I recently found a collection of nature essays by Thomas Merton called When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature, edited by Kathleen Deignan. The title really caught my attention. How can that be, I asked? The trees talk to me every day. I cannot imagine a world when they say nothing, one where we…
An essential principle of ecological spirituality is multi-disciplinary wisdom. It is a phrase that sounds academic and not particularly spiritual. Other words we might use for the same idea are interconnection and interdependence. It means that the path to flourishing for people and the planet has been laid by many hands over thousands of years.…
Just Sitting is related to the full moon, tides, and that idea that the earth is mostly water and so are we. So I thought it’s not hard to believe that the moon would impact our internal energies and water tides too—if we can tune into them. I call it “just sitting” as this is the…
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.” ―Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire…
Because of love I kneel down here— To a bird, a seed, a story. To a wildflower, a stream, a vision of The light cracking on sky Because of love I leave myself here— On the far side of the place where I thought I was going— Nearer to something that I cannot name, And…
Two events—Prairiewoods’ Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) eight-week class and a weeklong silent retreat—deepened my sense of oneness. Both experiences helped me slow down and become more aware of everything around me. One example is eating. In the MBSR class, we ate a single raisin in excruciatingly slow fashion, first examining it visually, then feeling…
The gas grill on the back of a pickup truck in front of me, as our vehicles zoomed 65 miles per hour down the highway, was a stresser. Could I really trust the grill was securely strapped in? Simply having to ask myself the question made it a lane changer. Three days later, while visiting…
When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come to the…
It is early September 2024. My windows are open, and the symphony of the woods is lilting through the screen. The crickets provide an anchoring hum, birdsong provides a melody, and the gentle, rhythmic movement of the leaves adds percussion to this morning’s serenade. The early sun is resting on the trees, coaxing the woods…
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…