In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground … A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now. —Wangari Maathai, Nobel Lecture, Oslo, Dec. 10, 2004…
I never tire of kneeling before the oaks that flank the altar in the chapel, centering myself with the one to the east first, then pivoting south. In their presence it seems more possible to pray, to feel the spirit skittering through me like the squirrel leaping from branch to branch, like the sun climbing…
“Witches can be right; giants can be good” (lyrics from “No One is Alone,” from the Sondheim-Lapine musical “Into the Woods,” 1986). What? We don’t often think of notorious archetypes of evil as fonts of truth or dispensers of reality and goodness. Morality and ego-development are so much easier when our “witches” are bad, and our…
The Irish poet Brendan Kennelly wrote, “Hell is the familiar all stripped of wonder.” Ceasing to marvel at the miracle of ordinary life is a joyless way of being. Yet, life is clearly not all roses and butterflies. Even ordinary life itself provides enough suffering with frequency and magnitude to drain the soul of inspiration.…
All of creation invites us to unify seemingly contrasting energies. Robin Hines and his dog, Odie, faithful friends of Prairiewoods, daily walk the woods and prairie. To Robin’s surprise, Odie and this deer held each other’s gaze for a solid five minutes, extending hospitality to one another. Odie and Robin stop and greet every person…
When Death Comes by Mary Oliver … When it’s over, I want to say all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t…
What are you reading this summer? And what spiritual reading are you doing this summer? I love to read any time of the year, but there’s something about summer reading when the days are longer and the sunlight mingles with the printed word that turns my bookworm self into a book butterfly because my imagination…
One of our three-year-old family mystics teetered precariously on the top step of the stairs, clutching his stuffed “Bun-Buns,” and peering over the abyss. “There’s something down there,” he whispered, eyes wide with primal terror and simultaneous wonderment. VERY still, riveted with one toe over the edge, he listened with all ears, eyes and nose…
What are the sounds of silence? What speaks when we are brave enough to be still? What song does creation sing as we wake to a new language that might sound foreign? As my beloved other Mom propped herself up on one elbow in her hospice room, the wide smile and tears of joy indicated that…
“We do not emerge from a crisis the same; we emerge either better or worse.” To emerge better, we need to “care for nature so that it can care for us.” —Pope Francis, Earth Day message This week we celebrate as a global community the sixth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the care…