Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses
Monday, September 9th with Tom
Readings: First of all, as we work with creating moon, engaging the struggle with what we have chosen to work with, we are struggling for something more than against something. Red Hawk says, “The observation of the inner phenomena is revolution, not against anything, but for more consciousness, more Presence. If the struggle is against anything, that is identification, and self observation ceases at that moment. The struggle to be present, in the body, and to remember myself, develops both Presence and Attention, creates for them an inner structure. This is a struggle for more consciousness” (Self Remembering, p.90).
Horse in the Meadow
Have you seen how a horse,
on a summer's afternoon
in a wide green Meadow,
gallops and dances and springs
about in the sun and the wind?
This is just how God delights
in pouring himself into you.
Just like this!
— Meister Eckhart’s Book of Secrets, p. 159
Chant: The earth is full, full of your goodness. The earth is full, full of You. Your goodness fills the whole earth. (by Darlene Franz)
Tuesday, September 10th with Catherine
Reading: “Love and fear form the great opposites of the world. Love can even transform the Earth into the substance of love. The whole evolution of the Earth and of human beings points in the direction of their fulfillment through this mighty force, the only force that can subdue the ravages of fear. All spiritual traditions, in spite of their many differences, resound with this common theme. The transformation of Earth into a planet of love will not happen by itself. The task lies in the hands of human beings, for we are the instruments through which love circulates” — Robert Sardello, Freeing the Soul from Fear, Ch. 7
Wednesday, September 11th with Catherine
Reading: “Love functions in four distinct modes—sexual love, emotional love, spiritual love, and creative love….
Sexual love - “Perhaps the most powerful deterrent against fear is the feeling of the warmth of bodily connection with others. If we lose this mode of connection, we feel isolated and alone, st up for all the ploys of one kind of fear or another…
Knowing through desire brings about a new contact with the world, knowing as healing. With this form of intimate knowing we become interested in connections, synthesis, wholeness, and a productive rather than analytic form of contact with others and the world…
The fires of desire are required to forge an inner life through which we grow gradually into our humanity…
Desire lives in the body as a deep reservoir for bringing love into the world. Contain the fire; guard the flame. Let it do its work of purifying the body, making an inner space that prepares for the possibility of a soul life entwined with the glory and perfection of physical life.” — Robert Sardello, Freeing the Soul from Fear, Ch. 7
Thursday, September 12th with Tom
Reading: Abba Macarius, the esteemed desert Father, was asked, How should one pray? The old man said, “There is no need at all to make long discourses; it is enough to stretch out one's hands and say, ‘Lord, as you will and as you know, have mercy.’ And if the conflict grows fiercer, say, ‘Lord, help!’ He knows very well what we need, and he shows us his mercy.”
Well, I think that “Lord, help” is probably arguably the original Centering Prayer sacred word—the short phrase or word that is used situationally.
So what we see here is the prayer is to simply stand there. And Macarius is arguing here in the same way that you'll find the great tradition of The Cloud of Unknowing, as well as Centering Prayer, all of them saying, forget the flowery words that simply tend to pull us into thought.
Simply stand there, stretch out one's hands, and say, “Lord, have mercy.” Kyrie, eleison. Kyrie, eleison. The simple prayer. And then even as the conflict grows, and as the thoughts and as the demons are besieging you, just utter: “Lord, help!”
Terrific! It certainly is a very, very clear reference to the priority and the historical pride of place of the short prayer of the heart. And this is definitely prayer of the heart because it's uttered right from that place of authentic, complete sincerity and need. (Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault’s Wisdom School on the Desert Fathers and Mothers.)
Chant: Lord as you know, Lord as will, have mercy, have mercy (Darlene Franz)
Friday, September 13th with Tom
Reading: 'Why aren't we screaming drunks?' by Hafiz, The Gift, trans. by Daniel Ladinsky
The sun once glimpsed God's true nature
and has never been the same.
Thus … that radiant sphere
constantly pours its energy
upon this earth
as does God from behind
the veil.
With a wonderful God like that …
why isn't everyone a screaming drunk?
Hafiz’s guess is this:
any thought that you are better or less
than another person
quickly
breaks the wine
glass.
Chant: The Lord is my Light, my Light and Salvation, in God I trust, in God I trust (Taize)
Saturday, September 14th with Chris
Reading: If you listen,
not to the pages or preachers
but to the smallest flower
growing from a crack
in your heart,
you will hear a great song
moving across a wide ocean
whose water is the music
connecting all the islands
of the universe together,
and touching all
you will feel it
touching you
around you...embracing you
with light.
It is in that Light
that everything lives
and will always be alive.
That is all there is.
— John Squadra (from Terry Hershey’s Sabbath Moment 9-12-24)
Sunday, September 15th with Chris
Reading: Lighthouse by Tahlia Hunter
There are times in your life, where you must be a lighthouse.
Where you must stand still and boldly within the storm,
letting the waves crash before you,
but continuing to shine your light brightly in the darkness -
- for the only effective response to darkness
is to increase your light -
and choose to keep your head above the storm
and let your heart whisper
with the echo of each heartbeat:
"The storm outside of me
does not shake me or defeat me
for that which I truly am
can never be destroyed."
Comments