Don't Pee on the Bee

More About Those Dishes

ISo I've just got to go back to the post about dirty dishes.  It was so ironic to come across that quote because I had a busy bee in my bonnet on Sunday and was clearing up piles and throwing things away, paying bills and getting organized, all while doing the laundry too!  I was just in that mode, and it really felt good!

I found Gunilla Norris' quote in the book Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach.  I've used quotes from her book many times.  And I just felt like I had to include a bit more about what she had written along with the quote.

Mother Ann Lee, who founded the United Society of Believers in the First and Second Appearance of Christ in 1774, instructed her followers to remember that order was heaven's first law.  "There is no dirt in heaven," she counseled her charges.  Members of the Shaker "Family" were to keep their personal belongings and tools in such perfect order that they could be found at a moment's notice, day or night.  To accomplish this, the Shakers elevated order to a sacred art:  just to gaze at the exquisite beauty and brilliance of Shaker built-in drawers and cupboards is to know that in the House of Spirit a sublime pine cubbyhole awaits with your name on it.  The Shakers believed that their daily work, including housekeeping, was a personal expression of worship.

Now believe me, I am not an avid housekeeper myself, and as much as I would love to see my housekeeping as some sort of worship, I'm not quite there--although maybe if I thought about it a bit more while contemplating at my sink, I might come up with some version of that that works for me!  But what I loved most about that paragraph was the phrase that "in the House of Spirit a sublime pine cubbyhole awaits with your name on it."  Something about that pine cubbyhole just got me!  Maybe it is the idea of just snuggling in and finding our place.  I'm not quite sure what it was, but I just found something really appealing about a clean little cubbyhole waiting for me. 

Mary's Grotto at Sacred Heart

Today I was thinking that I really ought to get you caught up on the Mary Cathexis trip through the Pt. Reyes Seashore.  But I think that some of my reticence in doing this is that I might not have any more Mary stories to tell once these are over.  But then I realized that things have been brewing at home too, so I guess I need to just trust and keep telling stories!

So to recap . . . Pine Cone Mary appears as does Our Lady of the Harbor, all within two blocks of each other in Pt. Reyes Station.  And I tell my husband the beginning of my "Mary thing" (as it was known then), and he becomes involved and amazed too.

On Saturday night after sitting out on the dock and reading the books and magazines that we had picked up at our favorite little book store, we got ready and headed to 5:00 Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Olema.  We pulled into the parking lot, and instead of turning to park where we have parked in the past, J.R. heads to the back of the parking lot.  Now, honestly, I am wondering what the heck the man is doing!  The last time we attended Mass there, there were 10 people tops there including the priest!  So there is always plenty of parking at Church!

But he pulled up to the back of the lot near some huge redwood trees and just pointed.  And I kid you not, there was a grotto to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Right there!  Right where it has been for years and years.  Right where we never saw it the other times that we went to Mass here.  I was completely blown away.  I just looked at J.R. and said, "See?"

And so, feeling a little lame, more like a tourist than a parishioner, I got out of the car with my camera.  Unfortunately the sun was beginning to set and so was shining right behind the grotto.  But still . . .

 

. . . you get the idea!

 

The inside was so intimate.  There were lots of candles, lots of flowers, and photos of loved ones.  It's amazing how spiritual and holy those things can make a place feel.  There was even a little bench inside and one outside under the trees.  I do believe that I will need to light a candle there one of these days.

Here's what the Sacred Heart website has to say about the grotto . . . Kind of funny.

Located at Southwest corner of the church property, the Grotto is open year-round.

It was hand built in one week in WHAT YEAR by WHO as a replica of the shrine near Mexico City dedicated to the Lady of Guadualupe.

The whole website is this way, kind of stream of consciousness when it comes to the questions.  But it was rather interesting.  If you have a minute and like history, you should read it. 

So where will she appear next?

 

Welcome to My Cathexis

The weekend was just lovely at our house.  Rainy, grey, gloomy outside.  But none of that mattered to us!  J.R. still works outside in the rain.  JJ forays out there once in awhile to check things out and then comes back in.  Sarah?  Well, it just depends on her mood that day.  She ended up snuggled under the covers with me, reading the afternoon away.  Yahoo!

I'm always surprised when I manage an afternoon in bed reading.  But I don't really know why. It's not really magic.  All I have to do is climb in, and everyone seems to get on with their lives.  Yes, I might need to get up once in awhile to help with a snack high on a shelf.  Or even--gasp!--change the TV channel.  But I still end up back snuggled under the covers with my book.  I think I might try try to do this a bit more often!  But the rainy weather definitely plays a key role.

I decided it was time to get back into Looking for Mary by Beverly Donofrio.  She also wrote Riding in Cars with Boyswhich was made into a movie with Drew Barrymore in 2001.  Anyway, Looking for Mary is her memoir, written as she hits her forties and suddenly begins collecting Virgin Mary memorabilia.  As her collection grows, so does her quest for spirituality and healing, and she ends up in the (controversial) town of Medjugorje where Mary allegedly has appeared and continues to appear.

(For those who are curious, Medjugorje is in Bosnia (once known as Yugoslavia).  Apparitions of the Virgin mary have been seen there by 6 young people since 1981.  According to Wikipedia, Medjugorje has become the third most important religious place in Europe with over 30 million visitors believed to have come since 1981.  The Catholic Church, however, has not yet legitimized this site.  People report seeing the sun spin there.)

Now I read this book several years ago.  In fact, when I went to reorder it on Amazon (since I had loaned it out, and it was never returned to me), Amazon "told" me that I had ordered this book in 2005 almost to the same day in March!  Kind of strange.  I had forgotten about Donofrio travelling to Medjugorje.  I have several books on the topic of that town and people's spiritual quests to this holy city, so I was pleasantly surprised to be pulled back there. 

Early in the book (page 21 to be exact), Donofrio has a dinner party at her house and invites a new neighbor who happens to be a psychiatrist.  Donofrio writes that that evening she overheard him say to another man, "So what do you think of Beverly's Mary cathexis?"  Now, of course, Donofrio waits until he leaves before she looks up the word in the dictionary.  (I love the fact that she looked it up in a real dictionary and not on dictionary.com!)  Cathexis means an investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea."  Eureka!  Donofrio gave me a word much better than "thing" (as in "I'm having a Mary thing right now!")  Although it does sound a bit psychological and ominous.  But I guess that's OK to a psych major.

So welcome to my cathexis.  Seems like you're on the journey with me.  There's more to come!

Pine Cone Mary

And the "Mary thing" continues . . .

As I mentioned before, when J.R. and I were blissfully alone for 48 hours and able to hold uninterrupted conversations, I started telling him about my "Mary thing."  That was when we turned the corner and saw Our Lady of the Harbor.  So he was hooked.

The next morning, we got up and ate at a restaurant we hadn't been to before called the Pine Cone Diner.  This diner has been in Pt. Reyes for something like 40 years.  Last year when we drove by it, there was no room in the parking lot, and the place was packed, so we were looking forward to trying it out this time through.

We pulled up, got out of the car and started walking up to the door.  I grabbed J.R.'s arm and said, "Look."

 

There she was, standing inside the flower box outside the front door.  (Her silver "halo" is really wire keeping her where she belongs!)  J.R. just shook his head.  When we walked inside, there were two more Madonna pictures on the wall, one  was surrounded by little red Christmas lights.  Now, mind you, the rest of the place was decorated with cows and barns and definitely looked like a diner from the 1950's! 

Please say "Hello" to Pine Cone Mary, neighbor to Our Lady of the Harbor.  Welcome to my "Mary thing!"

Hail Marys and Hallelujahs

 
In spite of the fact that I feel like I am losing my mind at the moment, I do know that today is Ash Wednesday.  And in all our crazy-making plans of this past week and upcoming weekend, I have made sure that we will be getting to Mass today.  It's the first time that the kids have gone to an Ash Wednesday service, so it will be interesting to see what they think.

Honestly, Easter is the hardest time of the liturgical year for me.  As much as I love Christmas and the joy of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, I just really have a hard time with Easter.  I really noticed this hitting after I became a mother.  I just can't imagine the agony for everyone during this time.  I spend much of Easter at Mass in tears as I look at my kids and think of Mary.

And I am on this huge "Mary thing" (for lack of a more eloquent way of saying it!) these days.  I've really been praying to her more as a mother, asking for guidance with my kids.  And my friend Jaki recently brought me back a beautiful little Mexican altar to Mary.  I love it.  It's so fantastically handmade and artsy-crafty in that authentic way.  And yesterday I sat at my computer and did a little retail therapy with Amazon and ordered a number of new books, all about Mary on some level. I'll let you know more about these when they get here.

And to show you how even kookier I am feeling, I also bought this beautiful crystal over the weekend.  In it I see the Madonna holding baby Jesus.  But sometimes when I look at it, it is the baby holding his mother.  It is so cool. 

Someone recently described 2011 to me as "the year of Hail Marys and Hallelujahs!"  There are going to be lots of highs (the hallelujahs) and lows (the Hail Marys).  I'm glad I've got her on my side.

The Power of Quiet

 
Photo courtesy of Sara Packard

To be everywhere is not be nowhere.    
~Seneca

Usually I don't say much in my Sunday posts, just a thought for you to reflect on.  But today I've got to add a little narrative.

My cousin-in-law, Janis, sent me an email the other day with a very interesting blog post from Conversion Diary, a blog by a woman who was an atheist and converted to Christianity.  The Secret of Discernment felt so timely.  How do we know when we are doing what we are supposed to be doing?  I'm wondering a lot about that lately, so this was a nice reminder that slowing down and being quiet are perfectly acceptable ways to be.  (I didn't 'fess up to this, but last weekend I went to my mom's house, alone, and although it was barely 36 hours, it was much-needed!  Unfortunately, I think I need it again!)

While at my mom's, a friend of hers had left me a copy of an article from The Tablet: The international Catholic weekly, published in the UK.  Unfortunately, there is no link available to the article, but it was a fabulous article written by Daniel O'Leary (a priest) entitled Everywhere and Nowhere.  In it, he so eloquently speaks about the need for quiet in order to connect ourselves with nature and with God.  He quotes Carl Jung, Eckhart Tolle, W.B Yeats and Thomas Merton as well as several interesting-sounding authors.  It is the diversity of his sources that makes this article applicable to anyone.  (It just kills me that I cannot easily hook any of you up with this.   If you are interested in reading it, let me know, and I'll get you a hard copy.)

In the article, he talks about breathing.  I'll quote him directly.

Breathing is the very experience of life, of being, of unity--and of God.  In his The Naked Now, Richard Rohr OFM explains that the name and nature of God can only be breathed.  The correct pronunciation of the Hebrew "Yahweh" is an attempt to replicate and imitate the very sound of inhalation and exhalation.  Notice what happens when you gently breathe in for "Yah" and out for "weh" a few times.  It brings a sense of peace.  It is the invisible life force that links all created beings.

The one thing we unknowingly do every moment of our lives is therefore to speak the unifying name of God.  This makes it our first and last word as we enter and leave the world. . . .

In our breathing we are part of a common body.  We are the human lungs of God.  And this experience is open to all and sundry.  It is the one precious connecting lifeline we all share.  It is our common bond.  There is no Islamic or Jewish way of breathing.  There is no religious or secular way of breathing.  As far as I know there is no special Roman Catholic way of breathing.  The winds that blow across the many playing fields of God are always utterly even.

 A few days later, as I was cruising some new blogs, I came across The Yoga of Writing, another interesting twist on slowing down and being reflective.

O'Leary ends his article with a quote from Thomas Merton:  "What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?"

Fierce Faith

There is a great column called "Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler" by Rabbi Rami Shapiro in Spirituality & Health magazine.  It's kind of like a Dear Abby for spirituality.  I really loved his response to a recent question.  I am going to share the entire thing because I think it is truly awesome.  You can check out his blog here.

I know a lot of "people of faith," but when I ask them about their faith, they always tell me what they believe.  Are faith and belief the same thing?

No, they're not.  Belief is about knowing; faith is about not-knowing.  Belief is about content:  I believe this, and I don't believe that.  Faith is an attitude toward reality, a trusting in what is unfolding without knowing just what that is.

The best faith is fierce: You know that you don't know; you know that you can't know; and yet you embrace the moment boldly, completely, and without hesitation.  Fierce faith is cultivated through equally fierce worship.  Such worship may be organized or improvised, ecstatic or contemplative.  One point that the different kinds of fierce worship have in common is that they do not shore up or confirm your beliefs; rather they strip you of belief and wrap you in a "cloud of unknowing."

Fierce faith opens body, heart and mind to a love unbounded by politics and social conditioning; a love that shatters tribalism without eliminating tribes; that burns away imposed differences and celebrates individuality; that consumes conformity, even as it reveals a greater nonduality.

There is nothing wrong with holding beliefs, just do so lightly.  But the deeper work is to release your grip on belief and surrender yourself to faith.

Fierce faith.  I love how that sounds.  To me, faith has always sounded like a "soft" word, "hearts and flowers" as JJ likes to say.  So I love this image of faith as fierce.  It ignites the mama lion in me!  It feels like positive energy flowing in the right direction.  To a cloud of unknowing?  I would like to relax into that cloud and not know it all (or think I do--Center of the Universe, anyone?)

Wishing you a beautiful day!  And love to all to those Dads who have fierce faith in us as Mamas!