Gathered Wisdom, May 14, 2024

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

Let’s slip out the side door of sorrow/Round past the watchman of worry/And make room for the green fields beyond…An act of joyful defiance.

-Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel: Meditations from an Indigenous Elder

One of our problems is that we tie hope to outcomes, says Brian McLaren. “When our prime motive is love, a different logic comes into play. We find courage and confidence, not in the likelihood of a good outcome, but in our commitment to love.”

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Suleika Jaouad writes that he would not reverse his diagnosis of cancer if he could. It has given him a “jeweler’s eye” – the ability to focus on the reality of what is right before you. “Rather than fighting your circumstance, rather than wallowing in sorrow and anger, you can begin to see it as an invitation. You can begin to interrogate it, to watch new and unexpected things emerge.”

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve on a U.S. Cabinet, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Secretary of Labor in 1933. Among her practices was taking a personal retreat once a month. “Who better to advocate for the needs of the everyday worker than one who knows her own need for refreshment?” writes Ann Benton Fraser.

Read the reflection.

From Grow Christians.

The story of Thomas is one of the most moving in the gospels, writes Br. Geoffrey Tristram. It is a story of love, not proof.  “The story of Thomas is rather the story of a man who comes to believe not because he has enough proof, but because he has actually touched the mystery of divine, self-sacrificial love.”

Read or listen to the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

An old trend has become a new trend – three or four generations living together. It’s mostly about cost of living, says this article. It’s also good for both older and younger families.

Read the article.

Found in Marketplace.

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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Gathered Wisdom, May 7, 2024

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

Prayer is a mystery that begins in God. Our prayer is always in response to God’s initiative. It is God who has caught our attention.

Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE
Read More

Stillness and silence can be a fullness, rather than a void, says Terry Hershey. Healing space, he adds, is “an invitation to the sacrament of the present moment. To be here now. Fully.”

Read the reflection.

From Sabbath Moment.

As we age, we face “uncreation,” says Richard Rohr. What we have created in our younger years is no longer important. “My self-created self gave me a nice trail to walk on, and something to do each day, but it isn’t really me. It might be my career or my vocation; yet as good as it is, it isn’t my True Self. ” 

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

No matter how determined we are to right the wrongs of the Church, our bitterness, anger, judgmentalism, and mean spiritedness are not the way to do it, says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. Right truth and right morals don’t necessarily make us disciples of Jesus.

Read the reflection.

From Ron Rolheiser’s blog.

Lucy Grace grew up in a neighborhood where gangs ruled and initiation into them involved things like raping someone’s mother. But Lucy learned to hold her thumb as a symbol of how things would be better some day.

Read the reflection.

Found in Daily Good.

Read the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

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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To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Apr 23, 2024

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

God’s mission is to restore and renew all of creation in a loving embrace. Jesus intercedes and invites our participation.

Br. Luke Ditewig, SSJE
Read More and Comment

A beloved professor tells the story of Jewish students and Muslims students going to New Orleans together to help clean up after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. It was a strained relationship until they started dancing.

Read the reflection.

From Daily Good.

The woman who was out of place, the woman who had just poured expensive perfume all over Jesus.  Simon saw a sinner; Jesus saw a woman in pain. Do we actually “see” those in need that Jesus places in front of us?

Read the article.

From Renovare.

Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes that at funerals, he tells the grieving family that their loved one  “is now in hands safer than ours.” Our God is reliable, says Rolheiser. “Ultimately, God is not a God who cannot protect us, but is a God in whose hands and in whose promise we are far safer than when we rely upon ourselves.”

Read the reflection.

More about Ron Rolheiser.

Christian philanthropist Fred Smith says that Paul’s Letter to the Romans “has had more impact on Western civilization and the life of the Church than any other he wrote.” Yet Paul never intended to stay in Rome; he was only passing through on his way to Spain. How do we deal with it when our plans are totally derailed by something not of our own making? Can we see it as God’s plan for us?

Read the reflection.

From The Gathering.

Sometimes you just need a friend to hold your hand. Sometimes you need to be a friend who will hold someone’s hand.

Read the reflection.

From Sabbath Moment.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, April 16, 2024

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

Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

-Pema Chodron, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living
Found in Well for the Journey

With her characteristic wit and wisdom, Anne Lamott offers some lessons for all of us to think about. “Number two: almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes — including you.”

Read or watch the TED talk.

Found in Daily Good.

Joanna Seibert recalls the story of the accident that changed her life and set her on the course of ministry that became her life’s work. Her career in pediatric radiology, working in recovery, becoming a spiritual director, and being a pastoral caregiver—all have opened up to her as a direct result of her broken feet, she says.

Read the reflection.

From Joanna’s blog.

“Art images are real and alive and have the power to change us and cause change,” says Richard Rohr. “They can shift our perspective on what we thought we knew and understood about a subject.” Art is more than decoration, he says. It can be an entirely new experience, “which perhaps cannot be accessed in another way.”

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

When you are troubled, speak your truth and stay in community, says Br. Luke Ditewig. “If you are waiting for new life, tell a trusted companion or group your experience and let them wait with you,” he adds.

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

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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To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, April 9, 2024

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

Our breath is also like a wave, gently rocking us into a deep peace. In this state of rest, our body and mind can release their burdens.
A lot of healing happens just by letting go and sinking into this state of total relaxation.

-Thích Nhất Hạnh, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
Found in Well for the Journey

Pilgrims are those who walk not to a particular destination but simply to see where God takes them. In their book Pilgrimage into the Last Third of Life, authors Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan invite us to walk through seven gateways that we encounter as we age. With the book as a guide, the next Wisdom Years study will join the authors in our own pilgrimage with trusted companions. The study begins April 18.

For all the details, follow this link.

Joanna Seibert points out that in the resurrection stories, we see Jesus in ordinary settings – cooking, eating, walking on the road – not coming to his disciples, and to us, from on high but in everyday encounters.

Read the reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

In a moving remembrance, biblical scholar Renita J. Weems recalls the Sabbath of her childhood: the one day a week when Black workers could set aside worries about the mundane and renew their love affair with eternity…. 

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

In a brief poem, Howard Thurman reminds us that we can only touch our sacredness with our own inner authority and consent. Thurman describes it as the angel with the flaming sword so that nothing can be placed upon our altar without our consent.

Read the poem.

From Awakin.

“Have you been saved?” we are sometimes questioned by certain Christian evangelists. But salvation is not a one-step process, says Br. Jonathan Maury. Rather, “the Gospel calls us to examine what it actually means ‘to be saved’; to embrace the fulness of this salvation and to understand its meaning and urgency for our mortal lives and how we shall live, in these present days.”

Read or listen to the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

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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To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Apr 2, 2024

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

Behold my friends, the spring has come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!

-Sitting Bull as quoted in Sitting Bull: The Collected Speeches by Mark Diedrich
From Well for the journey

If we don’t believe and live out Christ’s resurrection, how will we pray for God’s kingdom to come?  “How will we credibly usher in that kingdom in whatever small ways we can here and now, if we don’t believe in its ultimate fulfillment,” asks Debie Thomas, writing in CAC’s daily meditations.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

The good news of the resurrection is not simply a promise to you and to me. It is a promise to all creation, that all things will be made new.  “In a world that stinks, the resurrection of Jesus is good news to all,” says Br. James Koester, “because it is a promise of life that is mended, healed, cleansed, and restored.” 

Read or listen to the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

There are many reasons we can lose our identity and our connection to God, says Joanna Seibert. Most of the reasons are based in fear.  It is in community that we are restored, with the help of others who tell their own stories.

Read the reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

“Music is the one thing that opens up people’s brains, and it helps fire off neurons on both hemispheres of the brain,” say scientists and doctors.  Children are often amazed when their parents who suffer from dementia come alive when they hear a familiar tune.

Read the article.

Found at public radio station WLRN in South Florida.

By Mary Oliver

Somewhere
a black bear
has just risen from sleep
and is staring
down the mountain

Read the rest of the poem.

Found at tumblr online.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

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Gathered Wisdom, Mar 26, 2024

I won’t leave you like orphans. I will come back to you. In a little while the people of this world won’t be able to see me, but you will see me. And because I live, you will live. Then you will know I am one with the Father. You will know you are one with me, and I am one with you (John 14:18-20 CEV).

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Mar 19, 2024

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

“A cherry tree doesn’t compare itself to other trees,” said Big Panda, “it just blossoms.”

-James Norbury, Big Panda & Tiny Dragon
Found in Well for the journey

Author Adrienne Maree Brown is a fan of mushrooms and dandelions because they are both so resilient. Humans are like that when they are engaging out of love. Perhaps humans’ core function is love, says Brown.

Read the essay.

From Awakin.

Peace is our starting point in life, not its goal. “Peace is our rock of stability when all is in chaos and mountains slip into the sea,” says Bob Holmes. “Peace is the Christ energy in our hearts that holds all things together, connecting us into this Christ soaked universe at its quantum energetic source.”

Read the reflection.

From Contemplative Monk.

Jesus tells us to ask, search, and knock in the Gospel of Matthew (7:7-8). But what if we ask and receive nothing, or search and don’t find, or knock and the door remains closed. Asking, searching, and knocking bring us to a vulnerable stance, and vulnerability is the experience of uncertainty.

Read the reflection. 

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

“For all of us,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser, “there are times in life when we seem to lose hope, when we look at the world or at ourselves and, consciously or unconsciously, think: ‘It’s too late! This has gone too far! Nothing can redeem this! All the chances to change this have been used up! It’s hopeless!’”

Read the reflection.

From Ron Rolheiser.

God is never absent. Never, ever, ever. We need to remind ourselves about this every day, every moment. We are never alone. The vastness of God’s presence and love is more incredible than we can know, feel, or imagine.

Read the reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

To learn more visit our website.

Gathered Wisdom, Mar 12, 2024

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

Gather up whatever has tumbled in the waves…
It all comes down to this:
In our imperfect world, we are meant to repair and stitch together
what beauty there is…

-Stuart Kestenbaum, “Holding the Light,” Only Now
Found in Well for the Journey

The cigar store manager took a photo of the store every day. To the casual observer, they all looked the same. You had to slow down and look deeply to see the differences. That’s what spiritual literacy is like.

Read the reflection.

From Daily Good.

Quaker spirituality has a phrase for discernment – “as way opens.” It means paying attention to which path feels right and which one is filled with obstacles. When a decision has to be made, even with a deadline looming,  there must still be a pause, a way of checking in with our heart and our own deep knowing.

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

On average, 90,000 Christians are martyred every decade. While few of us will be called to die physically for Christ, all of us will be given the opportunity to be Christ’s witnesses. To do that, says Brother Curtis Almquist, something will have to die.

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

You know that little indentation just below your nose and above your mouth? Some say that’s where God kissed you before you were born. Once we knew perfect oneness, perfect truth, perfect goodness, and perfect beauty. We long to know them again.

Read the essay.

From Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

When the east wind
breathes into your soul,
and the morning sun
warms your face.

Pause in the solitude.
Sink into stillness,

Read the rest of the poem.

From The Contemplative Mystic.

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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Gathered Wisdom, Mar 5, 2024

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

Words may help, and silence may help, but the one thing that is needed is that the heart should turn to its Maker as the needle turns to the pole. For this, we must be still.

-Caroline Stephen (1834-1909), Quaker Strongholds
Found in Well for the Journey

Look, honor, and receive – three of the ways Jesus engages healing. What might you see, what might you learn, and from whom if you did the same?

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Before we check our email, before we watch the news or plan our day, go out into the garden, says Richard Rohr. There we will find what is real. “If we can find a way to be present to the ‘givens,’ especially the natural ‘givens,’ I believe we can be happy,” says Rohr.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Is it necessary to sit in the ashes of Lent? Some theologians say yes. In this and other mythical images, Fr. Ron Rolheiser gives us an explanation of aspects of Lent.

Read the reflection.

More about Ron Rolheiser.

We can choose to give away our last dollar. Or not.  If you take the dollar from your pocket, says Terry Hershey, you open yourself to change. It will require action and the acceptance of any consequences of that choice. However, the music you make will be life-giving to anyone around you.

Read the reflection.

From Sabbath Moment.

For what do you hunger? Can you even name it? Peace, yes, and freedom from fear. Safety for our children. A sense of spiritual well-being. And yet, our very daily practices undermine what we claim as our desires. The Wisdom Years Lenten study on our website asks us to give up not just material goods but spiritual illnesses such as needing to be in control and rushing through life.

The study is designed for small groups and individuals. Do on your own or join our Zoom gatherings on Thursday afternoons.

To learn more

From The Wisdom Years.

Gathered Wisdom is an offering of The Wisdom Years, a ministry devoted to the spiritual journey of the last third of our lives.

If this post was forwarded to you, sign up to receive Gathered Wisdom in your email by subscribing at wisdomyears.org.

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