Relationships: We build bridges of relationships that stretch us to be people of encounter who stand with all suffering in our Earth Community The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA), Prairiewoods’ founding organization, has committed to a Revolution through Encuentro, or deep encounters with others. As part of this, the FSPA Anti-Racism Team commissioned an…
Every day, the news takes another polling guess at how we can be counted. Which is to say, sorted and divided, red vs. blue. It is the season for casting votes, and I must be clear – the casting and the counting matter. In the U.S., as has happened and will in the future elsewhere,…
Prairiewoods retreat Prayerful silence, Nature, grace God’s exuberance —Mary Martens, BVM, written while on a Silent Directed Retreat at Prairiewoods image of the Prairiewoods labyrinth at sunrise by Emily Osweiler Are you wondering if a Silent Directed Retreat is right for you? We invite you to take time to rest in silence, to…
In silence I block out the world so I can know God. In silence I feel my soul so I can know God. In silence I remember the stories of my faith so I can know God. In Silence I know God. —Mary (Zoubek) Mell, written while on a Silent Directed Retreat at Prairiewoods …
by Erin Lothes, PhD, as originally published in New Theology Review 26:2, March 2014 Every year, the Venetian doge sails out into the lagoon from San Marco Square to throw a jeweled ring into the waters, ceremonially sealing the marriage of Venice with the sea. For centuries Venice’s fortunes rose and fell with the maritime…
“The call rings forth: imagine a new future in collaboration with Earth’s wisdom, reweave communion with kith and kin, return to the universal tree of life and liveliness.” —Leah Rampy, PhD, Earth and Soul, p. 145 Throughout her book, Leah Rampy tells us to take time to be connected or reconnected to the kith and…
The Prairiewoods courtyard is a spiritual intersection red stream flash Left to right Observed if not absorbed yellow stream flash Right to left Do my eyes deceive? Should green be near? Perhaps Earth to sky? This traffic light of mini super beings are simply song birds of the spiritual courtyard enjoying life shared and together.…
“Behold, my brothers, the spring has come; the earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love! Every seed has awakened and so has all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our neighbors,…
Prairiewoods is currently exploring the characteristics of ecological spirituality, and we turn our focus to an examination of dualism versus non-dualism. First, what does dualism mean? Dualism (noun) 1. a theory that considers reality to consist of two irreducible (cannot be reduced or simplified) elements or modes 2. a doctrine that the universe is under…
“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, God’s boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is a caress of God.” —Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 84 I was brought up in a split world. There were sacred things and profane things. Heaven and Earth. Right answers and wrong answers, and the person who got…