Beautiful wise women,
I write to you on this Sunday morning while cozy inside a cute little studio that Dave and I have rented for the weekend. We are nestled in the forest and cozied up against the beach and it couldn’t feel better. Dave is sitting beside me reading the news and we are both sipping our morning coffee.
This weekend is a celebration of our courage and growth over the past year. One year ago we were spinning in the aftermath of my cancer diagnosis, gearing up for his pending hip surgery, and seeing a marriage counsellor. To say it was a dark time period in my life is an understatement. I cannot even begin to describe how amazed I am at the growth I (and we) have experienced and for the gratitude I am feeling for all that is here now in this moment!
And, now, on to our Friday Treasure Trove…
Holy Moly, will I ever stop saying how awe struck I am by you all?!? It never, EVER ceases to amaze me how divine grace weaves through our circle to open and connect our hearts and FLOW the energy! I know with certainty that this is GRACE in action…and the infinite and endless supply and flow of Love is nothing short of AMAZING!
Our inquiry into the mystery of Grace might have been my favourite circle to date! I felt the goosebumps of truth rippling through my body as each of you shared. I was especially moved at our collective willingness to see and hold the pain of humanity and to let Grace weep and envelop us in her warm embrace. I know I was not the only one weeping when Cathy placed her shawl around Glenda. 💞
Darlings, I am so grateful for our Autumn practice. Next week is our last circle for this session. Our dear host Michelle will be there to greet us, but then will be scooting off to her water nest in Victoria. Please join me in thanking her for letting us gather in her sacred space!!!
xo
Patti
WEAVING THREADS
I am continuously called to weave together the golden threads of wisdom from many different traditions. I hope you are as fascinated as I am by the weaving together of Christianity and Hinduism as we explore some touch points of teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Friar Richard Rohr…
Sri Ramana Maharshi (December 30, 1879 – 14 April 14, 1950)
Ramana Maharshi’s teachings reflect the viewpoint of advaita (not-two). This profound view of the nature of Reality removes the distinction between subject and object, seer and seen, one’s self and the world. As Maharshi points out, what we search for is always within our reach.
- “The Essential Teachings of Ramana Maharshi - A Visual Journey:
Grace is always present. You imagine it is somewhere which in the sky, far away, and has to descend. It is really inside you, in your Heart. Grace is the Self…You are never out of its operations.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Whether life appears to bring tears or laughter, it is all grace. Grace fills the world, but only a heart awakened to Love will taste its depths. In awakening we understand that grace is always present. There is a basic trust in life’s movement and its goodness. We realize that whatever is here in the moment is a gift, if we can receive it as such. Whatever is here expresses life’s wholeness and can be an invitation back to its Source. Awakening allows us to freely appreciate the gifts of impermanence and continual flow, no longer bound by the suffering that comes from perpetually wanting “more,” different, or unending experiences.”
Fr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fr. Richard’s teaching is grounded in the Franciscan alternative orthodoxy—practices of contemplation and self-emptying, expressing itself in radical compassion, particularly for the socially marginalized. (www.cac.org)
God is Eternally Giving Away God
by Friar Richard Rohr
It is by grace that you are saved, through faith, not by anything of your own, but by a pure gift from God, and not by anything you have achieved. Nobody can claim the credit. You are God’s work of art. —Ephesians 2:
By grace you notice, nothing to do with good deeds, or grace would not be grace at all. —Romans 11:6
Happy are those servants whom the master finds awake. I tell you he will put on an apron, sit them down at table, and wait on them. —Luke 12:37
“I think grace, arising from God’s limitless love, is the central theme of the entire Bible. It is the divine Unmerited Generosity that is everywhere available, totally given, usually undetected as such, and often even undesired. This grace was defined even in the old Baltimore Catechism as “that which confers on our souls a new life, that is, a sharing in the life of God himself [sic].” [1] We always knew it on paper, but much less in experience and conviction.
In the parable of the watchful servants (Luke 12:35-40), God is actually presented as waiting on us—in the middle of the night! In fact, we see God as both our personal servant inside our house and the divine burglar who has to “break through the walls of [our] house.” That’s really quite extraordinary and not our usual image of God. It shows how much God—the “Hound of Heaven,” as Francis Thompson says—wants to get to us and how unrelenting is the work of grace.
Unless and until you understand the biblical concept of God’s unmerited favor, God’s unaccountable love, most of the biblical text cannot be interpreted or tied together in any positive way. It is, without doubt, the key and the code to everything transformative in the Bible. People who have not experienced the radical character of grace will always misinterpret the meanings and major direction of the Bible. The Bible will become a burden, obligation, and weapon more than a gift.
Grace cannot be understood by any ledger of merits and demerits. It cannot be held to patterns of buying, losing, earning, achieving, or manipulating, which is where, unfortunately, most of us live our lives. Grace is, quite literally, “for the taking.” It is God eternally giving away God—for nothing—except the giving itself. I believe grace is the life energy that makes flowers bloom, animals lovingly raise their young, babies smile, and the planets remain in their orbits—for no good reason whatsoever—except love alone.
Gateway to Silence:
Open me to grace upon grace upon grace.
References:
[1] The New Baltimore Catechism of yesteryear; the more recent catechisms say essentially the same thing.
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Ladies, I truly feel that grace has led me to do the work I am doing and my heart is exploding with gratitude to each of you for showing up so willingly and eagerly and open-heartedly to share and grow together! 💫
Blessings,
Patti
