September 16thFive Minutes on Friday #41
CHURCH LIFE
There are tales of pilfering from the cathedral larder, of smuggling trips and constables chasing layabouts off the manicured lawns – even a crime of passion that ended with a 16th-century dean only just escaping with his life.
The archivist and volunteers at Salisbury Cathedral have been combing through the great church’s records to create a history of crime within the building’s magnificent close.
Their idea is to remind people that the cathedral and its environs are not just the spire, cloisters and nave, nor the worship that happened within them, but are also a part of the lives of the ordinary folk who lived around it for more than 800 years.
The current dean says: “Anglicans get dewy-eyed that this period was when the church was really a church, but all this sort of stuff was going on. That’s the reality. All this is a great disturber of the suggestion that things used to be so much better.”
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Autumn Prayer of Acceptance
Autumn God, earth teaches me by her natural turning from one season to another. As she enters into the dying and rising cycle, she welcomes the changes. May I be open to the teachings in this season of autumn and turn, as autumn does, toward opportunities for my spiritual transformation.
When I accept only the beautiful and reject the tattered, torn parts of who I am, when I treat things that are falling apart as my enemies, walk me among the dying leaves. Let them tell me about their power to re-energize the earth’s soil by their decomposition and decay.
When I fear the loss of my youthfulness and the reality of my aging, turn my face to the brilliant colours of October trees. Open my spirit to the mellow resonance of autumn sunsets. Brush your love past my heart with the beauty of golden leaves twirling from the autumn trees.
When I refuse to wait with the mystery of the unknown and when I struggle to control rather than to let life evolve, wrap me in the darkening days of November. Encourage me to enter into the stillness and silent mystery, to wait patiently for clarity and wisdom.
When I grow tired of using my gifts to benefit others, take me to the autumn fields where earth freely yields the bounty of her summer. Let me become aware of how she allows her lands to be stripped clean so her fruitfulness will be a source of nourishment.
When I resist efforts to warm a relationship that has grown stale by my chilly indifference or resistance, let me feel the first hard freeze of autumn’s breath and the death that this coldness brings to greening things.
When I neglect to care for myself and become totally absorbed in life’s activities, let me see how animals gather sustenance and provide for their winter. Take me inside the caves of those who hibernate and remind me of my contemplative nature.
When I fight unwanted and unsought changes and when I seek to keep things just as they are, place me on the wings of birds flying south for another season. Gather their spirit of freedom into my heart. Let me be willing to leave my well satisfied place of comfort for the discomfort of a long flight into the unknown.
Thank you, God of transformation, for all these lessons that the autumned earth teaches me.
AMEN [Joyce Rupp]
SUNDAY – Luke 16.1-13
This Sunday's scripture text is the troubling one about the "Crafty Steward" and Jesus' apparent affirmation of his management style which provides some security for his future. The text is Luke 16:1-13, one of Jesus parables told in the context of other parables of forgiveness and searching for the lost sheep, coin, son. The first stories are told to the sinners and tax collectors, as well as the Pharisees and scribes. But this story is told to Jesus disciples.
I trust that God will speak some words of wisdom into our re-storied imaginations and that there will be a blessing for all of us to take home with us.
FOR REFLECTION:
The children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of the light.
- Was the unjust steward dishonest or just clever? How would the kingdom of God benefit if you were more resourceful on its behalf here on earth? Can you think of a way you can be more resourceful or more clever in your spiritual life?
- Several years ago in his morning homily Pope Francis spoke on the parable of the crafty steward. What would you use the grace of Christian cleverness for if you received it? If you ask for it, will you receive it?
“The Holy Father said, there is another road. It is the path of “Christian cleverness.” This path, he said, “allows us to be cunning but not according to the spirit of the world. Jesus himself said it: be wise as serpents, innocent as doves.” Uniting these two realities is a grace and a gift of the Holy Spirit, the Pope said. “This Christian cleverness is a gift; it is a grace that the Lord gives to us. But we need to ask for it.”
Morning Meditation in the Chapel of the
Domus Sanctae Marthae
Anne Osdieck