Hands

The word I have chosen for March is HANDS

My first post for March is taken from my book, Seven Sacred Pauses.  It is a blessing of your hands for the mid-morning pause that I call THE BLESSING HOUR.  We take so much for granted.  A good morning prayer before you go out to meet the day and be obedient to the invitations of the day could be a simple blessing.  Use the one below or create your own. 

INTRODUCTION:

Sit in your favorite chair, stand by a window or choose some soulful place for this blessing prayer.  Hold out your hands in gratitude for their many uses.  Reach out and touch the things that are near you.  Feel the texture of the things you touch.   Think of some of the tasks you have done and  will do this day.   How important are your hands for these tasks?  Now bring your hands  to a comfortable resting place on your lap or held up in a gesture of praise.

O Source of  Life,  you lifted me out of the earth,  From your hands I have come.  I place my hands in the welcoming  hands of your heart and pray for a sweet anointing in this mid-morning hour.  Anoint my hands with tender awareness.   Anoint my hands with compassionate touch.   Anoint my hands with sacred energy.  Give success to the work of my hands this day.  Help me remember  my potential to reach out and touch things to life.   Give me spirit hands.  Fill my hands with insightful consciousness.  Let me see with my hands the way those who are blind see.   May all that I touch be transformed into an instrument of grace.  O Holy One, anoint these hands and use them for healing all through the day. May it come to pass.
        -taken from Seven Sacred Pauses:  Living mindfully through the Hours of the Day  
         Sorin Books, Notre Dame, Indiana        

                     

Keep it simple!

SIMPLICITY

As I look tenderly back on the month of February, the word I chose to befriend and companion me remains with me and hopefully will continue to teach me in the month of March.  I would like to always be open to the possibility of being taught.  SIMPLICITY!   In praying with the concept of simplicity I am reminded of how clutter depresses me.  Even so, it is easy for me to surround myself with too much:  too much stuff, too many words, too many opinions, too many books, and on and on and on,  I love space.  One of the most memorable dreams I have ever had was that of being invited into a room where I thought I would find everything I longed for, only to discover that it was a totally empty room.  I knelt down in the middle of the room and wept for joy.  It was as though I had come home.   Perhaps that dream was calling me to simplicity.

A favorite memory of February is the one red rose I received on Valentine Day.  I spent part of my personal prayer-time simply gazing at the ONE rose. I would rather have just one flower than a whole bouquet. One you can learn to love and cherish, one stands out, one seems such a good companion and is so easy to BEHOLD. How could I have even found my one ROSE if it had been mixed in with a dozen? 

Tomorrow we begin another month and I will choose a new word.  I'll share it with you when I'm ready. 

May this new month help you to believe the truth about yourself no matter how beautiful it is! 

...but the storm of love is stronger

Happy Feast of St. Scholastica

Today, February 10, is the feast of St. Scholastica, twin sister of St. Benedict.  There is a lovely story about Benedict and Scholastica's last visit before her death.  This is told in the dialogues of St. Gregory the Great.  These twin saints had a custom of meeting once a year for holy conversation and speaking of the spiritual life.   This meeting took place in a house near Benedict's monastery. During one of their visits as evening drew near Scholastica begged Benedict to spend the entire night conversing of the things of God.  Benedict was horrified that she should suggest that he spend a night away from the monastery.  Upon his refusal Scholastica put her head on the desk and wept.  A severe thunder storm arose with torrential rains making it impossible for Benedict to  return to his monastery.  Thus they spent the night in holy conversation.  

We have picked up on the holy humor of this story and have used some of it in our antiphons for the feast.  In one of our antiphons we sing of Benedict's frustration when he discovers his plight:  "May almighty God forgive you sister, what have you done?"  And the responding antiphon is Scholastica's answer:  "See I have asked a favor of you, and you refused to hear me.  I asked my Lord and He has heard me." 
f you and you ed; I asked our Lord and He has heard."
Last night I was awakened in the midst of a thunderstorm and smiled at the memory of St. Scholastica's storm.  Whether this story is true matters little.  What matters is the deep love that St. Scholastica portrayed in wanting to spend time with God and with her brother.

In our Hymn for this feast we  sing:

Crash of tempest; roll of thunder                                                 Lightening flash from pole to pole,

But the storm of love is stronger

Brighter flashes in the soul.

May each of you experience a storm of love with bright flashes in the soul.  Who will you have holy conversation with this week?

Happy Feast!

To be a star

Do you ever wake up feeling lost, sort of dejected and forlorn--wondering how you landed in this world? That was my awakening experience about two weeks ago.  In my disgruntled state I poured a cup of coffee, opened the door to the great outdoors and gasped.  When I first beheld this scene I did not see the star.  I saw the tree holding the sunrise and it was like medicine for me.  I forgot my dejection.  I even sat there for a few minutes before getting my camera. Later when I put my photos on my computer, the star became visible and it was like a second dose of medicine.  I remembered a poem from my book, Seasons of Your Heart, and re-read the poem.  Now I offer a selection of  that poem to you because you, too, may have desolate days when being reminded that you have the potential to be a star for someone else in their desolation, just might be helpful for both of you.

I hope a star comes out for you today,

a new one that you've never seen before.

I hope it's bright and bold,

a prophetic star,

piercing your darkness

and helping you to see the things

you really need to see.

I hope it touches you

with fire

and runs along beside you

all  day long.

This star!

Oh, how I hope it comes

Leaping

Laughing

Bounding

Burning

Singing

Shining

in your life!

And when the day is through

I hope this star

keeps shining on in you

For without a doubt

you are

someone who's called 

to be
a star.

-Macrina Wiederkehr
Seasons of Your Heart: prayers and reflections 

Simplicity

My Word for February is SIMPLICITY

It speaks to me about the grace of slowing down long enough to discern "what's enough".  My altar above depicts my efforts to simplify.  It offers me sacred space that helps me remember to breathe.  It invites me to see beauty in stillness and non-action. I am a person who love rituals, icons, symbols, etc and so it often happens that my sacred space becomes too cluttered. When my personal altar becomes cluttered with too many treasures it becomes difficult to see the one true treasure.

My altar holds the single image of a praying woman.  You will notice she doesn't have a lot of prayer books around her.  No props or paraphernalia .  She is just BEING THERE.  Perhaps later a candle will arrive but it will be small.  Nothing flashy or overpowering!    My intention is to have just one treasure on my altar this month--something that speaks of the simplicity of BEING.  The treasure here is obvious.  It is presence.  It is prayer.  It is attentiveness.  It is silence and simplicity.

My question for this month:  Is there anything I can take out of my life so that I may be able to more truly see who I really am?

How are you being poured out?

My word for January:  Vessel

Although my promise to allow the word "vessel" to become my guide for the month of January has been forgotten on occasion, for the most part I have tried to be aware of myself as a vessel.  It isn't easy to live in radical awareness.  It is a practice.  In moments of living AWAKE, however, I am aware that I am a vessel to be poured out, a vessel that is both fragile and strong.

I am a vessel of abundant life

a vessel of compassionate presence

a vessel of vibrant hope and affirmation.

I am a vessel of creativity

a vessel of poetry and song

a vessel of stories and dreams.

I am a vessel of joy 

a vessel of laughter

a vessel of sorrow

and of tears.

I am a vessel of silence

a vessel of quiet

a vessel of solitude

and deep stillness.

I am a vessel of radical awareness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And you?  

Whoever you are...  

How are you being poured out?

Sit with the vessel of your life. 

Envision gifts flowing into you each day.  

Recall the gifts you have gathered from others.

Name them.   Treasure them.   

What do you hold that you cherish?  

How do your pour yourself out as gift to the other?

Write the story of your own vessel of life. 

Vessel

Since I have been away from this blog for quite a spell, a new year is a good time to return.  It has been my custom on the first day of the new year to choose a word or phrase that serves as a guide for me throughout the year.  As I was listening for my word last night I felt drawn to choose a word just for January.  This year I will choose a different word each month.  I like this idea as it may help me be more faithful to my word.  Each month's word will be saved and  will eventually become part of my collage of guides for 2013.

As I was praying out the old year, clear as a bell, my word came to me

  Vessel 

 I am to be a vessel this year, a container.

I am to be a vessel of delight, a vessel of joy

a vessel of  sorrow, compassion and beauty

a vessel of God.

A vessel: that can receive and hold gifts!

A vessel: out of which one can pour forth gifts!

To be filled and poured out

To receive and to give and be given!

I think I can live with that!

So last night as the bells rang out the old,

rang in the new

I was preparing my very simple altar in my room.

,

What you see below is my altar.

I am trying to keep it simple

A reminder to receive the gifts given each day

and then, to the best of my ability

allow myself to be poured out as gift for others. 

O Giver of all Good gifts,

Thank you for the fragile vessel that I am

In the earthenware jar of my being

I will gather the gifts of each day

holding them carefully, faithfully

until that moment arrives 

when I am called to give them back again.