St. Francis: Hoeing, Gandhi: Dying

St. Francis: Hoeing, Gandhi: Dying

my office

“Saint Francis, hoeing his garden, was asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. ‘Continue hoeing my garden,’ said the saint.”—Suzanne Guthrie, Synthesis Today, Quote for June 15, 2018, attributed to St. Francis.

I have often heard this phrase attributed to St. Francis and wondered what I would do if I knew I was about to die.

I have made writing a daily discipline for several years. But would I keep writing? Writing has become one of my best spiritual practices. As I look outside at trees, birds, and sky from the floor-to-ceiling window in my office, and my fingers hit the keyboard, I feel the peace that I hope is God’s presence.

My sacred space at home is in front of a large window at my desk in my office, which was once our daughter’s room when she was growing up. There, I write surrounded by family pictures, icons, and remembrances of days of joy. I would ask for prayers for the good pray-ers I know, especially the women in the Daughters of the King. I would also pray at other sacred spaces if I could visit them.

 I certainly would spend as much time as possible in my last days with my family. I might entice my grandchildren to watch a movie with me and then secretly watch them. I would want to be with my husband as much as possible. I want my family and friends to know how much I love them through my actions and words. I would like to have a meal with my family and friends. I would look at old pictures to keep memories with me.

Of course, if everyone else knew the world was ending, seeing how our paths might cross would be interesting!

So, what does all this mean?

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever,” is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

I carry these quotes from Gandhi and St. Francis daily and share them with spiritual friends. The quotes are an excellent daily benchmark for assessing whether we are doing the practices that bring us closer to God.
Gandhi’s quote is a paradox, an anchor metaphor for our life, a constant, ambiguous paradox.

Each day, I try to spend more time meditating on quotes from authors like these, who help us connect with God, our true selves, our neighbors, family, and friends.
Of course, often, the connections lead us to other places, and we pray to stay open to these new adventures.

C. S. Lewis: The Great Divorce

C. S. Lewis: The Great Divorce

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’—C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce.

The Great Divorce is Lewis’s classic study of the difference between living in heaven and living in hell. In hell, people become increasingly isolated and separated from each other until they lose all communication. Then, before the great distances develop, there is a bus stop where groups of people in hell can take a tour bus to heaven to decide whether they want to live there instead. Spoiler alert! Only one person stays in heaven. The rest return to their life in hell. It is a choice.

With each character, Lewis describes what keeps each of us in hell. My favorite is the bishop, whose intellect keeps him in hell, as he must return there because he is scheduled to give a lecture he does not want to miss.

Other characters remain in hell because they cannot recognize joy. Others see all the difficulties in life as someone else’s fault. Some stay connected to their material goods, which means the most to them. Some find people “beneath them” in heaven. One sees heaven as a trick. An artist must return to hell to preserve his reputation.

The Great Divorce is an excellent book for a book group, especially in Lent, and is a great way for people to share which characters they most identify with. Lewis hands us a mirror to see where we fail to recognize that we are still controlling the show and living in hell, and have forsaken the gifts of heaven on this earth.

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

Silence, Waiting for Dolphins, Chant

Silence, Waiting for dolphins, Chant

“When chant music stops, sometimes quite abruptly, an audible silence reverberates throughout the room, especially in the high arches of the oratories in which it is sung...If we listen carefully, we discover that chant inducts us into this silence that is the ground of our being.”—David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., The Music of Silence.

We sit silently on a balcony overlooking the Gulf in the early morning, watching, waiting for the sunrise and the dolphins to make their first run. Then we wait for a line of pelicans to sweep silently by.

The rhythm of the waves is like a heartbeat. Today, it is a slow heart rate. At home in Arkansas, when the weather is warmer, we sit with our son and his family on his back deck as the sun sets behind the trees of his backwoods, and wait for the hummingbirds to come and feed before they finally rest for the evening.
Nature seems to call us to wait, to wait. Our heartbeat slows. Our bodies seem to connect to something greater than ourselves. Our mind wants to repeat Julian of Norwich’s famous words, “And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

We are ready for whatever comes. We think. Maybe. The dryer stops working. We know who to call for help, and we wait again for the repair workers to arrive. We pray to take time between tasks and breakdowns.

What do we do between sunrise, dolphin, pelican, sunset, and hummingbird times?
Another suggestion is to wait for the heartbeat of the music, especially the “silence between the notes” of the Gregorian chant. One of the earliest popular versions is CHANT by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos.

 If you get “hooked,” you can read their companion book, The Music of Silence, by Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., which may lead you to a desire to follow in some form the canonical hours or seasons of the day. Another book is simply called CHANT, by Katharine Le Mee, which explains the origins, form, practice, and healing power of Gregorian Chant.

It is incredible where silence can lead us!

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/