Perhaps it started with the Dorothy Day quote I read the other dayOr maybe it was reading that tomorrow, March 8, is International Women’s Day.Or could it have been the fun and crazy voting and cheering on different spiritual giants in the Lent Madness brackets?Now fellow blogger Sarah Bessey is hosting a discussion about strong women. Check out her blog. But I am ready to walk with a strong woman from our Christian history.When I entered the program to become a spiritual director we picked someone to study. I chose, no, I believe she chose me - Dorothy Day. For two years I read her writings and other books people wrote about her. I really felt like she accompanied me on that part of my journey.Last June on retreat, Teresa of Avila sat with me.Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1I compiled a list of … [Read more...]
Spiritual Practices of Reading and Retreating
Reading and retreating - going on a retreat - are two practices that nourish our spiritual growth. In our everyday hectic distraction-filled life we need to be intentional about what feeds our spirit. Too often we focus on other people’s needs or give into the addiction of busyness. We neglect the holy habits that help us hear, know and love God. Reading My bedside stand has been full of great books that have called to me lately and I thought I would share a few with you. Yes I am one of those types that have many books going at one time. Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva Dawn - I am revisiting this book as I attempt to honor the Sabbath more each week. This book explores the different dimensions of ceasing, resting, embracing and feasting - a very holistically approach to the Sabbath. Daring Greatly - Brene Brown. I mentioned this book on my recent post about Being Stretchedthis year. Brene researches the value of having the courage to be vulnerable and how that can … [Read more...]
God’s Invitation: Lectio Divina
If you are thirsty, there’s water for all. Whoever is poor and penniless can still come and buy the food I sell. There’s no cost—here, have some food, hearty and delicious, and beverages, pure and good.I don’t understand why you spend your money for things that don’t nourish or work so hard for what leaves you empty. Attend to Me and eat what is good; enjoy the richest, most delectable of things.Listen closely, and come even closer. My words will give life, for I will make a covenant with you that cannot be broken, a promise of My enduring presence and support like I gave to David.See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander among the nations.Now you will issue a call to nations from all over the world - people whom you do not know and who do not know you. They will come running, because of Me, your God because the Eternal, the Holy One of Israel, has made you beautiful.Isaiah 55: 1-5 (The Voice)come here; comecome even closer.your Godhas made you … [Read more...]
God is With Us – Lenten Quote – Edwina Gateley
God is With Us - Lenten Quote - Edwina GateleyI know that no matter how far we travel, how much we accomplish, how deeply we suffer, or how joyfully we dance, God is always with us in all of those things for the whole of our life's journey.That dark, silent, and mysterious place stays with us, housing the holy.Like the Lenten experience, there are no extra props. There is just the darkness and the emptiness and, at the very heart of all that the divine presence, the Holy One whom we seek, breathing, hidden within us, eternally loving and waiting.~Edwina Gateley … [Read more...]
Finding My Marker’s Mark
I thought I had bugs flying in my kitchen. First I assumed they were tiny gnats, then possibly a large black fly. I don’t like bugs, especially in my house. But when I stopped and looked again, I realized what I was seeing was a sudden burst of floaters in my left eye. mmm, this isn’t good. First thing the next morning I was at the eye doctor who dilated my eye and didn’t like what he saw. They scheduled me for an appointment right away the eye specialist. Yep, I had a tear in my retina that he promptly repaired with the laser. My eye is healing well with only a few gnats and flies spots still floating by. Both doctors peered deep into the back of my eye. With an intense bright light I think they probably could illuminate everything from my tonsils to my toes. I wonder if they saw any of the secrets and dirt hidden in the corners of my heart? “You have a beauty mark on your retina,” Dr. Pesin told me at my two-week recheck. “Nothing to worry about, … [Read more...]
Winter Wonderings
Here are some winter wonderings. February is the longest month of the year. Or least it always seems that way to me in cold wintry Ohio. I once suggested to God that He move February to between July and August, so we would have an extra month of summer sunshine and one less month of dreary chilly mornings. Of course He never did this; perhaps that is why He is God and I am not. (Anyway some of my friends from the Southern Hemisphere probably wouldn’t have liked that either.) Winter is a time of rest of my soul and reflection. During Lent and this frosty time of year I am wondering today about my Month of Writing Letters, my ongoing lessons about my word(s) of the year: STRETCH and ENOUGH, and my attempts at honoring the Sabbath. Handwritten Letters During Winter About a month ago I wrote about The Lost Art of Handwriting Letters and the Month of Letters Challenge. So far I have written and mailed 26 notes to friends, some I see often and some I haven’t even met. What … [Read more...]
The Hen Protects Her Chicks – An Unusual Symbol of God’s Love – Lectio Divina
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you."He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Luke 13:31-35How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.You a chicken, Lord?This is one Biblical symbol at first I had trouble grasping.Then I watched a hen protect … [Read more...]
Weekend Blessing – Quote of the Week – John O’Donohue
Blessed be the longing that brought you here and that quickens your soul with wonder.May you have the courage to befriend your eternal longing.May you enjoy the critical and creative companionship of the question "Who am I?" and may it brighten your longing.May a secret Providence guide your thought and shelter your feeling.May your mind inhabit your life with the same sureness with which your body belongs to the world.May the sense of something absent enlarge your life.May your soul be as free as the ever-new waves of the sea.May you succumb to the danger of growth.May you live in the neighborhood of wonder.May you belong to love with the wildness of Dance.May you know that you are ever embraced in the kind circle of God.John O'Donohue … [Read more...]