A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.
Communion
We do not live in isolation. We are part of something much bigger, and our quest for God must go hand in hand with our quest to live in a right relationship with creation; a relationship not of estrangement, but of union, communion, and harmony.
Br. James Koester, Society of St. John the Evangelist.
A Ripening Mind and Heart
Richard Rohr describes our later years as a time of ripening. At its best, says Rohr, ripening is a slow, patient learning, and sometimes even a happy letting go—a seeming emptying out to create readiness for a new kind of fullness—which we are never sure about.
From the Center for Action and Contemplation.
Deepening Our Comfort with Uncertainty
We are united in the fact that “life invites us to show up again and again into mystery,” says Br. David Steindl-Rast. “There are no guarantees — only exquisite unknowns. We do not know exactly how or when we will die, and there is no single formula for how best to live. We do not know how life is going to unfold — in the grand scheme and also in its minutiae — and we cannot be in charge of most all of it.”
Found in Daily Good.
The Soul of Knowledge
The heart must teach the intellect to know God by loving him, not to love God by knowing him. “Without love, our knowledge is lifeless,” says Br. Keith Nelson of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. The understanding that God is pure mystery is a sign of wisdom and is at the heart of the Christian journey.
Spiritual Compass
We each have a spiritual compass that points us toward the good and the holy. It becomes more accurate as we age. We won’t get lost if we follow where our heart leads and our reason points.
From Joanna Seibert.
Pilgrims Journeying Within, week 3
The pilgrim journey will always bring us to thresholds. It’s liminal time, when the old has been completed but the new has not yet begun. It is a time of uncertainty, but also a time of great possibilities.
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