Readings week of May 4th.
- Linda Lueng
- May 4
- 6 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses
*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*
Monday, May 4th with Tom
Reading: I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the back of a tree just as a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited awhile, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes faster than life. The case opened; the butterfly started slowly crawling out, and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath, in vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear all crumpled, before its time.
It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand. That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience. For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate to great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the external rhythm.
— Nikos Kazantzakis in Zorba the Greek
Chant: Slowly Blooms the Rose within — Lynn Bauman
Tuesday, May 5th with LeMel
Reading:
Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism.
Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.
— St. Oscar Romero
Chant:
Let us do the holy work of Peace
In our own hearts
In a world in need
Give us strength
Give us courage
For this holy work
Wednesday, May 6th with LeMel
Reading: Psalm 23 (A Song from the Flock of God)
O God, you are my shepherd,
nothing needful shall I lack or want
For in the meadows where you make me lie to rest,
or on the paths you lead beside still waters,
My soul revives, refreshed again,
to follow further the pathways of your name.
Even though the way that I must take
leads through the deepest shadows
I shall not fear the lurking evil there, nor death.
Your presence is my rod and staff,
my comfort and my guide.
And in those places where my foes rise up to trouble me
you spread a table and make a feast;
Anoint my head, and fill my cup to overflowing.
So now I know, O Lord, that all my life-long through
your goodness and mercy flows and follows after me,
And at the last when journey’s done
your dwelling place shall be my home forever.
— Translated by Lynn C. Bauman in Ancient Songs Sung Anew: The Psalms as Poetry
Chant:
O God, you are my shepherd,
nothing needful shall I lack or want
And at the last when journey’s done
your dwelling place shall be my home forever.
Thursday, May 8th with LeMel
Reading: Stay Close, My Heart
Stay close, my heart, to the one who knows your ways;
Come into the shade of the tree that always has fresh flowers.
Don’t stroll idly through the bazaar of the perfume-makers;
Stay in the shop of the sugar-seller.
If you don’t find true balance, anyone can deceive you;
Anyone can trick out of a thing of straw, and make you take it for gold.
Don’t squat with a bowl before every boiling pot;
In each pot on the fire you find very different things.
Not all sugarcanes have sugar, not all abysses a peak;
Not all eyes possess vision, not every sea is full of pearls.
O nightingale, with your voice of dark honey! Go on lamenting!
Only your drunken ecstasy can pierce the rock’s hard heart!
Surrender yourself, and if you cannot be welcomed by the Friend,
Know that you are rebelling inwardly like a thread
That doesn’t want to go through the needle’s eye!
The awakened heart is a lamp; protect it by the hem of your robe!
Hurry and get out of this wind, for the weather is bad.
And when you’ve left this storm, you will come to a fountain;
You’ll find a Friend there who will always nourish your soul.
And with your soul always green, you’ll grow into a tall tree
Flowering always with sweet light-fruit, whose growth is interior.
— Rumi translated by Andrew Harvey
Chant:
Stay close, my heart, to the one who knows your ways;
Come into the shade of the tree that always has fresh flowers.
And with your soul always green, you’ll grow into a tall tree
Flowering always with sweet light-fruit, whose growth is interior.
Friday, May 8th with LeMel
Reading: Seat of Quiet
“The still is the master of unrest”
In Ancient Chinese script, the character 靜 (jìng)—stillness—depicts grass resting in calm after wind. This is the kind of silence that arrives once noise runs its course. Laozi’s idea is not to erase unrest, but to find its guide. In nature, stillness is the regulator of movement, and without it, change might get out of hand and cause trouble. Stillness holds and directs what moves around it…
To lead a life governed by this stillness is not to retreat from trouble, but to return to a place inside that does not alter course with every change. We are often told to act on something, or to fix something, but some problems shrink when observed with calmness. To answer some things, you may need only wait. Stillness is not the opposite of unrest; it is its foundation and ruler.
— 365 Days of Tao: A Daily One-Page Guide to the Tao Te Ching for Simplicity, Stillness, and a Calmer Life by Dae Lee
Chant:
I wait in stillness
Let frenzy settle
I come to rest in You
Saturday, May 9th with LeMel
Reading: “If we believe our soul is naturally luminous and that we are filled with innate, natural perfection, if we are the light of the world, then when we sink into quiet we return to peace. Conversely, if we believe creation is badly flawed, then we must avoid intimate contact with it. We greet silence with fear, afraid it will show us the broken center at the core of the world and of ourselves. Afraid of what we will find there, we avoid the stillness at all costs, keeping ourselves busy not so much to accomplish but to avoid the terrors and dangers of emptiness.”
— Wayne Muller in Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives
Chant:
Sinking into quiet
Returning to peace
To luminosity
Sunday, May 10th (Mother’s Day) with Catherine
Reading: Continue
by Maya Angelou
My wish for you
Is that you continue.
Continue
To be who and how you are
To astonish a mean world
With your acts of kindness
Continue
To allow humor to lighten the burden
of your tender heart
Continue
In a society dark with cruelty
To let the people hear the grandeur
Of God in the peals of your laughter
Continue
To let your eloquence
Elevate the people to heights
They had only imagined
Continue
To remind the people that
Each is as good as the other
And that no one is beneath
Nor above you
Continue
To remember your own young years
And look with favor upon the lost
And the least and the lonely
Continue
To put the mantel of your protection
Around the bodies of
The young and defenseless
Continue
To take the hand of the despised
And diseased and walk proudly with
them
In the high street
Some might see you and
Be encouraged to do likewise
Continue
To plant a public kiss of concern
On the cheek of the sick
And the aged and infirm
And count that as a
Natural action to be expected
Continue
To let gratitude be the pillow
Upon which you kneel to
Say your nightly prayer
And let faith be the bridge
You build to overcome evil
And welcome good
Continue
To ignore no vision
Which comes to enlarge your range
And increase your spirit
Continue
To dare to love deeply
And risk everything
For the good thing
Continue
To float
Happily in the sea of infinite substance
Which set aside riches for you
Before you had a name
Continue
And by doing so
You and your work
Will be able to continue
Eternally
Chant: There is a love begot in me that is endless
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