Week of May 22 Pts

Sunday-The Apollo 11 moon mission in 1969 delivered messages from the heads of state engraved on a silicon disk about the size of a fifty-cent piece. As the political head of the Vatican, Pope Paul VI sent along the text of Psalm 8. Psalm 8 is a stargazer psalm. Gazing at the night sky has a way of raising all the big questions:  I like the way Leslie F. Brandt paraphrases these verses in Psalms Now: "When I gaze into star-studded skies and attempt to comprehend the vast distances, contemplate in utter amazement my Creator's concern for me, I am dumbfounded that You should care personally about me." David Kupka Monday-Quote from Dag Hammarskjold, second Secretary-General of the United Nations, : "For all that has been, thank! For all that will be, yes!" Tuesday-"I love the way nature was a profound teacher and wisdom guide for [Thomas] Merton. He experienced all of creation as pointing the way toward our true selves, which is who we were created to be at heart by the divine creative force, and not who we imagine ourselves to be with all of our agendas, goals, and strivings. He saw the lakes, the sea, the mountains, trees and animals as saints because they are so intrinsically themselves. To be a saint means to be fully oneself. These elements of creation do not spin stories that take them away from their true nature." --- Christine Valters Paintner, PhD Wednesday-God Pause-Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling? Today Lady Wisdom comes in many forms and speaks through many different people. One of those through whom she speaks today is my primary care physician, Dr. Gabriel Weiss. Besides being a physician, he was also a musician who wrote and arranged music. In one of his pieces, he shares this bit of wisdom about a man who prayed:"Every day above ground is a very good day.Every day above ground gives me reason to say,Every day above ground: wipe the tears away..."See Prov. 8 Thursday-Ponder the rhythms of your life: times when you expand and step forward (God in Creation)... times when you're emptied and step back (Christ's emptying*)... and times when life becomes a dance back and forth (Holy Spirit)... I call this the "trinity of experience"--beyond theological doctrine, now as existential movements in you lived life. It's the Way of receiving live, dying to self-deceit, and giving back. And for me it's the only Way worth living. (Kent Ira Groff) Friday-"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity." --Simone Weil Saturday-Prov. 8:31-31 maintains that Wisdom delights in the human race. Indeed to find joy in others, not to seek to control the other nor expect the other to be like me, but to truly delight in the other, as other, that is wisdom.