Today’s text
Mark 1:29-31
And at once on leaving the synagogue, he went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed and feverish, and at once they told him about her. He went in to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to serve them.
Reflection
A portrait of my desire … and of the church appears here. The woman rises. We don’t even know her name, but she is us, or at least me.
I feel a gentle smile as she rises from her mat and goes about her business, quietly serving with unhurried grace. There is no trace of anxiety or concern for approval in her. I sense no concern in her for how she is perceived or with whether anyone notices what she is doing.
But she is notices. She is aware, quietly mindful of her quiet motions as she goes about her hospitality for the needs of her visitors. Gentle joy lights her face as she attends to them.
She is given to that which has been given her to do and to be. She lives what she is. In this simplicity, there is the joy of being that manifestation of grace that God fashioned her to be.
Her soul is quiet, at peace, having known the Spirit of Love lifting her into herself, She lives this self not worrying whether it is enough just to be who she is, giving what she has been given to give.
Only Love, which is to say only the Divine Spirit can do this in a human heart.
This points the way for me and for all.
Her gentle grace draws me. The peace she exudes, her quiet givnen-ness to the grace in her is my desire.
She has no thought of success or failure, of ‘making it’ or of proving herself to some judge, and so many judges hold sway over our souls. There are judges from our past or present, judges outside of us and those terrible judges that inhabit our minds.
On our very best days, we are like the woman, free from the judges and the anxieties they provoke. Then we grow weary or troubles come, and the judges take over our minds. I begin to live as if it is not enough just to be and to give what God has put in my soul.
This is no way to live, of course. It is not real life at all.
And it’s so much less than the quiet, gentle light I see on the woman’s face as she serves, Jesus having lifted her into life. She is a portrait of The Spirit of Life seeks to awaken in human hearts, mine and yours.
And that is what the church is: a communion of hearts having been lifted by the Divine Spirit of Love in Jesus, sent to live out the mystery and goodness of what is in them.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 1:29-31
And at once on leaving the synagogue, he went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed and feverish, and at once they told him about her. He went in to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to serve them.
Reflection
Healing comes we know that what is in Jesus is also in us.
It comes when the divine Spirit that moves Jesus’ compassion and power awakens the divine Spirit within us.
Healing is this awakening.
The divine Spirit of love and power resides in us. Its seeds are planted in our creation. It is breathed into us by virtue of our humanity. In the beginning, God breathed life into creation, our holy texts tell us.
This means every human soul is alive with the Spirit, the breath of God, the One who is love and power, mercy and compassion, whose will is life for all that is.
Such is the Spirit that makes us alive, but most often it is buried or caged within our fears and prejudices that it no longer flows freely through our bodies and souls, animating our actions and feelings.
Momentary emotional states--fear, threat, stress and the pains of woundedness--hide the essential truth of our existence from awareness. We live believing these fleeting feeling states are our reality, our truth--that this is who we are.
Confusion results: First, I am my fear, then my joy. I am my victory and then my defeat, my success and then my sadness and stress.
Hidden beneath this illusion is my reality. I am a manifestation of the life and love of God. My breath is the breath of the Immortal and Immeasurable One. This always remains, hidden deep in our interiority, waiting its awakening.
Awakening comes in the presence of One who is filled and animated by the Divine Spirit. This is not strange or even unusual. We have felt it. We come alive and are freed to give ourselves to the tasks of our lives (like Simon’s mother-in-law) when we are in the presence of someone or something in whom we feel the Divine Spirit of love and freedom.
The Divine Spirit enlivens us when we are in the presence of the Presence.
Some blessed souls manifest the Presence more fully and beautifully, awakening life in others. They are graces, sacraments of God’s life stirring us to the life and joy God intends.
The Spirit of the Loving Wonder comes to fullest human expression in our brother Jesus. This is what makes him Son of God, Messiah and Savior. When we come into his presence--or his presence comes to us--his Spirit awakens the Spirit within us.
Then it is: the fever of life leaves us, and we come alive.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 1:29-31
And at once on leaving the synagogue, he went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed and feverish, and at once they told him about her. He went in to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to serve them.
Reflection
Healing comes we know that what is in Jesus is also in us.
It comes when the divine Spirit that moves Jesus’ compassion and power awakens the divine Spirit within us.
Healing is this awakening.
The divine Spirit of love and power resides in us. Its seeds are planted in our creation. It is breathed into us by virtue of our humanity. In the beginning, God breathed life into creation, our holy texts tell us.
This means every human soul is alive with the Spirit, the breath of God, the One who is love and power, mercy and compassion, whose will is life for all that is.
Such is the Spirit that makes us alive, but most often it is buried or caged within our fears and prejudices that it no longer flows freely through our bodies and souls, animating our actions and feelings.
Momentary emotional states--fear, threat, stress and the pains of woundedness--hide the essential truth of our existence from awareness. We live believing these fleeting feeling states are our reality, our truth--that this is who we are.
Confusion results: First, I am my fear, then my joy. I am my victory and then my defeat, my success and then my sadness and stress.
Hidden beneath this illusion is my reality. I am a manifestation of the life and love of God. My breath is the breath of the Immortal and Immeasurable One. This always remains, hidden deep in our interiority, waiting its awakening.
Awakening comes in the presence of One who is filled and animated by the Divine Spirit. This is not strange or even unusual. We have felt it. We come alive and are freed to give ourselves to the tasks of our lives (like Simon’s mother-in-law) when we are in the presence of someone or something in whom we feel the Divine Spirit of love and freedom.
The Divine Spirit enlivens us when we are in the presence of the Presence.
Some blessed souls manifest the Presence more fully and beautifully, awakening life in others. They are graces, sacraments of God’s life stirring us to the life and joy God intends.
The Spirit of the Loving Wonder comes to fullest human expression in our brother Jesus. This is what makes him Son of God, Messiah and Savior. When we come into his presence--or his presence comes to us--his Spirit awakens the Spirit within us.
Then it is: the fever of life leaves us, and we come alive.
Pr. David L. Miller
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