
Good day, good people,
As the tide of Epiphany continues to ripple out in this season leading up to Lent, we can trust the tide of Epiphany continuing to ripple out in our Whole Selves and the Whole body of God. The word epiphany is typically understood to mean a sudden insight, a great revealing, or a manifestation. Living from our Whole Selves, being fully human, is not always easy just as it is not always difficult. Engaging our practices of surrender and attention can bring about epiphanies of varying degrees. Perhaps we begin to manifest an increased three-centered awareness of an unexplainable inner strength and freedom or a sudden realization that we are palpably sustained by living waters. Perhaps we have a great revealing of uncomfortable deep seated emotions arising from the unconscious or a sudden insight about the ways we are caught up in our programs for happiness. Being fully human doesn't necessarily make life any easier but as the position of our selfhood begins to shift from our ordinary sense of self to the Greater Self within, that is at the inner most place in God, we naturally gain the capacity to allow ourselves to embrace the whole complex ecosystem that we are. We learn a different way of existing and operating from Wholeness. This in turn ripples out and contributes to the increase of the inner strength in the Whole body of God.
Of course this kind of operating from Wholeness isn't something we can just decide to do. It is the fruit that naturally matures as the shift in our selfhood and perception takes place and stabilizes. Thomas Keating said in his book Manifesting God, “For human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human. For to become fully human is to become fully divine.” Becoming fully human is not an individual goal one strives for in order to be enlightened but rather an essential participation that each one of us submits to as a Whole within a Whole within a Whole... Again, we are prepared for this. Let us continue to become fully human and open to our own unique presence shining through in this season.
Epiphanytide Light, Love, and Wholeness,
Heather
Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses
*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*
Sunday, January 19th with Catherine
Reading: The Thing Is by Ellen Bass
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
Monday, January 20th
Reading: “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve… You only need a heart full of grace. A soul fueled by love.” — Martin Luther King Jr., "The Drum Major Instinct" sermon
Chant: May our hearts be full of grace, our souls fueled by love (words put to chant by Heather Ruce)
Tuesday, January 21st
Reading: Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope—
Not the prudent gates of Optimism,
Which are somewhat narrower.
Not the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense;
Nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness,
Which creak on shrill and angry hinges
(People cannot hear us there; they cannot pass through)
Nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of
"Everything is gonna' be all right."
But a different, sometimes lonely place,
The place of truth-telling,
About your own soul first of all and its condition.
The place of resistance and defiance,
The piece of ground from which you see the world
Both as it is and as it could be
As it will be;
The place from which you glimpse not only struggle,
But the joy of the struggle.
And we stand there, beckoning and calling,
Telling people what we are seeing
Asking people what they see.
— Victoria Stafford, "The Gates of Hope" in The Impossible Will Take a Little While: Perseverance and Hope in Troubled Times
Chant: Hold fast the hope that anchors the soul, which is sure and steadfast, that you may float above the world’s seas (by Paulette Meier)
Wednesday, January 22nd
Reading: "We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization. There is still a voice crying out in terms that echo across the generations, saying: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven.” This love might well be the salvation of our civilization. This is why I am so impressed with our motto for the week, “Freedom and Justice through Love.” Not through violence; not through hate; no not even through boycotts; but through love. It is true that as we struggle for freedom in America we will have to boycott at times. But we must remember as we boycott that a boycott is not an end within itself; it is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor and challenge his false sense of superiority. But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men [and women]. — Martin Luther King Jr., Facing the Challenge of a New Age
Chant: all we need is here, love is here
Thursday, January 23rd
Chant: Be right here, in the Heart of God (by Henry Schoenfield)
Friday, January 24th
Reading: "In and of itself, a life of continuous and deepening surrender brings about a profound transformation in the psyche: a deepening and gentling of the human being. But the transformation is vastly accelerated when Centering Prayer is combined with a practice of "inner observation," or "witnessing presence," as is taught in traditional schools of inner awakening (and in most forms of meditation). Once the process is under way, it becomes clear that Centering Prayer provides an even more solid foundation for this work than traditional forms of inner observer practice (which can become too mental) because in Centering Prayer the witnessing presence, or "inner observer." is easily and naturally carried in magnetic center." — Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, p.166
Chant: my center is in you God, my center is in you (by Heather Ruce)
Saturday, January 25th
Sunday, January 26th with Tom
Body Prayer: from the community of Julian of Norwich
Pray these four gestures with your body while saying the italicized words aloud:
1. "Await" (hands at waist, cupped up to receive)
2. "Allow" (reach up, hands open)
3. "Accept" (hands at heart, cupped towards body)
4. "Attend" (hands outstretched, ready to be responsive)
Chant: When we are with You, what fear of loss could we possibly have….We swim in Mercy as in an endless sea, we swim in mercy as in an endless sea (by Susan Latimer)
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