Prayer Diary

Praying for peace in the churches of Rome

9/15/2019

I’m in Rome to pray for peace for six days. My plan was to light a candle for peace in at least 100 of Rome’s 900 churches. However, I’ve ditched that 100-church goal. Most likely it would be impossible to reach, and it would definitely be nonsensical. I’d just be rushing in and out, snapping a picture and adding the church name to my list. I’ve decided not to light a candle, but to pray for peace in some intentional, visual, way. Contributing to peace is my goal.
     Yesterday morning I went to three churches, raising the count to ten. Sant’ Agnese fuori le Mura and Santa Costanza are in the same complex outside the walls. Outside the walls because Sant’ Agnese has as a catacomb, where early Christians were buried. Rome had a policy that no one could be buried inside the city. Then to gaze at Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa in Santa Maria della Vittoria. I’m glad I had my bus pass. In the afternoon I found myself praying for me in seven more churches. As of last night the count is up to twenty.
     My intention to pray for peace in churches has me aware of all the people I pass along the streets. The sheer numbers, the multiple skin colors, body sizes, ages, languages. I am not other; I am one of them. Our uniqueness makes us one.
      And then there are the obviously loving people, most likely parents, who accompany their children with special needs. At the altar at the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano a mom was supporting her adult son who was draped on her. As he drooled, she wiped his mouth. Then they walked on, arm in arm.
     As I sit in this little park in the early morning it comes over me that regardless of what praying for peace means to each of us, when we think peace we become aware of the equanimity between all people. In wanting peace for myself, I have to want it for everyone.

Taking on the suffering of others

9/9/2019

The other day I posted a quote by Sister Helen Prejean author of River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey. In this newly publish memoir Sister Helen tells of her childhood, of taking vows and joining the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, and of her life fighting for the abolition of the death penalty. The book stops at1982 when she met Patrick Sollier, whom she had previously written about in Dead Man Walking. You may have read (or seen the film) of this riveting account of their friendship while he was on death row and when she accompanied him to his execution in 1988
And now the quote.
Now I’m learning that real praying means taking on other people’s suffering as my own, and letting the experience rouse me to action.

I love the idea of praying for people, but I’m not very good at taking on other people’s suffering as my own, at least to the extent that would drive me toward Sister Helen’s big time action. Thanks no excuse. There is plenty of little time action needed in my little world.

Today's meditation: Fifty Verses on Helping the Stranger

9/1/2019

By some accounts there are approximately 2000 Bible scriptures that tell us to welcome the stranger, feed the poor, and love our neighbor. Today my minister read 50 of those passages that he had selected from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Need I say more?

The sermon is not posted yet, but it will be on www.mccsudbury.com

Vacation Bible School

8/27/2019

Me as Rebekah.

I posted the following on my cottage-by-the-sea blog. Here are the Bible stories that we highlighted to illustrate being a good neighbor. The main scripture, was Jesus’ great commandment: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. (The roles I played are in parenthesis.)

Day One: Love God and Your Neighbor: Mark 12:28b-29 (Person One)
Day Two: Who is My Neighbor? Luke 10:25-37 (The Samaritan)
Day Three: Live Peacefully: Genesis 26:12-23 (Rebekah)
Day Four: Everyone is Invited: Luke 14:15-24 (Jesus)
Day Five: Share with Others: Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37 (Guest)

Every so often I have to remind myself to ‘stay out of organization.’ I came up with that phrase when I retired from teaching, and although I still stand by it, there are times when I get too involved in everyday life, and bingo, I am reminded again.
Every morning last week I helped out at the Vacation Bible School (the theme was Please won’t you be my neighbor?) at church by participating in a skit about the Bible story of the day. By Friday I knew that the daily routine had trust me into organization and depleted me from the morning solitude that centers and balances me. I’m glad I was involved, and I’m glad I was reminded to be attentive: I may step into organization from time to time, but that is not my chosen modus operandi these days, and I can always step out.

Gratitude at the lake

8/17/2019

Sitting on the shore of Lake Dunmore in Vermont is one of the easiest ways to feel God presence. I think of those in the world who never get out of the city, or who are stuck at our southern border. My list could go on and on, with situations I know, and with myriad situations beyond my limited, privileged life. I feel humbled, grateful, and prayerful.

St. Elizabeth's Chapel

8/11/2019

I attended the 8 o’clock service at St. Elizabeth’s Chapel this morning. I love walking up the wooded path from the parking lot to the stone chapel, designed and built between 1912 and 1914 by Ralph Adams Cram, architect of St. John’s the Divine in New York City, for himself and this family.
A summer Sunday mornings isn’t the only time to visit the chapel, at least the external grounds. Sit on the bench outside the entrance and watch the sunlight dance of the chapel’s façade and amongst the leaves on the forest floor and trees.
www.st-elizabeths.org/history-chapel.shtml

Praying in violent times~

8/5/2019

Here I am responding again to Carl McColman’s latest blog. This one, posted today, is about mysticism in the midst of the latest mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso.
  viamystica.com/is-mystical-spirituality-an-appropriate-response-to-the-social-and-political-crises-of-our-time-absolutely/
     McColman writes about mystical spirituality, or to use another term of his, contemplative practice. Those of us, whatever our religious tradition, who spend time praying, practicing meditation, contemplating religious texts, and searching for God, can resonate with these terms. For my purposes here I will embrace the phrase mystical spiritualism as I struggle to make sense of my faith journey in light of the violence in these two American cities over the weekend.
     Is it enough to sit praying in my beautiful yard? How does this kind of being compare with the doing others are taking on? As I’ve mentioned before, I believe God has called me to pray for others. For years that call has focused on praying for individuals, but recently I’ve been praying for situations. What is behind my prayer? How do people and situations change? How do I change? How does God change? Those questions are mysterious, cryptic, and vague; any answers will also be mysterious, cryptic, and vague. Of course the answer is LOVE, but that one word answer isn’t easy to comprehend and live by.

      McColman offers a few thoughts to answer the question, “How can mystical spirituality help us to deal with our social and political challenges?”

• Mysticism fosters humility and an ability to listen.
• Mysticism reminds us that God created and loves everyone, not just the people on “our” side.
• Mystical practices teach us how to think creatively.
• Mystical living helps to foster compassion, forgiveness, and healing.

What is your core spiritual issue?

7/29/2019

What is your core spiritual issue? Carl McColman https://carlmccolman.com/the-paradox-of-radical-trust/ addresses this a blog posted titled, “The Paradox of Radical Trust.” Upon reading it I immediately want to name my core spiritual issue and then solve it so it wouldn’t be an issue any more. But that’s not McColman’s point, nor is it God’s point. How arrogant of me to think that I can be perfect. In fact, that is very likely my core spiritual issue—that I think I can figure out my faults and get rid of them.
The challenge is to live a spiritual life with ambiguity, to accept what McColman suggests, “…you can’t have a light without a dark to stick it in” and work from there. That dark, that imperfection is there as a way to see the light.

Worshipping at Greater Framingham Community Church

7/22/2019

The church I attend has no air conditioning, so with yesterday’s 95 degree forecast, Sunday service was held on line. Instead, I chose to worship at the Greater Framingham Community Church. Gfccnet.org
. And worship I did. I’m still in awe of how praise and thanksgiving was front and center of the entire service. Praising God and thanking God through the music of a live band and singing, and through word expressed by the pastor and the ‘amens’ from the congregants. But it was more than that. Gratitude encompassed everything—it took over.
     What I’m trying to convey here is beyond words. Too many words don’t help; in fact they hinder. John 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” One word, gratitude; one word, love; one word, Jesus.
      There is much more to say about yesterday, but not now, not yet, maybe not ever. Perhaps I’ve said it all in the one word that was at the core of yesterdays service. I trust that when I go return there to worship on another Sunday I will receive the same Word. But I’ll go again, just to hear it and be refreshed (they have air conditioning).
      (I didn’t take any photos because I went as a worshipper, not as a tourist or blogger.)

Grateful for no air conditioning

7/17/2019

On this muggy New England morning I am trying to stay present to God’s world just as it is. The heat helps because my body wants to stay put, to sit and look out the window, and be with God—that’s all. The good news is that we have no central air in our house, no artificial means to distract me from the climate and temperature at this July moment. The heat outside has slowed my body down
God does not separated mind/body/ spirit, and neither do I in my longing to be in God’s presences. I rejoice that my body is coming in sync with my contemplative mind and spirit. I am grateful for this heat.

(Don’t get me wrong. I’m all in favor of air conditioning, and I pray for those who have no choice and who live in desperate heat around the world and at the southern border.)