Spirituality for Beginners

Fr. Bede's almost-daily reflections. When it comes to the spiritual life, we're all beginners. I also send these out by email. Contact me at bcamera@anselm.edu. God bless!





Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Cat Wisdom

You walk into a room and the cat is snoozing on your favorite chair. You "shoo" the cat. It jumps down, stretches and looks around for another place to nap. It starts its next nap, quite content.
Simple. Practical. No drama. No recriminations. Nothing to hang on to. No Bitterness. No Vituperation. Etc.

Remember that the next time something doesn't go the way you want it to. It would be a better world if people were like cats (in some ways).

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Neglect of the inner life

This is worth some quiet time, reflecting and praying for guidance about what you might do for yourself.
 
Our culture suffers from a negation of the inner self, the god-self
We don't often witness that self in each other. It's important to know
who we are, who others are, where our tender spots are. These are not
mechanized needs, nor needs that can be met in front of computer
screens. When a primary need is ignored, it may express itself in
destructive ways: Our preoccupation with material. possessions is
unsettling. The violence on the part of young people must be, in part,
a call for attention to the soul. There are children I know who, after
school, instead of playing on the street or at the homes of friends,
park themselves in front of the computer and play games. Carl Jung
said, "The cat neglected becomes the unconscious tiger:' We're seeing
a number of neglected cats these days. When the need to attend
to the inner self isn't modeled as valuable, when art and the spiritual
life aren't integrated into the culture, the self may choose destructive
routes for attention, such as reckless displays of violence.    Veccione, Writing and the Spiritual Life, p. 15