Synchronicity

Frederick Buechner, Patrick Murray, Carl Jung: Synchronicity

“I remember sitting parked by the roadside once, terribly depressed and afraid about my daughter’s illness and what was going on in our family, when out of nowhere a car came along down the highway with a license plate that bore on it the one word out of all the words in the dictionary that I needed most to see exactly then.

The word was TRUST. … The owner of the car turned out to be, as I’d suspected, a trust officer in a bank, and not long ago he found out where I lived and one afternoon brought me the license plate itself, which sits propped up on a bookshelf in my house to this day. It is rusty around the edges and a little battered, and it is also as holy a relic as I have ever seen.”—Frederick Buechner in Telling Secrets (HarperOne, 1991).

Frederick Buechner beautifully relates this incidence of synchronicity, coincidences, or serendipity. Many believe such an experience occurs when the unconscious speaks to our consciousness. How this happens is a mystery Jung and Patrick Murray describe as “a relationship between an inner psychic experience and outer physical event.” Synchronicity is “a meaningful coincidence that contributes to one’s sense of wholeness.”

In spiritual direction, we talk about looking for times of synchronicity, the occurrence of meaningful coincidences, being aware of them, and pondering them—not letting them just slip by. Patrick Murray calls these “moments of transformation, embracing us with a profound sense that life is ultimately purposeful.”

We sense a divine connection. A friend happens to call just when we needed it. We turn on the radio and hear a musical piece that brings back pleasant memories of hearing it with a loved one or dear friend. We feel peace. There are moments like that every day if we just step out of our routine to be aware of them.

Before the pandemic, I would stand in a particular place and talk to those coming by for food at our food pantry. Once, when we arrived a little late, people were already sitting outside waiting for the bags filled with their orders. For some reason, I decided to go out and greet people there. Suddenly, I saw a friend I had worked with for thirty-three years who had just lost her job. We hugged, and she told me about her struggles to find another job. I saw courage and faith as I had never seen before. She had a plan and was not giving up, and she still felt cared for by a loving God. For me, this was synchronicity—that we ran into each other and could support each other for a few moments.

I will put this visit in the memory book of my imagination and hope to remember to be on the lookout each day for times like this—when the Holy calls us and offers us an opportunity to share the Christ in each other.

[See Patrick Murray, “Jung’s Concept of Synchronicity,” The Haden Institute, December 2002.]

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/

De Waal: Trinity and Celtic Prayer

De Waal: Trinity Connected

“If I am estranged from myself, then I am also estranged from others too. It is only as I am connected to my own core that I am connected to others.”—Esther de Waal in Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality (Morehouse, 1997).

Esther de Waal’s writings make the Celtic way of life accessible to us. It is a life where we learn about ourselves in relationships with others, nature, and daily life in the world outside. This life requires almost constant prayer, connection to God, and awareness of each precious moment. De Waal reminds us how easy it is to walk or drive, rushing from task to task without any awareness of the people we pass by in our paths. All too often, instead of silently sending love to them, we make snap judgments and label them by their appearance or clothes.

I am indebted to de Waal for one more book on Celtic spirituality, The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination. I was rereading her chapter on Celtic prayers about the Trinity as we prepared for Trinity Sunday. She reminds us of the Celtic tradition of placing three drops of water on an infant’s forehead immediately after birth, to remind us that the Trinity is now indwelling in the infant.

In the Celtic tradition, the Trinity is a natural part of the daily songs and prayers at work, and is praised through the changing seasons. The day of Celtic life begins with splashing three handfuls of water on the face in the name of the Trinity. The day ends as the embers of the household fire are spread evenly on the hearth in a circle divided into three equal sections, with a square of peat laid between each. This is called the Hearth of the Three. A woman then closes her eyes, stretches out her hand, and softly sings this prayer:

The sacred Three

“To save,

To shield,

To surround,

The hearth,

The household,

This eve,

This night,

Oh! this eve,

This night,

And every night,

Each single night.

Amen.”—Carmina Gadelica I, “The Trinity” in The Celtic Way of Prayer (Doubleday, 1997).

De Waal describes what she has learned from the Celtic Trinitarian tradition: “It allows me to be at ease with a mystery that no longer threatens, but supports, refreshes, and strengthens me.”

The Threeness and connectedness of the Trinity also remind me of an anonymous prayer, sometimes attributed to William Blake—but sounds so Celtic:

      “I sought my God;

      My God I could not see.

      I sought my soul

      My soul eluded me.

      I sought my brother

      And I found all three.”

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

Memorial Day

Memorial Day

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”—John:15:13

National Cathedral

 This week, we celebrated Memorial Day. It is an American holiday observed to honor and remember members of our armed services who died in battle. The observance on the last Monday of May began after the Civil War and officially became a federal holiday in 1971. As I see all the flags on graves at Arlington Cemetery, I am suddenly profoundly moved. I have heard that the observance began with women putting flowers on the graves of more than 600,000 soldiers who died on both sides of the Civil War Conflict.

 My husband and I have had parents and grandparents in our family serving in both great wars, and my husband served in the Navy in Vietnam. We have not known of family members injured or died.

 I cannot imagine what it must be like to have a friend or family member die during a military action. This is a noble sacrifice for our country. The sacrifice by the one who died is also a sacrifice for those left behind, who will long for their presence for the rest of their lives. I say prayers for those who died and those whose lives were changed by their absence.

 Sacrifice is not a word I like to consider in my life. However, whenever I visit the National Cathedral, I do try to find the stained-glass window honoring the Dorchester Chaplains: Lieutenants George Fox (Methodist), Alexander Goode (Jewish), Clark Poling (Reformed), and John Washington (Roman Catholic). They were chaplains aboard the U.S. transport ship Dorchester on a mission to Greenland in 1943 with 900 men when a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the vessel. The chaplains organized the evacuation effort, directed men into lifeboats, and handed out life jackets. When there were no more jackets, the chaplains gave their own to other sailors. The last image of rescued men was the chaplains on the deck linking arms and praying.

For the rest of my time, I hope to remember at least one person and their family on each Memorial Day who died in the war. In addition, I would love to hear the stories of those you remember that impacted your lives.

We must continue to remember the high cost of war and these tremendous losses.

burial at sea

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

This past pandemic was a time to remember how our lives, work, friends, and family differed after this sacrifice that each of us had made to stay healthy, a greater sacrifice for some and much more for others.