The Grace of Shame: I disagree
Sorry Pope Francis, I disagree with your claim that “shame puts us in tune with the heart of Christ… and brings us as individuals… to humility.” Shame is painful, humiliating and causes us to shrink, hide and believe we are fundamentally flawed.
Taste humility
or it will never be mine
If I do not belong to humility
humility will not belong to me
when I need it
Therefore
I examine my feet
and the 13.8 billion year old leaf
I stepped on
wonder
when will someone step on my dust?
I consider Spotted Towhee
160 million year old child of dinosaur mother
breakfasting by my window
wonder
how did you learn your lisping song?
I recognize Betelgeuse
night jewel
crowning my casita
wonder
how my eyes feast on 430 year old light?
What is dust? What is song? What is light?
Where do they come from?
Where do they go?
I don’t know.
Taste humility
or it will never be mine
If I do not belong to humility
humility will not belong to me
when I need it
Sorry Pope Francis, I disagree.
Wonder puts me in tune with the heart of Christ…
and lets me savor the grace full taste of humility.
Pope Francis, SJ’s above quote is found in today’s selection in An Ignatian Book of Days by Jim Manney, a series of daily reflections from the Spiritual Wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Throughout the book we hear the voices of St. Ignatius as well as many great thinkers and writers, long gone and present day, each uniquely revealing the way of finding God in all things.And that is my intention; to find God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality in whatever presents itself to me each day in 2024.
Each day I read, reflect and write on the selection, hoping to articulate the ways in which I come to know God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality via personal experience, impelled by the leading of my inner life.
INVITATION
Would you like to join me? The book is accessible on Amazon. Let me know in the comments to this post and sign up to get an email whenever I post. I would love to read your reflections too, public or private messages welcome!
If you find this post meaningful please clap and leave a comment. If you have not yet, please subscribe. Thank you!
Learn more about me at
https://www.debraasis.org
All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being,
Debra Asis
