New Seeds

“The seeds that are planted in my liberty at every moment, by God’s will, are the seeds of my own identity, my own reality, my own happiness, my own sanctity.”

Thomas Merton

New Seeds of Contemplation

Many of you will know that I am teaching a course this year called ‘A Year of Contemplative Living’.  We are using Merton’s work on contemplation as one of our texts.  Each sentence seems to be crammed with meaning-sometimes inscrutable.

I wanted to take some time on the Blog to reflect upon some of these sentences and to share what cords they have struck within me.

When I ponder the field of liberty or freedom in which these seeds are being planted, I visualize a rich open field, overturned and aerated.  This field is filled with possibility and promise, but like all places of growth the initial planting needs to be nurtured.

I nurture this “field of the soul” through prayer and meditation.  I continue to feed this soil with worship and deep commitment to community.

Because what is being loved into existence here are the tender shoots of my true self.  God has planted the full reality of my unique beauty within my very being.  It is already all there, beneath the soil.

The promise of the spiritual journey is to bring that true self forth so that it may bloom into the full flower of God’s vision of me.

All along the way the green shoots, the tightly closed buds, the unfurling leaves that I am are becoming exposed to the world for the ministry of God’s love.

Yes, these seeds and these promises are uniquely mine, but they are also and always God’s gifts to the world.  I have something to offer, even as the trembling leaf reaches upward for a taste of dew.  I can stretch out my true self in response to the needs of the world.

Patience

 “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions”

 Rainer Maria Rilke

When I was on silent retreat this summer I spent some time with Rilke’s book Letters to a Young Poet.  This book is filled with spiritual wisdom of the type that makes you put down the text and wonder what it says.  While the advice of patience is apropos for a young man struggling to express himself, it speaks to an older person still struggling to understand herself—to understand the passions that rise up in my heart masquerading as frustration and rigidity.  How often have I settled for indignation and pride rather than opening to a new perspective born out of love?

But patience cycles us back to humility. Patience allows us to recognize our humanity at the same time that we have hope in God’s graces.

Patience, a necessary virtue on the spiritual path, keeps us grounded in an experience of God’s time.  As Rilke reminds us, God does not offer answers; God offers mercy and love. Sometimes questions are simply catalysts for exploration rather than problems to be solved.  Can we embrace the unknown with as much enthusiasm and joy as we welcome the gift of knowledge?

As we conclude our look at the three virtues St. Paul talks about in Ephesians, let’s pause and remember the scripture passage:

“ Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love”

Paul knows how difficult it will be for us to live together in community.  We will want our own way.  We will want others to acknowledge our good ideas and praise them.  We will say harsh words and our hearts will be hardened toward one another.

But there is a more excellent way and that way begins in love, is nurtured in humility and gentleness and is sustained by patience.  The process of living life in this new way with one another requires love. 

Love one another

As you have been loved by God.

Blessings,

Debra

Gentleness

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
    Plato

This week I want to explore the spiritual virtue of gentleness.  Gentleness and kindness are not qualities much admired in our society as a whole.  I think we want to admire people who are kind and gentle, but we have a hard time accepting the surrender required of this virtue.
Remember what Paul wrote about gentleness:

“Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness,”

Humility leads to gentleness.  When I know who I am I do not need to impose my opinion or my will upon another.  I can act out of a deep rootedness in God’s vision and welcome the other.  When I am gentle I am not afraid.  There is space for you and there is space for me.  I don’t have to make you small so that I can be large.
No, the gentle life is a life of hospitality and openness and delight in the accomplishments of those around me.
The gentle soul knows what she needs as well.  There is no pushing or striving in the gentle life, there is confidence and movement.
For me, a sign of the gentle life is the yield sign, and I experience this most often in lines at the store or post office.  I yield to the one who is anxious to get in line first.  I yield to the one who has two things when I have twenty.  I yield the right of way.
I don’t have to protect my status, because the status that is important to me cannot be removed by human power.
I am beloved of God. 
As Plato reminds us, we are all experiencing a battle of some sort.  An act of kindness could be a cease-fire for the other, if even for a moment.
Blessings,
Debra