Advent 2 2015 05 Friday

<We must speak to God as a friend speaks to a friend, communicating all that concerns us, our schedule, our passions, our thoughts, our fears, our projects, our desires, and in all things recognizing God's engagement, and seeking God's counsel.> <For me, prayer means launching out of the heart toward God; a cry of grateful love from the crest of joy or a cry for help from the trough of despair; Prayer is a vast supernatural force that opens out my heart, and binds me close to God.> - St. Ignatius of Loyola, sort of / Saint Damasus

Advent 2 2015 04 Thursday

Trappist Father Thomas Merton pictured in an undated photo.
CNS photo/Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University)

<Love and gratitude are special ways of being alive. Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train. There is not a flower that opens, not a seed that falls into the ground, and not an ear of wheat that nods on the end of its stalk in the wind that does not preach and proclaim the greatness and the mercy of God to the whole world. Remember: Today will never come again. - Thomas Merton>

Advent 2 2015 01 Monday

Art by http://www.josephinewall.co.uk/

I haven't thought about this in years. When I go to meditate or say a rosary, I go in with that intention, so it's in the front of my mind, I'm not going in with a blank slate, I'm going in with an intention. Many of us wake up these days in Total Darkness, not to a sunrise. This meditation from (sort of) Chaya Kaplan-Lester asks us to begin with NO intent, to sit in nothingness and embrace it to find G-d in the darkness and come out the other side together. There's some work!

<Sit quietly for a moment in complete darkness, and let the darkness indeed be complete, with no want for anything, no need for the distractions of sight; simply sense the quiet stillness and complete acceptance of G-d who sits everywhere patiently waiting for us to take notice. Turn off all vision, be quiet and sense the sanctuary that is G-d in our on being. Existing in the cellar of self, like an unlit candle in the darkness, discover a deeper self than light can let in. Dedicate yourself to this inner darkness, to the unknown, to the unspeakable seclusions of the soul. It is the darkness that provokes our path to further reaches, our thoughts to further depths. It is the as-of-yet unillumined, unanswered aspects of an unraveling self, the landscape of dreams and nightmares, tragic truths and fears. Dedicate this moment to every question quested after, to every confusion that has humbled us, to every challenge mastered, to the thrill of secrecy. Reach out to the pilot light of G-d's continued presence in our soul and let it catch on the wick of our Spirit. As the candle of our soul comes alive with the light of G-d, notice that it casts a shadow, our very self in dark outline, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with G-d. Integrate and dedicate the darkness with the light, that which illumines a deeper understanding, and know that you are illuminated from within by the very source of all light.>

Advent 1 2015 05 Friday

 Guardian Angel, 1998, Laura James

<We need to stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around us and remember that the lives of others are not our business. They are their business. They are God’s business. Even our own life is not our business. It also is God’s business. We need to go to God in prayer and leave it to God. It is an astonishing thought. It can become a life-transforming thought. If we unclench the fists of our spirit, we can take it easy and have open empty hands to accept all the fresh gifts God has to offer us. What deadens us most to God’s presence within us, possibly, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of doubt, self-recrimination, judgement, worry. I suspect that there is nothing more crucial to true spiritual comfort than being able from time to time to stop that chatter…> <…When we move to be alone in prayer and meditation and have removed our outer distraction, we often find that our inner distractions manifest themselves to us in full force. We often use the outer distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. This makes the discipline of solitude all the more important. At issue here is the question: "To whom do I belong? God or to the world?"> <The answer comes through the grace of God, freely given to all, which means something like: you were specifically born because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.> ― sort of Frederick Buechner / Henri J.M. Nouwen / Laura Parsons, sort of

ADVENT 3: Tuesday: Your Life Gets Better by Change

photo source: http://bit.ly/1DFxQ3D

We often personally and repeatedly resist change. It seems so much easier to stay just the way we are, and there is VERY little time in our lives to step out of the rut of our daily travels. It's easier just to keep our head down and do as we always have done 'cause it seems to be working for us...so far. But God can see far ahead in to the future and the Holy Spirit always urges us toward change. Wuhl, REAL change is often uncomfortable and involves effort and sacrifice. Real change forces us to "step up" especially because the Gospel insists that change is essential for everyone. We are urged to change our minds - literally, to “repent”- every day. In Greek the word for repent is μετάνοια - metanoia, which comes from meta, "denoting a position behind, after, or beyond, something of a higher or second-order", and the verb noeo, to perceive with the mind, to have understanding, to ponder (as Mary pondered in her heart). In this compound word, the two meanings of time and change are combined in reflection, but more importantly, after the fact, to ponder, to meditate on these things from a higher perspective, to truly observe our actions behind our mind, perhaps with God's loving eyes for us, and realise many of our repetitive actions, in the long run, may be poor choices, may even be destructive choices, but, in the present, may just not be The Best Choices. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we need to change the way we think- about ourselves, the purpose of our lives, other people, our purpose in their lives, and God's own self. We need to learn to shake ourselves in to thinking like God thinks, in a loving and caring way toward ourselves, and not the constant berating, defeatist attitudes we may often default to. Because how we think shapes the way we feel, and how we feel influences the way we act, and as followers of the Gospel of love and peace, our behavior needs to match our beliefs. “To live is to change,” wrote Cardinal Newman, “and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

- the skeleton of a reflection by R. Scott Hurd and the rest is me

ADVENT 2: Wednesday: Let's Take a Spiritual Bath

photo source: Exsodus of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

<Just as, when we are tired physically, a bath in fresh running water invigorates us, so, when we are tired or discomforted mentally, spiritual communion, bathing in the ocean of the Infinite, invigorates the mind and clarifies the thinking. Every person should take time for this inner communion, time when she separates herself from all that appears /detracting/ or /draining/, time to plunge into the living waters of /the Infinite, the Calm, the One True Vibration/. Just as we take a sun bath, so there is an inner light into which we may plunge, an inner consciousness in which we may bathe. The rays of this invisible Sun penetrate the soul just as the rays of the physical sun penetrate the body, renewing and rejuvenating. As water purifies itself by flowing, so an inner realization of the flow of Spirit through us purifies the stagnant pools of morbid thought, and in so doing, eliminates stagnation in the physical body.>

- Holmes, Ernest (2007-12-27).

The Art of Life (Kindle Locations 1359).

Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.

ADVENT 1: Thursday: An Advent Examination

<Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a winter training camp for those who desire peace. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place. Daily we can make an Advent examination. Are there any feelings of discrimination toward race, sex, or religion? Is there a lingering resentment, an unforgiven injury living in our hearts? Do we look down upon others of lesser social standing or educational achievement? Are we generous with the gifts that have been given to us, seeing ourselves as their stewards and not their owners? Are we reverent of others, their ideas and needs, and of creation? These and other questions become Advent lights by which we may search the deep, dark corners of our hearts.>

-Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac, p. 196