Suffering

The Irish poet Brendan Kennelly wrote, “Hell is the familiar all stripped of wonder.” Ceasing to marvel at the miracle of ordinary life is a joyless way of being. Yet, life is clearly not all roses and butterflies. Even ordinary life itself provides enough suffering with frequency and magnitude to drain the soul of inspiration.…

Celebrate the Season of Creation

All of creation invites us to unify seemingly contrasting energies. Robin Hines and his dog, Odie, faithful friends of Prairiewoods, daily walk the woods and prairie. To Robin’s surprise, Odie and this deer held each other’s gaze for a solid five minutes, extending hospitality to one another. Odie and Robin stop and greet every person…

Your Summer Spiritual Reading

What are you reading this summer? And what spiritual reading are you doing this summer? I love to read any time of the year, but there’s something about summer reading when the days are longer and the sunlight mingles with the printed word that turns my bookworm self into a book butterfly because my imagination…

There’s Something Down There; Go Deeper

One of our three-year-old family mystics teetered precariously on the top step of the stairs, clutching his stuffed “Bun-Buns,” and peering over the abyss. “There’s something down there,” he whispered, eyes wide with primal terror and simultaneous wonderment. VERY still, riveted with one toe over the edge, he listened with all ears, eyes and nose…

A Place Where God is Revealed

Saint Francis, who valued the natural world as “a place where God is revealed,” encouraged his followers by his own unique celebration of creation. God’s goodness, generosity and love were not off-limits somewhere in far-off cathedrals, but rather to be found in creation as a whole. This Franciscan spirit called Prairiewoods to create space to…

Beginning Again—Together

As we approach this national holiday to celebrate “Independence Day,” I’ve been praying with my heart’s longing for our nation to rename it “Inter-dependence Day.” What would the world look like if we really stepped more deeply through our independence to a world-wide, collective consciousness that held “inter-dependence” as one of its highest values? How…

One Ordinary, Marvelous Day

We are living in extraordinary times. Even if a single day feels ordinary, the compilation of days that make up this week, this season, this pandemic is extraordinary. But what are we doing to commemorate this historic time? How are we living every day as though it is an ordinary but marvelous day? In 2012,…

A Psyche the Size of the Earth

“A huge shift in consciousness is underway in our time. A sea change from the “I and it” marketplace conception of the world to an “I and thou” sense of communal identity. Joanna Macy describes it as a “Great Turning,” an ecological revolution widening our awareness of the intricate web that connects us. Teilhard de…