A weekly curated collection of essays, poetry, and reflections for your spiritual journey. From The Wisdom Years.
This Lent, God’s invitation is to join in the great work of mending. That’s what redemption means: mending something that is torn or broken. Each one of us is called to share with God in mending that which is broken: our relationship with God, our relationship with one another, our relationship with our broken planet.
Br. Geoffrey Tristram, SSJE
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Reclaimed by Something Deeper
“Deep communion and dear compassion are formed much more by shared pain than by shared pleasure,” says Richard Rohr. Our wounds make sacred medicine. We must allow ourselves to be reclaimed by something deeper than the pain before us.
Permission to let go
For Lent, Terry Hershey plans to honor a soft heart and make choices that spill from a soft heart. As Etty Hillesum said, “Ultimately, we have just one moral duty. To reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others.”
From Sabbath Moment.
Fear as an Invitation
The Sea of Galilee is a large fresh-water lake in northern Israel/Palestine that is prone to sudden and violent storms. This must be what happened to Jesus and the Disciples in the biblical story about Jesus calming the storm (Luke 8:22–25) We also are afraid for our lives, with good reason, but Jesus assures us not to fear.
Effort Does Not Change The Person
“Holiness is not an achievement; it is a grace,” says Anthony De Mello. It is only our nonjudgmental awareness that heals and changes and makes us grow. But in its own way and at its own time.
From Awakin.
Lenten Ashes
What is the symbolism of the ashes put on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday? “Smudging oneself with ashes says that this is not a season of celebration for you, that some important work is going on inside you, and that you are, metaphorically and really, in the cinders of a dead fire, waiting for something fuller in your life,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser.
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