Buechner: Memory, Eucharist, Jesus

“There are two ways of remembering. One way is to make an excursion from the living present back into the dead past. The other way is to summon the dead past back into the living present. The young widow remembers her husband, and he is there beside her. When Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me,’ he was not prescribing a periodic slug of nostalgia.” —Frederick Buechner in Wishful Thinking (Harper & Row, 1973).

debby hudson . unsplash

Buechner gives us two ways to remember, going back and bringing memories forward. The going back to past memories can allow us to relive a scene from our lives. Anthony de Mello writes that perhaps that scene was too powerful to experience the first time. As we relive it, we can participate in it again and again, each time acquiring a greater sense of its meaning.

Bringing memories forward is like doing active imagination with a living friend or with someone you deeply loved who has died. You imagine the person’s presence with you. My experience is that sometimes you will feel that presence even without trying to imagine it.

Buechner believes that when Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24b), he was calling us to bring him back into our presence—to know and feel his love, so that we might go out and bring others in to share it.

Some believe that Jesus is actually present in the bread and wine at the Eucharist. Others believe that the bread and wine are messengers or symbols reminding us of Jesus’ presence and love in our lives. Either way, the God of love is present.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Release party!!!!!!!!!!!

Come and get a signed copy of the new book

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18

All Money from sale of the books goes either to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast

Seibert’s, 27 River Ridge Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72227

10 to noon, Saturday September 14, 2019

RSVP joannaseibert@me.com

Hours and Angels

“We are always meeting deadlines; we are always running out of time. The message of following the monastic hours is to live daily with the real rhythms of the day. We learn to listen to the music of this moment. We learn to dance a little in our hearts, to open our inner gates a crack more, to hearken to the music of silence, the divine life breath of the universe.” —David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., in The Music of Silence: Entering the Sacred Space of Monastic Experience (HarperCollins, 1995).

I take this book off my shelf to see two cards drop out, both from deceased spiritual friends. The one from Nyna Keeton is an encouraging note about some of my writing. Another from Joanne Meadors is on a card from San Marco Museum in Florence, Italy, depicting the Fra Angelico painting of the angel beating the drum from The Tabernacle of the Linaioli. The angels playing the harp and the trumpet are also on a card from another spiritual friend with whom I have lost contact.

There is also a photograph of the musical Fra Angelico angels on the altarpiece at the Pierce Chapel at Trinity Cathedral, Little Rock. I remember I went on a trip to Florence solely to see these angels. A book full of angels, a book full of memories still being communicated from spiritual friends I no longer physically see—calling me back to the spiritual life we shared.

Also between the pages of the book is a Forward Day by Day pamphlet about following the monastic hours. This was my first introduction to the hours more than thirty years ago. Years later I would read so many of Phyllis Tickle’s writings about her experience with the monastic hours. The Music of Silence is also an invitation to journey through the day by keeping the monastic hours in some manner. Each of the eight hours is prayerfully described by Brother David, often using the images of the Fra Angelico angels.

Beware of cards and notes you leave in books for unknown reasons. They may become messages from angels unaware.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Release party!!!!!!!!!!!

Come and get a signed copy of the new book

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18

All Money from sale of the books goes either to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast

Seibert’s, 27 River Ridge Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72227

10 to noon, Saturday September 14, 2019

RSVP joannaseibert@me.com

Love never dies

“Love never dies.” —1 Corinthians 13:8.

phyllis raney great friend and teacher

I have heard this passage from 1 Corinthians about love so many times; but when I heard it this Sunday directly from our friend Paul and our preacher Michael McCain, I was moved to tears. I have told people who are grieving that the love they have for and from their loved one is still there and never dies.

I don’t understand it. It is a mystery. I know I look at pictures of my friends and loved ones who have died, my brother and my grandparents, and I can feel their love as I send my love to them. Frederick Buechner and Henri Nouwen tell us that our bodies die, but our mutual love somehow returns to God and is kept for all eternity. If you are a mystic, you have no difficulty understanding this. If you are a person who comprehends mainly by rational thinking, this may be a difficult concept.

Why did this passage so move me on Sunday? As I grow older, I have been obsessing about how I will miss friends and family members when we become separated by death. Suddenly I know in my heart that the love we have for each other will always endure. Our love for them is ongoing, as is their love for us. We will never be lonely. I believe that in some mysterious way this love never dies and is carried forward to transforming effect in ourselves and in the universe.

Joanna Joannaseibert.com

Release party!!!!!!!!!!!

Come and get a signed copy of the new book

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18

All Money from sale of the books goes either to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast

Seibert’s, 27 River Ridge Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72227

10 to noon, Saturday September 14, 2019

RSVP joannaseibert@me.com