Daily Contemplative Pause Readings
Monday, May 27th with Henry
Reading: “...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control….” — Galatians 5:22-23
Tuesday, May 28th with Chris
Reading: Entering the Sea by Khalil Gibran
It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.
Chant: Oh Mercy, I entrust myself to You, that I may be transformed.
Thursday, May 30th with Chris
Reading: Spelunking of the Soul by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
I woke in the cave of my heart,
a slim shadow nested inside
an unbounded shadow,
and there, after decades of chatter
and prattle, I found you, silence.
Or more truly, after my clanging
and crying, my praising and soothing,
silence found me.
Quiet comforter.
Place of no promises.
Infinite cradle. Infinite womb.
An endless invitation to wake
forever.
I woke in the cave of my heart
being tuned to join a song I knew
but had never been taught,
a song ringing inside every cell.
Whatever I’d thought
was my own voice was one silken thread
in a warp made of silence,
a weft made of song.
I met there all the beauty I could bear.
Is it here even now as I sit in my room
with the low hum of lights
and the long list of things to do?
I close my eyes,
empty my pockets of certainty,
listen for what is real.
Chant: Bind my head and my heart in you, Holy One, Holy One, Holy One
Friday, May 31st with Heather
Reading: “The imaginal realm–our principal partner in this exchange -- is "lighter" than our own earth realm -- i.e., less dense, vibrating on a higher frequency…
In this lighter, more fluid realm, my BODY is not the outer physical shell, but a more subtle inner body that inhabits and animates it...It comprises an energy field extending well beyond our physical body, and the energy of this body is not physical energy, but energy of a much finer vibration kind, sometimes called "psychic energy" (by Valentin Tomberg) or "radial energy" (by Teilhard de Chardin). It is the energy of prayer, attention, love, and authentic spiritual will. It is counter-entropic (i.e., not subject to the laws of thermodynamics), and it is very real. It is the principal vehicle of imaginal exchange.
In this more subtle imaginal bandwidth, those aforementioned "virtues and vices" take on a different form as well. They become subtle cosmic substances -- not simply "qualities," but actual physical elements needed for the building up (or alas, tearing down) of our world…" — Cynthia Bourgeault, Spirituality & Practice: Spiritual Gifts from the Imaginal Realm, Session 5
Chant: hold fast the hope, that anchors the soul which is strong and steadfast, that you may float above the world's seas by Paulette Meier
Saturday, June 1st with Heather
Reading: "the theological virtues" (faith, hope, and love) are actually streams of radial energy changing outcomes in the physical world. In his The Divine Milieu he insists that faith is "operative," meaning for him that it actually acts in this world, changing not only the outcome of a situation but the actual physical structure of the material it acts on. As [Teilhard de Chardin] sees it, "Under the influence of faith, the universe is capable, without outwardly changing its characteristics, of "becoming more supple, more fully animate." And he's not just talking about our attitude toward the world becoming more supple and animate; something in the physical composition of the world actually subtly shifts. The agent of change here is not merely an awakened heart acting upon the world, but FAITH itself acting upon the world through a direct energetic impact upon the molecular elements of which the world is composed." — Cynthia Bourgeault, Spirituality & Practice: Spiritual Gifts from the Imaginal Realm, Session 5
Chant: sink into the taproot of your heart (by Heather Ruce)
Sunday, June 2nd with Joy
Reading: All beings
are words of God,His music, His Art.
Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps in our souls.
Every act reveals God and expands His being.
I know that may be hard
to comprehend. All creatures are doing their best
to help God in His birth
of Himself.
Enough talk for the night.
He is laboring in me;
need to be silent
for a while, worlds are forming
in my heart. — Meister Eckhart, as translated by Daniel Ladinsky
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