Reflection:
The Grace of Presence
In this reflection we explore the grace of bringing a quality of presence to whatever we are doing in this moment, and in this way becoming channels for God's grace to flow into our world.
Opening music:
Listen to the following as an opening prayer.
Lyrics:
In this moment I welcome thee
Ever giving thyself to me
Reflection Talk:
Sacred Reading:
Read the following reading through twice or three times, with an attitude of open receptivity. Allow a few minutes of silence between the readings. Listen for any words that call out to you:
“Sometimes compassion compels us to confront, sometimes to cajole, sometimes to be silent and wait, sometimes to do or say what it would never occur to our egocentric self to do or say, for we can never say for certain in advance just how compassionate love may prompt us to act, to see, and accept within ourselves and others. Yet, in our willingness to recognize and go forth to identify with the preciousness of ourselves and others in our collective frailty, we discover our contemplative community in the intimate texture of our daily interactions with one another.”
~ James Finley
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean —
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
~ Mary Oliver
Quiet prayer
I invite you into a time of praying with your breath, using the guided prayer below.
End the time of prayer by listening to the following piece of music:
Lyrics:
Every breath is grace, every breath is grace
For Further Reflection:
Below are the quotes from the talk and some additional quotes for you to take this theme further.
Henri Nouwen: “If you live a life of watching and waiting, you will know what kind of call you have. You are not called to solve every problem in the world. Jesus was not called to go all over the world. He was called to be faithful to his own people. Every human being has a call. I work with mentally handicapped people. Sometimes I spend hours with one person, and we barely speak. Does that help people in Bosnia, does that help people in Northern Ireland, does it help people in Somalia? (In our time we would ask, does that help people in Gaza, in Sudan, in Ukraine?) I don't know, but I think it does. I think that when I am faithful to one person who is given to me, when I am convinced that's my vocation, then I am doing more than when I am anxiously trying to put out all the fires all over the world. And that gives me peace.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes:"Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good." from DO NOT LOSE HEART
Rainer Maria Rilke: “Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.” From LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET
Caroline Myss: “Grace is the breath of God, a divine force that moves through us, within us, and around us. Grace holds the potential to heal our souls, our minds, and our hearts, as well as the dynamics within relationships and other life circumstances. We are natural channels of grace. The monasteries that are dedicated to prayer for the world and the people in them are continual channels for grace in this world. These individuals know that while they are in that state of prayer, grace can flow through them and into the world at large.”
Ending prayer:
O Divine Lover of all of life,
We remember our human brothers and sisters around the world who right now feel alone, abandoned, forsaken and forgotten.
We carry them in our hearts and pray that the deep compassion we feel right now will stretch across time and space to touch them.
May we walk through this world, mindful of offering our presence and love to those we meet along the everyday paths of life.
May we not forget those who have become society's invisible people.
May we remember that none of us are separate from one another,
but let this become real in our lived human experience through our presence, love, and compassion.
Bring to our minds and hearts simple but profound ways of making a life-altering difference through our presence and humanity, as Jesus did.
In this way, make us channels through which grace can flow through us and into the world at large.
Amen
(Paraphrased from reflections by Jim Palmer)
Ending music:
Lyrics:
The heart of God has been revealed
The heart of God has been revealed
To bring love, not hate,
Pour out, not dominate,
The heart of God has been revealed
Hallelujah
The heart of God has been revealed
The heart of God has been revealed
To forgive, not blame,
To make whole, not shame,
The heart of God has been revealed
Hallelujah
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Sharon's book that was previously called "Contemplative Living" has been republished by AnamChara Books under the title "Deeper: Finding the Depth Dimension Beneath the Surface of Life". The Kindle version is available from Amazon, and the hard copy version can be ordered from loot.co.za or Takealot, or from your local bookshop through Ingram Distribution.