Readings week of September 22nd.

---

Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

Monday, September 22nd - Autumn Equinox - with Catherine

Reading: I clothe my soul in the

mantle of creation,

heavens of light,

earth of life,

seas of love

surround and support my Autumn-wakening soul.

Preserve my soul in compassion,

May it shine forth with the rich Autumn sunlight.

I give thanks for the fertility of the earth’s harvest: there is more than enough to share with all. May the abundant gifts of the sweet earth be apportioned with generous hands to all beings in need.

May all people realize their common spiritual bond for the benefit all being in the universe. May no searching soul be excluded from the communion of the Divine spirit.

– Caitlin Matthews, Celtic Devotional

Chant: I am a part of all I see, all I see is a part me – Henry Schoenfield

Tuesday, Sept 23 - First Day of Autumn - with Catherine/Tom

Reading: A Call to Prayer - The United Nations Environmental Sabbath Service, 1990

We who have lost our sense and our senses – our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are; we who frantically force and press all things, without rest for body or spirit, hurting our earth and injuring ourselves: we call a halt.

We want to rest. We need to rest and allow the earth to rest.  We need to reflect and to rediscover the mystery that lives in us, that is the ground of every unique expression of life, the source of the fascination that calls all things to communion.

We declare a Sabbath, a space of quiet: for simple being and letting be; for recovering the great, forgotten truths; for learning how to live again.

Chant: The earth is full, full of your goodness, the earth is full, full of you, your goodness fills the whole earth – Darlene Franz

Wednesday, September 24th with Heather & Joy

Reading: 'The Root Of The Root Of Your Self ' by Rumi

Don’t go away, come near.

Don’t be faithless, be faithful.

Find the antidote in the venom.

Come to the root of the root of yourself.

Molded of clay, yet kneaded

from the substance of certainty,

a guard at the Treasury of Holy Light —

come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

Once you get hold of selflessness,

You’ll be dragged from your ego

and freed from many traps.

Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

You are born from the children of God’s creation,

but you have fixed your sight too low.

How can you be happy?

Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

You were born from a ray of God’s majesty

and have the blessings of a good star.

Why suffer at the hands of things that don’t exist?

Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

You are a ruby embedded in granite.

How long will you pretend it’s not true?

We can see it in your eyes.

Come to the root of the root of your Self.

You came here from the presence of that fine Friend,

a little drunk, but gentle, stealing our hearts

with that look so full of fire; so,

come, return to the root of the root of your Self.

[...]

Chant: Don't go away, come near, come to the root of the root of your Self  – Joy Andrews Hayter

Thursday, September 25th

Reading: “I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.” – Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Chant: In [Mercy] alone, we take our rest, we dwell unafraid – Kristy Christian

Friday, September 26th with Tom

Reading: 'Grief Music' by Steve Garnas

"A friend is dying and I am sweeping the garage. I am repairing the upper rack in the dishwasher and he’s being detached from life support. I am shopping, in the produce section, looking for good organic baby spinach and remembering to get shallots and his family are gathered around in that strange camaraderie of abysmal love and loneliness. I am strangely here. Life goes on, he has died, life is going on. Loss is not an object we encounter, but a landscape. The presence of an absence that haunts without leaving. Grief is not a thing we have, like a stone in your pocket, or a boil; it’s music deep within us and around us, music of love in the key of longing, and sometimes we can’t help but sing along, full throated, heads tipped back, because it’s all we hear, and at times we just hum the tune while we go on with life. But the music doesn’t stop, beautiful and sad and grateful, and it makes us dance, even if wee just sway a bit—and always, just beyond our hearing, God singing with us." 

Chant: When we are with you, what fear of loss, could we, possibly have – Susan Latimer

Saturday, September 27th

Reading: The Blessed One addressed them: Peace be with you. May my peace reside within you. Guard carefully that no one misleads you saying, "Look, he is here," or "He's over there," for the Son of Humanity already exists within you. Follow him, for those who seek him there will find him. Go forth, now, and proclaim the Good News concerning the Kingdom. Beyond what I have already given you, do not lay down any further rules nor issue laws as the Lawgiver, lest you too be dominated by them." – The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Dialogue One

Chant: Deep Peace

Sunday, September 28th

Reading: "Attachment to matter gives birth to passion without an Image of itself because it is drawn from that which is contrary to its higher nature. The result is that confusion and disturbance resonates throughout one's whole being. It is for this reason that I told you to find contentment at the level of the heart, and if you are discouraged, take heart in the presence of the Image of your true nature." – The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Dialogue One 

“The remedy Jesus sets forth for this cosmic malaise is to "find contentment at the level of the heart... in the presence of the Image of your true nature." The key to deciphering this all-important instruction lies in recognizing that the word heart" is being used here in a highly specific way. In the wisdom traditions of the Near East, the heart is not the seat of one's personal emotional life, but an organ of spiritual perception. . . the heart is primarily an instrument of sight-or insight, as the case may be (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God'). Its purpose is to navigate along the vertical axis and stay in alignment with the Image of one's true nature." Itself a vibrant resonant field, it functions like a homing beacon between the realms; and when it is strong and clear, it creates a synchronous resonance between them.”  – Cynthia Bourgeault, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene

Chant: Cleanse my heart, let it be an alter, that I may love, freely in this world

← Previous Post

Next Post →