Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday Five: What's New?
Songbird writes at RevGals:
There's a new baby on my street, a double PK whose Mom and Dad are Methodist pastors and church planters. I'm hoping to go over and meet her today. I love new babies, the way they smell and their sweet little fingers and toes. Little K has me thinking about all the new things that please us with their shiny freshness.
Please share with us five things you like *especially* when they are new.
1. Hot glazed Krispy Kreme donuts! I take HockeyBoy there for a weekly mom and son date, and brought two boxes to my 8:00 class today--they're taking their New Testament exam as I write. Their eyes lit up when they saw the bag and one young man said with delight: "They're still hot?"
2. Pencils, nice and sharp and with lovely clean and high-functioning eraser ends--preferably pretty colored ones instead of traditional yellow.
3. Nice crisp cotton or cotton blend blouses or dresses. Like doll hair, they're never quite the same after the first wash.
4. Friendships. Long held ones are special in their own way, of course, but there is something magical about the early stages of learning, sharing and discovery in relationships.
5. Liturgical music, whether sung for the first time or in a new video version on YouTube. Like friendships, the old favorites have deep resonance of course. But, like most conscientious music ministers, I make sure to repeat familiar music more often than my personal taste would dictate for ease of singing....So a really good new discovery is a real treat.
I am in the midst of some prophetic cleansing of the temple work in my new jurisdiction, which is a joy and privilege but also a daunting and dangerous task. So I am steeping myself in constant prayer and consultation and asking for prayer support as well, please--for the victims (at least 6 young boys in the 80s, and who knows how many since), the perpetrator and the colluders, and those of us trying to be part of the solution rather than the problem--and speak the truth in love and humility and "there but for the grace of Godde" rather than harshness or pride.
I found this setting of Malvina Reynold's God Bless the Grass last night and have been singing it since for strength, inspiration and peace.
God bless the grass that grows through the crack,
They roll the concrete over it and try to keep it back.
But the concrete gets tired of what it has to do,
It breaks and it buckles and the grass grows through,
God bless the grass.
God bless the truth that fights for the sun,
They roll the lies over it and think that it is done.
But it moves through the ground and reaches for the air,
And after a while it's growing everywhere,
God bless the grass.
God bless the grass that grows through cement,
It's tender and green and it's easily bent,
But after a while it lifts up its head
Cause the grass is living and the stone is dead,
God bless the grass.
God bless the grass that's gentle and low,
Its roots are deep and its will is to grow.
God bless the truth, the friend of the poor,
And the green grass growing round the poor man's door,
God bless the grass.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Today's Reading from Benedict's Rule
Chapter 27: How Solicitous the Abbess Should Be for the Excommunicated
Let the Abbess be most solicitous
in her concern for delinquent sisters,
for "it is not the healthy but the sick who need a physician" (Matt 9:12)
And therefore she ought to use every means
that a wise physician would use.
Let her send senpectae,
that is, sisters of mature years and wisdom,
who may as it were secretly console the wavering sister
and induce her to make humble satisfaction;
comforting her
that she may not "be overwhelmed by excessive grief" (2 Cor. 2:7),
but that, as the Apostle says,
charity may be strengthened in her (2 Cor. 2:8).
And let everyone pray for her.
For the Abbess must have the utmost solicitude
and exercise all prudence and diligence
lest she lose any of the sheep entrusted to her.
Let her know
that what she has undertaken is the care of weak souls
and not a tyranny over strong ones;
and let her fear the Prophet's warning
through which God says,
"What you saw to be fat you took to yourselves,
and what was feeble you cast away" (Ezec. 34:3,4).
Let her rather imitate the loving example of the Good Shepherd
who left the ninety-nine sheep in the mountains
and went to look for the one sheep that had gone astray,
on whose weakness He had such compassion
that He deigned to place it on His own sacred shoulders
and thus carry it back to the flock (Luke 15:4-5).
Let the Abbess be most solicitous
in her concern for delinquent sisters,
for "it is not the healthy but the sick who need a physician" (Matt 9:12)
And therefore she ought to use every means
that a wise physician would use.
Let her send senpectae,
that is, sisters of mature years and wisdom,
who may as it were secretly console the wavering sister
and induce her to make humble satisfaction;
comforting her
that she may not "be overwhelmed by excessive grief" (2 Cor. 2:7),
but that, as the Apostle says,
charity may be strengthened in her (2 Cor. 2:8).
And let everyone pray for her.
For the Abbess must have the utmost solicitude
and exercise all prudence and diligence
lest she lose any of the sheep entrusted to her.
Let her know
that what she has undertaken is the care of weak souls
and not a tyranny over strong ones;
and let her fear the Prophet's warning
through which God says,
"What you saw to be fat you took to yourselves,
and what was feeble you cast away" (Ezec. 34:3,4).
Let her rather imitate the loving example of the Good Shepherd
who left the ninety-nine sheep in the mountains
and went to look for the one sheep that had gone astray,
on whose weakness He had such compassion
that He deigned to place it on His own sacred shoulders
and thus carry it back to the flock (Luke 15:4-5).
Monday, November 2, 2009
Thanks for the Prayers
...which kicked in uber-quickly. I am feeling much better.
The confession appointment was cancelled for a pastoral emergency on that end, which is a quite a relief. I have written the associated amends email, which was the only thing really pressing, and now have a peaceful heart about rescheduling as the Spirit moves for a different time, place and person. I am reminding myself that what God wanted was the awareness and the willingness, and once I had that gave me a sweet break of not having to go through with the whole thing right away and in a stressful fashion. (I try to remember Gertrud of Helfta's insistence that to our loving and merciful Godde intentions count for good things and not just bad ones, as in George Carlin's classic five minute version of Catholic moral theology. "Your intention, that's how we'll judge you....Let's say you wake up in the morning and decide to go down to 42nd St. and commit a mortal sin...Save your carfare! You did it!")
This also means that the other meeting can be teleconferenced instead of involving a long drive to the main site, which frees up a lot more of my day for teaching work as well as something enjoyable in between the doctor's visit and the meeting. This could involve rescheduling the enjoyable lunch I had to cancel if it works for the other person and if not I will make sure and find something as good. And if the meeting doesn't go well I will be safely home and close to in person spiritual and emotional support rather than having to worry about the drive back.
It's been a lovely evening with a good dinner, then reading and singing with Ladybug in front of the fire still crackling away and calling me to light a candle on my hearth altar for Examen and Compline. And I am so much more peaceful. I may have some more nerves tomorrow but the prayers just buoy me up so much and I think it is going to be okay....Many thanks, dear friends, and good night.
The confession appointment was cancelled for a pastoral emergency on that end, which is a quite a relief. I have written the associated amends email, which was the only thing really pressing, and now have a peaceful heart about rescheduling as the Spirit moves for a different time, place and person. I am reminding myself that what God wanted was the awareness and the willingness, and once I had that gave me a sweet break of not having to go through with the whole thing right away and in a stressful fashion. (I try to remember Gertrud of Helfta's insistence that to our loving and merciful Godde intentions count for good things and not just bad ones, as in George Carlin's classic five minute version of Catholic moral theology. "Your intention, that's how we'll judge you....Let's say you wake up in the morning and decide to go down to 42nd St. and commit a mortal sin...Save your carfare! You did it!")
This also means that the other meeting can be teleconferenced instead of involving a long drive to the main site, which frees up a lot more of my day for teaching work as well as something enjoyable in between the doctor's visit and the meeting. This could involve rescheduling the enjoyable lunch I had to cancel if it works for the other person and if not I will make sure and find something as good. And if the meeting doesn't go well I will be safely home and close to in person spiritual and emotional support rather than having to worry about the drive back.
It's been a lovely evening with a good dinner, then reading and singing with Ladybug in front of the fire still crackling away and calling me to light a candle on my hearth altar for Examen and Compline. And I am so much more peaceful. I may have some more nerves tomorrow but the prayers just buoy me up so much and I think it is going to be okay....Many thanks, dear friends, and good night.
Tomorrow's Appointments
Tuesdays are usually quite the joy as I get to not teach my busy MWF schedule, thus sleep in, pray unrushed, and have more family time as well as the occasional lunch with a friend or spiritual direction appt.
Tomorrow I do get to sleep in but then I somehow ended up with:
1. An overdue gyn exam (which includes the minor but embarrassing point of asking for another mammo script as I lost the first one). Never any woman's first choice of enjoyable and especially so for survivors, though I am grateful that I have the health care.
2. Confession. Which I am always really excited about 1) in general 2) when I first make the appt and 3) afterwards. But the immediate leadup often makes me queasy and this is especially so.
3. A very challenging church meeting with grave consequences for a lot of people including me.
I have been thinking that I should probably offer up #1 for #3...and that #1 and #3 combined would perhaps be considered sufficient penance for #2. :-)
Kind of reminds me of a grad school roommate with whom I spent a fruitful but very long Good Friday afternoon. Two hours for the service and another two waiting for Reconciliation--by the end of which we were sore and squirming like tired toddlers on the hard wooden pews. I was the last person in the pastor's line, a normally brilliant celebrant, and found him kind of punchy (due not just to his own four hour ordeal but to the fact that he keeps the paschal fast starting after supper on Holy Thursday. I probably could have said "And then I murdered my mother in law" and gotten, "umm-hmm, anything else?"). My friend was the last person in the associate's line, and when he said "What do you think your penance should be?" she had to really bite her lip not to say: "How about waiting for two hours to talk to you"!
The sacrament was the last thing added to the schedule and it felt like an inspiration on Sunday--which I do think it was--but would have been really nice to knock it off then. The original plan, but then things got busy for both the confessor and me. And the meeting is high stakes and scary in a lot of ways, though I do trust Godde and everything. Mostly. So prayers for all three would really, really be appreciated.
Thanks. A lot.
Tomorrow I do get to sleep in but then I somehow ended up with:
1. An overdue gyn exam (which includes the minor but embarrassing point of asking for another mammo script as I lost the first one). Never any woman's first choice of enjoyable and especially so for survivors, though I am grateful that I have the health care.
2. Confession. Which I am always really excited about 1) in general 2) when I first make the appt and 3) afterwards. But the immediate leadup often makes me queasy and this is especially so.
3. A very challenging church meeting with grave consequences for a lot of people including me.
I have been thinking that I should probably offer up #1 for #3...and that #1 and #3 combined would perhaps be considered sufficient penance for #2. :-)
Kind of reminds me of a grad school roommate with whom I spent a fruitful but very long Good Friday afternoon. Two hours for the service and another two waiting for Reconciliation--by the end of which we were sore and squirming like tired toddlers on the hard wooden pews. I was the last person in the pastor's line, a normally brilliant celebrant, and found him kind of punchy (due not just to his own four hour ordeal but to the fact that he keeps the paschal fast starting after supper on Holy Thursday. I probably could have said "And then I murdered my mother in law" and gotten, "umm-hmm, anything else?"). My friend was the last person in the associate's line, and when he said "What do you think your penance should be?" she had to really bite her lip not to say: "How about waiting for two hours to talk to you"!
The sacrament was the last thing added to the schedule and it felt like an inspiration on Sunday--which I do think it was--but would have been really nice to knock it off then. The original plan, but then things got busy for both the confessor and me. And the meeting is high stakes and scary in a lot of ways, though I do trust Godde and everything. Mostly. So prayers for all three would really, really be appreciated.
Thanks. A lot.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday Five: Lifesavers
Kathryn JZ writes at RevGals:
In honor of BE Three I thought I'd offer up a Friday Five of lifesavers. I'm going on our cruise (are you?) because I am excited about meeting up with my blogging buddies again, I am interested in the speaker and because when I went on the first one my life was saved (okay, that may be a little over-dramatized but if you saw me getting on the boat and then the difference when getting off the boat you would know of what I speak).
I don't expect - or need - another life saving moment but I want to support the conference.
Of course lifesavers can come in all sizes and with far less drama. I would readily admit that I have considered a person (children's sermon substitute), the location of a bathroom, and a beverage (the last diet coke in the back of the fridge - score!) all to be lifesavers at one point or another.
And so today I ask you - dramatic or fairly common - what have been/are your lifesavers:
1) Your lifesaving food/beverage.
Yogurt--an ever ready protein boost in a variety of tasty flavors and textures, quick when I have a busy day and always helpful if my meds make me a little queasy. Greek yogurt--super thick and creamy though low fat--is my newest discovery. Enjoyable to be able to say that again because I couldn't face it for quite a while after mainlining so much during my middle two, nine months of nausea, pregnancies.
2) Your lifesaving article of clothing.
As I come back into a cold climate, my turtleneck sweaters which can be worn alone, under a sweater, a jacket, and when it gets cold enough both. Special faves include a purple and black classy paisley, a bright pink ribbed, and a white one with small red roses.
3) Your lifesaving movie/book/tv show/music.
The nightly Netflix ritual with my sweetheart after tucking our dear rugrats. We have done the entirety of Joan of Arcadia, Star Trek Enterprise (the only one we missed at the time for some reason), Battlestar Galactica except for the last season which we will do soon as there was a delay in availability, and since our trip to happy coastal town at the beginning of Lent have been enjoying Stargate SG 1.
4) Your lifesaving friend.
How to pick just one? Right now I am very aware of my gratitude for TechnoGuy, my wonderful husband of twenty years. So many adventures together, so many tragedies and joys, all the ups and downs of parenting, and he is my absolute right hand and best adviser as I manage my diagnosis especially my increasing ecclesial responsibilities.
5) Your lifesaving moment.
Twice daily examen at roughly midday and before night prayer, something I never thought I could sustain but committed to when I applied for membership in my jurisdiction's little Ignatian community. It would be wearing to do the traditional 5 step one, even in Aschenbrenner's examen of consciousness focus. So, at least at present, I do it with a personal adaptation of the Linns' two step process (TG and I do the latter anyway last thing before falling asleep, ever since I read Sleeping With Bread when HockeyBoy was a baby).
First I feel and name gratitude for every blessing of that part of the day, and then I ask God to open my mind and heart and show me whatever She wants me to see about it. Very different things arise or sometimes just resting in divine love. Absolute miracle for staying connected and trying to be a contemplative in action and to see the many many blessings in every easy and hard part of the busy days and weeks.
As I was searching unsuccessfully for an online copy of George Aschenbrenner SJ's groundbreaking 1972 (I think) article I found this recent article by Philip Shano SJ about his communal adapation of the examen used in a Jesuit novitiate. Intriguing if it could be adapted for families, pastoral staffs, etc.
In honor of BE Three I thought I'd offer up a Friday Five of lifesavers. I'm going on our cruise (are you?) because I am excited about meeting up with my blogging buddies again, I am interested in the speaker and because when I went on the first one my life was saved (okay, that may be a little over-dramatized but if you saw me getting on the boat and then the difference when getting off the boat you would know of what I speak).
I don't expect - or need - another life saving moment but I want to support the conference.
Of course lifesavers can come in all sizes and with far less drama. I would readily admit that I have considered a person (children's sermon substitute), the location of a bathroom, and a beverage (the last diet coke in the back of the fridge - score!) all to be lifesavers at one point or another.
And so today I ask you - dramatic or fairly common - what have been/are your lifesavers:
1) Your lifesaving food/beverage.
Yogurt--an ever ready protein boost in a variety of tasty flavors and textures, quick when I have a busy day and always helpful if my meds make me a little queasy. Greek yogurt--super thick and creamy though low fat--is my newest discovery. Enjoyable to be able to say that again because I couldn't face it for quite a while after mainlining so much during my middle two, nine months of nausea, pregnancies.
2) Your lifesaving article of clothing.
As I come back into a cold climate, my turtleneck sweaters which can be worn alone, under a sweater, a jacket, and when it gets cold enough both. Special faves include a purple and black classy paisley, a bright pink ribbed, and a white one with small red roses.
3) Your lifesaving movie/book/tv show/music.
The nightly Netflix ritual with my sweetheart after tucking our dear rugrats. We have done the entirety of Joan of Arcadia, Star Trek Enterprise (the only one we missed at the time for some reason), Battlestar Galactica except for the last season which we will do soon as there was a delay in availability, and since our trip to happy coastal town at the beginning of Lent have been enjoying Stargate SG 1.
4) Your lifesaving friend.
How to pick just one? Right now I am very aware of my gratitude for TechnoGuy, my wonderful husband of twenty years. So many adventures together, so many tragedies and joys, all the ups and downs of parenting, and he is my absolute right hand and best adviser as I manage my diagnosis especially my increasing ecclesial responsibilities.
5) Your lifesaving moment.
Twice daily examen at roughly midday and before night prayer, something I never thought I could sustain but committed to when I applied for membership in my jurisdiction's little Ignatian community. It would be wearing to do the traditional 5 step one, even in Aschenbrenner's examen of consciousness focus. So, at least at present, I do it with a personal adaptation of the Linns' two step process (TG and I do the latter anyway last thing before falling asleep, ever since I read Sleeping With Bread when HockeyBoy was a baby).
First I feel and name gratitude for every blessing of that part of the day, and then I ask God to open my mind and heart and show me whatever She wants me to see about it. Very different things arise or sometimes just resting in divine love. Absolute miracle for staying connected and trying to be a contemplative in action and to see the many many blessings in every easy and hard part of the busy days and weeks.
As I was searching unsuccessfully for an online copy of George Aschenbrenner SJ's groundbreaking 1972 (I think) article I found this recent article by Philip Shano SJ about his communal adapation of the examen used in a Jesuit novitiate. Intriguing if it could be adapted for families, pastoral staffs, etc.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Spirit is A-Moving
...so thank you very much for the prayers.
Good conversation and positive steps are happening though the situation is still quite challenging and I have no idea what the outcome will be. I do know that Godde will provide growth and learning through all this, and work as much good as possible given the realities of free will and human nature.
Which can be daunting and problematic...so I would very much appreciate the prayers continuing as your charity moves.
Veni, Sancte Spiritus!
Good conversation and positive steps are happening though the situation is still quite challenging and I have no idea what the outcome will be. I do know that Godde will provide growth and learning through all this, and work as much good as possible given the realities of free will and human nature.
Which can be daunting and problematic...so I would very much appreciate the prayers continuing as your charity moves.
Veni, Sancte Spiritus!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Prayers Please
...for something truly unbloggable--kind of a first for Sophia.
It's worrisome but on the other hand I completely trust Godde to bring what is best out of the whole thing. Especially if everyone involved can discern their part and do it faithfully.
Yeah, please pray that I will be guided to do that, to know the truth and speak it in love. And very prudently. And the same for the others who share my concern, and those who don't yet too.
Thanks. Very much.
It's worrisome but on the other hand I completely trust Godde to bring what is best out of the whole thing. Especially if everyone involved can discern their part and do it faithfully.
Yeah, please pray that I will be guided to do that, to know the truth and speak it in love. And very prudently. And the same for the others who share my concern, and those who don't yet too.
Thanks. Very much.
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