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Joan Chittister helps me out~

8/29/2016

Sometimes, no, usually, I keep my faith to myself. Although I often brag about my wonderful church, I rarely mention God. That has got to change, and I believe it is, slowly, but with confidence, with faith. Part of the difficulty is that it isn’t easy to explain God because God is in my heart, not my head. But that’s no excuse.

“Vision and Viewpoint: a weekly newsletter from Joan Chittister” has helped me this morning. Joan Chittister <visionviewpoint@benetvision.org>

I believe in….

Belief is not contrary to fact. It simply transcends it. To believe something is to know its truth not so much in our minds but in the center of our souls.

We believe in goodness, for instance, because, however effective evil seems to be, it contradicts the highest aspirations of humanity. We believe in love rather than hate, because love draws out the best in us, while hate feeds on our smallness. We believe in people whose hearts we hold in our hands, whatever the situations that challenge that certainty, because we ourselves are nourished by that relationship. We believe in the spiritual because the material is simply not enough to justify the sense of the unfinishedness of life that lurks in every human heart.

In sum, belief is the ability to know what we cannot see. None of our beliefs, if they are really “belief,” are sure in the way that chemicals on scales are sure. Belief is sure in the way that truth is sure. It rings in our hearts like tines of crystal….

I’m making a commitment to mention God once a day to people out there in my world who are not part of my church circle. Today I will start with my sister.

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Prayer for Leadership, by Joan Chittister

5/12/2016

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A Prayer for Leadership

Give us, O God,
leaders whose hearts are large enough
to match the breadth of our own souls
and give us souls strong enough
to follow leaders of vision and wisdom.

In seeking a leader, let us seek
more than development for ourselves--
though development we hope for,
more than security for our own land--
though security we need,
more than satisfaction for our wants--
though many things we desire.

Give us the hearts to choose the leader
who will work with other leaders
to bring safety
to the whole world….
By Joan Chittister

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Joan Chittister on prayer~

10/12/2015

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Why pray?

The function of prayer is not to obliviate the self. It is to become the utmost of what we are meant to be no matter what situation we are in. Prayer is the process that leads us to become what Jesus models for us to be.

We watch Jesus confront the leaders of the day. He calls the priests and Pharisees to cleanse the temple and lift from the backs of the people the laws of the synagogue that burden them. He calls the leaders of the state to stop living off the backs of the poor. And he calls us to do the same.

We listen to Jesus jeopardize his social approval, risk his very life by speaking out in public against the oppression of people in both synagogue and state. And he calls us to do the same.

Being immersed in prayer, really immersed in prayer, sears our souls. It forces us to see how far from our own ideals we stand. It challenges the images of goodness and piety and integrity we project. It confronts us with what it really means to live a good life. It requires courage of us rather than simply piety.

It is in following Jesus down from the mountaintop, along the roads of the world, through the public parts of the city, into the ghettoes of the poor and the halls of government and the chanceries of the churches, saying with John the Baptist, “Repent and sin no more,” that prayer gets its hallmark of undisputed credibility.

—from The Breath of the Soul: Reflections on Prayer by Joan Chittister (Twenty-Third Publications)

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Giving and receiving~

8/27/2014

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Joan Chittister is one of my favorite contemporary spiritual writers. Here’s a recent comment of hers that resonated with me.

“If I do not need other people, what is their own purpose in life…?”

More than just resonating, it startled me, activating those dendrites to hop about in my brain. I realized how self-involved I am, always considering my own life purpose, always wanting to be in control, always thinking that other people need me. How difficult it is for me to step into their shoes and consider from their point of view. What an arrogant, privileged position it is to think that everyone needs me, needs my good works. How hard it is to let others do for me. But more than that, what a challenge it is to admit that I need them.

How do I change this egocentric attitude of mine? Consciously looking for ways for people do things for me feels patronizing and keeps me in control. Even my question is controlling. I’m open to new relationships of giving and receiving. I have no answers. Let go, let God.

Joan Chittister visionviewpoint@benetvision.org

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A Person of Prayer, by Joan Chittister~

8/21/2014

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This piece, by Joan Chittister, appeared in “Vision and Viewpoint, an e-newsletter for spiritual seekers and kindred spirits.” visionviewpoint@benetvision.org

–from Joan Chittister: Essential Writings, selected by Mary Lou Kownacki and Mary Hembrow Snyder (Orbis).

A person of prayer
The person who learns to pray with the heart of God has no patience for injustice anywhere. They see with the prophet’s eye. They break down national boundaries. They transcend gender roles. They have no sense of color or caste, of wealthy or poor. They see only humanity in all its glory, all its pain.

The person of prayer is not a person of private agendas. The more we become like God, the greater-hearted we become as well. We have no sense anymore of “we and they” or “them and us” or “me and mine.” Now our hearts open to take in the heart of the world.

When, in prayer, we come to discover God’s universal love we suddenly realize that God does not take sides, that we have no priority on God alone. We finally understand that the God we seek is the God of the world and so, to seek that God, we must develop hearts as big as the world ourselves.

Then, racism makes no sense and sexism is as much a sin as any other kind of discrimination, and war is blasphemy against humanity. Then we become bigger than our single nation, broader than any one religion, truly catholic—universal—in our cares and beliefs and commitments.

To develop a cosmic heart is a moment of profound transformation. We can never be the same again. We are beyond the boundaries we have created to separate the human race into my race and theirs.

Then prayer becomes truly co-creative.

Otherwise prayer is nothing more than some kind of spiritual spa designed to make me feel good. It is reduced to an exercise the intent of which is to assure me of my own value. It swaddles me in self-righteousness and self-serving. It makes God an icon, a tribal God whose concerns are no bigger than our own. Then God carries a flag, becomes a male potentate, excludes females and passes out personal gifts.

Then we make ourselves God and our God a poor, miserable creature indeed—a national patriot, maybe; a great male warrior, perhaps, but certainly not the God of all creation. Then we are simply worshipping ourselves and calling it prayer.

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Monastery of the Heart

6/3/2011

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I am just completing a four week E-course entitled “Creating a Monastery of the Heart with Joan Chittister,” sponsored by www.spiritualityandpactice.com. I recommend the site as a rich resource for anyone seeking to deepen their spiritual life, whatever their faith tradition might be.

The term Monastery of the Heart is taking on a life of it’s own these days. Sr. Joan’s book, “The Monastery of the Heart”, was published this year. About the same time as the E-course began, the first ever on-line monastery was introduced as an outreach of the Benedictine Sisters of Lake Erie, of which Sr. Joan is member. I heartily recommend this site as well: www.monasteriesoftheheart.org --“a new movement for a new world.”

I am in awe of how these women have become leaders in helping all of us, women and men, create a monastery in our hearts and follow a God-filled and God-led life, wherever we are and whatever we do. And here I am, at my cottage by the sea or in my angel room at home, participating in an Benedictine way of life in new ways, know or to be made known to me. Join me.

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Joan Chittister helps me out~

Prayer for Leadership, by Joan Chittister

Joan Chittister on prayer~

Giving and receiving~

A Person of Prayer, by Joan Chittister~

Monastery of the Heart

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