A direct encounter with Jesus in a Prairiewoods tree taught me how God shares life with each of us individually. During a 2015 Prairiewoods retreat called “Beauty is the Path to God’s Life,” led by Father John Quigley, OSF, I discovered some answers to questions I had about reconciling suffering and hardship. Honestly, the world…
In October 2014, I was blessed to be able to take a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, the home St. Francis and St. Clare, with a group of strangers-turned-friends from other Franciscan institutions. And I got to share this amazing journey with my beloved mother! As the marketing coordinator for a Franciscan retreat center, it…
It happens when I’m not looking: things appear—wrapped packages in the refrigerator or on the table surprises to open—plates of pumpkin bread bowls filled with miso couscous or mango pistachio rice, jars of hardboiled eggs as if elves or fairies had been at work while I slept or read or wrote poems, as if this…
Mary Oliver, who published more than 15 collections of poems since 1963, was known for her observant, hope-filled responses to nature. As the New Yorker said, “For America’s most beloved poet, paying attention to nature is a springboard to the sacred.” Mary, like Prairiewoods, understood and celebrated the holy intersection of ecology and spirituality, that…
This is my little friend Natalie. Natalie is 3 and enjoyed bringing her puppy to the Blessing of the Animals in September. Her mom, Stephanie, also enjoys coming to Prairiewoods to rest and explore the grounds with her daughter. As I reflected on this photo, Natalie reminded me of the young spirit inside of me. Prairiewoods is a place where…
We are pleased to welcome Carol Tyx, PhD, as Prairiewoods’ new Artist in Residence. Carol is a gifted poet and the author of two books of poetry, The Fifty Poems and Rising to the Rim. Her newest manuscript, Remembering Achilles: Slicing into Angola’s History, was just awarded the inaugural Willow Run Poetry Book Award. Carol…
“For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” —Isaiah 55:12 Posted Dec. 25, 2018
“The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light, and on those living in a land of deep darkness, a light has dawned.” —Isaiah 9:2 At Prairiewoods, our other-than-human kin often stop us in our tracks. The leafless trees are moaning all around us, and the dried prairie grasses are whispering their ancient secrets.…
In this time of gratitude and generosity, kindness and kinship, we are reminded that we are all one. Nowhere have I felt that more keenly than at the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County’s Annual Thanksgiving Service: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks. Representatives from a huge variety of faith traditions contributed to the service, including…
“As Christians, we believe that we bear the image and likeness of God inside of us and that this is our deepest reality … God is fire—wild, infinite, ineffable, non-containable. If that same fire is inside us, and it is, then there are divine appetites inside of us too, appetites that are not ever satiable…