Sunday February 26: What is Being Tested?

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  • Sunday February 26: What is Being Tested?
    • Posted by pbegeman on February 24, 2023 at 1:58 pm #133336

      To Practice: 

      – Is there a fasting of the heart that calls to you now? What might feed and encourage the living flame of love to intensify in you? Ponder this for your journey now.

      – Join in global community for United in Prayer Day, March 3-4, 2023, offered in honor of Thomas Keating’s birthday (March 7) and dedicated to healing the suffering world. Centering Prayer in community will be hosted by local groups around the world and will include other contemplative practices. You may enter and leave as many times as you wish. Some people make it an at-home retreat day. More information may be found here on the calendar, including the schedule and the link.

       

      If you would like to reread this week’s reflection, you may do so here: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/word-of-the-week-feb26

    • Posted by Susan Kenney on February 27, 2023 at 11:00 am #133382

      The Tao Te Ching was the guiding philosophy of the originator of tai chi chih, a meditative movement practice. The practice invites me to surrender to the chi or energy that moves all things. It is the life force within and without. For me, it is grace. Combining this practice that engages the body with silent prayer that further empties me of effort and ego gives me a way of staying in and then moving through those desert times. Reading these passages today reminds me that there are many traditions and practices available to me – to all of us – as we pass through the deserts of our lives.

      • Posted by pbegeman on February 27, 2023 at 7:55 pm #133401

        Thank you, dear Sue.  You are such a witness to this effortless being and synthesis of traditions. – Pamela

    • Posted by linda rhead on February 28, 2023 at 2:05 pm #133426

      Sunday February 26: What is Being Tested?

      The fasting of the heart that calls to me is “Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course?” The only thing I can control now is my response to life. Everything in my life needs to be sifted through the silence to allow the most vital matters to rise to the top of my awareness, letting the rest fall as chaff. Help me, Lord. <3 linda

      • Posted by pbegeman on February 28, 2023 at 10:37 pm #133434

        This question also spoke to me, Linda. Some “matters” came to mind that need me to step back, as Sue described in this morning’s prayer circle.  Stepping back is to be receptive, vulnerable, waiting patiently. – Pamela

    • Posted by Kathleen M. Kelly on February 28, 2023 at 3:14 pm #133428

      at the end of the online prayer, section session, I was moved to share and will now. I am an introvert and realize that when I spend a lot of time with people or crowded areas, I develop a debilitating headache, and need to sleep to make it go away. I pictured myself, generally, not just then, as having an electric current going directly to my brain. It gets so strong, it feels like it could explode if I didn’t do something. So, I walk or, better, do art. Some judge, inside or outside, will say, I feel too much, I think too much, I care too much (my mother’s words). Well, that is the dark side of a lot of good. But, in my minds eye, I see myself turning. down the current, like on a dimmer switch. I Say to my poor mind: It’s OK, Please rest (in MY arms, says God).

       

      Glad I am not alone on this freakin journey!

      • Posted by pbegeman on February 28, 2023 at 10:39 pm #133435

        Kathleen, this message meets me at the perfect time.  I just spent the last two days visiting with friends — more social interaction that I usually have in a month. Each sessions was a few hours.  I came home today with a headache, only to read your experience. Now I am in the silence of my own home, in the net of my silent community, and I can rest. So be it. – Pamela

    • Posted by Adeline Behm on March 4, 2023 at 2:19 am #133537

      The image  is speaking into my life this Lent , two bird like winged creatures, rather like the Hindu Kundelini (feminine awakening figure). Facing the image,  the deep brown bird-like creature seems dominant  facing the white creature where there is splash of yellow light ensconced in red burning embers. I turn the image 180 degrees. The white bird-like creature is dominant, yellow flame illumines the beak, the ember have burst into intensity burning the beak of the dark brown bird. splashes of yellow light  wash this white creature,  lower left a woosh of light like the thrust of an airplane. A significant encounter Thursday where the interplay of yellow light ( the kind I have been seeking all my life) and the deep crucible of fiery  intensity( the kind I have always avoided) came together. Wordless except for: ” the flame that burns the ego and enables to pass from fearful fragmentation to fearless fullness….) Both flame and fire encircled the discernment. We know in the marrow of our bones, we are on the path and the flame of courage in our bellies. I bow in humble gratitude for the fasting of my heart. I give over ownership to the ONE to whom it belongs.

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