Random thoughts on a Saturday
Went to a day of silent prayer at Cordiafonte. Here are some random thoughts from meditative walks today and earlier this week.
humility: wish there was a pill one could take to be humble. I can't possibly see how I couldn't be humble, since I have so little to brag about anyway. But I manage to find a way to promote my point of view, push for my own benefit, and not pay enough attention to others feelings. When will I learn that "in humility consider others better than myself" as Paul says in Philippians, is the gate to freedom?
Mindfulness: My last post was about two realities, the physical world and the spiritual. Seems to me the real battle ground between these two is the mind. Our flesh, or earthly desires want one thing. Our spirits long and desire to serve God (Romans 7). But it's our mind that directs which way we will go. We are admonished in Colossians 3, "Since then you have been raised with Christ, set you heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set you minds on things above..." Through consistent recitation of the Jesus prayer, I attempt to have my mind direct the rest of my being toward the Spirit of God.
Faith: In John 14, Philip asks Jesus "show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus responds "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." And later, "I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you." When my faith wavers and I doubt the presence of God, do I see Christ in others? In the poor, in those who love me, in those all around me?
Wholeness: Who am I? Not what, but who? I am a father; I am a husband; I am Orthodox, but those all describe what I do. I am most fully "me" in that endeavor where I am most alert, most awake, most alive. I am who I am when I pray. In prayer, in naked humility and communion with God, there is nothing hidden and no games that can hide the reality of "me".
Contemplation: In the struggle for contemplation, this journey to a "peaceful and loving attentiveness to the presence of God", I learn many things. There is a difference between contemplation and contemplative practice. Contemplation is the realization of the transcendent God present with me. But I can't make that happen or create that sense. It is by contemplative practice that I open myself up to this possibility as I wait on God's grace and Spirit to reveal himself to me. So I practice what I know, ever watchful and waiting for the reality of the kingdom of God.
humility: wish there was a pill one could take to be humble. I can't possibly see how I couldn't be humble, since I have so little to brag about anyway. But I manage to find a way to promote my point of view, push for my own benefit, and not pay enough attention to others feelings. When will I learn that "in humility consider others better than myself" as Paul says in Philippians, is the gate to freedom?
Mindfulness: My last post was about two realities, the physical world and the spiritual. Seems to me the real battle ground between these two is the mind. Our flesh, or earthly desires want one thing. Our spirits long and desire to serve God (Romans 7). But it's our mind that directs which way we will go. We are admonished in Colossians 3, "Since then you have been raised with Christ, set you heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set you minds on things above..." Through consistent recitation of the Jesus prayer, I attempt to have my mind direct the rest of my being toward the Spirit of God.
Faith: In John 14, Philip asks Jesus "show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus responds "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." And later, "I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you." When my faith wavers and I doubt the presence of God, do I see Christ in others? In the poor, in those who love me, in those all around me?
Wholeness: Who am I? Not what, but who? I am a father; I am a husband; I am Orthodox, but those all describe what I do. I am most fully "me" in that endeavor where I am most alert, most awake, most alive. I am who I am when I pray. In prayer, in naked humility and communion with God, there is nothing hidden and no games that can hide the reality of "me".
Contemplation: In the struggle for contemplation, this journey to a "peaceful and loving attentiveness to the presence of God", I learn many things. There is a difference between contemplation and contemplative practice. Contemplation is the realization of the transcendent God present with me. But I can't make that happen or create that sense. It is by contemplative practice that I open myself up to this possibility as I wait on God's grace and Spirit to reveal himself to me. So I practice what I know, ever watchful and waiting for the reality of the kingdom of God.
posted by Jeff at
5:08 PM
