word, each

fever sponged, each clear thing given

to someone in greater need—each

passes on the kindness we’ve known.

For the human sea is made of waves

that mount and merge till the way a

nurse rocks a child is the way that child

all grown rocks the wounded, and how

the wounded, allowed to go on, rock

strangers who in their pain

don’t seem so strange.

Eventually, the rhythm of kindness

is how we pray and suffer by turns,

and if someone were to watch us

from inside the lake of time, they

wouldn’t be able to tell if we are

dying or being born.

Mark Nepo

poet laureate of Bread for the Journey