Category: older adults

Story Time with The Wisdom Years

Story Time with The Wisdom Years

Marjorie George

Why should the kids have all the fun? This summer The Wisdom Years is going to read some of the great books we have read to our children – this time to see what they say to the grown-ups. What can we learn from the wise horse in The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse?  Where can we find the answers to Nikolai’s questions in The Three Questions? What does it mean to look for cherries now according to Kay Mijangos in Looking for the Cherries?

You don’t even have to buy the books; we will read to you. You just need to bring your blankie and listen. Every week will include conversation around what we can learn when we take the broader view.

All sessions will meet online using Zoom from 4 to 5:15 p.m. (Central time)

Our reading schedule:

Thursday, June 12, 4 p.m.
The Three Questions
by Jon J. Muth

Young Nikolai has three big questions around the right thing to do. He gets answers when he acts from compassion. Based on a story by Leo Tolstoy.

Thursday, June 19, 4 p.m.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
by Charlie Mackesy

Four friends share their greatest fears and most important discoveries as they learn about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship, and love. The story speaks of life lessons, some that perhaps we still need to learn.

Thursday, June 26, 4 p.m.
Looking for the Cherries
by Kay Mijangos

The San Antonio author will read to us from her own book that is based on something her late husband used to say: “Always look for the cherries.” Look for the good. Kay’s husband was a well-known San Antonio artist, and the book is illustrated by his daughter.

To get the Zoom invitation code for each week, send your name and email address  to Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com. Each week will use a different Zoom code, but you only need to submit your name once.

If you wish, you may purchase the books from St. Mark’s Bookstore bookshop. Search for the books at https://bookshop.org/shop/stmarksbookstoresa or your favorite book seller.

Questions? marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com

Gathered Wisdom, Oct 22, 2024

Marjorie George

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

Attention is the most concrete expression of love. 
What we pay attention to thrives. 
What we do not pay attention to withers and dies. 
What will you pay attention to today?

-Karen Maezen Miller, Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life
Found in Well for the Journey

Called to Love 

What do we do when we are faced with a decision to make? How do we discern what God would have us do? It is a matter of love, says Ruth Haley Barton. The questions to ask is, “What does love call for in this situation? What would love do?”

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Come to Me 

It’s not so much that the Church is being persecuted these days as it is that so many people are indifferent to the Church. Jesus met the same obstacle, says Br. David Vryhof of Society of St. John the Evangelist. And yet so many are carrying burdens that Jesus would help with if only people knew to ask and were willing to trust.

Read the reflection.  

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

The Chat Checkout

Few of us willingly choose the slow checkout line at the grocery store. But Dutch grocers now offer a “chat checkout” where people choose the slow lane just for the conversation. The idea is catching on in other locales – in France they are called “Blablabla checkouts.”

Read the article. 

Found in Daily Good.

Forest Dwelling

We can age as wise elders, or we can just age. A program from Oblate Seminary in San Antonio, Texas, has as its aim living into the diminishments of aging in such a way that we live our last precious years with more grace, an open heart, and a deeper awareness of the presence of God.

This series of videos shares some of the wisdom offered by the program.

To learn more about Forest Dwelling.

Facing The Unknown

Trust is our currency and wisdom is our direction says Bishop Steven Charleston. “When we follow the Spirit, the unknown is only a bend in the road.”

Read the reflection.

Found in Joanna Seibert blog.

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.

Pilgrimage for the Later Years

Pilgrimage for the Later Years

Marjorie George

A Wisdom Years study for the Easter season, 2024.

In an ideal world, a human life should be a constant pilgrimage of discovery, says the late Celtic poet John O’Donohue (from Eternal Echoes). For it is in the discoveries that we come to know ourselves and our relationship with God in new ways.

We will follow the path of pilgrimage, the path of discovery,  for our Easter season study using Pilgrimage into the Last Third of Life by Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan. The authors offer seven “gateways” to spiritual growth in our later years, and we will explore each of these gateways, traveling as pilgrims and open to whatever God reveals to each of us.

The first six gateways we will cover in six weeks of study and conversation 
starting April 18 and ending May 23.

The gateways include

  • facing aging and dying
  • living with limitations
  • doing inner work
  • living in and out of community
  • prayer and contemplation
  • redeeming loss and suffering 

The seventh gateway is “leaving a legacy,” and we will spend some extended time with this gateway – June 13-27 – because it is so crucial in this season of our lives.

Each week of the study we will post on the Wisdom Years website some commentary for each gateway, questions for reflection, and additional resources.

On Thursdays, April 18, 25, May 2, 9, 16, and 23 we will gather for conversation by Zoom from 4 to 5:15 p.m. Central time.

We will then take a short break and pick up with the gateway of “leaving a legacy” on Thursdays, June 13, 20, and 27. Our summer break will encompass July and August.

If you are unable to join us for our Thursday Zoom gatherings, you are welcome to use the material on your own.

Participants in this study will need to buy their own copy of Pilgrimage into the Last Third of Life by Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan. The book is available through St. Mark’s Bookstore at stmarksbookstore.com.  Order by clicking the bookshop link.  Or use your favorite retail book store.

If you want to participate in this study or if you have any questions, please send an email to Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com.

This study is offered by The Wisdom Years, a ministry of deeper spirituality for our elders years through study, connection, and community. Visit us at ww.wisdomyears.org.

A New Offering – Let Your Life Speak

Marjorie George

Listening for the Voice of Vocation as Older Adults

Thursdays

Sept 7 – Oct 12, 2023

4 to 5:15 p.m. (Central time)

Online

There was a little girl, the Gospel of Mark tells us, who was very ill. Her father came to Jesus and implored Jesus to heal her. But before Jesus could get to the girl, the man’s servants came and told the father that the girl had died. Jesus replied, “No, she is only sleeping.” When Jesus arrived at the little girl’s home, he took the child by the hand and said, “Talitha cum. Get up, little girl; you are not dead yet” (Mark 5:22-24, 35-41).

Can we imagine that even now, Jesus offers his hand to us and says, “Get up; you’re not dead yet”?

What if Christ still has need of our gifts, talents, and abilities which have been honed by our years of experience? What might our purpose be now?  To answer that  question we need to be genuine, honest, and hopeful.

In this six-week study, we will use large group and small group discussions to discover our place in the Kingdom now. What do we know now that we didn’t know in our earlier years? What have faith and experience taught us? Where have we seen God at work in our lives, and what do we have to say to our hurting world?

We will read Parker Palmer’s groundbreaking book on vocation Let Your Life Speak on our own, then gather for discussion on Thursday afternoons at 4 p.m. Central time.  (If you have already read Let Your Life Speak, it will be fun to see what we draw from it now.) 

In our reading and discussion, we will consider:

  • What has my life revealed to me?
  • How have I been guided by ways that have opened and ways that have closed?
  • What ways are opening to me now?
  • How can I see my mistakes as teachers rather than regrets?
  • Where do my great passion and the world’s great need meet?

There is no charge for this study, but you will need to buy Let Your Life Speak – available from St. Mark’s Bookstore – www.stmarksbookstore.com – and other retailers. We will use Zoom as our online gathering place; you will need to be conversant (but not an expert) with Zoom.

If you want to be part of this study, send an email to Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com.

This study is from The Wisdom Years, a ministry of spiritual formation for the last third of our lives. www.wisdomyears.org.