Some Reflections
“When Elijah had explained to him how he could find the Messiah sitting among the poor at the gates of the city. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi went to the Messiah and said to him:
“Peace unto you, my master and teacher.”
The Messiah answered, “Peace unto you, son of Levi.”
He asked, “When is the master coming?”
“Today,” he answered.
Rabbi Yoshua returned to Elijah, who asked,
“What did he tell you?”
“He indeed has deceived me, for he said 'Today I am coming' and he has not come.”
Elijah said, “This is what he told you:'Today if you would listen to His voice.'” (Psalm 95:7)”
…
To announce, however, that the Liberator is sitting among the poor and that the wounds are signs of hope and that today is the day of liberation, is a step very few can take. But this is exactly the announcement of the wounded healer: “The master is coming - not tomorrow, but today, not next year, but this year, not after all our misery is passed, but in the middle of it, not in another place but right here where we are standing.”
-Henri J. M. Nouwen
The Wounded Healer p.94-95
O thou who camest from above,
The pure celestial fire to impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
on the mean altar of my heart.
There let it for thy glory burn
with inextinguishable blaze
And trembling to its source return
in humble prayer, and fervent praise.
Jesus, confirm my heart's desire
To work, and speak, and think for thee;
Still let me guard the holy fire,
And still stir up thy gift in me.
Ready for all thy perfect will,
My acts of faith and love repeat,
Till death thy endless mercies seal,
And make my sacrifice complete.
Charles Wesley 1707-1788
Prayer to the Holy Ghost
O holy God behind the silent stone
Beneath the under and the elder fire,
Beyond the Milky Way, within the bone,
The grace desired and grace of our desire.
The night is spent; the day is near at hand.
We who have wrestled lonely with the flesh
Listen in solitude for your command,
Our fingers on the curtains, in the mesh
Of cords and concepts which your glory hide.
Come whom no word of ours can symbolize.
Let wiring of your word in us abide.
Light us in every dark and make us wise,
Wise that through all the night our souls may see
The Father and the Son alive in thee.
- George Every 1909-2003
Whenever the rabbi of Sasov saw anyone's suffering, either of spirit or of body, he shared it so earnestly that the other's suffering became his own. Once someone expressed his astonishment at this capacity to share in another's troubles.
“What do you mean 'share'? said the rabbi. “It is my own sorrow; how can I help but suffer it?”
-Martin Buber 1878-1965
Later Masters
The Yehudi was asked: “In the Talmud it says that the stork is called hasida in Hebrew, that is, the devout or the loving one, because he gives so much love to his mate and his young. Then why is he classed in the Scriptures with the unclean birds?”
He answered: “Because he gives love only to his own.”
-Martin Buber 1878-1965 Later Masters
Holy Spirit, comforter, through thee we are born as children of God, thou makest us living temples of thy presence, and thou intercedest within us, with words that cannot be uttered.
- from the Litany of the Holy Spirit, Taize Community
On Not Clinging to the Light
How many [insert your denomination/ parish/ organization/ or your own name HERE] does it take to change a light bulb? Five. One to change it, and four to stand around talking about how much better the old one was.
One temptation of a life of prayer is to enshrine the “soul's initiation.” Instead of realizing the experience of conversion nudges you into the long, deep, wide journey of the soul, you want to access that one burst of energy over and over like grabbing the brass ring on a carousel. So you go in circles instead of moving forward. And you wonder why God has “abandoned” you! The Spirit has moved on, waiting for you to move on, too. (I go before you to prepare a place for you... so that where I am, you may be also. -John 14:2-3)
Church folks cling to decaying buildings, the arrangement of pews bolted to the floor, even broken metal chairs rusting in the parish hall closet. So it is with the soul. How much spiritual debris can I cling to? But, My Dear, what do you want with those old rusty chairs?
Fear of the unknown not only stifles the spiritual life, but causes rigidity in thought, and reactionary actions - like climate denial, for example. Just. Can't. Handle. It. An unknown, an "x-factor" needs to be factored into everything. Maybe that's why we have to study Algebra; learning to move on and build and experience and ajust to the always-unknowns and truths previously unknown but finally revealed.
Here's another thing: a spiritual experience can gain clarity in retrospect. Time offers a perspective that reveals the miraculous behind the mundane in the moment. Israel wakens to the luminous holy time in the desert generations after the actual event. Gratitude sanctifies memory. They didn't make a shrine at the Red Sea, or decide to stay at Sinai. They made a light-weight, compact, travel friendly tabernacle. Israel kept moving and eventually entered Canaan. Remember Yahweh saying to David "In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word ... saying, “Why have not not built me a house of cedar?” -2 Sam7:7 ?
One of the functions of the season of Epiphany is to push the initiate onward toward Lent - the next place of purgation, a cleansing 'night of the soul'. Lent purifies the initiate for the Easter mysteries - requiring careful preparation. The Easter mysteries unfold the reason why we are initiates in the first place.
So let's GO. We can help each other on the journey toward New Life and union with the Beloved, pointing out revelations to one another along the way. Suzanne Guthrie
God is always coming to you in the Sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude in that sacrament. - Evelyn Underhill.
