“The Pilgrim invites us to lean into mystery and wait. It calls us to let go of our own agendas for this time, but show up to the holy practice of tending, listening, remembering that there is always something new awaiting us.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
How do you show up to the holy practices of tending, listening, and remembering?
This quote is especially relevant this week as Denise and I continue our course (Be Still and Know: A Contemplative Retreat) through Columbia Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s Lifelong Learning program.
John Eudes talked about that moment, that point, that lies before comparison, before the beginning of the vicious cycle or the self-fulfilling prophecy. That is the moment, point, or place where meditation can enter in. It is the moment to stop reading, speaking, socializing, and to “waste” your time in meditation. When you find your mind competing again, you might plan an “empty time” of meditation, in this way interrupting the vicious circle of your ruminations and entering into the depth of your own soul. There you can be with him who was before you came, who loved you before you could love, and has given you your own self before any comparison was possible. In meditation we can come to the affirmation that we are not created by other people but by God, that we are not judged by how we compare with others but by how we fulfill the will of God.
Deep silence leads us to realize that prayer is, above all, acceptance. When we pray, we are standing with our hands open to the world. We know that God will become known to us in the nature around us, in people we meet, and in situations we run into. We trust that the world holds God’s secret within and we expect that secret to be shown to us. Prayer creates that openness in which God is given to us. Indeed, God wants to be admitted into the human heart, received with open hands, and loved with the same love with which we have been created.
Verse of the day
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
– Proverbs 4:23
Voice of the day
What we all need to do is find the wellspring that keeps us going, that gives us the strength and patience to keep up this struggle for a long time.
– Winona LaDuke
Prayer of the day
Give us patience on our journey to the wellspring of life.
“As Shelley Douglass puts it, we do not want to have to change our lives to bring about justice. The hardest moment comes when our own internal oppressor meets the outside reality that it supports. It is not out there, but in me, that the oppressor must die.”—Walter Wink, Jesus and Nonviolence
Verse of the day
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
– John 20: 21-22
Voice of the day
Because I breathe in your air, you breathe in mine / You give me your breath, I give you mine / Because we share the same elemental dependence / belonging together to this alive place
– Kimberly Blaeser, “Because We Come From Everything”
Prayer of the day
Breathe deep. Together we journey toward becoming and belonging in this alive place.
To be calm and quiet by yourself is not the same as sleeping. In fact, it means being fully awake and following with close attention every move going on inside of you. It requires the discipline to recognize the urge to get up and go as a temptation to look elsewhere for what is really close at hand. It offers the freedom to stroll through your own inner yard and rake up the leaves and clear the path so you can easily find the way to your heart. Perhaps there will be fear and uncertainty when you first come upon this “unfamiliar terrain,” but slowly and surely you will discover an order and a familiarity that deepens your longing to stay home with yourself.
Dear God,
I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me. And what you want to give me is love—unconditional, everlasting love. Amen.
“So many beings in the universe love us unconditionally. A bird’s song can express joy, beauty, and purity, and evoke in us vitality and love. The trees, the water, and the air don’t ask anything of us; they just love us. Even though we need this kind of love, we continue to destroy these things. We should try our best to do the least harm to all living creatures.”—Thich Nhat Hanh
Verse of the day
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
– 1 Corinthians 13:1
Voice of the day
[D]enouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.
– Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families (1998)
Prayer of the day
Remind us that movements toward justice are signs of love in action.
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