Gathered Wisdom, July 26

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

The Sign We Are Given

Sometimes, the most important sign is the one in the rearview mirror that pointed us in the right direction and all we need to do is stay the course until and for as long as it takes the next direction to appear.

– Brother Todd Blackham

Society of St John the Evangelist

Read the full reflection.

From Broken to Beloved

Terry Wardle of Healing Care Ministries shares how an emotional breakdown at the height of his ​“success” in ministry played a pivotal role in moving him from information about God to encounter with God, from performance-oriented to grace-oriented, and from broken to beloved.

Listen to the podcast. (About 30 min)

From Renovare.

The Unworried Well

None of us who are relatively well can imagine what it is like to have a chronic illness. The pain of even those we love the very most . . . loses its “originality” for us. “Their suffering is an idea in our minds, not an endless punch in our guts,” says Courtney Martin, quoting from Alphonse Daudet’s, In the Land of Pain.

Read the reflection.

From The Examined Family.

Human World of Helping

When we try to distance ourselves from the pain of the world, says Terry Hershey, we miss the good stuff too.  “Even in cacophony, we are still connected to one another. We still make a difference. A human world of helping. No one of us is on this journey alone.”

Read the reflection.

From Sabbath Moments by Terry Hershey.

Ignatian Discernment

When he has to make an important decision, priest and writer Lowell Grisham turns to Ignatian discernment – a method of living with each choice for a day and considering the after-effects of each. Does the choice leave you feeling peaceful or with a sense of turbulence?

Read the reflection.

From Joanna Seibert’s Daily Something.

Obstacles to Prayer

Why do we find it hard to pray? We have so much else that tugs at us all day, every day, and, frankly, praying is hard. “Because prayer can seem unreal we often stop doing it,” says Fr. RonRolheiser.  “But it will only seem real if we persevere in it long enough and do it deeply enough. We often give up too soon. Prayer isn’t easy.”

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

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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