A Lenten Reflection for Ash Wednesday -- Dream "Hangovers"

DREAM HANGOVERS

Even for those unfamiliar with St. Ignatius of Loyola, the story of his dream life going "off the rails" resonates. Ignatius, a soldier who dreamt of being the GREATEST soldier/ladies man, had his dreams crushed when his leg was shattered by a cannonball in combat. Confined to his bed and stuck with the only reading in the house (religious literature--not his jam), he began, instead, to dream of a life of service.

This might be a pious little tale, except that Ignatius came to this conclusion after letting himself feel the aftereffects of his old dreams. Achieving fame, fortune, and romance, left him feeling empty. The chance to help and serve others left him with a different kind of feeling -- one of felt peace and consolation. He sat in bed long enought to REALLY notice how he felt. Yikes!

How many of us have gained something only to feel empty afterwards? Sitting with the "hangover" of achievement invites us to engage more deeply with our desires -- both positive and negative. Those desires that leave us with a kind of soft quietude are often a map to our true vocation in this world. The actions we take that leave us feeling peaceful and connected are the ones pointing to our deepest vocational call.

As the season of Lent begins, a season that calls pilgrims to "change the direction we look for happiness" (my favorite definition of repentance), take a while to look at the dreams you have achieved in your life, or those you hope to achieve. How did they leave you feeling? Sit with that, even if it's uncomfortable. Think about the last time you felt deep peace and connection. What had you been doing? What voice had you been following?

Even if Ash Wednesday is not part of your faith path, think of it as a time for pause, a time to remember that we, too, are passing. What is our work to do? Are we doing it? What will increase peace and connection both in our lives and in our worlds? Discomfort is not a bad thing -- and in fact, it can be incredibly useful.

For a Lenten challenge, take twenty minutes today in silence and really listen to your life. What do you hear?

— Alison Umminger Mattison

A Vision for Bringing the Gifts of Christmas into the New Year

As we begin this New Year, we are invited to  make room  in our hearts for our Lord and Savior, the Christ Child.  Let us look at the world with new eyes, eyes that see the many blessings God has bestowed on us. It is so easy to  yearn for what we don’t have and wish for our lives to be different., to be better than they are. It is easy to wonder why God has not blessed us as he has others around us? Is it possible that God offers no blessings to His own children, or is it more a matter of how we do (or don’t) see God, or how we see our own lives?  Are we focused on our deficits, the deficits of others, and the pain we have experienced in life? How does our focusing on those perceived deficits interfere with our ability to see and relate to God? Might we sometimes be the cause of our own separation from God? 

I wonder what would happen if we could shift how we see things for even a few minutes a day, so we consider those things in our life God has blessed us with? What blessings has God placed in our lives?  Is this a bit of a which came first, the chicken or the egg situation? If we continue to become closer to God, I wonder if we might see blessings we may never have considered before.  And conversely, if we begin to look more carefully at the blessings in our lives, might this bring us closer to God?

Blessings need not be earth shattering events. A blessing may be a smile from a stranger as we pass them on the street, a friendly person behind a counter at a store, a family member, or a friend who calls us on the phone. And for some of us, it may even be God’s whispering softly in our hearts. Sadly, our complaining, self-pity, and pain can drown out that gentle whisper and cause us to totally miss  God in our lives. All that is not from God overtakes anything that is if we allow ourselves to immerse ourselves in our areas of pain and sorrow. With all of those things taking up residence in our hearts, there is barely any room for God to have even a tiny space.

My prayer is that in 2023, we can male room in our our hearts to experience the Love and Joy that the Christ Child  brings to us. May we all prepare ourselves to see Him in our lives and to hear His loving whisper in our hearts.   —- Martha Corkery

LOVE: The Chalice from which Everything Flows.

Over the past three months, I noticed from my various spiritual activities and practices (divine reading, book circle, online courses, and presentation, making Soul Collage cards, coloring, and Prayer through movements) that a myriad of words, phrases and sentences have being swirling around in my head. Everyday listening to the busyness going on in my head, I got the sense that these unhinged guests namely surrender, trust, hope, mercy, truth, three-centered awareness, stillness, peace, death, silence, grace, freedom, well-being, power, strength, radiance, beauty, guiding light, goodness, joyous times, an undivided heart, prayer and work, a clear conscience, Eucharist, “Constant friend and guide,” “Rest in Me,” “I wish that you will always know within the depths of your being that I am your Rock and Fortress, a very Presence in times of dis-ease,” “I release all rigidity in your life that may hinder the flowering of your gentleness, softness and acceptance, “I am one who paints your life with the vibrant colors of the rainbow,” “Let your life be an expression of the rainbow giving encouragement to one and all,” “On your journey, I am the chalice that strengthens you along the way,” were looking for a resting place to become a cohesive whole that would infuse the ordinariness of my daily life.

In the wee hours of this morning as I lay in bed listening to their fluttering around looking for a resting place, I watched in slow motion as each one formed into one solitary word-LOVE. A word painted in red whilst these words vibrated in every fiber of my being:

Love divine, all loves excelling,

joy of heaven, to earth come down,

fix in us thy humble dwelling,

all thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesu, thou art all compassion,

pure unbounded love thou art;

visit us with thy salvation,

enter every trembling heart (Charles Wesley 1707-1788).

So, as I look forward to the beginning of the Body of Christ’s Liturgical Year my pray is that the chalice of Love may be the seasoning that sprinkles my every thought, word, and action so that I may love God with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul and love my neighbor as myself.

What might be your word that you desire to be your seasoning for this coming Liturgical Year?

—- Celpha Sands