The Richard Rohr Meditation: "Gender and Sexuality: Week 2 Summary" The Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Saturday, 28 April 2018
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation
"Summary: Week Seventeen: "Gender and Sexuality"
April 22 - April 27, 2018
Gender seems to be a very deep archetype in the psyche. As long as we read reality in a non-contemplative, dualistic way, any gender identity that doesn’t follow our binary “norm” will invariably be challenging and usually resisted. (Sunday)Even as we acknowledge the sacredness of gender and sex, we also need to realize that there’s something deeper than our gender, anatomy, or physical passion: our ontological self, who we are forever in Christ. (Monday)
Mary Magdalene can help us cut through two millennia of doctrine and dogma to Jesus’ teaching. We find here relational health, an astonishing vision of love as a transformational path, and profoundly empowering models of women and men working together in spiritual leadership roles. (Cynthia Bourgeault) (Tuesday)
If Jesus shows us what the completed human being looks like in male form, Mary Magdalene models it for us in its female version; together they become the Christosophia, the androgynous archetype of human wholeness. (Cynthia Bourgeault) (Wednesday)
The Franciscan lightness of heart comes from contact with deep feminine intuition and with consciousness itself; the firmness of foot emerges when that feminine principle integrates with the mature masculine soul and moves forward with confidence into the outer world. (Thursday)
Love turns passion into transformative power. (Ilia Delio) (Friday)
"Practice: Falling into Love"
Let us rejoice, beloved,
And let us go forth to behold ourselves in your beauty,
To the mountain and to the hill,
To where the pure water flows,
And further, deep into the thicket.
And then we will go on
To the high caverns in the rock
Which are so well concealed; . . .
There you will show me
What my soul has been seeking,
And then you will give me,
You, my life, will give me there
What you gave me on that other day. (St. John of the Cross [1])
In his prologue to The Spiritual Canticle, John of the Cross (1542-1591) writes, “it would be foolishness to think that the language of love . . . can be at all explained in words of any kind.” Words fail to describe human and divine intimacy, and yet all mystics, poets, and wisdom teachers use words to point to the ineffable.
To take this week’s reflections on gender and sexuality further, beyond the rational level, I invite you to listen to a guided meditation with CAC core faculty member James Finley. As he explores the mystical realm of union, listen with your heart. Visualize the images. Notice what sensations arise in your body. What experiences of love from your own life come to mind? Reflect on moments of love you may have skimmed over quickly at the time. Allow this teaching to guide you deeper into the love that is always present but sometimes unnoticed. You may want to journal about this and see what your own experience has to teach you about love.
[1] John of the Cross, “Stanzas between the Soul and the Bridegroom,” (36-38) in The Spiritual Canticle. See John of the Cross: Selected Writings, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh (Paulist Press: 1987), 226-227.
From James Finley, Intimacy: The Divine Ambush, disc 6 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2013), CD, MP3 download.
For Further Study:
Cynthia Bourgeault and Richard Rohr, God As Us (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2011), DVD, CD, MP3 download
Ilia Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love (Orbis Books: 2013)
James Finley and Richard Rohr, Intimacy: The Divine Ambush (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2013), CD, MP3 download.
Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014)
Image credit: Study of a Boy Turning His Head (detail), Jacopo Pontormo, c. 1529, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
***
Thank you for being part of CAC’s contemplative community. You are one of 314,167 readers worldwide (as of April 2018). News from the CAC
A Gift for You to Share
Thank you for making our contemplative community part of your life! More than 285,000 people around the world join us every day to awaken a more loving world. What a powerful force of compassion we can be!
Do you know someone you’d like to introduce to Richard Rohr or who is seeking freedom from negative thoughts and unhealthy attachments? Invite a friend to listen to one of Fr. Richard’s classic, introductory talks, “Emotional Sobriety,” by sharing this link: cac.org/free-emotional-sobriety-gift. If you haven’t heard this teaching yet, you can enjoy it too—our gift to you!
"Image and Likeness"
2018 Daily Meditations Theme
God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)
Richard Rohr explores places in which God’s presence has often been ignored or assumed absent. God’s “image” is our inherent identity in and union with God, an eternal essence that cannot be destroyed. “Likeness” is our personal embodiment of that inner divine image that we have the freedom to develop—or not—throughout our lives. Though we differ in likeness, the imago Dei persists and shines through all created things.
Over the course of this year’s Daily Meditations, discover opportunities to incarnate love in your unique context by unveiling the Image and Likeness of God in all that you see and do.
Each week builds on previous topics, but you can join at any time! Click the video to learn more about the theme and to find meditations you may have missed.
We hope that reading these messages is a contemplative, spiritual practice for you. Learn about contemplative prayer and other forms of meditation. For frequently asked questions—such as what versions of the Bible Father Richard recommends or how to ensure you receive every meditation—please see our email FAQ.
Feel free to share meditations on social media. Go to CAC’s Facebook page or Twitter feed and find today’s post. Or use the “Forward” button above to send via email.Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations are made possible through the generosity of CAC's donors. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
If you would like to change how often you receive emails from CAC, click here. If you would like to change your email address, click here. Visit our Email Subscription FAQ page for more information.
Inspiration for this week's banner image: If Jesus shows us what the completed human being looks like in male form, Mary Magdalene models it for us in its female version; together they become the Christosophia, the androgynous archetype of human wholeness. (Cynthia Bourgeault)
© 2018 | Center for Action and Contemplation
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
***
No comments:
Post a Comment