“The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.”
—Excerpt from verse 57 of the Tao Te Ching – Stephen Mitchell version
A mature human intimacy requires a deep and profound respect for the free and empty space that needs to exist within and between partners and that asks for a continuous mutual protection and nurture. Only in this way can a relationship be lasting, precisely because mutual love is experienced as a participation in a greater and earlier love to which it points. In this way intimacy can be rich and fruitful, since it has been given carefully protected space in which to grow. This relationship no longer is a fearful clinging to each other but a free dance, allowing space in which we can move forward and backward, form constantly new patterns, and see each other as always new.
Today I watched an afternoon parade as it made its way down Broad Street in Mobile. As the crowd waited in anticipation, children were playing, and people were talking and laughing. There were lots of shared smiles and laughter. Enjoying the fresh air, sunshine, and decent temperatures it was a lovely afternoon.
The animals caught my eye before and during the parade. Horses and dogs on parade and along the street. Children and animals, they made me smile.
As the parade passed by I caught a good number of beads and two doubloons. Then I noticed two young moms with their small kiddos and saw that they were trying to catch stuffed animals for their kids. I had two free hands so I caught some for them. The moon pies were also plentiful and I began picking them up. It was then that I saw a homeless fellow picking them up. Realizing that I really didn’t need them, I began picking them up and giving them to him. A smile and a nod of thanks exchanged as he put the goodies in a bag.
The parades can sometime offer a “different” perspective and you can sense an uncomfortable (for me) separation of socio-economic classes and race. But it was the interactions with the people, the children, and the animals that made me smile. A common bond seemed to be shared amongst those of us on the side of the street.
It even felt like Merton’s Fourth and Walnut epiphany as I felt connected with all these people who were shining like the sun! It was a lovely afternoon to enjoy the weather, the people, and the animals ♥️🐾
Creating space for the other is far from an easy task. It requires hard concentration and articulate work…. Indeed, more often than not, rivalry and competition, desire for power and immediate results, impatience and frustration, and most of all, plain fear make their forceful demands and tend to fill every possible empty corner of our life. Empty space tends to create fear. As long as our minds, hearts, and hands are occupied, we can avoid confronting the painful questions to which we never gave much attention and that we do not want to surface….
When we think back to the places where we felt most at home, we quickly see that it was where our hosts gave us the precious freedom to come and go on our own terms and did not claim us for their own needs. Only in a free space can re-creation take place and new life be found. The real host is the one who offers that space where we do not have to be afraid and where we can listen to our own inner voices and find our own personal way of being human. But to be such a host we have to first of all be at home in our own house.
Wise words from my good friend Jake ♥️
Life is complicated. We desperately need wisdom.
The Soul Work We Need
Today I was reading one of this week’s reading from the book A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals. I find his discussion intriguing as we continue this journey of Sabbath rest we continue to rediscover our quiet spiritual center and that is a good thing.
Merton wrote about the unhealthy ways that the ancient monastic community approached their life of faith in his journal entry on February 22, 1948. In his study of the early monastic communities he said the following about the craziness of the extreme actions they took in order to be faithful to God: trying to starve and beat your way to sanctity and of assuming that your own efforts and energy are practically everything—beating your head against a brick wall at the end of a dead end in order to fulfill some particular negative ideal. (The Journals of Thomas Merton, Vol. 2, 1941-1952: Entering the Silence – Becoming a Monk & Writer)
I have read about the early monastic practice of wearing spiked belts around their waist under their habits and self-flagellation (whipping yourself enough to draw blood). What a way to prove one’s devotion to God 😳
While those practices are only distant memories in history books (for the most part) the church has other over-the-top ways of proving how some are so much more pious than others.
For years I have tried to humbly serve the Lord with Micah 6:8 and Matthew 22:37-39 as my guides.
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 Bible Gatway link)
He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39 Bible Gateway link)
I understand Merton’s struggles and truly do appreciate the way he responded to the “unusual” ways of proving one’s devotion. In his own life and ministry Merton often struggled with the reality of his fame and rather healthy ego.
I am happy that I can at least want to love God. Perhaps that is all I’ve got, but it is already all that is essential. And He will take care of the rest.
Perhaps that is one of the lessons to be learned during this time of rest, healing, and reflection. I am humbled and honored that you, dear reader, walk this journey with me. May it be a blessing to you.
Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. . . . The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adore the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own.
Verse of the day
You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you[.] – Isaiah 43:4
Voice of the day
The sun will never return the same way. Find one small thing to love today. – Angie Weiland–Crosby
Prayer of the day
Let me honor and marvel at the intricacies of your creation.
My dear friend, sister, and mentor Christine Valters Paintner wrote this poem which can be found in her book “Dreaming of Stones” (Amazon link).
Dreams
To
willingly
descend the long
dark staircase is an
act of trust that something
worthwhile waits for you there
in the cellar with its cobwebbed boxes
piled high with discarded things, the scent
of a mouse long dead and naphthalene balls.
Some days you clamber around, eyes not yet adjusted
to this night territory, so everything you bump startles
you. But some days your pupils widen and you wander
in amazement, seeing just how much light is contained
in darkness, like stones shimmering in moonlight,
and rather than return with a pile of them,
you choose one to carry back up the stairs,
back into the comfort of your home,
where this tiny gift splits open
the foundation. You look out
where the window once
was, and instead of
the brick wall of
the house next
door, you
realize
you can now see to the horizon.
Dreams by Christine Valters Paintner
She invited retreat participants to reflect on the poem and write about what shimmered for us. This was my prayerful response. Thank you, Christine, for this opportunity ♥️☘️
To
willingly
descend the long
dark staircase
As I spend more time in silence and reflection alone and with Denise
as we take this journey of Sabbath rest
I remember when
silence used to scare me
At first I blamed it on tinnitus
a “gift” from my time in the military
But the true reality revealed
a deeper, darker reality
A fear of what I would encounter
My past that wasn’t pleasant
My wrong turns in life
The people I had hurt
The ones who had hurt me
It was like military exercises or deployments
The moonless nights were worrisome
What enemy lurked in the darkness
Now more than a decade later
Sister Moon is my constant companion
Her fullness guiding us through the night
Even in darkness she is there in the glimmer of starlight
A gift offered to me through this time of Sabbath rest and time spent within the Abbey
A thoughtful reflection from my dear sister joy 💜
My latest poem describes poetry acting like a lens, a prism through which we see life and understand thoughts. It might look distorted sometimes, …
prism: seeing life through the lens of poetry
