Hello, dear Prairiewoods family! The other morning, I looked out my kitchen window and saw a monarch butterfly caught in a spider web in the corner of my window. I was both excited to see the monarch and sad that it had been caught in the spider’s web. I wasn’t upset with the spider; I…
“Conversation is perhaps our greatest hope not only for healing the rifts in human understanding but also for restoring and reinspiring our relationship with the natural world, which is our first and most profound home. Care of the world is always essential, and care arises from conversation.” —Thomas Dean, Introduction, Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of…
A few years ago, I saw a woman standing on the side of the road, asking those who passed by in a little Prius or a huge Durango for some spare change and a little compassion. I took a break and sat down with her, this kind, well-worn woman named Dawn. I learned that Dawn…
“Love and say it with your life.” —Augustine of Hippo A recent Saturday afternoon found me driving along gravel roads in rural Benton County, hungry for sites other than the four walls I’ve been staring at for weeks during this spring of self-isolation. I was listening to a podcast called Snap Judgement, and an episode…
I just finished reading a truly heart-awakening book called To Speak for the Trees: My Life’s Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest by Diana Beresford-Kroger, a botanist and medical biochemist from Ireland who was orphaned as a young girl and then raised by her wise Celtic community of relatives…
Imagine you are a student sitting in a classroom. Look around your classroom. Who do you see? Where is your desk? Where does your teacher stand? We know the typical scene well. Students are seated at desks in parallel rows facing the front of the room. The teacher stands at the front of the room.…
“I who have died am alive again today. And this is the Sun’s birthday. This is the birthday of life, and of love, and wings …” —ee cummings, “I Thank You, God, for Most This Amazing” One thing I absolutely love about Sunday is permission to rest, to float, to breathe in, breathe out, breathe…
Hello, Prairiewoods friends! I hope you are faring well today and enjoying this extended weekend. Spring is unfolding beautifully at Prairiewoods, and I am excited to share it with you. Prairiewoods and Metro Catholic Outreach (MCO) have been partnering since 2014 with our shared vegetable garden, the Green Prairie Garden, located on the land at Prairiewoods.…
“Satyagrapha. Satyagrapha. Satyagrapha …” Our global prayer of lament these months echoes a resounding, world-wide plea for satyagrapha, meaning “truth force.” Engaging this energy of passive political resistance has been advocated by many activists throughout history, particularly noted was Mahatma Gandhi in liberating India from oppressive power. Today the pandemic invites us to yet another…
“Then would you read a Sustaining Book, such as would help and comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness.” —A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh Winnie the Pooh is speaking to Christopher Robin while stuck in Rabbit’s doorway after—as usual—he’s eaten too much honey. I’m feeling a bit like Pooh these days, wedged in a time…