Good morning... In October, many of us contributed items to fill fifteen welcome bags for the Ignatian Spirituality Project (ISP) retreat for women recovering from homelessness and addiction. God's blessing shone all over our collective generosity. What a wild fishes and loaves experience! This morning, sixteen women from two nearby residential rehab programs will be picked up at [...]
Good morning... Many of us were watching Monday Night Football when a 24-year-old player stood up after a tackle then collapsed to the ground. Play was stopped and the game was suspended as Damar Hamlin received CPR on the field before being taken by ambulance to the nearby hospital. Hamlin remains in critical condition. "Pray for this sweet [...]
Good morning... Trash piles high this time of year. Empty boxes. Used wrapping paper. Unneeded extras of all kinds. Into my own mess of excess, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer shares a short, thought-provoking poem. carrying out the trash this, too, a holy path Small. Simple. Stimulating. My mind plays with ideas sparked. To carry out the trash, one must have [...]
Good morning... In a week that "should" be festive and fun, many people I love are wrestling with some really hard things. Hearing the heaviness of others, I am prayerfully drawn down into a sense of melancholy blue. The grueling impact of cancer. An untrue accusation drives a long legal battle. The ugly cycle of marital strife is [...]
Good morning... As the days shorten and the nights stretch long, we are instinctively drawn into holy hibernation. During these dark winter months, we stay inside more, watching and waiting for the life of Christ to be born in us anew. We are each miraculously made, hardwired to thrive in the silent dark, like babies in the womb, [...]
Good morning... In good times and in bad, "soul friends" surround us. We are God-with-skin-on to one another. It's as if the Holy Spirit-in-me and the Holy Spirit-in- you enjoy life-giving conversations. Yesterday in our final Friday morning class, we revisited a favorite quote about what it means to be a "soul friend." ****** Excerpt from Simple Faith [...]
Good morning... Most of us have heard that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but the fight became deeply personal for me when I received a text from a friend on October 12th at 7:34 am. "Thank you for your message this morning, Courage Is Rekindled," she wrote. "God spoke to me through you in a mighty way! [...]
Good morning... She shared this reading out loud with us. By the end, her eyes were wet with tears. ****** The voice of despair says, “I sin over and over again. After endless promises to myself and others to do better next time, I find myself back again in the old dark places. Forget about trying to change. [...]
Good morning... Her son, Finn, was born on 9/11/04, three years after so many innocent people lost their lives on one horrible day. Finn himself died on 8/14/21, taking his own life. Sharing a poem yesterday, on would have been Finn's 18th birthday, this grieving mom embodies the art of being with someone who is gone. ****** A [...]
Good morning... I was delighted to receive the photo above from LaTonya Gates, founder and director of PAWkids, a vibrant non-profit in downtown Atlanta. "Let the ladies know THEY blessed her greatly," LaTonya texted yesterday from Krakow, Poland, where our written word ministry helped support her trip to deliver Crates for Ukraine. Last Saturday, before LaTonya left [...]
