Good morning... Resting amid a golden cloth, green branches and red berries, the baby Jesus was swaddled on the altar at the Ignatius House Retreat Center. Surrounded by Christmas ornaments, glowing candles and the winter woods, the hands of the Christ child were held open and uplifted. The moving image took my breath away. So real. Sacred. Powerful. [...]
Good morning... In our women's Advent retreat schedule, at 5:00 pm Saturday night there was a communion mass to which we were all invited. Privately, my spirit wondered, "What time is sunset?" I love to do a photo shoot with the setting sun whenever I am at Ignatius House Retreat Center, so I googled "When is sunset in [...]
Good morning... "And above all," says the Roald Dahl quote tucked in a beautiful thank you card, "watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." Watching with glittering eyes, I have seen the magic of [...]
Good morning... Over Thanksgiving break we were up before anyone else in our family, so my oldest daughter and I enjoyed coffee and a great conversation. I asked her, "So what new thing is God teaching you right now?" Since she has left her job as a medical assistant and is now meeting with people who are interested [...]
Good morning... Along with sharing Henri Nouwen's words of wisdom, the Henri Nouwen Society has been counting down to this day: GivingTuesday. In researching the concept, I learn from Wikipedia that "GivingTuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for the purposes of hashtag activism, is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It is touted as a 'global generosity [...]
Good morning... Okay, so you know I tried a new thing yesterday. I did not write a blog post, on purpose. It was Sunday, the very first day I intentionally practiced the art of Sabbath-keeping, setting apart the seventh day of the week as a day of rest, honoring the sacred rhythm set forth by God at the [...]
Good morning... "Sue," she emailed me after yesterday's message, Pause And Restore. "Thank you for your post today! As someone who too often equates productivity with value, it’s hard for me to rest. I focus on my never ending to do lists and all of the things I should be doing. It’s nice to be given 'permission' to [...]
Good morning... On the seventh day—with the canvas of the cosmos completed—God paused from His labor and rested. Thus God blessed day seven and made it special—an open time for pause and restoration, a sacred zone of Sabbath-keeping, because God rested from all the work He had done in creation that day (Genesis 2:2-3, VOICE). "God’s rest on [...]
Good morning... "Discernment is first of all a habit, a way of seeing that eventually permeates our whole life," explains our post from yesterday, Angels Among Us. "It is the journey from spiritual blindness (not seeing God anywhere or seeing him only where we are expecting to see him) to spiritual sight (finding God everywhere, especially where we [...]
Good morning... In cleaning our home to welcome our guests later this afternoon, I ran across a book I had totally forgotten about. Underlined. Highlighted. Circled and starred. A few years back I devoured each page during my two year training to become a spiritual director. Guided by the Spirit, I am now drawn to dog-eared page number [...]
