Merton and Prayer and Love

Merton and Prayer and Love

“If my prayer is centered in myself, if it seeks only an enrichment of my own self, my prayer itself will be my greatest potential distraction..”—Thomas Merton in Thoughts in Solitude.

Thomas Merton reminds us what our prayer life becomes when our prayers center on ourselves, our own desires, needs, and knowledge. Merton calls this kind of life a distraction that keeps us from the truth, a diversion, a disturbance of the mind, a hindrance.

We think we are doing everything right, but in essence, we are back where we started, with our world centered on ourselves rather than God.

We may think God is our co-pilot, but we are the pilot. This is because we have such good ideas.

God is there to ensure that our ideas and prayers are answered.

I think about all the prayers I prayed that went unanswered and learned would have been a disaster, the boyfriends who never gave me the time of day I would have sold my soul for. But, I also well remember the prayers that were answered that became harmful, the jobs I thought I had to have, and the co-workers I just knew would be perfect.

As friends in recovery say, “Our best thinking got us here.”

When we do not say to God, “Your will be done,” his answer to us may sometimes be, “Your will be done.”

Merton calls us to the prayer life of surrender, turning our prayers, our life, and our wills over to God, “thy will be done.”

This prayer life also calls for acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and most of all, love, knowing that we are loved and, in turn, offering that love to others.

Today, January 31st, is Merton’s birthday. He was born in 1915 in Prades, France, to an American mother and a father from New Zealand, both artists. His mother died when he was five, and his father died ten years later.

We honor Merton on his birthday by remembering and sharing one of the many things he taught us. I hope to do the same during this new year for so many others who shared their life with us.

Joanna   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Francis and Gandhi on living and dying

St. Francis: Hoeing, Gandhi: Dying

“Saint Francis, hoeing his garden, was asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. ‘Continue hoeing my garden,’ said the saint.”—Suzanne Guthrie, Synthesis Today, Quote for June 15, 2018, attributed to St. Francis.

writing desk

I have often heard this phrase attributed to St. Francis and wondered what I would do if I knew I was about to die.

I have made writing every day a discipline for several years. But would I keep writing? Writing has become one of my best spiritual practices. As I look outside at trees, birds, and sky from the floor-to-ceiling window in my office, and my fingers hit the keyboard, I feel the peace that I hope is God’s presence.

My sacred space at home is in front of a large window at my desk in my office, which once was our daughter’s room when she was growing up. There, I write and am surrounded by family pictures, icons, and remembrances of days of joy. I would ask for prayers for the good pray-ers I know, especially the women in the Daughters of the King. I would also pray at other sacred spaces if I could visit them.

 I certainly would spend as much time as possible on my last days with my family. I might entice my grandchildren to watch a movie with me, and then secretly watch them. I would want to be with my husband as much as possible. I would like my family and friends to know how much I loved them through my actions and words. I would like to have a meal with my family and friends. I would look at old pictures to keep memories with me.

Of course, if everyone else knew the world was ending, seeing how our paths might cross would be interesting!

So, what does all this mean?

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever,” is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

I try to carry these quotes by Gandhi and St. Francis with me each day and share them with spiritual friends. The quotes are an excellent daily benchmark to know if we are doing the practices that bring us closer to God.
Gandhi’s quote is a paradox, an anchor metaphor for our life, a constant ambiguous paradox.

Each day, I try to spend more time meditating on quotes from authors like these, who help me realize my best connections to God, my true self, my neighbors, family, and friends.
Of course, often, the connections lead me to other places, and I pray to stay open to these new adventures.

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Spirituality of Nursery Rhymes

Guest Writer: Isabel Anders

What’s Behind Nursery Rhymes?

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Most of us are quite familiar with the sing-song lines of the classic Mother Goose rhymes that have been collected, illustrated, altered, and pondered for meaning over the years—and even centuries in some cases.

When you read some of the supposed origins and hidden messages in the folksy lines about blackbirds and puddings and a cow jumping over the moon, you realize that it wasn’t always safe (and indeed, it isn’t in our time) to openly express political views, especially criticism of the government and royalty. So the supposedly innocuous lines of nursery fun have come down to us with their multifaceted histories tucked behind them—or built into symbols we still ponder even as we sing them.

Is the Mary of the above-referenced garden the Virgin Mary, or Mary Queen of Scots, or a symbol of women and the importance of their fertility in the Garden of Life? We don’t have to know how to pick up the rhythm, sing the lines using hand motions, and pass on their colorful word pictures to a new generation, often at bedtime.

Whatever anonymous author first launched these often incongruous images—a garden yielding “pretty maids all in a row”?—they surely emerged from an intuitive, free-associative letting go. On the other hand, perhaps they originated in someone’s fertile unconscious, as images can seem to pop up for all of us out of nowhere. 

For some months, the images that come to me unbidden, often in that veiled state between sleeping and waking, tell me something about my life. They have been starting points for discussions with my spiritual director, who knows my history and current personal issues. Sometimes, they surprise both of us with their concise accuracy.

Picture language can resonate within us. Images such as the sometimes bizarre juxtapositions in Nursery Rhymes—a pie of singing birds, a cat playing a fiddle, a dish holding hands with a spoon—speak to us in ways we can’t always break down into words. There are deeper truths that nature, animals, and the earth itself sing out all around us, and we sift and interpret through our human interest grid. 

Maybe simply being open to the fantastical happening has something to do with spiritual progress. Perhaps we never totally outgrow our awe at probing the deeper origins and unexplained mystery of finding ourselves human in the world. 

As we consider these familiar rhymes, accepting the confusion and the revealing that sit side by side in our popular folk tradition—we might ourselves sometimes feel “quite contrary.” We’re questioning “the way things are,” we’re open to seeing new connections—and we’re working spiritually to keep our garden growing.

Isabel Anders has authored various books, including two collections of mother-daughter wisdom dialogues: Becoming Flame and Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold, and a book recently with Tracy Grant, Wisdom from Little Women: Louisa May Alcott.

Isabel Anders

Joanna Seibert   https://www.joannaseibert.com/