Midweek Meditation - Do You Have a Co-Creator's Heart?

       While in prayer this morning, a particular one jumped out at me, from Jon Sweeney's The Saint Clare Prayer Book: Listening for God's Leading.  I want to share it now with other spiritual directors, like me, who pray for their ministry and their directees. 

May you have tremendous joy,

obtaining the one thing worth desiring,

but remain surprised by God, 

with awe for God's gift in you.

Be an essential co-worker in the heavenly field,

a co-creator in the work of God,

a support for the Body of Christ.

Amen.

This prayer is meaningful, of course, for anyone who follows Jesus and understands that God's kingdom is now. Chances are, that if you read this blog, you probably minister  to others in big and small ways: Volunteering on church committees, helping at food pantries and soup kitchens, tutoring children, donating money to charities when time is a rare commodity, spending time with the lonely, welcoming the marginalized, and loving and forgiving our neighbors, including the ones we live with in our home. 

As a spiritual director, this prayer resonates with me though, as I do get to experience a lot of "joy" listening to others as they choose to walk life's paths with a loving and compassionate God.  And even when the path is extremely bumpy or when God seems nowhere about, I do "remain surprised" by how God has worked within hearts and minds to have them join me for that hour once a month.  

In this troubled world, the harvest seems not quite as plentiful as it did earlier in my life. But that's what the enemy of our souls wants us to believe by all the bad news we read and hear. When permitted, the Holy Spirit still blows open the windows and doors of our hearts - and our churches - to allow the always-creating God to move us to do the "work of God" in our own unique ways and with our own distinct gifts. 

So for this midweek meditation, consider asking yourself these questions and giving Christ time to provide the answers:

+ In what specific ways do I support the Body of Christ?  When and where am I working in this heavenly field?

+ What is it that I do for God's kingdom that springs forth as a gift within me, a gift from my Creator?  Have I thanked God for that gift? Have I asked God how to use my gifts even more?

+ What have I done for Christ in the past?  What can I do for Christ today?  What may I do for Christ with my future? (Based on The Spiritual Exercises by Ignatius of Loyola.)

In all you do today, may you continue to be amazed and delighted by God!

💙

A Youthful Heart

      Today is my birthday, on which - as the years rush by - I always take time to pause and reflect over those years and the ones ahead.  Yesterday's Psalm reading is a favorite of mine, as it reminds me that no matter where I go, what I do, at what stage of my life, and even before I was born, God knew me and loved me.  God sees and knows all that I do and everything I am about to say, yet God gives me the ability to choose my path, to choose God or to go in another direction.  Yet even when I have been led astray through weakness or at the prompting of my soul's enemy, I am free to return to God ... and God patiently waits.  So I offer you this reading from Psalm 139.

O Lord, you have probed me and you know me; 
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.

Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before, you hem me in
and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your spirit?
from your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast...

Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my  mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully,
wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes have seen my actions;
in your book they are all written;
my days were limited before one of them existed.
How weighty are your designs, O God;
how vast the sum of them!
Were I to recount them, they would
outnumber the sands;
did I reach the end of them, I should still be with you...

Probe me, O God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my thoughts;
See if my way is crooked,
and lead me in the way of old.

💙

Midweek Meditation - The Heart You Want to Offer

       Each morning when we awake, we have an opportunity to choose to put on Christ, to wear our love for God on our sleeve, to let the Holy Spirit guide our day.  Recently I have had someone disappoint me, appear to lie - and it's not the first time.  So I've come to realize that what to do with this type of relationship is up to me.  I can't expect this person to change; I know how hard it is to want to change, much less to actually do the changing.  So I can only want to change myself ... and to take it farther, to become the person that I want to be in the face of whatever Life throws at me.

I can't help but think about the countless times that Jesus was disappointed according to scripture.  He lived a life of clarity and truth, of compassion and prayer, and yet everyone seemed to question who He was, where He came from, and by whose authority He did what He did - even those who knew him the best.  I think of how when the rooster crowed, right before His Passion and Death, how He turned to look at Peter.  The man that Christ would give His future Church to didn't have the courage to be truthful, when fear overtook him.

So this Midweek Meditation is about the type of heart that we want to have and how we want to offer it to God and to our neighbors.  Here's a few questions I will ponder, and offer to you, today:

 Do I live up to my potential as a child of God?

Am I living an authentic life, being the person that God created me to be?

Can love exist when there's fear or mistrust?

Do I have a "clean heart"? (Psalm 51)

Do I disappoint myself? Others?

With the help of the Holy Spirit, I can become the person that I hope to be: patient, kind, generous, loving, peace-filled, joyful, modest, self-disciplined, good, and faithful.  Will I disappoint myself and others?  Yes, because I'm human and so is everyone else on this earth.  Therefore, what I want from others, I must want from myself: A Heart Worthy to Offer.  💙

Your Unique Heart

The Prayer of Cyrus Brown
By Sam Walter Foss (1858 – 1911)

"The proper way for a man to pray,"
Said Deacon Lemuel Keys,
"and the only proper attitude
is down upon his knees."

"No, I should say the way to pray,"
Said Rev. Dr. Wise,
"is standing straight with outstretched arms
And rapt and upturned eyes."

"Oh, no, no, no"
Said Elmer Slow.
"Such posture is too proud.
a man should pray with eyes closed and head bowed."

"Seems to me his hands should be
austerely clasped in front,
with both thumbs pointing toward the ground,"
said Rev. Dr. Blunt.

"Last year I fell in Hitchkin's well,
headfirst," said Cyrus Brown,
"and both my heels were stickin' up
and my head was a pointin' down.

"And I made a prayer right then and there,
the best prayer I ever said.
the prayin'est prayer I ever prayed
was standin' on my head."

I imagine that some of you have read this poem before, but seeing it today, in my readings, was a first for me.  I loved it, as it reminds me of how often people get caught-up in these types of questions:

Am I praying enough?

Am I praying the right way?

Am I praying at the right time?

Am I saying the right words?

Am I being heard by God?

I think the answers are found between you and God…

Is God nudging you to spend more time with him, and then you think you'll get to God later?

Are you going to God in prayer in such a way that you are speaking whole-heartedly?  Or are you holding back part of yourself or allowing too many interruptions to occur?

God is ever-present, so there’s no time like the present to pray!

Are you being your authentic self when you speak to God?  Or are you caught up in elaborate words that are meaningless to you AND to God?  Are you giving God lip service or giving your unique heart?

God is ever-present, so God is always listening.  God is Love, so God longs to hear from God's beloved children. 

If you want to have a prayer practice that works for you, then practice in your prayer.  If one way doesn’t come sincerely from your heart, then try another way.  John Chapman, OSB, advised people to “Pray as you can, not as you cannot.”  God made you a unique and beloved person.  Go to God with that in mind, knowing you are irreplaceable and loved by God.  Start slowly, if you must, but do start.  Be your authentic self in all you do, including in your prayer.  This means, get to know God and get to know the person that God wants you to be! 

💙

Heart of a Pilgrim - Part II

       Buona Sera, or good afternoon/evening, as they say in Italy at this time of day.  I think the jet lag is beginning to give way to days of my usual energy and ability to stay awake past 9:00 at night! One good practice that came out of going to Italy - besides searching for and finding real Italian gelato at the local Harris Teeter grocery - is to walk every day again.  I had stopped running after chemo and walking had ceased being a pleasure any more.  But once you go to Tuscany and Umbria, you learn to walk cobblestone streets - that literally go up both ways - and I can feel that I am stronger than before we left the United States.  So walking has become part of my (almost) daily routine again.  

Sometimes I picture myself walking the holy ground that we hearty pilgrims walked during the trip, instead of the rolling hills where I live. I picture again standing for Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis, just feet away from his tomb.  We walked parts of the small monastery (built in 1224) on an island, off the City of Venice, where Francis spent 40 days in prayer after making a pilgrimage himself to the Holy Land.  I walked up and down the simple, narrow stairs that St. Clare and her order of nuns, the Poor Clares, walked every day of their cloistered lives and looked out the windows at the peaceful views that had to bring them closer to God.  We walked through the streets of Assisi to the Basilica of St. Clare where she is buried and where the Cross of San Damiano hangs.  I still have to pinch myself to be sure I was really there!  Sometimes I feel like getting on a plane to go back and see it all again, on my own, without a tour guide and without restrictions of time that great tours and well-laid plans require.  I'm glad to be home, but I want to go back.

I promised myself that I would journal every day on this trip.  I journaled just twice.  And then I only had enough energy to write where we'd gone and what we'd seen.  I never did write about what all of these sights and experiences meant to me, to my faith, and to my life.  It was a beautifully tiring whirlwind of awe-inspiring art, deeply spiritual places, and examples of profound love of the Trinity.  

I also promised myself to come home with a new attitude of even deeper gratitude for all my many blessings.  The most important being my gift of faith, and being able to get to know the saintly men and women of faith that devoted their lives to Christ and His teachings. They have set such keen examples!  And I want my life to be changed as theirs were changed: Toward a relationship with God that becomes palpable to me, that changes not only my actions but also my heart and my thoughts and my words.  As I write this, I see that this trip to Italy has done far more than show me some of the most beautiful sights I ever could hope to see.  Assisi, in particular, will live in my heart forever.  May it be so!  💙

The Heart of a Pilgrim - Part I

       I recently returned from a 12-day pilgrimage to Italy.  The time away focused on the life and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi.  It feels like I've just begun processing what I saw and felt and experienced during that time.  I have much to unpack, even now, after my luggage is put away and my laundry is done.  

My trip to Italy was my first time out of the United States.  I was with 30+ other pilgrims, and so I was in a kind of insular bubble of translator, brilliant tour guides, and meals prepared by some of the finest restaurants.  But when I stepped out on my own, I found the Italian people to be kind, gracious, and more than willing to speak English when all I could say was “Buongiorgno, Scusami, Grazie, and Prego” in what was a decidedly American accent, I’m sure.

Our group traveled first to Assisi, home to St. Francis and St. Clare.  We then went to Siena, home to St. Catherine, to Florence, and then ended in Venice.  Throughout the time, we were greeted with beautifully sunny (and really warm) late summer days and nights, and it wasn’t until we were in Venice that we saw early morning cloudiness – which gave way in no time to glorious skies.  There was a palpable presence of God everywhere we went.  Every corner, every view, every window provided an amazing picture-postcard sight!  I can’t begin to describe what I saw and how I had to keep reminding myself that I was really walking the streets where Francis and Clare walked as youngsters, and that I was viewing the room where Catherine of Siena spent countless hours in prayer. And these type of experiences went on and on.  Like I wrote, I am just beginning to unpack this experience… How do I come down from The Mountaintop and go back to my regular life?

I think the answer is that I don’t.

It’s not because I stayed in fine hotels, drank wine at most every meal, and enjoyed days of gastronomical delicacies – it’s because I was hungering for more, before I left that makes it impossible to return to my regular life.  Because now I feel satiated.

The hunger I felt before I left home was for a deeper life with Christ, but I hadn’t been able to identify what it was exactly, until I recognized it on our trip.  I think I had become a little too complacent in my prayer life, on some days.  I think I walked around with my own self-assurance of God’s Love, but I wasn’t spending the time with God that I need and want in order to maintain that relationship.  How can I keep my love for God fresh and new when I don’t spend time with Jesus, or when I don’t listen for the Holy Spirit?

I will be starting The Spiritual Exercises again in two weeks.  This retreat in daily life changed my life forever, when I completed it two years ago, and it helped me with consolations to continue on the path that I walk today.  This time though I will be experiencing the Exercises in a group setting, rather than one-on-one with my spiritual director.  It will be a whole new way to learn Christ and to follow Him, and I hope it will create community for me as well.

I loved experiencing my pilgrimage to Italy in a community of strong Christians and with our two accompanying Franciscan friars.  We are not meant to be completely alone in our journeys – not necessarily – and not in the beginning.  It is good to have the fellowship of others, as we grow in our love of God and in our life of prayer.

I leave you today with this prayer that was recorded in one of the earliest documents about St. Francis, in the 1200s.  He spoke it before the cross of San Damiano in Assisi…

Most high and glorious God,

enlighten the darkness of my heart

and give me

truer faith,

more certain hope,

and perfect charity,

sense and knowledge of you,

so that I may carry out

your holy and true command

for my life.

From this Prayerful Heart to yours,

Pace e Bene – Peace and all Good!
💙

Midweek Meditation - The Heart of a Reluctantly Famous Man

       Recently I was listening to a discussion about St. Francis of Assisi, and it was brought up how many non-religious people today are seeing him as a great man to follow.  They appreciate that Francis loved nature and animals and has come to be known as a sort of ecologist in our present age.  It was also discussed though that for many he has become merely the saint of the birdbath. But he was a man that was so much more!  And he was the man he became, because of the Son of Man whose life he wanted to follow and to emulate totally.

A few months ago I read a book about St. Francis entitled Reluctant Saint, and a friend recently sent me this link to a 55-minute film based on that densely packed book of his life. When watching it I was struck five minutes into it, how much God wanted Francis's conversion. It was through illness and vulnerability that God took the opportunity to reach into his heart saying in essence, "There is so much more that you can do with your life. You can do something for Me."  Watching that part of the film gave rise to the similar way that God brought about a conversion of heart for me and changed my life too.

So I ask you today to think back over your life - as short or as long as it may be.  Can you see a time when you felt that you were called to something more in life?  Can you remember if you felt a pull toward a sense of calm and peace that would take you away from this world - and maybe even set you apart?  Did you pay attention to that pull?  Did you listen a little, or a lot, to find out what or who was calling out to you?  Or did you brush it away to either come back to it later or to just ignore entirely?  What would happen, if the next time you felt a nudge toward quiet, you then actually stopped to sit within it?  Are you afraid of what you will hear? Does silence frighten you? Are the temptations to keep you going at a hectic pace or doing mind-numbing activities too great?  

If any of this sounds familiar - consider choosing a time and place where you can be comfortably still and silent, slowing your breath, and quieting your mind.  Then ask for that pull toward peace, that longing for something more profound to come back to you. I can say with almost certainty that it will, if you're patient and persistent in your attempts.  Who or what do you think will be in that silence?  Who does your heart tell you is the One calling to you? 

As Donald Spoto, the author of the book, says in the film, "Conversion is the work of a lifetime..." Allow God to love you and have access to your heart and mind so you will find the way to live in peace with yourself, with others, and with your Creator. With peace will come "more"!

So for today, even though we can't all be canonized saints, we are called to try to be one!   Take time to quiet yourself and listen.  Who knows, today may be the day that your heart is lovingly changed forever. 

Blessings of peace for you today and every day.

💙

From the Heart of a Child of God

“Grateful Child”

Gracious Heavenly Father, Warm and Nurturing Mother,

How hard it is to call you Father or Mother at times,

because of the sorrowful ways

that I was sometimes treated

by my own earthly parents.

But regardless, Your many Names remain holy

And extraordinary to me, because

You created all that is good… yes,

You that is Goodness Itself.

You created me, for reasons You alone

know, within my particular family.

I thank you, Abba God,

for the lessons I learned and the

graces I received through them.

Mother God, I am grateful for countless things;

thank you for my daily bread,

for the very air I breathe,

and for all that I take for granted that was

given by your Holy Hand.

Forgive me, Holy Parent, for the times

that I forget your continuous Presence

within and around me.

It is You in Whom I live and move and have my being.

Help me to forgive others, and remind me

that they also live in

Your Light and in Your Love.

For all glory, all honor, and all love

are Yours – in the Now and in the splendid Not-Yet.

I pray in the Name of your Son, who is

my Savior… and the whole world’s.

 Amen.

I wrote this prayer several months ago for people who have a hard time thinking of God as only a man or as only a woman.  I wrote it also for the faithful who have trouble calling God their Father, because of their wounded childhoods.  And it was written for those who cannot think of God as their Mother, because of their wounded childhoods.

Whatever name or pronoun you need to use in order to grow in our relationship with God, I encourage you to use it.  God knows our brokenness and understands when we have trouble speaking to the Holy Presence.  God wants to help preserve our hope when life is hard and to grace us with strength through our worst anxieties.  

May God's Peace be with you.  💙

Following a Jesuit Heart

Hello Friends!  I realized this morning that I have not written in a number of days and so am taking about 15 minutes before dashing out the door again.  I have been busy preparing for a number of upcoming events in the Triangle area and in my own personal life. 

So when I sat down to write, I thought about my friends and followers in general, who hear me talk about “The Jesuits” so often.  Almost every book I have in my spiritual direction library was written by a Jesuit. Ninety percent of the books on spirituality and relationship with God that I recommend were written by a Jesuit.  The Original Jesuit, St. Ignatius of Loyola, is the spirituality within which I live and practice spiritual direction.  So I have a Jesuit-ly Prayerful Heart, I hope.  😊

I pass on an amusing (and informative) little YouTube clip from a series presented by two young and fun-loving Jesuit priests.  They appear to love their lives and are deeply devoted to their relationship with the Lord.  Their enjoyment made me smile, so I wanted to share it with you and ask that you click here to watch.  I hope you enjoy it too.  Take care and God bless you!  

💙

Midweek Meditation - What's on Your Heart Today?

       Every Wednesday morning, from 8:30 to 9:00, I try to meet up on a conference call with other contemplatives to pray for the world.  This call happens faithfully (no pun intended) because of Shalem Institute, and anyone can join us.  No matter how little or how often you can be on the call, all are welcome – from all (or no) faith backgrounds.

We start the half hour with someone, like me, a graduate of a Shalem program, who leads us into 15 minutes of silence via prayer, poetry, a reading from varied sacred scriptures, famous authors, or occasionally by visualization.  Sometimes the leader will remind us of something currently going on in our world that needs God’s healing.  And at the end of our time of silence, we come together to voluntarily share anything that we feel strongly about – whether a word from or a sense of God – and we say our name and from where we are calling.  It is so good to hear familiar names, week after week, but it's also a bit exciting when someone new or from far away shares what is on their hearts.

So… What is on your heart today?  

Are you troubled by anything in particular, in your life or in the lives of our worldwide sisters and brothers?  Are you pleased about something that’s happened or about to take place for you?  Are you feeling lonely, unusually anxious, unsure?  Or are you feeling content, grateful, at peace? Whatever is going on within you today, God already knows about it.  So talk with God about what’s on your heart. Sometimes just talking to God will help you ease your loneliness, find an answer, or increase your feeling of happiness.  And then LISTEN.

💙

Click here to learn more about Shalem Institute's

Prayers for the World

God's Promises for Our Hearts

      My heart is full of thankfulness and joy, because of God's great love for me - and how He continues to show it through the people God has brought into my life in the last two months.  When you ask the Lord to bless you with the desires of your heart, you will be bowled over by the generosity of the Holy Spirit.  God always gives more greatly than anything you or I can imagine!

I share with you a song that makes me often cry (or at least tear-up) each time I hear it or sing its words of promise and praise.  I hope it will bring you a couple of minutes to ponder on the great mystery of God and all that our Creator lovingly offers to us in this world and the next.

Enjoy this song - Eye Has Not Seen - and I hope you hum it the rest of the day!  If you remember nothing more than the first line of the refrain, then offer it up as prayer...

"Eye has not seen,

ear has not heard,

what God has ready

for those who love him."

- Marty Haugen

💙

Today's Prayerful Heart

Blessed Trinity, one God,

I thank you for bringing me to this new day.

I want to dedicate it 

in the way that pleases You, my Creator.

I want to live it like Jesus,

consumed by His love for You.

I want to listen for the

Holy Spirit to lead me

into the places and into the lives 

of those I can help the most today -

in other words,

by doing Your Will.

Let me see the face of Christ

in everyone I meet - 

even if the only face I see today 

is the one in the mirror.

Allow me to hear your

soft voice and to feel your

gentle nudgings toward what I can do 

for You and for others.

And remind me that what I do for others

I do for You.

Give me the grace

to appreciate everything

that You have given freely

to me - body, mind, and spirit -

so I can live my day

giving all deserving glory

back to you.

These are the ways that

I want to live out my day.

But, for me,

the question always remains,

"How will I actually live out this day?"

💙

A Grateful Heart

“All the way to heaven is heaven, 

because Jesus said, "I am the way.”
― St. Catherine of Siena   

       I look around me on this August day in late summer, and I notice already the beginning of the end of this season.  My tomato plant-in-a-pot, known as "Tommy" to my friends, is wild with blossoms and new fruit sprouting out everywhere.  I have gone to battle first with Japanese beetles and then with hornworms, and their relentless offspring, to get here, without chemicals and insecticides.  Harvest time is fast approaching!

I see some reddish-tinted leaves beginning to fall from the crape myrtle in our backyard.  The late afternoon and evening sunlight is coming through the living room windows at a different angle these days.  Earth is shifting on her axis.

I notice that the day doesn't last till 9 p.m. any longer, and dusk arrives sooner and sooner, as we now head into September.  Before we know it, we'll be wearing soft, comforting sweaters and drinking warm beverages from our favorite mugs.

But until autumn really gets here, I'm going to enjoy every last moment of daylight, each warm evening, and the feel of a fan's cool caress, as I fall asleep.  Life is so good, and sometimes we're too busy to notice...

I often think about what St. Catherine of Siena exclaimed, "All the way to heaven is heaven," as I enjoy the gift of God's creativeness in vast ways.  "All the way to heaven is heaven," as I feel God's love through my friends, family, and even my cat.  "All the way to heaven is heaven," as I choose Christ as my model for the rest of life on earth and continuing to follow him toward life eternal.  May you too feel heaven in the unique way that God offers it to you today.  💙

Midweek Meditation: The Heart of a Child

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 

'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'

He called a child, whom He put among them and said,

'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children,

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  

Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest

in the kingdom of heaven. 

Whoever welcomes one such child in my name 

welcomes me....

Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones;

for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see

the face of my Father in heaven.'"

Matthew 18: 1-5, 10

      This past week, I saw the faces of the children whose parent(s) were taken away from their homes and their lives by the employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  And I can't get the image of those innocent, young, sobbing children out of my mind.  

If I can't erase that image, what must it be like for God to have to watch?  Just the very words that Jesus chose to use to speak about children, it shows how much God values and loves us, as we were created to be!  What happens to the humble innocence of the children that Jesus points out in the scripture reading above?  Aren't the children of the world today the same as they were in the time that Jesus walked among us - innocent and humble?  And if not - why don't we protect our children's innocence more closely?  Why is it okay for children to constantly be humbled by those who have the greater power - whether that be at the hands of someone in their home, in their town, or in the world?  Why is it okay for children to know far more about violence and separation than their grandparents knew at that age?  How can we "change and become like children" again so that entrance into the heavenly kingdom is as Jesus promised?  How can we become like children again, when it appears that the world has forgotten what it's like to be a child? 

Pray for the children of the world the rest of this week.  Pray too for the child that still lives within each of us that this child can be found again and allowed to come forth in a new way. Pray not to ask the question of how I can be the greatest in heaven but how to serve the least of these on earth.   💙 

Hearts in a Chapel

       For the first time, last night, I had the pleasure of spending an hour with a contemplative prayer group that meets twice monthly at Chapel in the Pines, a lovely and gracious Presbyterian church in Orange County, NC.  It was a really sweet experience of finding God in place, people, and perception.

The first time I walked into Chapel in the Pines (CITP), a few weeks ago, I was welcomed by the pastor who, you can tell the moment you meet him, is a gentle and unassuming soul.  And when we toured the building and walked into the sanctuary for the first time, I remember catching my breath.  I was touched not only by the natural beauty of the wood and glass sanctuary, but I felt so much more – I felt the Spirit of our Living God.  God is present everywhere at all times, but CITP is one of this world's thin places.

This was my first time to meet with some of the congregants of CITP last night as well.  What friendly folks!  And when we settled in our seats and eventually moved into silence, I could say to myself and to God, “It is good, Lord, to be here.”  I could sense that everyone was there to just BE with God, in order to get to know the Divine more intimately. 

The perception that I took home with me – and is still with me today – is that in this place one can experience God totally, through all our senses: I could see the deep green of the surrounding pines outside the picture windows.  They were an icon to sit with all by themselves.  I could hear the deep silence that helps me to know the Silence better.  I could taste the Bread of Life that was lovingly offered – first by our Lord and then by Pastor Andrew to each of us.  I could breathe in the peace and smell the holy fragrance of God.   And I tangibly could feel the love of God – Father, Christ, and Holy Spirit – being offered to this stranger in the handshakes and hugs of those present.

For anyone who would like to try contemplative prayer, I’m certain that you too will be welcomed at Chapel in the Pines.  They meet on the second and fourth Mondays each month, starting at 6:00 pm. 

For those who would like to read about contemplative prayer, I can personally recommend these books:

Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation

Cynthia Bourgeault’s  The Wisdom Way of Knowing

Tilden Edward’s Living in the Presence

Mary Margaret Funk’s Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life

Thomas Keating’s Open Mind, Open Heart

Peace be with you today.  💙