A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.
God’s activity is not confined to what we do when we assemble to worship, not confined to what goes on inside church. The Spirit of God will not be confined, controlled or contained. Stay alert and full of prayerful expectancy, so as to recognize the activity of the Spirit, to see the Kingdom of God at work in unexpected places.
-Br. Geoffrey Tristram
Society of Saint John the Evangelist
Ready, Set . . . Wait?
Richard Foster reminds us that prior to giving the Great Commission, Jesus told his disciples to wait. We too must wait if we expect to go in power. “Anyone can go, “ says Foster, “but few there are that go in power.” Foster calls this a “Jerusalem wait,” and encourages us to wait and listen ourselves.
From Renovare.
Categorical Imperatives
Is that nagging obligation we feel inside God’s voice or our own conscience? A feeling of guilt does not necessarily indicate that we did something wrong, says Fr. Ron Rolheiser, “It only tells us how we feel about what we did, and that feeling can be healthy or unhealthy. Perhaps we didn’t do anything wrong at all, but are only wounded and neurotic.”
Learn more about Ron Rolheiser.
Engaging with God in Challenge
Sometimes the path to God goes through hard struggles. Brother Jack Crowley of the Society of St. John the Evangelist writes about his struggle with stuttering as a child. “I can see how God has engaged with me through the challenges I faced,” he says. “I would not have the relationship I have with God if it were not for that challenge.”
Read or listen to the reflection.
From the Society of St. John the Evangelist.
Be Weird
Our society tends to separate love into earthly love and spiritual love, not understanding that earthiness is a form of spirituality. In older times those who were regarded as wise elders were said to have one foot in daily life and the other foot in the otherworld. We have to learn how to survive as earthbound creatures while feeding our spirituality.
From Medium.
Exploring Sophia/Seeking wisdom
Where will we find wisdom? In darkness and in light, in seeing beyond what is right before us, in accepting and in letting go. Using the book The Star in My Heart by Joyce Rupp, our seven-week study seeks wisdom in these experiences and more. Use it for your personal study or with small groups.
Material for the study is on our website at https://wisdomyears.org/exploring-sophia-2/
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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