Yearly Archives: 2018

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Retreat: Making Time to Remember Our Belovedness

Retreat Making Time to Remember Our Belovedness Life’s challenges have a way of growing up all around us. I sometimes picture myself standing in a field surrounded by weeds I cannot see over. I do my best to push them out of the way, look around them, and pretend like they are not there. But,…
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Calling It To Mind: A Great Conversation On Virtue

Calling It To Mind A Great Conversation On Virtue Most of us take virtue for granted since its absence conjures images of people who are venal, self-absorbed, and indifferent to the common good.  In a recent session of the Great Conversations series, we discovered that a full-face look at virtue helps us to remember the…
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Moderation and Rhythm: A Benedictine Help Against Social Isolation

Moderation and Rhythm: A Benedictine Help Against Social Isolation She lives alone in her house. She stayed there after her husband died and requires oxygen support for 24 hours per day, carrying long tubes around her home that connect her mask to the oxygen tank. She could leave the house with the oxygen, but doesn’t…
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How I Walk with Others in Spiritual Companionship

How I Walk with Others in Spiritual Companionship Some of My Questions Thirty-five years ago spiritual direction found me. At a crossroads in my life, I was seeking some answers. What was my relationship with God? Who and what is God? What does Silence have to do with inner awakening? What gifts did I have…
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Sabbath: Well-being, Not Endless Work

While modern Christians do not often practice Sabbath as regularly as our Jewish brothers and sisters, we still need times when we set aside our task lists to remember that we are created in the image of a God who rested after amazing acts of creation. We need times to step outside of our regular work routines and remember that we are “human beings,” not just “human doings.” These times remind us we are beloved just as we are and that God’s love does not depend on us producing or creating or doing anything.

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The Benedictine Commitment to Learning

We need sacred spaces because they serve as custodians for the treasures found within our faith traditions. This requires the service of faithful custodians in every parish, retreat center, and socially conscious organization precisely because there is so much to learn and discover. Benedict seemed to understand that there is an abundance of wisdom to be harvested as he instructed his followers to keep reading—and praying what they read—their whole lives long.

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Fostering Community: What might IT be?

Fostering Community: What might IT be? I am dazzled by the gold thread of a meaningful conversation and, as if with the paw of a cat, I pull on it and chase it, until it unravels.  That is how I might describe my fall week of residency at the Benedictine Center as I moved in…
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Poem: The Uncluttered Mind

Before my mind is overcome / by news of the world’s woe, / I want to think of water, / fresh, cold water, cascading /
over shelves of jagged rock / and falling like skeins of rich silk. . .

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A New Story

This reflection was written in response to an experience at the Benedictine Center called "Divine Spark: Kindling the Fires of Ministry." A New Story Light from Your presence Sparks my soul The spark and careful tending start a small flame Writing, reflection, good conversation partners, prayer and lectio breathe life into the flame The challenges…
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Art as Spiritual Practice

©Birth of Christ, Luke Frontispiece, Donald Jackson, 2002, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition, © 1993, 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Art…
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