“And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” —Luke 2:12, New American Bible The signs of the times are all around us. They offer a message that’s open to interpretation and they also call us to respond in some way. Sometimes it…
We’re emerging from a darkening, liminal space in the last month of 2020, when it seems crucial to read the signs of the times. Advent is a natural retreat opportunity to reflect on the many signs presented to us and to determine which ones we need to see and hear with new eyes and ears,…
As many begin the season of Advent and, together, we rest in our longing to celebrate the Winter Solstice, we pray this blessing encouraging one another to bear the light. Blessed are you who bear the light in unbearable times, who testify to its endurance amid the unendurable, who bear witness to its persistence when…
One of my favorite ways to hold gratitude is by writing it down! I’ve kept a journal since I was a ten-year-old kid, but seven years ago I dedicated one whole journal to gratitude. This was my special “Gratitude Journal,” and I even wrote that intention on the cover page. It has been meaningful to…
Prophets, storytellers, sages, spiritual writers, poets and artists are calling us to the wild side! It is time to launch ourselves into the arms of the Beloved, to allow our full sensorium to embrace the numinous world (David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous, Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World, 1996). Spiritual author Cynthia Bourgeault has reminded us…
On this day after Thanksgiving, we pray with one of our favorite scripture scholars and Spirituality in the 21st Century speakers, Walter Brueggeman. In this evocative prayer, Walter risks naming the truth about us, about the world, and about the generous God within whom we pray. May this prayer pray us. The gratitude we intend…
Wagging dogs and insightful blogs. Loving mothers and significant others. Bumble bees and willow trees. Fine wine and reading time. Arts and crafts and emotional life rafts. This Thanksgiving, and every day, I am grateful for the big and little things that make up my life. This practice of gratitude was instilled in me at…
One of my favorite books of all time is Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue. He writes that “time as a rhythm of soul has an eternal dimension where everything is gathered and minded. Here nothing is lost. This is a great consolation: The happenings in your life do not disappear.…
A virus that attacks respiration has many of us focusing on our breath. In his recent essay on “The Meaning of Air,” Boyce Upholt takes us through a journey of the chemical composition of air, its place in natural and cultural evolution, and the disproportionate and deleterious effects of Industrial Era pollution on communities of…
While on the Spiritual Renewal Day, I was walking at Prairiewoods on the afternoon of Nov. 9, 2020, and as always when I’m there, the beauty of God’s Creation struck me. I had every intention of going to the labyrinth and walking the labyrinth, one of my favorite things to do. However, God had something…