Everyday Spirituality by Barbara De Angelis

Everyday Spirituality by Barbara De Angelis: "In our search for self-knowledge and spiritual truth, many of us are, I believe, looking in the wrong direction. We have separated the spiritual from everyday living, and thus separated ourselves from experiencing everyday spirituality. The spiritual has become associated with Sunday church services, or the Sabbath, or yoga and meditation, or a trip to India, or a tour of a famous European cathedral.

We think praying is more spiritual than riding a bicycle, reading religious literature more holy than making love. We are living secularized lives and yet wondering why life often feels so meaningless and devoid of purpose. The search for real moments and everyday spirituality must begin with a return to and embracing of the human.

Everyday spirituality is not an escape from your usual life in search of some special, exalted experience, but a surrender into the fullness of every experience.

It is not a path that leads you away from the human to the spiritual, from the Earth to Heaven, but rather one that leads you back into the ordinary and everyday, and invites you to find the spiritual within it. It begins and ends where you already are, right here, right now. There's nothing else to look for, nothing else to acquire. You already have everything you need.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.' Ram Dass"

Sacred Space -

The Presence of God

To be present is to arrive as one is and open up to the other.
At this instant, as I arrive here, God is present waiting for me.
God always arrives before me, desiring to connect with me
even more than my most intimate friend.
I take a moment and greet my loving God.

Consciousness

I exist in a web of relationships - links to nature, people, God.
I trace out these links, giving thanks for the life that flows through them.
Some links are twisted or broken: I may feel regret, anger, disappointment.
I pray for the gift of acceptance and forgiveness.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Psalm 110 (111):1-6

Praise the LORD!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.
Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.
He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the LORD is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the heritage of the nations.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some thoughts on today's scripture:

Who is this remarkable God who has evoked such wonder and love in the people throughout the ages?
Majestic and glorious.
Tender and compassionate.
Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. When I was a child I could be lost in wonder at a leaf, a worm, the smell of earth. Then I could truly delight in the study of God's work. My eyes, my nose, my senses are blunter now; but Lord, let me not lose the capacity to marvel in gratitude at the world you gave us.

Martha & Mary

from Sacred Space -



Luke 10:38-42
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

Some thoughts on today's scripture:

Jesus repeats Martha's name with deep affection as he chides her. She will have remembered the message: Stop fussing. Because she learned the lesson, it is Martha, not Mary, who has a place in the calendar of saints (on 29th July). It is sometimes the things we are told in public reproof that touch us deepest and bring us close to God. Lord, save me from being a hyperactive fusspot, from imagining you brought me into the world to help you out of a jam. Teach me the pleasures of contemplation.