Importance of Prairiewoods

As a new Board Member to Prairiewoods, I just want to say why I think Prairiewoods is important. The first thing comes from my faith: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). So caring for creation should derive from your faith, which it does from the foundresses of Prairiewoods, whose spirituality…

A Time of Transition

At Prairiewoods, we are going through a time of great change. This transitional period can rock us or make us rock-strong. When your small staff of 16 is suddenly down three members, as ours is at Prairiewoods, it feels like a lot of change all at once. And that change can feel anxiety-inducing. However, it…

The Sparrows Sing Their Spring Song

I write this poem in memory of the friends that the Prairiewoods community has lost. THE SPARROWS SING THEIR SPRING SONG The sparrows sing their morning sun song from the soon-to-be-greening boughs. This day, though, breaks without you— our hearts are aching with sorrow. Then, a soft flicker and flutter of feathers— the sparrows rise…

There Is No Table Long Enough

Among many haunting images regarding the incomprehensible, unconscionable situation in Ukraine are images of Vladimir Putin seated at the end of very long tables for meetings with individual Russian government ministers. The disturbing disconnection portrayed in these images stirred a meditation in my own prayer. I began to envision the myriad of people missing from…

The Particularity of Loss

This week the world passed the 6 million mark for recorded deaths from Covid. It is a staggering number, one that is difficult to wrap our heads around. Yet each loss is personal and has profound significance for those who knew and loved that person. One of those we lost in 2020 (though not to…

Prairiewoods Phased Pandemic Response

Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center has worked for decades within a global learning community to co-create the “more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.” The Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing global environmental crisis unmask glaring inequalities that must give way to the common good. We mourn with all who have lost loved ones, with all who…

Send Love. It Matters.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine, putting in danger Ukraine’s more than 44 million residents and our global sense of balance. In the days since, the fighting has been relentless. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been displaced, while others are watching the fighting surround them in their homes. Right…