This Thanksgiving Day, and every day, wake up! Leave the mesmerism of the everyday cloud of things to do and places to hurry to.
Are you cooking today? Consider this admonition from St. Teresa of Avilla to her chattering novices in the convent kitchen: "Sisters, hearken! God is among the marmites!" (A marmite is a type of pot.)
Voice gratitude for all the loveliness, the wonder of what appears around you. Appreciate the minuscule, the mighty.
Rejoice in the radiance of the awesome Conscious-Awareness that makes the appreciation possible.
Find yourSelf. . .not separate from the Allness called "God." Lose the "me"; Be the "I."
Love. Be the loving expression of the Love That IS.
Much, much to be grateful for, indeed!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Saying Grace
Many years ago, I was invited to join a church group of Polynesian people for a Sunday meal. Before the meal began, the group sang their grace. I shall never forget the sound of that sung prayer: exquisitely sweet, bell-like, unified, loving.
When I was a child, my father said grace every day before we ate: "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let this food to us be blessed." This prayer was a bit mechanical, perhaps, yet it marked a moment of stillness and of being together.
Prayer before a meal is a universal expression of gratitude. Graces can probably be found in the written or oral traditions of just about every culture on earth. Nourishment, sustenance, both physical and spiritual, is a gift -- whether merited or not -- from the Divine. So, at its most basic, table grace is a thank-you prayer for the blessing of having food, manna, for another day.
Meals are also an opportunity for a family, nuclear or extended, to be gathered together. Thus, this prayer is also an acknowledgment and expression of gratitude for the blessings of family and hospitality. The Divine is often recognized as an unseen guest at the table.
This moment of grateful prayer is an opportunity to pause and come into a fuller awareness of all that surrounds us, including the embrace of the Divine. It could be seen as an instant of "Zen" mindfulness.
Kenneth G. Mills, in a collection of his poems and prayers called Words of Adjustment (Sun-Scape Publications, copyright 1992), described the breaking of bread this way:
"We should break bread together
and share the wonder of wine
and the moment of inspiration
when men who have enough love
can break the frontiers
that would prevent us from Being One."
Author Adrian Butash has gathered 152 graces in his book Bless This Food (New World Library, copyright 1993, 2007). Prayer 148 was written by Father John Giuliani, a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is one of my favorites in this book:
"Bless our hearts
to hear in the
breaking of bread
the song of the universe."
A meal togather is a holy event, one in which to rejoice, give thanks, and bow in awe at the ever-flowing blessings of the divine One.
When I was a child, my father said grace every day before we ate: "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let this food to us be blessed." This prayer was a bit mechanical, perhaps, yet it marked a moment of stillness and of being together.
Prayer before a meal is a universal expression of gratitude. Graces can probably be found in the written or oral traditions of just about every culture on earth. Nourishment, sustenance, both physical and spiritual, is a gift -- whether merited or not -- from the Divine. So, at its most basic, table grace is a thank-you prayer for the blessing of having food, manna, for another day.
Meals are also an opportunity for a family, nuclear or extended, to be gathered together. Thus, this prayer is also an acknowledgment and expression of gratitude for the blessings of family and hospitality. The Divine is often recognized as an unseen guest at the table.
This moment of grateful prayer is an opportunity to pause and come into a fuller awareness of all that surrounds us, including the embrace of the Divine. It could be seen as an instant of "Zen" mindfulness.
Kenneth G. Mills, in a collection of his poems and prayers called Words of Adjustment (Sun-Scape Publications, copyright 1992), described the breaking of bread this way:
"We should break bread together
and share the wonder of wine
and the moment of inspiration
when men who have enough love
can break the frontiers
that would prevent us from Being One."
Author Adrian Butash has gathered 152 graces in his book Bless This Food (New World Library, copyright 1993, 2007). Prayer 148 was written by Father John Giuliani, a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is one of my favorites in this book:
"Bless our hearts
to hear in the
breaking of bread
the song of the universe."
A meal togather is a holy event, one in which to rejoice, give thanks, and bow in awe at the ever-flowing blessings of the divine One.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
"Feed my Lambs"
Did you know that one out of every six Americans faces real hunger? To me, that's a very surprising statistic.
Generous people think of donating to charities which serve those literally dying of hunger in other countries around the world. These are indeed wonderful and badly needed organizations. But there is also hunger here in the United States, among seniors, children from poor families, Native Americans, the homeless. And more and more often now, the people turning to food pantries are those who have lost their jobs in the bad economy and have been unable to find work since. Some of these folks have used up their unemployment benefits; some have become homeless.
These are the new faces at our nation's food pantries. And, sadly, as the number of clients grows, at the same time donations lessen, as people also struggling in the "Recession" pull back on their contributions.
I've come across a wonderful organization known as Feeding America. Its former name was America's Second Harvest, because it focuses on saving food that would otherwise go to waste. The organization sets up partnerships with food growers, processors, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in order to collect good food that might otherwise not get used. This is my favorite part of this charity, as the waste of food, and so much else, in our society is troubling. Not wasting resources is another aspect of good stewardship of our planet.
Feeding America's network then ships the donated food to wherever it is needed most, and food banks within the network store and distribute the food to local charities such as soup kitchens, senior centers, and after-school programs.
In this way, food is provided for some 37 million Americans annually. More than 200 member food banks supply some 61,000 local agencies that address hunger.
To find out more about Feeding America and to donate to them, simply go to www.feedingamerica.org, or call 1-800-771-2303. Other actions you can take include setting up a food drive in your own community at a church or school, or volunteering time at a local food pantry. Even buying a couple extra cans or packages of food every time you shop and giving them to a local charity will help.
As in the Great Depression, people will get through their hard times by the simple acts of people helping each other.
What better way to give thanks than by sharing! Abundance reigns despite any appearance to the contrary. For the Lord's Allness could never be anything other than rich, overflowing Substance. So rejoice in that, voice your gratitude, and express the ceaseless generosity of the Beautiful One by the actions you take during this Thanksgiving season.
Generous people think of donating to charities which serve those literally dying of hunger in other countries around the world. These are indeed wonderful and badly needed organizations. But there is also hunger here in the United States, among seniors, children from poor families, Native Americans, the homeless. And more and more often now, the people turning to food pantries are those who have lost their jobs in the bad economy and have been unable to find work since. Some of these folks have used up their unemployment benefits; some have become homeless.
These are the new faces at our nation's food pantries. And, sadly, as the number of clients grows, at the same time donations lessen, as people also struggling in the "Recession" pull back on their contributions.
I've come across a wonderful organization known as Feeding America. Its former name was America's Second Harvest, because it focuses on saving food that would otherwise go to waste. The organization sets up partnerships with food growers, processors, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in order to collect good food that might otherwise not get used. This is my favorite part of this charity, as the waste of food, and so much else, in our society is troubling. Not wasting resources is another aspect of good stewardship of our planet.
Feeding America's network then ships the donated food to wherever it is needed most, and food banks within the network store and distribute the food to local charities such as soup kitchens, senior centers, and after-school programs.
In this way, food is provided for some 37 million Americans annually. More than 200 member food banks supply some 61,000 local agencies that address hunger.
To find out more about Feeding America and to donate to them, simply go to www.feedingamerica.org, or call 1-800-771-2303. Other actions you can take include setting up a food drive in your own community at a church or school, or volunteering time at a local food pantry. Even buying a couple extra cans or packages of food every time you shop and giving them to a local charity will help.
As in the Great Depression, people will get through their hard times by the simple acts of people helping each other.
What better way to give thanks than by sharing! Abundance reigns despite any appearance to the contrary. For the Lord's Allness could never be anything other than rich, overflowing Substance. So rejoice in that, voice your gratitude, and express the ceaseless generosity of the Beautiful One by the actions you take during this Thanksgiving season.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
In the Name of God
People sometimes come to me saying, "We're not religious. We don't want the word "God" used in our ceremony." For them, I can often use a phrase such as "all that is good" in a blessing.
There are, of course, many, many names for that Unfathomable Mystery that many call "God." Among them are such terms as Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, I AM, That Which IS, The Divine, The Self, The Source, One, The All, Consciousness. The most Orthodox of Jewish worshippers are not permitted to utter the sacred Name. Zen teachers speak of "Nothing."
Many women now seem to be protesting the use of the patriarchal "He" when referring to God. They prefer "She" as the holy pronoun. Some contemporary writers speak of the importance of newly appreciating the receptive, compassionate, feminine aspect of the deity. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, was ahead of her time when she referred to the divine as "Father-Mother God." Mrs. Eddy also gave seven synonyms for God: Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth and Love.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous speak of one's "higher power" in an attempt to find language that can be accepted by all AA members, no matter what their background of faith or lack thereof.
A number of contemporary folks, who may say they don't believe in God, nonetheless conceive of a power that supports and harmonizes all things, a universal force or essence or pattern, a vibration, or simply the vast, mysterious Universe itself. Numerous books are being published now on the closing gap between science (especially physics) and religion or metaphysics.
Master science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke created a classic story called "The Nine Billion Names of God." In it, a group of monks in a lamasery high in the mountains have toiled for many years to write down all nine billion names of God, based on a set of sacred words. It is said that if this task is completed, the world will come to an end. The monks finally decide to hire a pair of consultants, who provide them with a computer to run through all the permutations and combinations of sacred letters that form the names. When the computer has almost finished the task, the consultants leave the lamasery and ride away at night on horseback. They laugh with each other about the project, estimating that the computer must just have finished, when suddenly, ". . .overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."
One name too sacred to pronounce, or nine billion names, what is this potent yet indescribable Ineffable-ness we try to name? Who can say?
The late Dr. Kenneth G. Mills often spoke of the "One Altogether Lovely." That phrase touches me very much. Yet, for myself, I think my favorite name of all for the Mystery of God is a single word: Love.
There are, of course, many, many names for that Unfathomable Mystery that many call "God." Among them are such terms as Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, I AM, That Which IS, The Divine, The Self, The Source, One, The All, Consciousness. The most Orthodox of Jewish worshippers are not permitted to utter the sacred Name. Zen teachers speak of "Nothing."
Many women now seem to be protesting the use of the patriarchal "He" when referring to God. They prefer "She" as the holy pronoun. Some contemporary writers speak of the importance of newly appreciating the receptive, compassionate, feminine aspect of the deity. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, was ahead of her time when she referred to the divine as "Father-Mother God." Mrs. Eddy also gave seven synonyms for God: Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth and Love.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous speak of one's "higher power" in an attempt to find language that can be accepted by all AA members, no matter what their background of faith or lack thereof.
A number of contemporary folks, who may say they don't believe in God, nonetheless conceive of a power that supports and harmonizes all things, a universal force or essence or pattern, a vibration, or simply the vast, mysterious Universe itself. Numerous books are being published now on the closing gap between science (especially physics) and religion or metaphysics.
Master science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke created a classic story called "The Nine Billion Names of God." In it, a group of monks in a lamasery high in the mountains have toiled for many years to write down all nine billion names of God, based on a set of sacred words. It is said that if this task is completed, the world will come to an end. The monks finally decide to hire a pair of consultants, who provide them with a computer to run through all the permutations and combinations of sacred letters that form the names. When the computer has almost finished the task, the consultants leave the lamasery and ride away at night on horseback. They laugh with each other about the project, estimating that the computer must just have finished, when suddenly, ". . .overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."
One name too sacred to pronounce, or nine billion names, what is this potent yet indescribable Ineffable-ness we try to name? Who can say?
The late Dr. Kenneth G. Mills often spoke of the "One Altogether Lovely." That phrase touches me very much. Yet, for myself, I think my favorite name of all for the Mystery of God is a single word: Love.
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