Gathered Wisdom, April 26, 2022

A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey.  From The Wisdom Years.

In the face of many odds, you are a survivor; your life has extended into this new day.
Past events in your life may have just killed you, but look at you.
You’ve come back to life.
It’s not just Jesus who is a walking miracle; you also are a walking miracle.

-Br. Curtis Almquist
Society of Saint John the Evangelist

Resurrection Faith 

When the women went to the tomb on Easter morning and found it empty, they ran to tell the disciples.  But the men did not believe them; they thought it was nonsense.  That happens a lot in the post resurrection stories: “No one believes in the good news of Jesus’ resurrection when they first hear it,” says Brother David Vryhof of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. It’s not surprising, he adds. 

Read the rest of the essay.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Huge Stones and Locked Doors

Two resurrection images stand out in Fr. Ron Rolheiser’s mind: locked doors and the stone being rolled away. “These images remind us of what often separates us from the grace of the resurrection,” says Rolheiser. “Sometimes for that grace to find us, someone must ‘roll away the stone’ that entombs us and sometimes the resurrection must come to us ‘through locked doors,’” he says.

Read the essay.

From Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

The News of the Heart: Balance in Hard Times

There is news of the world, which can be overwhelmingly distressing lately, and there is news of the heart – that the world is still filled with extraordinary people of good heart and spirit.  We can shift the news we encounter and the news we generate by simply observing and practicing small acts of kindness.

Read the essay.

Found in Kolbe Times.

A Promise for All Creation

Writing on Earth Day (April 22) Richard Rohr declares that in the resurrection of Jesus, God redeems the whole of creation. We will find the risen Christ everywhere we look – in a budding dogwood tree, in our neighbors, in the shining sun and  baby plants pushing through the dirt for another season. We are an Easter people, and we are called to live in the hope of new life everywhere.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

As National Poetry Month ends, we offer a poem by Wendell Berry. Thanks to one of our readers for sending it.

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.

Read the rest of the poem.

Found on Bookpeople.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

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