Hot, Hotter, Hottest!

It's still only June, but Corpus Christi, TX has broken its record high temperatures for the past three days. Both on Monday and Tuesday, high temperatures were 105 degrees F.! On Monday, that temperature was 6 degrees hotter than the former record high temperature set. Today was another record, though slightly cooler--101 degrees F.. . . . . Even our dogs do not want to be outside in this heat.

(The heat must be throughout the mid-center of the USA, because my husband just told me that it is forecast to be 101 degrees in Chicago tomorrow!)

About a month ago our mesquite trees were radically trimmed. They shaded our driveway, and so the heat seems more intense without their bountiful greenery. You may recall that a bird made its nest in one of them in the spring; look here and you can see how abundantly green mesquite trees usually are. When I was shocked to see the stunted trees, husband CB blithely told me that they would grow back.

And now we are starting to see some leaves sprouting on those bare branches. Shade will eventually return, though probably not for this summer season.

This reminds me of the scripture I used when I was Lay Director for an Emmaus Walk in July 2001:

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green;
In the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17: 7-8

I chose those verses because of the extreme Texas heat in the summer, when the Walk was scheduled. Those words remind me that we trust in God, despite what we see or experience. Like those bare mesquite branches pictured above, the future holds growth and renewal--all of which was occurring while I could not see it.

As I have written before, the absence of God is actually the presence of God. Reframing my interpretation of reality changes my outlook. Faith in growth/love/God brings me through the arid landscape to glimpses of greenery, which will continue to increase.

Literally, our mesquite trees are helped by our watering them and their familiar habitat of south Texas--and of course, the bright Texas sunshine! I am grateful for this and even more, for our air conditioning in our home!

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And at RevGalPrayer Pals: A Place for Prayer today:

"Above all, trust in the slow work of God.  We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.  We would like to skip the intermediate stages.  We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.  And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability - and that it may take a very long time.  Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser."

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Mind the Gap!

Today in our lectio divina group, someone talked of the advice her swami gave her awhile back--When obsessing about bad events, memories, or whatever, visualize them as different cars of a train. Then notice the GAPS between the cars--those are the spaces that were NOT bad. So there is happiness (or at least not unhappiness) amidst crises.

This reminds me of what I have been reading about Teilhard in Towards a New Mysticism: Teilhard de Chardin and Eastern Religions by Ursula King. (This is an out-of-print book, but reasonably priced used copies are available.):

Teilhard's time as a stretcher-bearer in the front-lines of WWI was his choice so as not to "enjoy the relative privileges of an army chaplain" (27) . "The immensity of the war, the daily life at the Front, and face to face encounters with death provided a catalysing influence through which the mystical seer turned writer" (27-8).

"It was here, amidst blood, death and terror, that his tremendous vision of mankind belonging together first began to take shape" (28).

In fact, "when Teilhard's war letters were eventually published in 1961, Francois Mauriac commented: ' The most optimistic view a Christian thinker has ever held of this criminal world was conceived at Verdun; this frantic cry of hope has been uttered from an abyss. . . The same sort of courage which was necessary to hold out in the trenches of Verdun, was also necessary for conceiving thoughts as joyful as these, so permeated with hope'"(28).

Somehow Teilhard became aware of the Divine interconnecting the people, living and dying. The gaps showed him that surrounding each dark moment was Love.

So in our own visualizations of the difficult things we've endured or are worrying about, imagine each a railway car--So mind the gaps!

Remember that God is in the gaps.

Meditations with Teilhard de Chardin

Meditations with Teilhard de Chardin, the short, sweet book of some of Teilhard's quotes in poetic form is available for sale (for only $10), which I did not know about when I wrote about it last week. I also liked it because it contained Jean Houston's story of meeting Teilhard when she was 14 years old, right before he died. That is a charming story.

My Intro to Teilhard de Chardin

Looking through Google Images, I was entranced with this photo of Teilhard de Chardin looking at the skullcap of Peking Man. He was there when that was being authenticated in China in 1940.

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Teilhard's words and life are inspiring me. While at Lebh Shomea this past week, I perused several books about him. At times, I wondered if I could ask Father Kelly Nemeck to recommend some books for me. That was a possibility, but one that I kept talking myself out of--we're supposed to stay quiet at Lebh Shomea; Fr. Kelly is usually not around or is busy; mealtimes do not seem a time to interrupt him in the silence, etc., etc., etc.

The morning I left, I walked out of the main building and there was Fr. Kelly in a golf cart, which was at a standstill. I walked over and quietly thanked him for my time at Lebh Shomea and then asked if someday he would recommend some books about Teilhard.

Fr. Kelly asked if I would be around much longer and if I could meet him in the library in ten minutes! I did not expect such hospitality.

At that time, he took me to the Teilhard section and silently looked at the books, pulling one and another to look at. These are the ones he suggested I read:

• Album by Teilhard de Chardin; preface by Andre George. Designed and edited by Jeanne Mortier and Marie-Louise Aboux from the publications and letters of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and from papers preserved at the Foundation Teilhard de Chardin.

• The Divine Milieu by Teilhard de Chardin. To be read slowly, according to Fr. Kelly.

•  Writings in Time of War by Teilhard de Chardin. Early writings from Teilhard's time of being a front-line stretcher bearer in WWI. To be read along with:
• The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Solder Priest 1914-1919 by Teilhard de Chardin.

I ordered used copies of the first and last books.

I will see about the others, as I am currently reading the one I mentioned yesterday from the Maryknoll Modern Spiritual Master Series, which has selections from different essays and books (including those above).

AND I have just found the site of Internet Archive, which has links to DOWNLOAD-able copies of Teilhard's works!! Go there and get a taste of him.

Gift of Teilhard de Chardin

Being at Lebh Shomea this past week brought a renewed interest in Teilhard de Chardin. I looked through/skimmed two books in the large section about him in the Lebh Shomea library, which spans the complete first floor of the Sarita Kennedy mansion:

• Meditations with Teilhard de Chardin arranged by Blanche Gallagher: Sadly, this book is out of print. The author arranged some of Teilhard's writings in poetic form, such as:

The creative operation of God

does not simply mold us like soft clay.

It is a Fire that animates all it touches,

a spirit that gives life.

So it is in living

that we should give ourselves to that creative action,

             imitate it, and

                   identify with it. (31)

Nothing is precious

except that part of you which is in other people

and that part of others which is in you.

            Up there

                     on high,

                                everything is one. (99)

• Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin by Ursula King: This is a biography, interspersed with many photographs and quotes from works of Teilhard. A few quotes:

". . . Nowhere is this vision more radiant and empowering than in the description of his mystical experiences. They truly express a vision of fire that filled him with wonder and amazement, ecstasy and joy, and made him see the world burst into flames. It is this fire that he wanted to pass on and kindle in others." (58)

"Always interested in the most recent developments in science, psychology, sociology, and religion, he was forever questioning established orthodoxies, whether scientific, religious, or political." (213)

Teilhard died on Easter day in 1955; King writes of his last years:

"He (Teilhard) was growing old, but he could still see his vision with full strength. Death held no fear for him; he saw it as a passage to seeing more, to a fuller vision." (224)

Tomorrow I will write about Father Kelly Nemeck's recommendations for my first readings about Teilhard, although serendipitously, I found an unread book on my own bookshelf that is about him: It is a Maryknoll Modern Spiritual Master Series book, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin by Ursula King, which I am now reading.