Sunday June 23: Trust Deepens Relationship

To Practice

• Pray these passages again in the manner of Lectio Divina, speaking them out loud to engage your senses and affirm them in your being. Trust that you are deepening your relationship with the Divine and feel what emerges.
• Thomas Keating shares that our mature relationship with God is one of trust, service and responsibility. Consider how these tenets run through your life and relationships and take some time to journal your reflection.
• Growth takes time and so does deepening relationships with others. Reflect on the growth of the important relationships within your life. Try choosing one of Thomas Keating’s videos that speak to you and take some time to listen and watch. Enjoy some time reflecting and journaling about how your relationships are maturing and developing, both with God and with others.

If you wish, you may re-read the full email reflection here: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/2024-word-of-the-week-june23

I notice that after reading the Gospel account of the Calming of the sea, we move into meditating on the passage.

We quote from Krishnamurti, an Indian philosopher and from Heschel, a rabbi and Jewish theologian.We are engaged in Interspiritual dialogue.

Then Thomas reminds us that in Centering prayer we are gradually evolving toward a more mature communion that is deeper than conversation with God; beyond thinking about God; beyond particular acts…. a state where we may simply wait upon God in loving attention.

I come away with this : Our brilliant interpretations, our elegant theologies, are wonderful and neccessary stepping stones by which we may enter into the healing Presence. But if we fall in love with our own words and thoughts, they become a hindrance.

( And Yes, I may do that very thing here with my sharing! So.. God help me to do my sharing, then shut up and return to Listening.)

As Always, thanks to all who bring us the Word of The week.

Frank Pendola

So eloquently put , and humbly concluded.    Thank you

Several times in my life I have let  go of what I thought was my “calling” and then waited, listened for what was beckoning me. I couldn’t let go of something while  already holding onto something new. I had to experience the vastness and the mystery of the Divine presence while in that place of openness. A little scary if I have to support myself. A little disconcerting when I couldn’t explain myself. About all I could say is “the container has become too small –  comfortable but small.”  And, eventually a bigger space appeared.

Thank you Frank, Larry and Sue for sharing your reflections in this forum. Your participation matters to the Whole. – Pamela

Trusting someone allows us to relax into that relationship. The need to impress has faded, we grow past acquaintance and friendship to being able to just “be” with one another.

Centering prayer opens us to “be” so that we can “…come to know God through the realization that our very being is penetrated with God’s knowledge and love for us.” (Merton’s quote)

Learning how to trust this knowledge and love on deepening levels calls me to my daily prayer sits. <3 linda

I love the image of Jesus asleep on a cushion while that storm rages on. He’s completely in charge.  It brings me to the realization that when the little boat of my own life seems to be swamped, at my Center is that same Jesus, quietly in charge.

I have always pushed boundaries, though I am only recognizing it now. I am “living on the edge of inside”. The image “Profound Longing” haunted me all week in, the kind of haunting that is a beckoning. Lower right an almost imperceptible there is a distant flame surrounded by a faint dispersal of light, then turn the image 360 degrees tucked away in the upper left is this small image of a person surrounded by a pinkish band like a stone rippling in the water. I recognize this is me ensconced in longing, “I am okay kind of longing”. In the 1980’s the bold red rectangle was an image of my longing; it’s like I was pounding on this thick rectangle with the words of longing of Psalm 63. In the ensuing years I have slipped through, perhaps much like Jesus’ entrance entrance into the upper room where the gatherers were veiled in fear. This week “awe and ordinary ” are a blend of I am okay.  I am where I am to be.  No longer the pounding( i.e.me) kind of longing. Yesterday I took the Access bus for some shopping of necessary items. My legs  gave out on me some 45 minutes before catching this bus back home. Sitting on my walker as people passed on either side of me, I prayed Vespers sending out waves of blessing, me, upper left corner of image, a  hushed blend of awe and ordinary. Thank you Hans Hofman; thank you, all WoW community.

 

 

Adeline, you have a profound capacity to see and be seen in each week’s image – as well as to swim in the liminal. It’s very instructive to me to keep opening to what the images offer, to rotate them to them soak in past the left brain’s linearity. Thank you for your witness and deep participation. – Pamela

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