Inspiration and resources for the journey, gathered from websites, books, and pass-alongs that have been shared with us. From The Wisdom Years – Spirituality for the Last Third of Our Lives.
Collaborate
How do you want to end up? At the end of today? At the end of your life? This requires intention. We have in God both partnership and provision for the cultivation of our soul. God’s invitation is to collaborate – to co-labor – with God in the cultivation of our soul: in our growing whole, free, and real.
-Br. Curtis Almquist
Society of Saint John the Evangelist
Either, Or, and Metaphors
“Our English language divides the world into nouns and verbs or ‘things’ and ‘actions.’ This structure makes us naturally start to compare, compete, and try to control our perceptions.” – Carol Folbre.
Read the rest of this reflection on our Facebook page. Find us at “The Wisdom Years.” Search for the page, not the group.
Practicing What We Preach and Fear
By Joanna Seibert
Are we living the gospel or just talking about it? As Christians, we say we respect the dignity of every human being, but our homes and our pews all look like us. Is fear of losing what we have fostering a scarcity mentality? “Living out of gratitude rather than fear can help us practice what we preach,” says Joanna.
Read the reflection.
More from Joanna Seibert.
Fine art of Christian living
By Joan Chittister
From Vision and Viewpoint newsletter
It is what we do, how we live, where we invest our time in the ordinary days that are the foundation of our Christian lives. The church is currently in the liturgical season of “Ordinary Time,” named for the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) used to name and count the Sundays – such as the Third Sunday after Pentecost. “But the truth is that there is nothing ordinary—if by ordinary we mean inferior or less important—about a period such as this at all,” says Sister Joan Chittister. “This time is the extraordinary period of coming to see the world through the eyes of Jesus. It is the period when we determine how we ourselves will act from now on.”
Read the entire reflection.
More from Joan Chittister.
Listening to the Wisdom of Nature
By Jan Blencowe
From Kolbe Times newsletter
“Silent time in nature is a necessity for me,” says artist and writer Jan Blencowe. She adds that scripture reports stones speaking and listening, trees clapping their hands, and other acts of nature alive. “Nature has been commissioned by her Creator to illuminate and instruct. I sit at her feet and eagerly listen.”
Read the reflection.
This issue of Kolbe Times focuses on wisdom. Read More.
Finding Holiness in the Sanctuary of Difference
By Br. Geoffrey Tristram
Society of St. John the Evangelist
How many of us think that our lives would be better if one particular person just went away? As Bishop Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury said, “A great deal of our politics, our ecclesiastical life, often our personal life as well, is dominated by the assumption that everything would be all right, if only some people would go away.” And too often we use our power to make that happen.
Read or listen to the reflection.
More from Society of St. John The Evangelist.
Streams of Living Water
A Renovare podcast with Richard Foster and James Catford
Richard Foster, author of the groundbreaking book Celebration of Discipline, calls them “streams of living water,” by which he means six great charisms of different church traditions. They are, says Nathan Foster, “treasures tucked away” in various denominations: the contemplative tradition, the holiness tradition, the charismatic tradition, the social justice tradition, the evangelical tradition, and the incarnational tradition. In this podcast, Richard Foster and James Catford discuss how the traditions weave together.
Listen to the podcast.
More from Renovare.
Beginning Again: Benedictine Wisdom for Living with Illness
An online course From Oblate Seminary
With Mary Earle and Ron Rolheiser
Tuesdays, Sept 14 – Nov 2, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. (Central Time)
“Particularly as we grow older, many of us discover that we live with ailments of some sort. These may be minor or they may be demanding chronic conditions or even terminal diagnoses. The challenge becomes, as one person put it, “to give the mess some meaning.” Using Beginning Again: Benedictine Wisdom for Living with Illness by Mary C. Earle, as our text, we will explore ways of crafting a rule of life informed by living with the illness. Class sessions will include prayer and meditation, teaching, journaling, and small group time.”
For more info and to register.
More events from Oblate Seminary.
If you have something to add to Gathered Wisdom, send it to Marjorie George at
marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com
Gathered Wisdom is from The Wisdom Years, a ministry that invites older adults to deepening spirituality in the last third of their lives.
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