Dear Friends,

The Gospel this weekend speaks of two who went up to the temple to pray. One is full of himself and there is no room for God or for anyone else. The other is “humble” but is perhaps too focused on his faults and not celebrating enough his blessings. 

We have been reflecting on the poem “Mother Wisdom Speaks” by Christine Lore Webber that honors our ‘hollowness’ which can be a creative space for others to enter in and feel at home. It reminds us of Henri Nouwen’s meditations on hospitality. Nouwen’s perspective is that if one is so full of one’s own agenda, and personal feelings there is no room for ‘the other’ to enter in. However, if we create a space by being empty/hollow, then there is room for others to enter in and share their story and their concerns. And in the Divine Economy as we make room for the other, we are nourished and filled ourselves.   Our first reading for today inspired us, and we invite you to ponder its wisdom: 

Mother Wisdom Speaks                 Christine Lore Webber                                                                      

Some of you I will hollow out.
I will make you a cave.
I will carve you so deep the stars will shine in your darkness.
You will be a bowl.
You will be the cup in the rock collecting rain.
I will hollow you with knives.
I will not do this to make you clean.
I will not do this to make you pure
You are clean already.
You are pure already.
I will do this because the world needs the hollowness of you.
I will do this for the space that you will be.
I will do this because you must be large.
A passage.
People will find their way through you.
A bowl.
People will eat from you.
And their hunger will not weaken them to death.
A cup to catch the sacred rain.
My daughter, do not cry.
Do not be afraid.
Nothing you need will be lost.
I am shaping you.
I am making you ready.
Light will flow in your hollowing.
You will be filled with light.
Your bones will shine.
The round open center of you will be radiant.
I will call you brilliant one.
I will call you daughter who is wide.
I will call you transformed.

At The Spirit of Life, we as a community, strive to be reflectors of God’s love and compassion in our live and our world. We work to lighten each other’s load, by walking together and helping one another through prayer and action. We invite you to come and experience life in our community as we contemplate in prayer and move with justice at The Spirit of Life. Through our time of prayer and sharing together, we work together to grow in our self-understanding and in our relationships with God and with God’s people. We celebrate the gift of our faith and the responsibility that is ours as followers of Jesus Christ.  It is our prayer that what we as a community experience in our praying together will overflow into the rest of our lives, making us more fully human and more ‘whole’….holy!  We invite you to join us in this endeavor and journey with us as we seek to grow in our love of God and to grow in our capacity to be living expressions of God’s loving peace and justice in our world.

As you open your hearts and create a deepening space for others, may you experience more fully God’s gracious Presence within and around you.

Ron and Jean