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Daily Contemplative Pauses Readings
from last week
Monday, March 4th with Joy
Let it flow (interpretation by Joy Andrews Hayter)
Mt 5:16 So let your light shine before the sons of men, that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father in heaven.
I’ve been chewing on this text from Matthew, about the light that we are within our being. In physics, everything we are made up of seems separate, but it is light at the core. And light is different: It knows itself as part of a greater whole, it flows together. I’ve been looking at these scriptures through the lens of Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. You’ve seen the interpretation of the first two parts of this: You are shining radiance, flowing together in time outside of time. Let go of trying to define yourself, to box in the radiance within: but let your inner light bear witness to the Holy within you, shining forth all around you. (Mt 15:14-15)
In our Centering Prayer we let go over and over again of all these things that keep us from seeing this other way; that we have access to in our being. We let go to the part that knows itself as part of the whole. So in this third verse, where it says “let your light shine forth”, light (nura) actually means flowing together. I don’t know if they knew back then that light is made of bosons, and that bosons can flow together as one, but interestingly, it does have that meaning. “Before” humanity: before, or qedam, also means time before time, time without beginning, as it was of old. As we come from wholeness, we return to wholeness. Teilhard always talked about that. “Sons of Man”, or all humanity – that word is actually a “we”; we as humans. We as humans perceive with our inner vision. Where it says “they will see (kheza)”, often, as in the book of Daniel, it would mean to behold, as in a dream or vision. It also means to perceive, as in a contemplative state: as in when you see from the heart and see more from the whole. So humanity will see like that, and will see the fruits of the spirit. “Your good works (avad)” – at the time this was an agrarian society and works were also fruits. The fruits of the spirit are seen with this inner vision, flowing forth, as we return and reclaim the light that is within us and among us, participating in a divine exchange. And it glorifies the One who originates it all -- if there ever was a beginning-- the beginningless beginning. Father (av) also means author, founder, nourisher, teacher, master, or first ancestor. So it’s a lot more than it appears – it’s that which brings it all forth; you could even call it the Source.
So the way I would say this verse is, Thus Your light flows together as of old, without beginning, All Humanity perceive with their inner vision the good fruits of the spirit, and glorifies our author, founder and nourisher in heaven.
Reading all three together:
Mt 5: 14-16 You are shining radiance, flowing together in time outside of time. Let go of trying to define yourself, to box in the radiance within: but let your inner light bear witness to the Holy within you, shining forth all around you. Thus Your light flows together as of old, without beginning. All Humanity perceive with their inner vision the good fruits of the spirit, and glorify our author, founder, and nourisher in heaven.
Tuesday, March 5th with Joy
Blessing For The Journey by Leslie Davenport
When days rush past in a blur,
may you pause to receive the simple gifts that life generously offers.
When you are overwhelmed,
may you rest in the gentleness of your own heart.
When you are feeling hopeless,
may your imagination hold a torch to unseen possibilities.
When your mind is drowning in details,
may spaciousness arise, connecting you to the sacred mystery that you are.
When you are exhausted,
may you be refreshed by vibrant life forces always present within and around you.
When you are overcome with grief,
may precious tears bathe your heart with salty buoyancy and comfort.
When the world brushes you with harshness,
may you realize that we’re all works in progress, and life itself is a learning curve.
When nothing seems to be going your way, may you make room for the unknown, finding patience with your unfolding life.
When you are disheartened by the suffering in the world,
may you find the courage and strength to stand for what you know is good.
When you believe that you are not good enough,
may you discover your inherent value and place in the family of all things.
May you receive earth’s bounty to nourish your body,
kindness and wisdom to nourish your heart;
and wonder to nourish your soul.
Wednesday, March 6th with Heather
Chant: Yeshua, oh blessed One, May your Peace arise in me, Yeshua, oh blessed One, May your Peace take root in me (by Epiphany Today)
Thursday, March 7th with Catherine
“…Silence is what brings us into community.
And so it is important that we try to learn the language of silence, just as we also try to learn the words that can help us know each other.
There is a huge silence undergirding us and inside of us that is trying to draw us into itself. To enter that silence is to enter the reality of God and the reality of our real communion with each other.
For this reason, all great religious traditions and all great spiritual writers emphasize the need for silence at times in our lives.”
— Ronald Rolheiser
Psalm 33 from Psalms of a Laywoman by Edwina Gately
Hush, hush My loved one,
That you might hear
My music
In your soul.
Still, still, My loved one,
That you might feel
My life breath
In your veins.
Come, come, My loved one,
For you must know-
I have waited long
For you.
Chant: stilled and quiet is my soul, in God's presence, I take my rest (by Sister Helen Marie Gilsdorf, RSM)
Friday, March 8th with Heather
The Mystery of "Die before you Die" is this:
That the gifts come after your dying and not before.
Except for dying, you artful schemer,
No other skill impresses God. One divine gift Is better than a hundred kinds of exertion.
Your efforts are assailed from a hundred sides, And the favor depends on your dying.
The trustworthy have already put this to the test'
— Rumi
“The code word for this inner gesture… is surrender. In the Wisdom lexicon it specifically denotes the passage from the smaller or acorn self into the greater or oak tree self brought about through this act of letting go. The word surrender itself means to "hand oneself over" or "entrust oneself." It is not about outer capitulation but about inner opening. It is always voluntary, and rather than an act of weakness. It is always an act of strength.” — Cynthia Bourgeault
Chant: when was I ever made less by dying, I come into being as I pass away
Saturday, March 9th with Heather
“Far from an act of spiritual cowardice, surrender is an act of spiritual power because it opens the heart directly to the more subtle realms of spiritual Wisdom and energy. One hands oneself over, in the poet Dante's beautiful image, into "the love that moves the stars and the sun." When the attitude of prompt surrender has become permanently engrained in a person while still in bodily life, that person becomes a powerful servant of humanity—a saint, in the language of the Christian West—whose very being radiates blessing and spiritual strength.”
— Cynthia Bourgeault
Chant: when was I ever made less by dying, I come into being as I pass away
Sunday, March 10 with Joy
The One has never left you by St. Catherine of Siena
It is just
that your soul is so vast
that just like
the earth in its innocence,
it may think,
"I do not feel my lover's warmth
against my face right
now."
But look, dear,
is not the sun reaching down its arms
and always holding a continent
in its light?
The One cannot leave us.
It is just that our soul is so vast,
we do not always feel their lips
upon the
veil.
Chant: We are held in love, we are one in love (by Joy Andrews Hayter)
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