HOPE even in Holy Week
| ||
************************************
© June Maffin
@soulistryjune.bsky.social
https://www.soulistry.com/blog
www.facebook.com/groups/facebook
Some Holy Week Love on Monday
Today is a special Monday – it’s Monday in Holy Week.
Many are feeling alone.
Alone – because of the stresses of the world.
Alone because of the political crises in the United States, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the threats on Canada, Panama, Greenland and many other places around the world
Alone and fearful because of concern about their health, finances, jobs, relationships.
Alone – with their thoughts.
Alone – with their questions.
Alone.
If anyone understands what ‘being alone’ means, especially this week, it surely must have been the man known as Jesus of Nazareth.
Many believe that they are living in a world under the shadow of war … a cloud of difficult days of climate change … loss of democracy … viruses that just won’t leave.
It’s all a frightening reality.
The man Jesus, knew about frightening realities.
May this holy week be a time to reflect on what ‘being alone’ is for ourselves, for others
and what it must have been like for the man known as Jesus.
May we know who we are.
May we know Whose we are.
And may we know the Love that surrounds us.
May we be blessed with an abiding sense of love
– a Love that envelopes and casts out fear of the known and unknown.
May this day and every day in Holy Week, bring a blessing that touches life
in ways we can’t even begin to ask or understand.
May we be blessed by the ability to breathe in Ruach, healing, sanctifying, renewing,
be blessed by a precious peace that passes understanding
and be blessed by the Love that sustained the man Jesus on this difficult day in Holy Week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
© June Maffin
https://soulistry.com/blog
www.facebook.com/groups/soulistry
https://www.medium.com/@junemaffin
@soulistryjune.bsky.social
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The flower pins, made for friends as a sign and symbol of Love, were made using pieces of white felt and small pearl-like additions in the middle of the flower.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Soulistry reflection on each day in Holy Week will be available on the Soulistry blog (https://soulistry.com/blog). You are welcome to share any Soulistry reflection and subscribe (https://soulistry.com). As reflections are added, they will come into your inbox (for free, personal information is not retained or sold).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEAVING A PATH
Weaving is not something I have done very often, but a weaving metaphor seems appropriate when political strands are divided … families are broken … countries are shattering from within … the world seems to be moving away from democratic principles … and people are not reflecting the ideals of peace and love which religious and philosophical leaders have taught and modelled for centuries.
People need a vision – a vision of hope
for “where there is no vision, the people perish.”
The Weaving Prayer surfaced on this the eve of Holy Week (the final week of the Season of Lent in the Christian calendar which commemorates the final days of Jesus’ life, leading to his crucifixion and resurrection), known as Palm Sunday. The prayer is for them and for those who may not align with the Christian faith yet also need a vision of hope.
WEAVING PRAYER
Weave, O Holy One, our differing threads of opinions,
our global fear, our various political strands,
our diverse liturgical expressions,
our different ways of looking at the world
into a sacred tapestry
so that we will be empowered to hope
and vision a world where Love, not fear, not ego, not pursuit of power, not idolization of money
is the centre of decisions, thoughts, actions and conversations.
Great Weaver of all,
when we find ourselves regretting the past,
when we are uncertain of the present,
when we are fearful of the future,
help us.
May this coming week (Holy Week) be one of hope, not panic.
May it be one of gentle reflection, not listening to the fear mongers.
And may it be a week of inner response, not reaction which clouds our vision of hope.
O Great Weaver, encourage us
not to focus on the underside of the Tapestry where our knottedness, frayed ends, and tattered threads can be seen.
but where we may envision the entire Tapestry of community: a tapestry of differing colours, customs, abilities, religions, languages, and ages, as we work together during these difficult days
towards a vision of love, peace, respect and kindness.
Amen. So be it. Amen.
© June Maffin
https://soulistry.com/blog
www.facebook.com/groups/soulistry
@soulistryjune.bsky.social
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are welcome to share any Soulistry reflection and subscribe (https://soulistry.com/blog – it’s free and personal information is not retained or shared) so that the Reflections will come directly into your inbox.
https://soulistry.com/blog
www.facebook.com/groups/soulistry
https://soulistry.com
www.medium.com@junemaffin
soulistryjune@blsky.social
Seeing Souls
For forty days and forty nights, every year, millions of people around the world are involved in sombre reflection and Lenten observance in something called the Season of Lent.
Last and this year, Lent has been a time of darkness in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Israel, Syria, Somalia, Libya, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Colombia, Mali – and who would have thought it, but Canada, Panama, Greenland, the United States too.
While it would be lovely to bypass the Season of Lent, it has its place in the circle of life. And not just for those who observe the Season of Lent as a religious focus. Lent can serve as a reminder that not everything in the world (or in people’s lives) is happy or cheery or going well.
There is darkness in situations that can personally envelope people in a shroud of negativity. An unknown author wrote “If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies,” and it echoes the cry of many whose value in society seems to be based on others ‘seeing’ them through the lens of financial status, ability, weight, skin colour, age, political belief, gender, sexuality, religion, etc., rather than ‘seeing them’ through the lens of the soul.
What a different world it would be if, instead of talking negatively, criticizing, nagging, finding fault, putting others down (not to mention ourselves), we talked about blessings, spoke about the goodness that ‘is’, and expressed gratitude more than we express frustration, criticism.
Perhaps if this were the focus, it might be easier to see people as souls, and not as unemployed, homeless, disabled, addicted, uneducated, a particular race or colour or religion or age or political belief or financial status etc. By adopting such a focus, it could be easier to relate to ‘the other’ as a person of worth, rather than ignore, pity, judge, bully, ridicule or hate them. It could be easier to see beauty – in others, in our world, within ourselves.
The Season of Lent invites us to metanoia – ‘turn around and focus on a change of heart.’ Some interpret that as ‘repentence.’ While I see merit in such interpretation, my way of encountering the Season of Lent is to focus on change … to change my heart – about other people – the future – myself – and ask “How can I let light in and truly see?”
Lent also has a reputation of being a time to ‘give-up’ (‘fast’-from) chocolate, desserts, social media, etc. I don’t do that. My focus is not on “giving up” but on “letting-in.”
While, I am being aware of the 40 days of Lent, I am not “giving up” something for Lent. And I am not focusing on repenting for things in the past because I try to do that when I realize the error of my ways and then move on, trusting that I am loved and forgiven.
In the Season of Lent, I am choosing to be on the lookout for souls in the lives of all people.
The Season of Lent is coming to a close. This Sunday begins what is known as Holy Week. Then comes Easter. While I know I will be grateful to see the end of the Season of Lent, I hope I continue to let each day be a gentle reminder of the Season of Lent: a time of “seeing-souls.”
© June Maffin
https://soulistry.com/blog
www.facebook.com/groups/soulistry
@soulistryjune.bsky.social
HOLD ON
Weather-wise,
it is overcast and gloomy.
Nature has arrived in full force
bringing devastation and tragedy.
Politically,
aftershocks of the global tariff war
have begun to arrive in full force
heaping grief, disillusionment, anger and unbelievable fear.
When the going-got-rough for our forbears:
… poverty, war, hurricanes, ill health,
they held on to inheritance of the generations before them
their ancestors
who provided a legacy
of endurance and strength and hope.
Sometimes, that legacy was all they had to hold onto.
These days, it may be all we have to hold onto.
As the mountains in the photo speak of strength
the trees speak of endurance
the roses speak of hope
… all in one photo
inside each of us
through the legacy entrusted us,
by those-who-have-gone-before
is strength, endurance, hope.
In difficult times,
let us “hold on.”
We will.
We must hold on.
Just as our ancestors have, in the past,
one step,
one moment,
at a time
we, too,
will “hold on!”
Photo & Text © June Maffin
blog, Facebook Group, and Bluesky
LET LOVE SPEAK
MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) became law in Canada in June, 2016 with a variety of responses. It has been welcomed, ignored, misunderstood, controversial, deemed to be anathema.
Many years ago, the request by a friend to sign as a witness on her MAiD document, made me pause and reflect, once again, on life, on death, on compassion, on personal decision-making about one’s own body and more.
I found myself going back decades ago and a conversation with my mother who wanted to have ‘the conversation’ with me. Having serious health issues, she wanted me to know her thoughts on dying and her wishes. We had ‘the conversation’ many times over the years.
The day in her doctor’s office when he told us that Mom’s kidneys had failed and she would have to go on dialysis immediately, Mom made it very clear that she would not do dialysis. The earlier conversations we’d had over the years were brought into reality.
Mom had often expressed a hope that the Canadian government would let people who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, make the decision as to the timing of when they would die for themselves in consultation with their doctor. Mom didn’t get her wish. MAiD was not legal at that time.
Before my husband Hans and I married, we talked about our “final wishes” and MAiD emerged in conversations. Hans was born in the Netherlands where they had their own equivalent to MAiD. He had researched it, was a supporter, and when his first cancer diagnosis was pronounced, we revisited our early discussions. With his second cancer diagnosis, he wanted to formalize things with his doctor and let him to know that if the prognosis were terminal with extreme pain and incapacitation, he wanted to be a candidate when the law was passed in Canada.
With his third cancer (terminal esophageal) a few years later, he knew that the extreme pain he dealt with each moment, would get worse as the cancer continued to spread. There was no quality of life for him at that time. He couldn’t swallow; he couldn’t speak above a whisper; he was exhausted and the pain was not being managed. The time had come. He reminded me that his wishes remained strong and steadfast and that if he couldn’t be granted his request in Canada, he wanted to go to the Netherlands where his request would be granted.
He reminded me of our experience with Shandy, our rescue-dog and beloved King Charles spaniel who had been in pain for too long. While the medications helped her somewhat, pain was her daily, ever-increasing experience. The morning we put her favourite cookie in her mouth and she didn’t know what to do with it, we were at a complete loss. The vet diagnosed it as ‘canine dementia,’ and told us that her kidneys had now failed. He could offer no further remedial help.
Shandy had no quality of life. She wasn’t eating. She was in emotional distress and constant physical pain. She was deaf and almost completely blind. The vet asked what we wanted to do. We asked ourselves “Could we love her enough to let her go?”
It was Friday. An appointment was set for the procedure to happen the next morning. “Monday.” I said. “How about we have her with us over the weekend and have the procedure done on Monday?” My wise husband let me talk and cry it out. He had had dogs all of his life and had walked this road with them in the past. Shandy was my first such experience. Hans and I talked and listened to one another in the silence as we held Shandy close to us. And then I heard myself say “Let love speak.”
By rescuing her from a terrible situation so very long ago, she had been given love and a life of freedom from the pain she had endured from a cruel owner. That was then.
Could we give her love and a life of freedom from pain now – even if that meant we would no longer have her with us?
As difficult as it was, we knew that it was our time to give Shandy the gift of unconditional love and let “love speak.”
I will never forget Shandy’s eyes as she sat on my lap on the drive to the veterinarian’s office the next morning. Usually, on the road and at the vet’s, Shandy was agitated. Not that time. This time, she was quiet. She was at peace.
Love spoke. Under the gentle hands of the vet, Shandy gently left us.
Supporting Hans’ decision for MAiD was personally difficult. But in remembering our experience with Shandy, I knew I had to “let love speak” and support my husband’s decision.
When I sit in a doctor’s office and am asked to sign MAiD papers for friends with whom I have spent a lot of time listening to and talking about ‘possibilities’, I remember my mother. I remember Shandy. I remember Hans. And each time, as I sign the papers, I know that the motivation is clear … “Let love speak.”
While I pray that each person whose MAiD paper I sign will leave planet earth gently, in their sleep, I am aware that death may not happen that way. If that doesn’t happen, and they choose to invoke MAiD, I will ‘let love speak’ and support them in any way I can.
And, should such a time come when I make such a decision for myself, I pray that others will ‘let love speak’ and support me in my decision.
May love always speak.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
An aside – this reflection is not intended to cause debate, argument, distress or controversy about the MAiD program in general or in particular. It is a personal reflection only.
*****************************
© June Maffin
https://www.facebook.com/groups/soulistry
https://www.soulistry.com/blog
www.medium.com/@junemaffin
*************************************
This is a photo of Shandy, beloved canine companion who died October 10, 2009 and who will not be forgotten. Rest in peace, Shandy. Rest in peace. And give Hans a gentle cuddle from me.