pray share chat 9/22/2021 focus on humility and presence

 We are focusing on humility and presence in today's meeting.

1.  Meditation

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZToicYcHIOU

2.  song

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sU8MAQKSbEI

3.  Narrative

Humility and Presence 

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM

Scripture

Humility and Presence

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Historically, most people naturally presumed that they would come to God by finding unique spiritual locations, precise rituals, special priests or shamans, or unique sacred words. Our correct behavior or morality around these manifestations would bring us to God or God to us. The majority of us began by looking for the right maps or laws, hoping to pass some cosmic test. The assumption was that if you got the right answers, God would like you. God’s love was highly contingent, and the clever were assumed to be the winners.

But the Bible does not make transformation dependent on cleverness at all; rather, transformation is found in one of God’s favorite and most effective hiding places: humility. Read the opening eight Beatitudes in this light (Matthew 5:1-12). Such “poverty of spirit,” Jesus says, is something we seem to lose as we grow into supposed adulthood.

We all need what Jesus described as the mind of a curious child (see Matthew 18:1-5). A “beginner’s mind,” which is truly open and living in the now or in what some call “constantly renewed immediacy,” is the most natural and simple path for all spiritual wisdom.

The genius of the biblical revelation is that we come to God through “the actual,” the here and now, or quite simply what is. The Bible moves us from sacred place (why the temple had to go), sacred actions (why the law had to be relativized), and mental belief systems (why Jesus has no check list in this regard)—to all space and time as sacred. At the close of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, NASB).

Space, time, and patience reveal the patterns of grace. This is why it takes most of us a long time to be converted. As Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) prayed, “Above all, trust in the slow work of God.” [1] Our focus eventually moves from preoccupation with perfect actions of any type, to naked presence itself. The historical word for presence is simply “prayer.” Jesus often called it “vigilance,” “seeing,” or “being awake.” When you are fully present, you will know what you need to know in that moment. Really!

As Eckhart Tolle points out in The Power of Now [2], you don’t have to be a perfect person or in a certain place to experience the fullness of God. God is always given, incarnate in every moment, and present to those who know how to be present themselves. Strangely enough, it is often imperfect people and people in quite secular settings who encounter “The Presence” (Parousia, “fullness”), more than overtly religious people preoccupied with doing their rituals correctly. That pattern is rather clear throughout the entire Bible where, except for Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, God-experiences are in “secular,” domestic, and nature settings.

The biblical text moves us toward transformation of both the self and all of history. Deep understanding of Scripture cannot happen until you have somehow first experienced God actively and lovingly working in your own life! Then it all makes sense. Without inner experience of God and grace, Scripture interpretation is often lethal and egocentric. As Paul courageously says, “The written letters alone bring death, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). [3]

Gateway to Silence:

Your word is a light for my path. —Psalms 119:105

References:

[1] Teilhard de Chardin, “Patient Trust,” reprinted in Hearts On Fire: Praying with Jesuits, ed. Michael Harter, S.J. (Loyola Press: 2005), 102.

[2] Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (Namaste Publishing: 2004).

[3] Richard Rohr paraphrase.

Adapted from Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (Franciscan Media: 2008), 8, 15-16.

4.  Prayer

O our Lord and God, restrain our thoughts, so that they do not wander amid the vanities of this world. O Lord our God, grant that I may be united to the affection of your love, unworthy though I be. Glory be to you, O Christ. Ascend into the chamber of your renowned light, O Lord; sow in me the good seed of humility; and under the wings of your grace hide me through your mercy. If you were to mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Because there is mercy with you.

Amen.

Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-for-Humility

5,  Meditation

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CAq2Q-HsLNA

6.  Song  spirit of the living God

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPZrxZgQjrg

 

This is an easy and delicious Pad Thai for a gathering or picnic.  The sauce takes only three ingredients to make.  I made it easier for myself when I prepared it for the picnic today of the Plant Based Pittsburgh Group at Boyce Park (see photos below) and used coleslaw from a bag since I did not feel like cutting any vegetables.  I also used dry garlic flakes.  It is a flexible dish,  You can use any noodles as well as any vegetables.  You can eat it hot or cold.  Enjoy!

Easy Plant Based Pad Thai

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon garlic chili paste
• 1/4 cup water or vegetable broth
• 8 oz cooked rice noodles or other noodles (I used rice noodles I cooked in 4 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt in an instant pot for 1 minute and 4 min natural release.  I then drained and rinsed it).
• sliced green onions from two stalks
• 1 -2 cups coleslaw or any thinly sliced vegetables
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 tablespoon garlic flakes.  

Sauce:  Place the peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic chili paste and water or broth in a small bowl and warm it up in the microwave for a minute. 

Assembly: Place the cooked noodles in a large bowl and add the sauce to it and mix.  Add the rest of the ingredients.

pray share chat 9/15/2021 thomas merton defiance to busyness

 

Today's meeting is on Thomas Merton's thoughts on busyness or what is more important than getting  things done.

1.  Meditation

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx6gj6RLRdg

2.  Song

Danny Gokey - Love God Love People - YouTube

3.  Narrative

https://richerbyfar.com/2020/08/21/daily-riches-something-more-important-than-getting-things-done-thomas-merton/

DAILY RICHES: SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN “GETTING THINGS DONE” THOMAS MERTON

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Bill Britton under "Being" with Jesus, Being and Doing, Being the Beloved, Busyness, Jesus the Savior, Meditation, monasticism, Silence, Solitude, Stillness, Striving and drivenness, Success

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered,

“you are worried and upset about many things,

but few things are needed—or indeed only one.

Mary has chosen what is better,

and it will not be taken away from her.”

(read the full story) Luke 10:41-42 NIV

“We experience in ourselves a new and special kind of truth when we imitate Mary. We [who are monks] who have this particular call recognize that when we are agitated by all kinds of external concerns which do not touch us deeply at all we are less authentic, less real, less ourselves, less what we are supposed to be. We feel less faithful to the will of God than when we remain simply in an attitude of freedom and attentiveness to His word, His love and His will. This gospel text illustrates our experience that we are summoned by the Holy Spirit to make an act of preference. We are called to prefer the apparent uselessness, the apparent unproductiveness, the apparent inactivity of simply sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to him. We are called to prefer this over an apparently more productive, more active, more busy life. We quietly affirm that there is something more important than ‘getting things done.’ Together with this is another implied assumption: that this preference goes against the ideas of the majority of our fellow human beings at any given moment and especially today in the twentieth century. Our act of preference for ‘quiet’ is at the same time an implicit protest and defiance, a protest against and a defiance of the counter-opinion of those who are absolutely convinced that our [monastic] life is useless and who reproach us for it.” Thomas Merton

Moving From the Head to the Heart

Concern to get things done comes naturally to me–even when it makes me less authentic, less myself, less who I am supposed to be. Is it just me?

Are you, at least sometimes, able to prefer apparent usefulness, apparent unproductiveness, apparent inactivity–quietly affirming that something else (attentiveness to God) is more urgent than your “to do” list?

Many others will reject this invitation. Are you willing to join with Merton in defiance of a driven, busy life?

Abba, in each circumstance, may I wrestle to know and to choose what is best–shaped by your call rather than pressure from within or without.

4.  Prayer

Dear Lord, at the start of this day, help me to keep the eyes of my heart on You, and may I not sacrifice what is really important for what I perceive to be urgent.

Help me not to be too busy to forget to look at all the beauty that surrounds me in the world that You have created. Help me not to be so much in a hurry that I miss listening to Your still small voice.

Keep me I pray from ‘busy-ness’ and may I draw ever closer to You. In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen.

Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/prayer/prayer-to-keep-me-from-being-too-busy-130

5.  Meditation

Heavenly Hymn Harp 😇 Like a River Glorious Harp 😇 Like a River Glorious Hymn - YouTube_____________

6.  Song

As The Deer - YouTube

paula's prayer meeting sept 8, 2021

 

In Every Age - YouTube

In Every Age

            Tony Alonso

Long before the mountains came to be
And the land and sea and stars of the night,
Through the endless seasons of all time,
You have always been,
You will always be.

In ev'ry age, O God, you have been our refuge.
In ev'ry age, O God, you have been our hope

.
Destiny is cast, and at your silent word
We return to dust and scatter to the wind.
A thousand years are like a single moment gone,
As the light that fades
At the end of day.

Teach us to make use of the time we have.
Teach us to be patient even as we wait.
Teach us to embrace our ev'ry joy and pain.
To sleep peacefully,
And to rise up strong.

You have been our refuge
You have been our hope.

LOVE  

	“I have loved you with an everlasting love.

I am constant in my affection for you.”

 

“You are mine.  I have called you by name."

 "Love one another as I have loved you.”

 “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Corn Chipotle Tortilla Soup

This is an easy, addictive, stick in your ribs soup and healthy too.  No oil, no sugar used.  And it is meatless.

I added cornmeal to thicken the soup. This is reminiscent of adding masa by the Mexicans.  I also added corn tortilla strips as is not fried at the end.  The sweet cream style corn gives it a creamy texture and sweet taste.  The chipotle from a can gives it that extra oomph.

You can add any vegetables like celery and red or green pepper if you have them.  This will be your go to soup.  My picky taster,  my husband, gave it two thumbs up.  You will too.

Slow Cooker Corn Chipotle Tortilla Soup

1 15 oz can cream style sweet corn

1 15 oz can whole kernel corn, drained

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup salsa

1/8 tsp each garlic, onion, smoked paprika, cumin, chili, oregano powders, salt and pepper OR 1 tsp taco seasoning

3 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon chipotle pepper from a can, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons cornmeal in 2 tablespoon water

1 stalk celery chopped, optional

1 red or green pepper, chopped, optional

2 small corn tortillas cut into small strips

Add all the ingredients EXCEPT the  tortilla strips in the slow cooker.  Cook at high setting for 3 hours or at low setting for 6 hours. Add the tortilla strips at the end of cooking.