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A Year of Pagan Prayer
September 13: The Feast of Jove, Part I
“Jove or Juniper, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Zeus, is the king of the gods and Lord of Thunder. As husband, father, son, and brother, this ancient sky god creates and oversees relationships within the family of the gods; as the god who freed his Olympian brothers and sisters from eternal imprisonment in the body of their murderous father, he is acknowledged as their leader. In keeping with his royal status, he was given a spectacular ritual feast in his temple at Rome every September (which, after the ceremonies were over, would be eaten by the priests and distributed to the poor). A second, smaller feast was celebrated in his honor in November.
“Today would be a good day to make a donation to a soup kitchen or throw a party in honor of Zeus, but the following collection of poems and prayers will allow you to fete the god with words as well as food.”
Homeric Hymn to Zeus, Anonymous (ca. 700-500 BCE), translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White
“Themis is the goddess of justice and divine law; her name is closely related to the Sanskrit word dharma. Zeus is the son of the Titan Cronos.
'I will sing of Zeus, chiefest among the gods and greatest, all-seeing, the lord of all, the fulfiller who whispers words of wisdom to Themis as she sits leaning towards him.
'Be gracious, all-seeing Son of Cronos, most excellent and great!' “
_____
From A Year of Pagan Prayer by Barbara Nolan. © 2021 by Barbara Nolan. Used by permission from Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., www.Llewellyn.com.
An introduction to the Feast of Jove with an accompanying Homeric hymn.
Adopt a Highway
Russ Millings (Ethan Hawke) has spent 18 years in jail for possession of an ounce of marijuana with the intent to sell. That arrest was his third offense, and California's three strikes law then in effect meant that he got a long sentence.
After his release, it is soon apparent that this shy and socially awkward middle-ager is not well-equipped to cope in the outside world. His probation officer warns him to follow the rules and to not do anything wrong or he'll wind up back in prison. Russ gets a job at a fast-food joint and moves into a grungy apartment.
He learns about the death of his beloved father after fumbling around on the Internet at a café. The owner can't believe that he has never been online before. When he hears that that this ex-con has been in jail for such a minor offense, he says in disbelief, "You're not even black."
Russ's life is put in turnaround when he finds an infant baby in a dumpster near his workplace with a note saying her name is Ella. Instead of handing her over to the authorities, he keeps her with him for a few days. He does his best to provide for all her needs, and she seems to be listening as he talks about his life. On a trip to the beach, his favorite place, he tells her about his father and their mutual hobby of stamp collecting. But after Ella falls out of bed and injures her head, he takes her to the hospital. He learns from Social Services that they will put her in a foster home.
In the second half of the movie, director Logan Marshall-Green picks up the pace and accentuates a big surprise that comes Russ's way. On a bus trip back to Wyoming to visit his father's grave, he meets another outsider (Elaine Hendrix) who is grateful for his generosity when he listens to her story and shares a sandwich with her.
This film does a fine job illustrating in an accessible way how good deeds have a positive effect on both those who give and those who receive. Ethan Hawke does a remarkable job depicting the vulnerability of this loner whose kindness is rather surprising given the suffering he has endured due to an unjust prison sentence.
Touching story of a socially awkward ex-con who discovers the value of giving and receiving.
His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Destructive Emotions
Generosity is much easier to cultivate than tolerance or forbearance. The reason is that all of us have chances to show generosity. You can go anywhere and people are always very happy to accept your gifts, your generosity. However, tolerance and forbearance can only be cultivated when we meet with adversity, with an enemy, with cruelty, and so they are more rare.
Generosity is much easier to cultivate
Radical Generosity
"A seed will only become a flower if it gets sun and water."
-- Psychiatry professor Louis Gottschaer
"I recently heard a story about how the Onondaga people used to teach their children about generosity. When it was time for someone to learn, the tribe would gather in a circle. The child would be brought into the center of the circle and given wonderful things to drink. After he had his fill, a voice would come from outside the circle, saying, 'I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty,' and the child would be encouraged to take the drink to the thirsty person. The child would be brought back into the circle and fed fabulous food. After, he would hear a voice outside the circle, saying, 'I'm hungry, I'm hungry.' Again, the child would leave the circle to feed the hungry person. The child would return to the circle and be given beautiful, warm clothes to wear. Again he would hear a voice, crying, 'I'm cold, I'm cold,' and he would gather up clothes and help dress the freezing person.
"Ever since contemporary social scientists have concluded that giving behavior is innate, they've become very interested in the study of altruism, asking why some people help while others don't, and which circumstances lead to help being offered. They have begun to study the childhoods of individuals who have demonstrated a high degree of altruism. The social scientists found that these folks had loving parents who instilled in them a healthy sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy. Their parents also instilled a strong sense of right and wrong; like the Onondaga Indians, altruists were taught specifically to be generous.
"Most important, these folks had parents who modeled generosity. Studies of volunteers have also found that the majority of dedicated volunteers had parents who were also volunteers. Like any other aspect of parenting, we not only have to say what's right, we have to do what's right in order for our kids to learn. Instead of just telling them to be generous, we must demonstrate clearly and consistently our own generosity.
"At Christmastime, I always took my stepkids and my child to a toy store, where I let them pick out a hundred dollars' worth of toys to give away to Toys for Tots. They really got a kick out of thinking about the pleasure other kids would get from their selections. When I was a kid, we used to make up food baskets for families in need at Thanksgiving and go Christmas caroling at senior centers.
"While these actions are wonderful, they only happen once a year, which isn't enough to instill the giving habit. My friend Dawna's grandmother used to do this simple practice with her.
"When you are doing something enjoyable with your child, like swimming, say something like, 'We're having such fun. Let's take a minute to send this feeling of fun to all those kids who have never been in a pool.' This way, they'll learn, just as the Native American kids did, that giving comes from a sense of well-being and that giving enhances the abundance that the giver is experiencing rather than diminishing it."
Examples of how parents can pass generosity on to their children.
Christopher Titmuss, Light on Enlightenment
Just as we can show love, God is all loving.
Just as we can show knowledge, God is all knowing.
Just as we can show power, God is all powerful.
Just as we can show energy, God is all energy.
Just as we can show generosity, God is all giving.
Just as we can be creative, God is all creativity.
Just as we can, God is
Lottery Winner
I play the lottery regularly in the hopes of winning and doing some good in the world with the funds I receive. Very few of the things I would think of spending the money on are for personal reasons.
Yet I realized the other day that I have already won the lottery! For me the real lottery is about my life and family, the love we all share, and the things we have done and will do for others. That is of far greater value than any cash that may come my way from winning lottery ticket. To look around at generations of my family and feel the love and know the kindness of these people is to be and feel like a winner.
The majority of families who win the lottery find it to be one more reason to fight and argue over who deserves what. In our family we all share equally and have the children's welfare at heart. We are all winners, a wonderful feeling. Give it a try. Try seeing all the ways in which you are a winner.
Soulution of the Day: Win the lottery of life and share your love and winnings.
Sharing your love throughout generations.
Honoring Our Common Humanity
It is hard to meet the homeless and treat them as our fellow human beings. Sometimes it is even hard to give them your loose change. The next time you have the opportunity, give a homeless person a handout of food or money, and also take the time to start a conversation. Ask the person's name, where he or she lives or hangs out, and whether the person would like you to bring food or clothing. In some way, acknowledge the person's humanity and individuality before you part.
Acknowledging a homeless person's dignity.
Why Good Things Happen to Good People
"I have one simple message to offer and it's this: giving is the most potent force on the planet. Giving is the one kind of love you can count on, because you can always choose it: it's always within your power to give. Giving will protect you your whole life long." This message comes from Stephen Post, a bioethicst at Case Western Reserve University and founder of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. The idea for this center was suggested to him by Sir John Templeton, grantmaker and zealous advocate of the interplay between science and religion. Since 2001, Post has explored the extraordinary power of giving by funding over 50 studies at 44 major institutions. This research has focused on the traits and qualities that create happiness, health, contentment, and lasting success in life.
Why Good Things Happen to Good People looks at 10 ways of giving: celebration and gratitude, generativity (nurturing others), forgiveness, courage, humor and joy, respect, compassion, loyalty, listening, and creating. These traits or character qualities can be expressed in the following four domains: family, friends, community, and humanity. Post writes: "The remarkable bottom line of the science of love is that giving protects overall health twice as much as aspirin protects against heart disease."
Generous behavior is good medicine that benefits the giver and the recipients of our giving. Each chapter ends with 20 questions from The Love and Longevity Scale for the reader who wants to evaluate him- or herself. Then throughout the book, the author has various exercises and practices to try.
In "The Way of Celebration: Turn Gratitude into Action," Post reveals how research on giving thanks shows that it can spread to every aspect of our daily lives. Gratitude can shift the nervous system toward a calm state; it can result in surges of happiness and joy; and it can engender celebrations of all kinds, such as savoring the day, rejoicing in the lives of others, and reframing our moods.
In the chapter on "The Way of Generativity: Help Others Grow," Post defines this character trait as "selfless giving to others, in particular to future generations. [It] means nurturing others so that they are better able in turn to manifest their own gifts of love." This brand of giving brings meaning to others' lives; it inspires and supports volunteerism; it brings out the best in youth; and it brings fulfillment to the elderly who have time to be generous.
Post's "The Way of Forgiveness: Set Yourself Free" contains reports and insights from the latest research on this virtue which alleviates depression, boosts moods and reduces anger, lowers stress hormones, and preserves close relationships. There is a lot of misunderstanding about forgiveness and so the author reports on what it does not mean. Some other insights to be gleaned here are learning the limits of a grudge, seeing forgiveness as a process, and practicing the power of an apology.
According to Post, courage is the hallmark of every human who has changed the world. This character quality is explored in "The Way of Courage: Speak Up, Speak Out." The five lessons outlined in this chapter are:
1. Courage comes in many forms.
2. Learn Hardi-coping
3. En-courage others
4. Confront with care
5. Trauma can lead to transformation.
In "The Way of Humor: Connect with Joy," Post celebrates humor as a way of love that brings a lightness of being and reframes the world. In this chapter, he provides plenty of exercises to promote this quality. Here are a few of them:
1. Keep funny truisms around the house
2. Keep a joy jar at home
3. Laugh at life, but not at yourself or others.
By now, you get the point and the structure of this extraordinary paperback that offers ample insights into the power of giving when it is translated into so many different character transforming facets! You will come away from Why Good Things Happen to Good People knowing that love is alive, giving is receiving, positive emotions are lifelines, and doing good is a spur to mental health and well-being.
A bold and innovative exploration of generous behavior, based on scientific research and psychological insights.
The Mitten Tree
Old Sarah lives alone and spends her spare time watching the children outside playing in the snow — except for one boy. One day, as he gets on the school bus, she sees why: he has no mittens. She worries about him and then knits a pair of mittens for him. She hangs them on the old spruce tree by the bus stop. The next day, the boy is very happy to find them. She then knits more mittens and in her heart, even though the children do not speak to her, she feels that they have become her new family.
Then one day, Sarah discovers a basket on her porch filled with yarn. She accepts the mysterious gift just as the children accept the mittens without knowing who knit them. The circle of kindness and generosity goes round and round.
This picture book by Candace Christiansen and illustrated by Elaine Greenstein is aimed at children from ages 4 -10 years. It pays tribute to kindness, generosity, and giving from the heart with no need for recognition or applause.
A touching story about a lonely old woman who acts from the heart in love and generosity by knitting mittens for children who need them.
Millions
"Leaving the miraculous out of life is rather like leaving out the lavatory or dreams or breakfast," Catholic novelist Graham Greene once wrote. Magical happenings and experiences that defy logic, that can't be explained by our senses or our reasoning, are part of our lives, but we don't always recognize them as signs of God or intimations of grace. According to Marianne Williamson, "we are here to participate in a glorious subversion of the world's dominant, fear-based thought system. There are only two core emotions: love and fear. And love is to fear as light is to darkness: in the presence of one, the other disappears. As we shift our perceptions from fear to love — sometimes in cases where it's not so hard and ultimately in cases where it takes spiritual mastery to do so — we become miracle-workers in the truest sense. For when our minds are surrendered to love, they are surrendered to a higher power. And from that, all miracles follow."
Millions is about a pint-sized miracle worker who has close encounters with the saints of yesteryear and possesses an open and generous heart. He believes that God has called him on a special mission. This is the most endearing, charming, creative, and spiritually uplifting movie since Amelie set our hearts swooning. It is about miracles and money and saints and the divine love that will not let us go. Mixing the everyday activities of two young English boys with some astonishing dollops of magical realism, Millions will challenge you to see afresh the wonders that abound in the lives of all those who step into their calling as saints doing good things in a world off-tilt due to greed, clutching after possessions, and lusting after new goodies.
Nine-year old Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) and seven-year old Damien (Alex Etel) are trying to cope with the drastic changes in their lives. Their mother has died recently, and their father, Ronnie (James Nesbitt), has decided to move the family to a new housing development on the outskirts of Liverpool. While his older brother adapts well to the new school they attend, Damien startles the teacher and his classmates with a lengthy and passionate summary of the lives of saints. The exercise was to name people the students admire; the other kids all named sports figures.
Using some large boxes left over from their move, Damien constructs a playhouse down by the railroad tracks. He gets quite a kick out of the jostling he takes when a train whizzes by and his body shakes. One day St. Clare of Assisi (Kathryn Pogson) shows up for a brief chat. Damien is surprised that she smokes but the saint tells him that in heaven anything is possible. She likes being the patron saint of television: it keeps her busy.
Life changes for Damian when the solitude of his cardboard sanctuary is shattered by the arrival of a suitcase full of cash. The young boy is convinced that it has been dropped from heaven by God. His brother, a financial wizard, decides they should find some way to invest the money, which adds up to a quarter million pounds ($411,662). Anthony also worries about the government taking forty percent of the cash for taxes. But a bigger problem looms on the horizon: England is a week away from adapting the Euro as its currency, and unless they get the money changed, it will be worthless.
St. Francis of Assisi (Enzo Cilenti) is the next saint to rendezvous with Damien. He convinces him that his impulse to give all the money away to the poor is the right one. But when the brothers try to take the homeless in their neighborhood to dinner at Pizza Hut, they discover that giving away money is not so easy. Anthony grows increasingly frustrated when he learns that Damien has given away a wad of cash to some Mormon missionaries in their housing complex, who promptly went out and purchased a digital television, a microwave, and a foot spa.
At school, the good-hearted boy thinks he's found the perfect solution when he hears a plea by Dorothy (Daisy Donovan), an enthusiastic charity worker, who is explaining the Euro conversion and raising money for the needy at the same time. When she takes an interest in their father, the boys are less than pleased. They are not ready to adapt to another change in their lives! Later a martyred saint meets with Damien and convinces him that the greatest gift of all is the gift of water to a desert community that needs a well.
This extraordinary film is directed by Danny Boyle (28 Days Later). From the opening shot of the two brothers riding their bikes down a path through a field of yellow flowers, we realize that this story will be carried on wings of the creative cinematography of Anthony Dod Mantle (Dogville) and the daring and enchanting screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Welcome to Sarajevo, Code 46). The entire movie rests on the small shoulders of Alex Etel whose valiant attempts to come to terms with grief, the role of saints in history, the meaning of miracles, and the confusions and complexities of the human obsession with money form the central thrust of the story. This child actor is very intense, and his seriousness comes across as zeal. He is "weird," as his brother calls him, but he also is a well-realized soul whose generosity and compassionate heart make him very special.
The family's struggles to deal with the money adumbrates into a series of fascinating plot developments, including the appearance on the scene of the robber (Christopher Fulford), an enactment of the Nativity play, and appearances by other saints: St. Joseph (Nasser Memarzia), St. Nicholas (Harry Kirkham), and Gonzaga (Cornelius Macarthy). Pay special attention to St. Peter's (Alun Armstrong) account of the feeding of the 5000 for it contains important clues to the nature of true generosity as the secret bounty of the universe.
Be still.
Be still
surprised.
Be still
surprised
by the day today.
Be still
surprised
by the day-to-day
miracles.
— Kevin Anderson in Divinity in Disguise
DVD features include Audio Commentary with director Danny Boyle and writer Frank Cattrell Boyce, Behind the Scenes footage, and Deleted Scenes.
An endearing, charming, creative, and spiritually uplifting movie about miracles, money, saints, and the divine love that will not let us go.