I went out into my backyard last night hoping to see the northern lights. I didn't, but I did see the crescent moon and the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). I sat for about half an hour gazing at them & the other stars that I could see. It was a pocket of quiet after a busy day, and precisely because it didn't have the drama of the aurora, it was a Mary moment rather than a Martha moment of checking off something to see. I could see it that way because of your meditation. Thank you.
how lovely to imagine you sitting in your back yard, dear Donna, enveloped in a moment of quiet. I wonder if our Martha does not have a good reputation because we so often stress her out. Pondering both I try to now perceive each role in a more positive light, both needed parts of radical hospitality with others, the Divine and our selves. May be our interior Martha's are in need of healing and Mary's peaceful approach might offer it? How ever it is I love to picture you gazing at the stars right where you are :-)
Thank you, dear Almut & Chuck, for this invitation to stop and ponder, to find the pockets of quiet in our busy lives. It's too easy to rush from one thing to another, which means tobstay on the surface, when what we (I) need is to turn aside, sit down on a bench, and look at the quiet courtyard opening to me.
The reminder that a pocket of quiet can be waiting anywhere is a balm for my soul. Thank you Almut for this beautiful piece. I appreciate how you draw Mary and Martha towards us with the reminder there is a place for both of them here. Like you, I was raised with a Martha mentality while my soul longs for more Mary. As I move through my life I am doing the work to retrain myself to embrace less doing/serving and more being.
Donna, thank you for your lovely words. So nice to meet you here. May be it is especially us "helpers" who need to remind themselves for those pockets of quiet and to allow ourselves to just listen. I am eager to read your writings :-)
Thank you for this reflection! I love that you had this in the city. I feel like the thought of being able to find the quiet anywhere we are is an important idea to remember. Remembering the wounds and thinking of them as part of the journey, love this also! The words of grace for ourselves in that are huge, for helping us to see how God is present in all situations. Thank you!
Ha! It is you. How wonderful. So glad to have you with us, Jennie. We would like to continue our English speaking retreats in Berlin. We miss Berlin and we were happy to spend some time here again. Now we will leave to Bavaria for a book tour. Many greetings to you. So nice to have you on substack!
How cool to be on a book tour! Is that a book that you wrote or Chuck? Is there a way to purchase it here in Germany? Our e.V. is doing some publishing. We recently published a book by a new Ukrainian author, Iryna Kapitonova, Tulips and Ashes(a diary of the first year of the most recent conflict with Russia).
we do bought the Ukrainian book when we met at the gallery with Michael and Elissa :-) Our book is "Taking Moral Action." It is indeed on Amazon. We will introduce it here at The Cloister very soon. It is more a textbook, with footnotes and all. But still quite readable :-) Thank you of your interest. We would love to connect more with your work in Berlin!
"A pocket of quiet" is what I'm hoping for this week!I hope your time in Berlin is restorative. Cities aren't always quiet per se, but there is an opportunity for contemplation amongst the white noise if hustle and hustle.
right, dear friend. Cities remind me of how much quiet I need :-) And yes, I was thinking of you meditating those pockets of quiet! Hope you have one nearby, too 😇
Thank you for sharing the poem. It really spoke to me today as I recover from a surgery. It has been a year of so many medical issues for myself and my family, so I am think about the old bullet holes (scars) we rush by and never ask why. In illness, and in the living of life after war or other trauma, I think we need both Mary and Martha in our lives, and we also learn we need to be both if we are best love our loved ones. They need our wisdom and our hospitality.
Sally, thank you for sharing your life with us. I send you a whole multitude of well wishes into your recovery journey. May you find solitude and care and renewed life in-midts of it.
Loved the offering, Almut. Of course, we stand not only in Mary's and Martha's shoes, but others as well. We are called to stand in many places, hopefully steered by discernment with the Holy One within. Mary didn't always sit at the feet. If life were only that simple, I wouldn't like it at all. Sometimes the balance is off. Why else would stability be a dearly held principle. Sometimes I see myself tipping over the edge and bring myself back. I tip less with age and see it more quickly to use my spiritual muscle that returns me to God.
Mary, I can envision the "little teapot" tipping over and pouring out...and with age, perhaps a small crack in the teapot too! I agree - I find that when I pause and invite God to join me in my day that there is a vast difference in how I experience and respond to the moments of the day.
Thanks for this, Mary. You leave it open for more roles than just two. There are many more, so many that we cannot inhabit them all. And so stability is balance, not immovability.
You are so right, dear Mary . Our wisdom work is not only done in sitting. Most for me is done walking 😇. And the monastics teach us to sanctify each and every work. I love that idea. I guess it is the Mary and Martha integration playing with all the other voices in symphony.
"We rush past the old bullet holes in buildings, never asking why."
I've been pondering the impact shallow thinking has on our faith. Thank you for gently inviting us to think deeply and grow in faith- not only in our "religious" faith, but faith in humanity too.
Katie, your comment made me pause because I also read this in today's meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation, "Sin is to stay on the surface of even holy things, like the Bible, sacraments, or church." I will hang your words, "faith in humanity" on a light post and let them shine for me. Such a beautiful reminder... Almut, your insights give us readers much to hold on to and ponder. Chuck, thank you for your most beautiful blessing.
Thank you, Katie. I love that you make a connection with the faith in humanity. I love this idea that what religious tradition should do is to help us to connect deeper to our humanity. 🙏
I loved this because I have a tendency to resent the one at times (Martha's work) and feel guilt when participating in the other (Mary's work). I often think about Christ's work as a carpenter and Paul's work as a tentmaker and remind myself that both types of work are needed.
Mending his nets, Paul may have experienced what many a knitter, sewer, or other crafter knows - a meditative state that calms the mind and accesses the soul.
Susan, thanks for this pointer to everyday practice of the presence of god. Carmen Burcher has a luminescent translation of Brother Lawrence’s little book by that name.
❤️
I went out into my backyard last night hoping to see the northern lights. I didn't, but I did see the crescent moon and the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). I sat for about half an hour gazing at them & the other stars that I could see. It was a pocket of quiet after a busy day, and precisely because it didn't have the drama of the aurora, it was a Mary moment rather than a Martha moment of checking off something to see. I could see it that way because of your meditation. Thank you.
how lovely to imagine you sitting in your back yard, dear Donna, enveloped in a moment of quiet. I wonder if our Martha does not have a good reputation because we so often stress her out. Pondering both I try to now perceive each role in a more positive light, both needed parts of radical hospitality with others, the Divine and our selves. May be our interior Martha's are in need of healing and Mary's peaceful approach might offer it? How ever it is I love to picture you gazing at the stars right where you are :-)
Thank you, dear Almut & Chuck, for this invitation to stop and ponder, to find the pockets of quiet in our busy lives. It's too easy to rush from one thing to another, which means tobstay on the surface, when what we (I) need is to turn aside, sit down on a bench, and look at the quiet courtyard opening to me.
what a beautiful picture, dear Donna. If our writing could do that, to invite you into that quiet court yard, my heart rejoices. Blessings to you.
The reminder that a pocket of quiet can be waiting anywhere is a balm for my soul. Thank you Almut for this beautiful piece. I appreciate how you draw Mary and Martha towards us with the reminder there is a place for both of them here. Like you, I was raised with a Martha mentality while my soul longs for more Mary. As I move through my life I am doing the work to retrain myself to embrace less doing/serving and more being.
Donna, thank you for your lovely words. So nice to meet you here. May be it is especially us "helpers" who need to remind themselves for those pockets of quiet and to allow ourselves to just listen. I am eager to read your writings :-)
Thank you for this reflection! I love that you had this in the city. I feel like the thought of being able to find the quiet anywhere we are is an important idea to remember. Remembering the wounds and thinking of them as part of the journey, love this also! The words of grace for ourselves in that are huge, for helping us to see how God is present in all situations. Thank you!
lovely words, Jennie, thank you. I am curious, which big city are you living in? Blessings always.
I am in Berlin😁Last year I joined your mini retreat that you lead at Stadtkloster Segen.
Ha! It is you. How wonderful. So glad to have you with us, Jennie. We would like to continue our English speaking retreats in Berlin. We miss Berlin and we were happy to spend some time here again. Now we will leave to Bavaria for a book tour. Many greetings to you. So nice to have you on substack!
How cool to be on a book tour! Is that a book that you wrote or Chuck? Is there a way to purchase it here in Germany? Our e.V. is doing some publishing. We recently published a book by a new Ukrainian author, Iryna Kapitonova, Tulips and Ashes(a diary of the first year of the most recent conflict with Russia).
we do bought the Ukrainian book when we met at the gallery with Michael and Elissa :-) Our book is "Taking Moral Action." It is indeed on Amazon. We will introduce it here at The Cloister very soon. It is more a textbook, with footnotes and all. But still quite readable :-) Thank you of your interest. We would love to connect more with your work in Berlin!
"A pocket of quiet" is what I'm hoping for this week!I hope your time in Berlin is restorative. Cities aren't always quiet per se, but there is an opportunity for contemplation amongst the white noise if hustle and hustle.
right, dear friend. Cities remind me of how much quiet I need :-) And yes, I was thinking of you meditating those pockets of quiet! Hope you have one nearby, too 😇
Thank you for sharing the poem. It really spoke to me today as I recover from a surgery. It has been a year of so many medical issues for myself and my family, so I am think about the old bullet holes (scars) we rush by and never ask why. In illness, and in the living of life after war or other trauma, I think we need both Mary and Martha in our lives, and we also learn we need to be both if we are best love our loved ones. They need our wisdom and our hospitality.
Sally, thank you for sharing your life with us. I send you a whole multitude of well wishes into your recovery journey. May you find solitude and care and renewed life in-midts of it.
I love it that bells ring on Ascension. Do they ring every day or do they actually acknowledge Ascension?
It is interesting enough a holiday here in the state of Berlin and Brandenburg. So yes, the bells rang for early services.
Your words touch me greatly. Thank you for both your questions and your wisdom.
My grandmothers were named Mary and Martha and were perfectly named. I learned the need for both.
Linda, what a gift to have models of both Mary and Martha in your grandmothers.
I love the name of your grandmothers , Linda 😇
Loved the offering, Almut. Of course, we stand not only in Mary's and Martha's shoes, but others as well. We are called to stand in many places, hopefully steered by discernment with the Holy One within. Mary didn't always sit at the feet. If life were only that simple, I wouldn't like it at all. Sometimes the balance is off. Why else would stability be a dearly held principle. Sometimes I see myself tipping over the edge and bring myself back. I tip less with age and see it more quickly to use my spiritual muscle that returns me to God.
Mary, I can envision the "little teapot" tipping over and pouring out...and with age, perhaps a small crack in the teapot too! I agree - I find that when I pause and invite God to join me in my day that there is a vast difference in how I experience and respond to the moments of the day.
Thanks for this, Mary. You leave it open for more roles than just two. There are many more, so many that we cannot inhabit them all. And so stability is balance, not immovability.
You are so right, dear Mary . Our wisdom work is not only done in sitting. Most for me is done walking 😇. And the monastics teach us to sanctify each and every work. I love that idea. I guess it is the Mary and Martha integration playing with all the other voices in symphony.
"We rush past the old bullet holes in buildings, never asking why."
I've been pondering the impact shallow thinking has on our faith. Thank you for gently inviting us to think deeply and grow in faith- not only in our "religious" faith, but faith in humanity too.
Katie, your comment made me pause because I also read this in today's meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation, "Sin is to stay on the surface of even holy things, like the Bible, sacraments, or church." I will hang your words, "faith in humanity" on a light post and let them shine for me. Such a beautiful reminder... Almut, your insights give us readers much to hold on to and ponder. Chuck, thank you for your most beautiful blessing.
🙏
Thank you for sharing this Valerie. I love Rohr's work and all of the good folks at CAC. I will ponder their statement about sin, it seems to be true.
Thank you, Katie. I love that you make a connection with the faith in humanity. I love this idea that what religious tradition should do is to help us to connect deeper to our humanity. 🙏
Thanks, Katie. I think proper religious faith IS faith in humanity. A complex one that begins with compassion.
Amen, and your blessing was beautiful.
I loved this because I have a tendency to resent the one at times (Martha's work) and feel guilt when participating in the other (Mary's work). I often think about Christ's work as a carpenter and Paul's work as a tentmaker and remind myself that both types of work are needed.
Linda, I do wonder how Paul saw tentmaking. He must have had opinions about it. But we don’t ever see this craftsperson side of him.
Mending his nets, Paul may have experienced what many a knitter, sewer, or other crafter knows - a meditative state that calms the mind and accesses the soul.
Susan, thanks for this pointer to everyday practice of the presence of god. Carmen Burcher has a luminescent translation of Brother Lawrence’s little book by that name.
I've wondered too. We don't get to peek into that side of him or Jesus. But we do hear about fishermen.