A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.
Contemplation is a kind of seeing that is much more than mere looking because it also includes recognizing and thus appreciating. The contemplative mind does not tell us what to see but teaches us how to see what we behold.
Richard Rohr
From his Daily Meditation, July 27, 2023
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Tale of the Ringless Ring
A man in a small village had to move to a different city for work. He wanted to take and wear his spiritual leader’s ring to remember him by. But the spiritual teacher had a better idea: the man would not take the ring and thereby remember the spiritual teacher every time he looked at his empty ring finger.
Becoming A Compassionate Neighbor to Myself
If we are going to live with compassion for others, we must start with compassion for ourselves. Processing our own pain helps us reach into the hearts of others who are in pain.
From Upper Room.
Life and the Living God
Walking through a forest, Br. Lucas Hall realized that our God is a living God. He participates in the growth experience. Our God does not just passively accept what we bring to Him. He is actively involved with things that are alive and give life rather than things that are static.
From Society of St. John the Evangelist.
How the Soul Matures
The process of dying is calibrated by God and nature “to help ease our grip on this world and more gracefully move on to the next world,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. The breakdown of our bodies deepens, softens, and matures the soul.
From Ron Rolheiser.
Surrendering to the Present Moment
If we pay attention we will see that most of our life is lived in the past or future rather than in the present. In fact, “the only way many of us know how to motivate ourselves is to create problems or to need to ‘fix’ someone or ourselves,” says Richard Rohr.
From Center for Action and Contemplation.
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