Jeweled net There to see Passing overhead Glistening orange Setting sun Moving by grace Ancestral intimacy Threads unseen Over harvest corn Veiled in snow Sight spectacular Smiling heart Ephemeral appearance Permanent actuality Ever to remain Here with me Star-crossed lover At first sight Once in a lifetime Moment Savored eternally —Keith Knapp, friend of Prairiewoods…
DetailsWhat is Peace? What does it mean? It’s more than a cessation of war, of violence or fighting. It’s more than keeping up a façade of pleasantness, or “appropriate” behavior. It goes much deeper than appearances, pat phrases or pretense. Deep within, we are connected. Connected with everyone and everything, vibrating and oscillating, breathing with…
DetailsToday, gratitude remains one of my favorite spiritual practices. “Every day is gift.” I know it soul-deep. Daily I’m grateful for all that Earth offers us. As children, my sisters and brothers knew the blood, sweat and tears that nourished Garden. We ate most of the year from her harvest and while we weren’t, as…
DetailsI sought out Grandmother Oak today for some grand and motherly advice She showed me her scars and her broken parts And said “See how I still rise?” “I have wept many tears for my fallen friends, and for the creatures that didn’t survive. My tears wet the ground and nourished my roots. Now see…
DetailsToday I walked the labyrinth with a friend for the first time in quite a while. Little did I know that in that one simple act I would experience the fullness and the heart of all that is Prairiewoods. We walked through the woods on the way to the labyrinth, in golden light, and felt…
DetailsChristmas is less than two months away, and it’s time to get in the holiday spirit! Join us Saturday, Nov. 19, from 8 a.m.–1 p.m. at Prairiewoods for a day of shopping and holiday cheer. The Prairiewoods Holiday Bazaar features more than a dozen local artists creating handcrafted goods. Here’s a sampling of what you…
DetailsWhy does the willow weep? Why do pears grow in pairs? Do bees pray on their knees? How do Susans get black eyes? Who packs the parachutes the seeds of milkweed need? A face in the bark was looking back at me. Shards of ancient energy. When does old become ancient? —Diane Wheeler Dunn, friend…
DetailsThe prairie sings in late summer Trilling yellow in the sun Bees buzzing everywhere But I don’t think I’ve heard more Harmony rolling up from the land Than today, October rain turning everything Into a hundred shades of luminous honey From cinnamon to sienna to amber, the sweet hum Of late fall. —Carol Tyx, Prairiewoods…
DetailsThe best massage of my life came at the hands of a septuagenarian nun. Sister Nancy Hoffman, FSPA, is one of the founders of Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, a miraculous slice of reclaimed prairie and oak savannah sandwiched between the suburbs and a trailer court on the edge of Hiawatha, Iowa. Established over 25 years…
DetailsThe concept of “re-wilding” creation takes its cues from a philosophy of “Nature knows best,” by restricting human interference in creation’s own healing as an approach to ecological restoration and wholeness. Eminent biologist E.O. Wilson (1929–2021) had proposed—provocatively—setting aside and protecting half the biosphere for nature to heal and regenerate, and thus restoring balance to a human-befouled…
DetailsThis weekend Prairiewoods hosts its annual Blessing of the Animals, a beautiful ritual celebrating the deep bonds animals and humans share. The wisdom of age-old stories and cultures tells us that no boundaries exist between animals and humans. Animals relate with humans every day through appearance, behavior, movement and pattern. Anticipating this favorite Blessing of…
DetailsWe all choose our way To embrace or reject The kin of the park The kin of the pack Standing as tall arbor elders Rock jumping as Sierra Fence lizards Not as master or leader, but as collaborative guide of compassion to nurture and hold that which breathes, that breathes the breath of life here…
Details“Values according to which we conduct our lives will shape the future.” —Jeremy Lent, The Web of Meaning, p. 5 So what are the values that enliven Prairiewoods? What is the future emerging here? For that I look to the core values of the Franciscans who founded Prairiewoods so many years ago. Respect—We honor one…
DetailsOn a September retreat at Prairiewoods, the trees woke me up. Just outside my second-story guest house window, they were shaking their heads wildly. In the background I could hear the rumble of thunder. It was past midnight, and now it was Mary Oliver’s birthday, September 10. Pieces of her poem “The Journey,” that I…
DetailsEach year, my husband and I and our beloved dogs look forward to Prairiewoods’ annual Blessing of the Animals. It’s a chance for our pups to meet dozens of other dogs, cats, guinea pigs, bunnies, bearded dragons, donkeys, turtles, etc. from around the corridor. (And this year’s Blessing will be extra special for me, because…
DetailsThe outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day; the score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play. And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, a sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game. ********* The sneer is gone from Casey’s lip, his teeth…
DetailsCrises we experience today—spiritual, ecological, political, global—signify that we have lost consciousness (and perhaps conscience) regarding the sacred at the heart of all life. The Season of Creation invites us to re-awaken and transform the way we choose to live, relate and engage with creation. The celebration was birthed in 1989 when the Eastern Orthodox…
DetailsBeating flutter of the Divine within Convergence points all, between and among Start of a cry emerged, mothers joy Love contained, first glimpse of wonder Earth arbor and kin, seen and touched The last sigh of life, compassionate connection Deep remembrance, physically undeniable Unsure mind, but unforgotten Body spirit, remembrance of the One, the butterfly…
DetailsShe’s on the ground right in front of me, in the newly mown path that cuts through the prairie, opening and closing her wings as if she’s airing them out, or doing her morning stretches. I almost step over her without a second glance—a small, brown butterfly in the grass—and then she does a full…
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