Teilhard de Chardin – The Noontimes

Jeremiah 5: Universal Corruption

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Universal Corruption

We are all human. None of us is immune from our tendency to stray from truth. Each of us is from time to time fascinated by the darkness that ebbs beyond the circle of light in which we stand. Physically, we press the limits of the body to find our weak spots and our strengths. Psychologically, we tinker with the places in life which lure us into wrong-doing – all the better to know what we might become if we allow ourselves to grow. Spiritually, we wander into the places where doubt blossoms – for as much as we doubt, so also do we believe.

Miguel de Unamuno, a 20^th Century Spanish existentialist, wrote a sonnet entitled Prayer of an Atheist in which he explores the pendulum swing of faith and doubt, hope and despair. He also wrote a beautiful poem, In the Hand of God, in which he juxtaposes images to create the gentle rocking back and forth we feel of our movement between God’s two hands, our movement to and from God’s breast. We are well-loved. We are constantly tended. We consistently stray. We are always offered the opportunity for reconciliation and restoration by a loving and giving God. We may always open our hearts to those who wound us.

In his book The Sacred Heart of the World: Restoring Mystical Devotion to Our Spiritual Life, David Richo describes a four-fold devotion to the Sacred Heart with which we may join others in healing the world. Today we pause to think about the impossibility that God may make possible . . . if we but ask.

First, we extend our prayer life to include others in anything we ask for ourselves, and thus we seek the Christ in each human being.
Second, we pray for those who persecute us, and thus we convert insult to prayer.
Third, we commit to ceasing engagement in retaliation, and thus we return blessing for hurt. This does not mean that we ask to be humiliated; rather, we protect ourselves and our personal boundaries while in the meantime we . . .
Fourth, pray for the universe, for we are all corrupt in one way or another.

Richo includes prayers of mystics which we might use, and here is one from Saint Teresa of Ávila: I shape my heart like that of others that I meet and theirs like mine.

Imagine what goodness we might bring about if we might only pray earnestly in this way.

An interesting read is The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy by Gregg Braden. In this book, Braden encourages us to examine what happens when we come together in petition, what takes place when we agree to gather through prayer to ask God’s healing for the world.

Imagine what beauty we might bring about if only we might see our universal corruption . . . if only we might pray earnestly in unison . . . if only we might join in bringing about the kingdom . . . if only we might believe that the impossible is possible . . . if only we might act in our hope for the world.

For a 30 day online retreat with references to Teilhard de Chardin, Karl Rahner, and practicing the art of spiritual imagination, visit Richo’s site at :http://davericho.com/sacred-heart-retreat-html/

For more quotes about belief, click on the image above or visit: https://quotesgram.com/quotes-about-belief-systems/

Adapted from a reflection written on June 9, 2008.

Image from: https://quotesgram.com/quotes-about-belief-systems/

July 24, 2021

Isaiah Effect, Karl Rahner, Miguel de Unamuno, online retreat, Teilhard de Chardin, Tersa of Ávila

Psalms 7 and 8: Life, Death, Divinity, Humanity

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Psalms 7 to 18

Life, Death, Divinity, Humanity

This reflection was written upon the death of a friend’s father and is shared today as a Favorite.

Much of life is lived in a confusion of fear and thanksgiving and we find a jumble of these emotions in Psalms 7 though 18. Looking at just the New American Bible titles of these poems gives us a series of jubilant prayers mixed with sorrow-filled ones. It is in this way that these poems bring us a faultless reflection of life.

The fusion of worlds present in the human made in the image of God is a dichotomy which we can either unite our id, ego and superego . . . or it can split us into child and adult separated by a chasm of fear. Fear of what? Fear of suffering. Fear of humiliation. Fear of loss. Fear of abandonment. Fear of loneliness. Fear of knowing that we err. Fear of rejection. Fear of death. And when I think of this litany of pain, I realize that each of these woes is accompanied by a restorative. Joy in celebration. Joy in exaltation. Joy in gain. Joy in companionship. Joy in intimacy. Joy in knowing that we are doing the right thing. Joy in perfect, trust-filled union with another. Joy in life. Our fear-filled humanity struggles with our covenant-honoring divinity.

Psalm 8 brings us dichotomous images announced in the title: Divine Majesty and Human Dignity. We find more in the psalm: earth and heaven, babes and foes, enemy and avenger. The verses that tell all that we really need to know: What are humans that you [God] are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet . . . O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!

What a wonderful God we have who loves us to the extent that he creates us, visits with us, loves and comforts us, feeds, houses and clothes us, heals and tends to us, listens to us, blesses us . . . always . . . with constancy . . . with fidelity . . . with dignity . . . with patience . . . through eternity.

We often feel closer in death to the ones we love than we did when these dear ones were yet in this life. These loved ones speak to us constantly now that the physical distances of this world no longer separate us. They bring us the very real presence of the next world with their constant visitation. We cannot see them because of the limiting time and space of this globe but still their existence is real.

We are human. We are divine. And we feel the constant struggle of reconciling these two worlds of self. A human death brings us up short because we are forced to consider if we believe that we are created as gift. We pause to think again about the Resurrection, the forgiveness of sin, life everlasting. We cannot help but reflect on how we have treated this departed one: with the dignity deserved no matter the situation? With the witness of divine majesty? Did we salute the gift of this person while they were still in this life? Did we honor this person while still with us as well as we will honor them in death?

The ones we love who have died linger among us. We love that much. They still laugh when we laugh, cry when we cry. We cannot see them with the eyes of this world, or hear them with these ears. But they are here with us nonetheless. As we are with them. They hold us close. They have not disappeared. Their presence is still felt . . . and it will be . . . forever and ever. Amen.

Adapted from the May 31, 2008 Noontime.

For more information about Teilhard de Chardin, click on his image above or go to: http://teilharddechardin.org/

Image of the creation of Adam from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam

For other reflections on eternal love and human vulnerability, enter those words into the blog search bar and explore.

August 11, 2020

death, dichotomy, fear, made in God’s image, sorrow and joy, Teilhard de Chardin, thanksgiving, the journey of life

Matthew 9:27-34: Healing

Third Sunday of Easter. April 26, 2020

Matthew 9:27-34: Healing

In this passage Jesus cures three people. This compassion brings him into confrontation with the authorities who question the source of his power to heal. Despite the accusation from the Pharisees that his energy comes from the dark world of the prince of demons Jesus persists, knowing that his actions rise from the goodness of God within. We also have the opportunity to enter into this goodness, into this God-ness, when we enter into Christ.

From ALL WILL BE WELL by Julian of Norwich: “Because of God’s great love for humanity, he does not make a distinction in love between Christ and the least creature. It is easy enough to believe that the blessed spirit of Christ is high in the glorious Godhead; but, as I have seen, where the blessed spirit of Christ dwells, there dwell in him the spirits of all who will be saved. So let us rejoice greatly that God dwells within us. Let us rejoice even further that we dwell within God. For our spirits are made to be God’s resting place, and our spirits’ rest is in God who is unmade. Great it is to know in our hearts that God, who is our Maker, rests in our spirits. But far greater is it to know in our hearts, our spirits, which are made, rest in God. Buy that substance, we are who we are! I beheld no difference between God and our substance. All was God, as it were. Yet, I knew that our substance is in God. In other words, God is God, and we are creatures in God”.

Teilhard de Chardin, a 20^th century French paleontologist, priest and philosopher wrote frequently that we human beings persist in thinking that we are bodies walking around with a spirit when really we are spirits moving around in bodies. The physical world we see and move in is unreal, it is an illusion; it is the mysterious, intangible, spiritual world that is real and eternal. Perhaps this is why we find the story of Christ so baffling and sometimes unbelievable. We have things upside down.

Our spirit is made to be God’s resting place. It is for this reason that Jesus has the power to dispose of any illness or affliction that assails us. God is the creator of all.

Our spirit is made to be God’s resting place. It is for this reason that God tends to us and calls us constantly to goodness. We are made in God’s image.

Our spirit is made to be God’s resting place. It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit abides within to comfort our anxious minds. We are precious in the eyes of God.

Our spirit is made to be God’s resting place. God makes no distinction between Christ and the least soul. Imagine the good we might do, the sorrow we might heal, the transformation we might find, when we live with this mantra in mind.

Our spirit is made to be God’s resting place. So let us open our thoughts, our hearts, and our souls to Christ . . . and to the work he has in mind for us today. To whom might we restore sight? To whom might we give voice? When we find ourselves confronting the Pharisees of our day, let us remember our mantra so that we might step forward untroubled to pick up the work of God’s hands.

Kirvan, John. All Will Be Well: Julian of Norwich. 2008. Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 2005. Print.

Written on August 18, 2009 and posted today as a Favorite.

Image from: http://humanityhealing.net/2011/09/sacred-breath/

April 26, 2020

Juilan of Norwich, prayer, Spirit, Teilhard de Chardin

Tag: Teilhard de Chardin

Jeremiah 5: Universal Corruption

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Psalms 7 and 8: Life, Death, Divinity, Humanity

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Matthew 9:27-34: Healing

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