Category: Spiritual

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A walk in the woods

Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk in the woods. I was on an old trail that used to be the haunt of four wheelers and snowmobiles. I don’t think its used much anymore. It was just what I needed in the midst of this pandemic. Luckily for me I live in a small village a long way from any major metropolis. Yet, I feel the anguish and anxiety of people who I will never know in this life. The woods and its’ trees have always been a cathedral for me. I feel closer to God when I’m in the woods. Sometimes I want to hold hands with Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh and retreat into the woods forever. That’s not realistic perhaps but it’s a yearning that I have. There is also a small pond near my home and I like to go there and just sit next to one of the large trees that are adjacent to the pond.

Today is Sunday. It’s the Fourth Sunday of Lent and other years I would be on my way to Mt Irenaeus for Mass and brunch but today that’s all a memory as churches and retreat centers are closed. Instead I found myself re-reading quotes from Thomas Merton who is one of my favorite authors. I’ve loved Merton most of my adult life and his writing resonates with me. Like him I am drawn to mystical prayer. In the midst of this chaos and suffering there is a spirit that some might call God. Some may call it a higher power and others may only long for peace and communion.

“Whether you teach or live in the cloister or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married or single, no matter who you are or what you are, you are called to the summit of perfection: you are called to a deep interior life perhaps even to mystical prayer, and to pass the fruits of your contemplation on to others. And if you cannot do so by word, then by example.

Yet if this sublime fire of infused love burns in your soul, it will inevitably send forth throughout the Church and the world an influence more tremendous than could be estimated by the radius reached by words or by example.”

― Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

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We were flying to the moon

Reading on the internet tonight led me to Ireland and Sister Maud Murphy, SSL who has written a timely poem about the Coronavirus. She’s hit the nail on the head. It’s a theme I have thought of often this week as I’ve listened to politicians posture about how this virus is the fault of a particular geographic area of our world. The virus comes not from a particular place but from a lifestyle of over consumption. Our failure to live simply so that others could simply live has caught up with us. Now we face a reckoning of our own creation. It’s payback time and as an old friend once said, “payback’s a bitch.”

We were warned by Rachel Carson nearly sixty years ago when she published “Silent Spring.” Al Gore published Inconvenient Truth in 2006 and it was dismissed as too political. Politicians and pundits laughed and said there was no way we could afford to change our ways. It was not economically feasible they said. In 2015 Pope Francis released Laudate Si and again the politicians and pundits dismissed it. It was economically not feasible and some said the pope should tend to matters of the church because the climate and the economy were not his business. Last year Greta Thunberg warned us just as the prophets of old that our time was running out. She was dismissed as all the prophets have always been. They said she was crazy. Some folks said that Greta had anger management issues. The Green New Deal was dismissed out of hand by those who worshipped the golden calf of the stock market and economy.

Now the planet has spoken and she has our attention. Sister Maud Murphy has written a poignant poem that captures the irony of our dilemma. The stock market is plummeting and the economy is tanking. We are forced to keep our distance from neighbors. Businesses are shuttered. Maybe there is a silver lining in Coronavirus. Maybe we’ll emerge transformed. Maybe.

We were flying to the Moon
We were finding life on Mars
We were dropping bombs with drones
We were getting bigger cars.
We were building finer homes
Flying out to warmer lands
We were busy buying clothes
We were brushing up our tans.
We were throwing out good food
While we watched the starving poor
We kept burning fossil fuels
And our air became less pure.
We were warned by our Pope
Need to mind our Common Home
Need to watch our Carbon Footprint
Try to save our world from doom. – Sister Maud Murphy, SSL

Read the entire poem here.

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Look for the helpers

As this global pandemic appears to threaten us all it is easy to lose hope. At least it is for me. Anxiety and depression can take their toll too. Because of where we live I’ve been able to walk outside quite a bit and that has helped. Most people are keeping themselves socially distant. That’s good for everyone but sometimes social distance has become emotional distance. On Tuesday morning when I was beginning to despair I received a text message from a friend who volunteered to take my place in the local food pantry. She reasoned that being younger she’d be less susceptible to the virus. This moved me to realize that despite the angry rhetoric of some folks there are really wonderful people who think of others before themselves. It reminded me of a quote I recently saw on social media.

“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
– Fred Rogers

Even though you may be shut in or locked down you can help with an encouraging word or a smile. You can send an email or write a letter to someone you know. One of the ways I’ve been helping is using the Gratefulness website to send an e-card to someone you know . I’ve been prayer walking and practicing yoga too. I believe that positive energy can make a difference in the world. There are many ways to help. You’ll be sure to find the one that works for you.

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Grant me the serenity

As I walked today I recited the Serenity Prayer. It’s a prayer that I’ve used for many years. Most people know the shorter version of the prayer but I have found the long version to be very comforting. I half-dozen years ago following serious bout with depression my spiritual advisor shared the long version with me.

God grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time.
Enjoying one moment at a time.
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as he did, this sinful world as it is,
Not as I would like it.

Trusting that he will make all things right,
If I surrender to his will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this world
And supremely happy in the next.

Reinhold Niebuhr, Theologian

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Bearing hard things well

Reading Joan Chittister the last few days has been a tonic for my weary soul. She never disappoints and this book is exactly what I needed to read now. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself and I never wear it well. Bad things happen to good people. We all know that but nobody wants to live it. Tonight as I’m finishing another day I read the following quote. It’s so appropriate.

“By learning to bear hard things well, we secure the future of the human race as well as our own ability to survive. By being willing to put our personal power down in favor of someone else’s vision and experience, we pledge ourselves to benefit from the power and goodness of others. We save ourselves from our own limitations and follies, from our lack of maturity and experience. Most of all, we pledge ourselves to be open to the wisdom figures of life and so become wiser ourselves as we go. Without endurance we succumb silently to the demons of injustice. We dry up inside, shrivel in our hope, and belie the will of God for the world. On the other hand, a spirituality of endurance frees us from the rampages of destructive pride. It opens us to a community of wisdom figures, guides who, if we will only allow it, are there to lead us through the ravages of our time.”

— Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life by Joan Chittister

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Care for our common home

Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus I’ve been wondering about its connection to climate change. I hadn’t seen anything in the news at all about any connection. It was just one of my private thoughts until yesterday when I happened to be looking at TED talks. I just happened to select a talk given recently at Southern Methodist University by Alanna Shaikh . Until yesterday I’d never heard of her but what she shared in her twenty minute talk was absolutely breathtaking and confirmed for me that Covid-19 is indeed connected to how we have been taking care of our common home.

When Pope Francis and others have spoken about the need to address climate change and income inequality they’ve been shouted down by those who said we cannot afford the economic strain that such efforts would entail. It seems that Mother Earth is refuting that madness in a way that only she could. Reflecting on the words of Pope Francis its becoming clearer that we have sinned and that we are paying dearly for those sins.

“The earth now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. – Pope Francis

Laudato Si – May 24, 2015
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The real miracle is walking on earth

In the spring of 1996 our family journeyed to Salt Lake City, Utah as part of a family vacation and visit to a friend. While we were there I visited a bookstore which is one of my favorite things to do. In the bookstore I came upon a title “Living Buddha Living Christ.” Its author, Thich Nhat Hanh was someone I had never heard of. I picked up the book, began to read it and eventually bought it. Since that time I have purchased many of his books and enjoyed his writing. He was a friend of Thomas Merton who is another of my favorite authors.

I often think of Thich Nhat Hanh when I’m walking. Today was one of those days when I was really trying to walk more mindfully. I was praying a simple repetitive prayer as I walked. Many know it as the “Hail Mary.” It centers me and its mantric simplicity keeps me focused not on my thoughts but on its words and rhythm. While not living mindfully it is possible to ignore the miracle of life and think that miracles only happen to saints.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Walking itself is a miracle as is all life. It’s easy to get sidetracked and scared by what’s happening around us everyday. But it can be changed by what we do. We are what we do each day, not what we think. Walking mindfully is my way to bring about change.

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The willingness to trust

“Humility is the willingness to trust ourselves to the universe, to the people in our lives, to the wisdom of others. We are told to relinquish our self-centeredness to the universal will, to realize that we are attuned to one another and that the others are at least as wise and caring as we are.”

— Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life by Joan Chittister

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Focus your positive energy for good

Today I saw in the news that the President of the United States is asking that Sunday March 15, 2020 be a day of prayer. That’s a great idea and coming from anyone else it probably would have been better received. He has after all been an incredibly divisive person who has done much to discredit the press, science and anyone else who has disagreed with him. However, that is not important now. What is important that we focus our collective energies on stopping this pandemic. We have seen many examples around the world of people reaching out to help others in their midst. Whether you are a believer or not is not important but each of us is made of energy and we can focus that energy in positive ways to stem and perhaps change the negative energy around us.

As an older person I’m very concerned for my own personal safety and as a person who could be a vector for the transmission of this deadly virus. I’ve been washing my hands much more than usual and use alcohol and bleach wipes which have dried my skin. I’ve prayed because that is something that I am comfortable doing. A little religion goes a long way for many in this world and its been one of the most divisive sources on our planet that anyone could ever imagine. Therefore my appeal is for a focus of positive energy. If you are religious that is fine. If you are not religious that is fine too. I practice yoga and I know that there are energy centers which we can summon and project out to help others and to help our world. I am hoping that you will join me in focusing this positive energy on the world around us.

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The prophetic call

“The prophets of our era lament the lack of religion’s concern for underpaid women, trafficked girls, beaten wives, and the miserable second-classism of women everywhere—in both church and state. Today’s prophets try to deter the ruthless, relentless, systemic violence practiced in the name of patriotism, calling itself “the Will of God.” The prophets understand why spiritual seekers cry out in despair for church leadership in the condemnation of nuclear weapons but get condemnations of condoms and contraception instead.”

— The Time Is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage by Joan Chittister