Recognizing God

Recognizing God

“He who recognizes a king in disguise treats him very differently from he who sees before him only the figure of an ordinary man and treats him accordingly. Likewise, souls who can recognize God in the most trivial, the most grievous and the most mortifying things that happen to them in their lives, honour everything equally with delight and rejoicing, and welcome with open arms what others dread and avoid.” Jean Pierre de Caussade, The Sacrament of the Present Moment, Daily Quote, InwardOutward.org,  July 12, 2018, Church of the Saviour, Washington DC.

Benjamin Child Unsplash

I know people like this who seem to treat everyone equally, one person is no more important than another, all are human and divine at the same time. They seem to see the Holy Spirit, the God, the Christ in each person they meet. They do not look onto the  outer appearances or political statue, or wealth or power that a person represents. This was certainly modeled to us by Christ.

My experience teaches me that if we cannot see Christ in our neighbor, often it is because we cannot see Christ in ourselves. Consequently, we project onto others our unChrist-like behavior that we do not realize is really within us.

How do we change? Along the way, we are touched by someone who treats us as if we do really have a divine spark, the holy within us. They treat us with love. It is like a spark is being lighted. A light, a lightbulb goes on inside of us. We begin to believe we are loved.

So, this is indeed our mission as spiritual friends to  seek out the light, the Christ in each other.

 I remember talking to a spiritual friend about a family member I was having difficulty with. She helped me by asking me, “Tell me something good about her. Something she does well.”

My experience also is that I cannot see the Christ in someone else when I live in fear. I realized this recently at a meeting I attended where I was uncomfortable. I wanted to look good. I did not know exactly what was expected of me. I was fearful that I might make a mistake. As an introvert, I did not interact with anyone I did not know. I only had concern for what people might be thinking about me. Was I making a good impression?

 At our next meeting I hope  to relate better to others. My plan is just before the meeting to say a prayer for each person I know who will be there, asking specifically that we will see  the Christ within each other.

I will let you know how it goes.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Guest Writer: Susan Cushman, Icons

Guest Writer: Susan Cushman, Icons

“Our icon painters had seen the beauty that would save the world and immortalized it in colors.” - Eugene Trubetskoi,  Icons: Theology in Color

St. John's Nave

Standing before the icon of Christ in the front of St. John Orthodox Church, I prepare to offer my confession at the Sacrament of Forgiveness. The Holy image of the One Who Forgives comes forth to meet me, as the father comes forth to welcome home the prodigal son in the familiar gospel passage (Luke 15:11-32). The love of Jesus pours forth from his prototype (the icon), sees the offering of my broken heart, and raises it to the heavenly realm.

After receiving the priest’s counsel and absolution, I remain in the nave (the large part of the temple, called the sanctuary in Protestant churches) to give thanks and to let God’s grace and peace fill my heart. Surrounded by icons of Christ, his Mother, the angels, saints, biblical scenes and church feasts, I think about how Prince Vladimir’s envoys must have felt when they walked into Hagia Sophia Orthodox Cathedral in Constantinople near the end of the tenth century. Their mission was to find a religion that Prince Vladimir could embrace and offer to the people of Russia. In their report they said, “We didn’t know whether we were in Heaven or on earth.” Shortly thereafter, Orthodoxy became the official religion of Kievan Russia, infusing the lives of peasants and princes, artists and writers, with the Orthodox vision of beauty. Nine hundred years later, the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky penned the famous words, “Beauty will save the world.”

I don’t think Prince Vladimir or Dostoevsky had in mind the kind of worldly beauty that today’s fashion and entertainment industries worship, or even the beauty of secular art and architecture. I think they were both swept off their feet by true spiritual beauty in Vladimir’s case, the beauty of the Orthodox temple (church), adorned with icons.

Susan Cushman, excerpted from "Icons Will Save the World," published in First Things, December 20, 2007.

Susan Cushman is a convert to Orthodox Christianity. Her husband, Father Basil Cushman, is Associate Pastor at St. John Orthodox Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where this photo was taken. Susan spent a number of years writing icons and teaching iconography. Now she writes books, including her novel CHERRY BOMB, which features a weeping icon and numerous scenes in an Orthodox monastery and an Orthodox church. Read more about her at www.susancushman.com.

joanna  joannaseibert.com

Image Gently

Image Gently

“Relationship is not a project, it is a grace.”  Thomas Moore, Soulmates, Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationship, p. 256, HarperCollins  1994.

Image Gently Logo

I have a friend, Marilyn Goske, who also is a pediatric radiologist who has spearheaded a campaign called Image Gently to decrease radiation to children in diagnostic radiology.  The organization encourages physicians to use the least amount of radiation when performing tests on children such as conventional X-rays, fluoroscopy, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, computed tomography, dentistry, cardiac imaging and imaging in the setting of minor head trauma.  Part of their campaign is making physicians and technologists and nurses aware of the amount of radiation being used as well as talking with parents about any of their concerns. It is an educational program where there is communication with all those directly involved in these studies as well as all medical organizations which support them.  It has had overwhelming success with over 63,000 pledges to date to take part in this program.

Marilyn is showing us how we can change the world by communicating and dialoguing with all people who have a special interest in trying to solve a problem, talking together, working together, celebrating when answers come, and honoring those who are bringing the vision to reality, seeing the power of community.

I see how important this could be in our spiritual life as well. We find more answers to spiritual questions in community where we could not understand our concerns by ourselves.

Yesterday I met with my spiritual director who helped me understand a dream that had baffled me for days. Each day in the early morning I go back to the dream and see another insight where she was leading me as if she and all those who have taught me about dream work are still guiding me.

  We also have many parts of ourselves, inner masculine, inner feminine, the child within, and so many more. When we can see them as helpful in solving problems we face rather than unwanted adversities, especially the weaker parts of ourselves, answers come. It is in our weakness in our vulnerability, especially in community that God, the Holy Spirit creeps in and helps us discern a path where before we only saw a jungle. In community we image gently.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com