Author: mrgsponderings

Gifts of Love

*Mother providing. An Icon of God’s provision.*
*Photo by Henk Vandorp*

A Harvest Thought.

In his book, Letters from the Desert, The Little Brother of Jesus, Carlo Carretto tells of a journey in the Sahara that he made soon after becoming a monk.
He arrived at a place just as the sun was setting and the temperature plummeted. It is a fact that the Sahara is known as a ‘cold country where it is very hot in the sun’. Because of this he carried two blankets. In a village he noticed an old man shivering with cold.
Carlo thought that he should give the old man one of his blankets but he thought of the night ahead and the cold that was descending. He knew that he really ought to have given the old man a blanket but when he drove off in his jeep the blankets were still with him.
Eventually he made camp under a great rock that would give him shelter from the wind.
He wrapped himself in both his blankets and eventually he fell asleep.
And he had a dream. He dreamed that he was lying under the very rock he had camped under.
In the dream the rock moved and a great boulder fell on top of him. It did not kill him but he was no longer able to move his body. He opened his eyes and saw the old man shivering before him. Now, he didn’t hesitate, The blanket was no longer any use to him so he tried to stretch out his hand to offer the blanket but the stone made even the smallest movement impossible. The blanket mocked him and reminded him of his lack of charity.
He wondered how long he might have to remain under the rock and God then spoke to his heart: Until you are capable of an act of perfect love.

In an inverted sort of way this story is about God’s Providence. God provided warmth and protection for the shivering old man but it was denied him by the selfishness of Carlo Carretto.
It isn’t that God hasn’t provided for the needs of the world – the planet teems with everything we need to sustain life and he expects us to share its goodness equally with all.
It’s just that some have more and want even more and so deny Providence to those in need.

In Judaism an essential part of the Covenant was to provide for the poor through the principle of Justice-as-Charity. Prayer to God must be accompanied by how we act responsibly in the world. Creation is the gift we must ensure is enjoyed by all for, as Jonathan Sacks, the late Chief Rabbi, put it in his book To Heal a Fractured World:

God created the world so that others could enjoy it. Goodness is not an attribute of the soul but a way of acting and creating: creating happiness for other people, mitigating their distress, removing even a fraction of the world’s pain. we worship God spiritually by helping his creation physically.

St Ambrose takes this a little further when he says
When you give to the poor it is not from your own wealth; it is a fragment of their property you are returning to them, for it is common property given for all to use that you are keeping for yourself.

An essential part of God’s Providence is ourselves. He has provided us with the ability to help each other.
In a Christian society, as in the Jewish one of our Lord’s time, it is the mutual care we have of each other which makes a real difference to people’s lives. That needs to include those of all faiths if it is to have a Universal application.

Jonathan Sacks says that charity to others is a form of prayer – a preliminary to prayer. It is only when we act with justice and compassion, when we recognize his (God’s) image in other people and hear the silent cry of those in need that we shall really understand that we are part of God’s Providence – and for that be truly thankful.

*Courtesy of National Geographic, copyright*

Equinox

Photo by Mr G of the Gaia Globe exhibited at Chelmsford Cathedral.

AUTUMN EQUINOX

Today, September 23^rd, is the Autumn Equinox in the Norther Hemisphere. It’s the Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere

According to my sources, mainly the British Met. Office, the Equinox defines the transition between the seasons of the astronomical calendar. It is a key part of the earth’s orbit around the Sun. There are two each year – Autumn and Spring.

It occurs when the Sun crosses the path of the equator and is poised exactly between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
During equinox, day and night are about the same length (12 hours each).
The word Equinox means this. It is made up of two Latin words – ‘Equi’ meaning equal and ‘nox’ meaning night.
From today, in the Northern Hemisphere the darkness of night becomes longer as winter approaches.

This balance and interaction of darkness and light affects our daily life but it also affects our spiritual and physical life. Physically many animals slow down or hibernate. Our daily life is affected by darkness. Nature goes into sleep mode. Shortly the trees will drop their leaves and the buds of next year’s foliage and plants will be dormant. Physically we may become more lethargic and as the weather becomes colder, staying indoors is more welcome. Though we follow our daily life, our bodies would love to hibernate. That is a generalization, but spiritually we become more aware of nature, of the creative change of the world around us. At the beginning of this cycle, we often celebrate Harvest and we give thanks for God’s goodness towards us in the provision of food. For our ancestors the curing and storing of food was vital to carry them through the harsh winter months. This thought can remind us of those without food and who are coping with disaster in places such as Morocco coping with its earthquake; Libya with the floods; Ukraine with the evil of the Russian invasion. These are but three of the needs we need to pray about and act upon. In the United Kingdom, poverty, financial hardship, and the need for Food Banks, remind us of our duty to those in need. We should add to that the plight of the world’s nomads, forced to flee their countries because of violence, imprisonment and the inhumanity meted out to them on a vast scale.
It is at a time of Equinox that we are invited to pray and act for a better world. A world where all are equal and a remembrance that every one of us owes our existence to our Planet Earth, which sustains us, and to our Creator God. All has been planned to be held in a creative tension which ultimately is not about who gains what territory and power, but to a finely balanced Universe over which we have no control or power; except, of course, the power of destruction in which we are all engaged at present. We do and should have gratitude as the world turns and our life is altered for a time and a season. Thankfulness should be at the heart of everything we are and do.
A thankfulness which must embrace everyone who are tenants of the earth.

EQUINOX

Sun poised over equator
heralds the day of equal light;
equal darkness.

Earth catches her breath
in a moment of cosmic stillness,
bringing to mind the delicate balance
of solar existence,
of which we are but a small part.

Seasons turn in an astronomical process
in which our human participation is not required.
We are the result of a divine plan,
of an eternal equality over which we have no control.
This global moment is our reminder that
in our vast, unfathomable universe
we are of little significance.

Yet, in the heart of our Creator God,
we are loved and held
because of another Equinox,
not on the equator but on Calvary,
where darkness became light
and a new direction was shown to the world.
It is called Love.
Together, with all on earth
we are invited to embrace it.

[Mr G. 23^rd September 2023]

Prayer and the Little Fox

Photo: Lynn Hurry. Little fox kindly posing in Latton Vicarage garden

FOX DAY

Yesterday (September 17^th) was National Fox Day. Partly this is promoted by charities and others concerned that foxes and other wild animals are cruelly hunted and killed but there are also those who have concerns for the provision of our wildlife generally. One of the groups keen to promote the well-being of animals is the Woodland Trust and it is worth following them and even supporting their work.

Of course, my friend Lynn Hurry is a great champion of wildlife, especially locally in her garden and especially foxes. Photos of Foxes and their cubs are often on my blog and other postings.

Lynn alerted me yesterday to Fox Day and as I browsed the web I found a delightful story about the Fox, prayer and God. It isn’t a story original to me. I came across it on a site of the Evergreen Community in Spokane Valley, USA.

The Tale of the Prayer and the Little Fox

In Egypt, in their ancient Christian past there had once lived a monk who befriended an uneducated and simple peasant farmer. One day this peasant said to the monk, I respect God too, who created this world! Every evening I pour out a bowl of goat’s milk and leave it under a palm tree. In the evening God comes, and drinks up the milk; He’s very fond of it. There’s never once been a time when even a drop of milk is left in the bowl.

Hearing the words, the monk smiled, and kindly told his friend God does not need the bowl of milk. The peasant insisted he was right; and the monk suggested an overnight watch secretly watching to see what happens to the bowl of goat’s milk.

When night fell they hide and secretly watched from a distance. And soon in the moon light; a little fox crept up to the bowl and lapped up the milk. The peasant sighed disappointedly, and said “I can see it’s not God.” The monk explained to him God is a Spirit; and tried to comfort him; telling him every one comprehends God’s presence in their own unique way. The peasant wept and went home to his hovel. The monk also went back to his cell, and when he got there his path was blocked; he was amazed to see his cell blocked by an angel. Utterly terrified he fell to his knees, and the angel said to him with what wisdom, and education you had: you took away what wisdom the peasant had.

But there’s one thing that you don’t know; learned O man; God seeing the sincerity and true heart of this good peasant; every night sent the little fox to that palm tree to comfort him and accept his sacrifice.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:36

The Cross of Christ upon us

The Cross marking the sacred spot where St. Cuthbert prayed.
The small island is known as Cuddy’s Isle. As with Holy Island/Lindisfarne itself,
it becomes an Island cut off by the tide, twice a day.

HOLY CROSS 2023

One of the prayers of Taize sets the scene for Holy Cross Day which many Christians 0bserve on September 14^th:

Through the repentance of our hearts,

And the spirit of simplicity of the beatitudes,

You clothe us with forgiveness, as with a garment.

Enable us to welcome the realities of the Gospel

With a childlike heart,

And to discover your will,

Which is love and nothing else.

Here we are brought to the heart of the Cross’s message – the Victory of love – and not only sin and death are defeated by love but also those other things which afflict our lives and drag us down.
The Irish have a saying – “The Cross of Christ upon us” which means that it is an immediate presence in our lives – a power on which we can call in any time of need or uncertainty.So, a tenth century prayer speaks of :

Christ’s Cross over this face, and thus over my ear. Christ’s cross over these eyes…this mouth. .this side – to accompany me… Christ’s Cross to meet every difficulty.

The Cross becomes a protection – the Saving Sign which they would trace in every danger – usually quietly behind their back. The recognition here is that when our human frailty brings insecurity our security rests in Christ and in the certainty that through His Cross, he has done what we say at every Baptism as we trace the Cross on the forehead:
Christ claims you for his own.
Receive the sign of his Cross
After which we tell the one being baptised to never be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ Crucified, to fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the devil and remain faithful to Christ to the end of their life.
But not in their own strength alone. We follow this immediately with a blessing:

May almighty God deliver you from the powers of darkness,
Restore in you the image of his glory,
And lead you in the light and obedience of Christ.

The tracing of the Cross both then and whenever we invoke it is not a magic talisman, nor an empty gesture or a pious practice, but a bringing to our aid the full power of Christ Himself.
To pilgrim in the Cross is to walk in Christ’s Name and to confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father, to quote the letter of St Paul to the Philippians.
That’s what has driven people to proclaim the victory of the Cross with a certainty that it both symbolizes and makes present Christ’s power of love which converted lives and which, if we believe it, will go on doing so.

[Mr.G]