“And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”(Luke 3:22)Yesterday, we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord, putting a punctuation mark at the end of the Christmas season. My favorite daily app, “Pray-As-You-Go” offered some good food for thought based on the full reading from Luke (Luke 3:15-16, 21-22). They suggest calling to mind our own baptism and imaging God saying to us what was said to Jesus, “You are my beloved; with you I…
“The success of your Advent can be measured by your belief and awareness of God’s presence in yourself, in others, and all things.” Edward Hays, “Meeting Christ at Broadway and Bethlehem” Edward Hays, “Meeting Christ at Broadway and Bethlehem” “What are you doing for Advent, Heidi-dear?” I was visiting a former high school teacher while home from college on Christmas break. The Irish Sisters of Mercy tended to call me “Heidi-dear,” either all one word or with a hyphen. I looked at Sr.…
“Without a doubt, that’s the most important aspect of the saints for me: they teach me about being who I am. Each of the saints has been, to quote St. John XXIII, ‘holy in a different way.’ Each was placed in a different situation and time. Each had a different personality and dealt with life differently. And each related to God a little differently.” Fr. James Martin, SJ, “My Life With the Saints” I guess I could say my life with the saints…
“When you take something you possess—your bread and power, your abilities and identities, your comfort and control, your treasured structures and even life itself—and release your attachment to it and make it useful to God’s movement, you are practicing kenosis.” Stephanie Spellers (as quoted in Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, August 12, 2021) I had just read this wonderful meditation (here’s the link to the whole thing) when we had our beginning-of-school staff meeting. We were asked to think of one word we would…
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”(Matthew 7:7)But. What about when it doesn’t seem to work? As I have grown spiritually I find I wrestle with the idea of how God answers prayer. Jesus makes it seem quite cut and dried here, doesn’t he? I’m finding…
…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, self-control…Galatians 5:22-23Today we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus as they huddled together in the Upper Room. Jesus had ascended to the Father and the promised Advocate came to the disciples through wind and tongues of fire, landing on each one individually (today’s first reading—Acts 2:1-21). It must have been quite a scene! The mystery and marvels continued with those receiving the Holy…
“She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared for her by God.” (Revelation 12:5-6)This is certainly an interesting take on motherhood, isn’t it? God takes care of the infant and the woman flees to the desert. That wasn’t really an option, as I remember, when I first became a…
“Trust in the Lord, with all your heart,on your own intelligence rely not;In all your ways be mindful of God,And God will make straight your paths.”Proverbs 3:5-6The pandemic is officially over a year old and hasn’t it been full of unknowns and surprises? Think about what was going on in our lives one year ago. Things were suddenly closed down. Grocery store shelves were empty. A scary disease, we didn’t know anything about, lurked behind every cough or sneeze. Information seemed to be…
“Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair…” John 12:3 “(Jesus) rose from the supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.” John 13:4-5 I’m not sure if I missed this before, but today…
All are Welcome ”Let us build a house where love can dwell And all can safely live, A place where saints and children tell How hearts learn to forgive. Built of hopes and dreams and visions, Rock of faith and vault of grace, Here the love of Christ shall end divisions, All are welcome, all are welcome All are welcome in this place.” Marty Haugen I must admit, I have struggled with this song at times. But not because I don’t love the…
Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. Fr. Richard Rohr, “The Universal Christ” This year, more than most, I feel closer to nature and the changing seasons. It was just about a year ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, I started my long daily walks. It was also the beginning of spring and those vibrant changes filled me with hope. Since I’ve walked pretty much the same route for a year now, I’ve had a front row seat watching creation…
In fact, (St. Paul) dares to say (in Galatians 5:6), nothing else matters except faith expressing itself in love. Brian McLaren, “Faith After Doubt” Every day I walk a three to four-mile route through my neighborhood. It’s part prayer time and part working through the things that are on my plate to deal with (I guess that would mean it should ALL be prayer time!) I live in a semi-businessy area, so there always seems to be a lot of trash discarded along…
Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today our country celebrates the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I can’t think of a better way to begin this historic week than by honoring Dr. King and his message of nonviolence. Our country has experienced heartbreaking violence and yet there is hope…
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God…for God is love.”1 John 4:7-8Picture it: I walk to the store on December 27th to pick up a few groceries. I’m still humming Christmas carols and I’m emitting a bit of a Christmas glow. To my horror I see that the Seasonal aisle is filled with rows and rows of heart-shaped candy boxes! What is this? Valentine’s Day merch already? We went…
“Then, the glory of the Lord will be revealedand all flesh shall see it together.”Isaiah 40:5The other day as I listened to my favorite devotion app (Pray-As-You-Go) this was part of the reading of the day. I love these Advent readings from Isaiah and PAYG always has some lovely, ponderous questions to chew on. The question they asked this day was, “What will the glory of the Lord revealed mean in your life?” Good, huh? I thought about it for quite a while…
“When (Jesus) looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.’”Luke 21:1-4A couple of Sundays ago, we had a wonderful Stewardship sermon from Pastor Gretchen. (When I was Catholic we always…
“Like creation, humans are growing and evolving. Although we bear God’s image, we must learn to fully allow God’s presence within us to shine and to let our self-made masks fall away. Throughout our lives we have many opportunities—small deaths—to be reborn as our True Selves.” Richard Rohr “From the Bottom Up,” Daily Meditation, January 5, 2017 Tweet When I realized I was to write the devotion for Halloween I immediately remembered dressing up as a kid and pretending to be someone else,…
“(Jesus) was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.” (Luke 13:10-13) For most of their lives, my great-grandmothers could not legally vote in the United States. My…
“A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:37-38 I’m afraid I am approaching “overwhelmed” at this point. With the ongoing pandemic, wildfires, racial inequality and injustice, and the upcoming election my anxiety is hammering at my good humor. Any one of these troubling issues can…
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” ~Anne Lamott Tweet I confess to Almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters…that I am addicted to being plugged in. What? You may ask. Isn’t this the lady who goes off to a hermitage twice a year and wanders around in silence watching grasshoppers? You are right, ‘tis I. But let me tell you what I am fleeing FROM when I go to the hermitage.Picture it:…
One Leap at a Time... It isn’t unprecedented that God uses the grasshopper to teach a lesson, right? (Think plague in Egypt!) I was on retreat recently, in the desert near Mesa, Idaho and it appeared to be grasshopper season. I appreciate that grasshoppers are creatures of God, but I can’t figure out why God made so many. A few would have been fine. But, on this retreat, there were hordes of grasshoppers—almost a plague.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in them will bear much fruit…” John 15:5 I walk the same little route around my neighborhood each day and this vine growing through the fence really jumped out at me. The ivy plant encountered a foreboding obstacle in the fence there. But the plant just found a way to grow through the obstacle and keep growing. I find this such a good image for us during these difficult…
“The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.” Revelation 12:6 I, too, flee to the desert twice a year for a silent retreat, but I don’t get to stay twelve hundred and sixty days. I wish! Marymount Hermitage, a place in the desert definitely prepared by God, is located between Cambridge and Council off Highway 95. You have to slow to a…
Hero: (noun) A person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character A person who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal The principal male character in a story, play or film (Heroine, for female) See: submarine sandwich I thought, given today’s proximity to our celebration of Independence Day, it would be nice to reflect on heroes and heroines. The people in our lives who have special achievements, abilities…
Today is the feast of the Holy Trinity, a good time to ponder what the Trinity is about and what it means for our everyday faith journeys. It seems to be a tricky aspect of our Christian faith to explain. But, do we even need to figure it out? What can the Trinity teach us?
“But now ask the beasts to teach you,And the birds of the air to tell you;Or the reptiles on earth to instruct you,And the fish of the sea to inform you.Which of all these does not knowThat the hand of God has done this?In this hand is the soul of every living thing,And the life of all humankind.”Job 12:7-10I live in a treehouse. No, really, I do! It’s actually a third-floor apartment with a balcony overlooking a nice courtyard, but with a beautiful…
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