A collection of inspiration and resources for your spiritual journey, gathered from websites, blogs, and pass-alongs that have been shared with us. From The Wisdom Years.
At the heart of any effective practice, whether it is explicitly spiritual, inherently creative, or rigorously physical, is a structure that clears and holds open a space and time for slowing down and letting go.
-Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Dance
From Well for the Journey
With this edition, Gathered Wisdom expands its content and moves to monthly distribution. We hope something in this edition will spark an idea, bring you comfort, open a revelation, make you laugh, make you cry, or strengthen your resolve to be the best person you can be today, leaning on the grace of God.
Reflections
King Herod and the Wise Men
The Epiphany story we have been told since our earliest years is about three majestic “wise men,” three strangers from the East who bring gold and incense and myrrh to honor the child Jesus. What then happens to them we do not know, and that is the point. “The idea is that they now disappear because they can now disappear. They have placed their gifts at the feet of the young king and can now leave everything safely in his hands,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. Herod, on the other hand, wants to kill him.
From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.
A Resistance Position
Jesus calls us to be the salt of the world – “to give the world taste, meaning, purpose, direction, desire,” says Richard Rohr. As Christians, we are asked to become “a true alternative to the normal motivations and actions of society,” not in some grand and braggadocios manner, not even always in charge, but to offer that which the world doesn’t already have and sorely needs.
Peace in the Face of War
How can we say the world is a safe place and we are all in God’s hands when we see the atrocities that come upon so much of the world? “How can we prayerfully engage without completely losing our sense of sanity or peace?” asks Tiffany Clark in her essay on praying faithfully but realistically. Clark includes six practices for how to “remain fruitfully and sustainably engaged.”
From Renovare.
Online Courses and Programs
From Grateful Living:
In 2025, Grateful Living offers three new 5-Day Pathways, a brand new live online course, and an annual year-end online retreat. A new program, The Practitioner Circle, combines all the offerings for one price. Explore the 2025 Program Guide for details on each program.
From Elders Action Network – The Power of Purpose
The path of purposeful aging is accessible to all – and is fundamental to health, happiness, and longevity. With a focus on growing whole in later life, Richard Leider helps participants discover their purpose and create a legacy.
Online, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 10:00–11:30 am PT / 1:00–2:30 pm ET
Register HERE
From the Library we recommend
Midwinter Light: Meditations for the Long Season, Marilyn McEntyre, Broadleaf Books.
Winter is quieter than other seasons, sometimes lonelier, and it opens us to pay attention. We surrender to natural forces and rhythms; our lives may be changed utterly as we grow deeper, more patient, more attentive to what’s outside our doors, in the night sky, or hibernating deep within ourselves.
Find it at St. Mark’s Bookstore bookshop in the The Wisdom Years/Aging/Eldering section or at your favorite independent bookstore.
Briefly
“Three Wise Men.” Epiphany Wisdom
“The three were hermits on an island in the Black Sea, very pious and humble and loving to all men but terribly ignorant. A bishop goes in a steamer to see them and teach them a few prayers, but finds them too old and stupid to learn. At last, he gets—or thinks he has got—one very short and simple prayer into their heads, and leaves the island, feeling rather contemptuous.
Then, when night falls, he sees a bright light advancing swiftly over the sea behind the steamer. The old men have come, walking on the waves, begging him to be patient with their great stupidity and to teach them the prayer again.”—Tolstoy.
From Joann Seibert. Read the rest of the reflection.
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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