Tag: christianity

Gathered Wisdom, Nov. 17, 2025

Marjorie George

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

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and to pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
-John Muir
Found at Well for the Journey

Advent Resources

In her wisdom, the Church sets aside the four weeks before Christmas to help us prepare for the incredulous coming of God into the world in human form. We hope one or more of  these Advent resources will help to slow your soul as you ready yourself to receive him.

Throw off the Darkness from Monasteries of the Heart. Daily practices  will include scripture, good works, psalms, embodied movements, lectio, artistic responses, and holy leisure. Must have a Monasteries of the Heart account.

Advent Devotionals from Everything Happens with Kate Bowler.  Each day receive a short scripture, a reflection, and a blessing. Signup by subscribing to Kate’s substack account.

And His Name Shall be Called Advent Devotional from Upper Room. Reflect on the four names that reveal the promise of God’s presence in Isaiah 9:6: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Advent Word from the Episcopal Church. An inspirational online Advent calendar featuring a daily prompt word selected from the Sunday Lectionary readings.

Daily Text Messages from The Wisdom Years. A short inspirational message to your cell phone Mon-Fri, Dec 1 through 24.  Send your name, email address and cell phone number to marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com

Love Beyond Death

Death does not separate us from those we love, says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. Our faith tells us that we are in living union with each other inside the Body of Christ. “The real intent of our prayers and ritual celebrations for the dead is to continue to be in a more deliberate communication of life with them,” he says.

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

The Day I Learned Giving

They were in line to buy the circus tickets, standing right behind a large family of eight children. But when the father of that family got to the ticket counter to buy the tickets, he did not have enough money. Read what happened next.

Read the story.

From Awakin.

Contemplation Is Christianity

“Contemplation is not about escaping life but entering it more fully,” says Richard Rohr. It is not a separate path or a unique calling. It is Christianity itself, lived with depth and honesty.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

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, Sept 17, 2025

Marjorie George

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

All of us are standing on someone else’s shoulders. Someone else who opened the door and paved the way . . . You have a responsibility to open the door and keep this moving.

 -Ruby Bridges, as quoted in “The Guardian” on May 6, 2021
Found at Well for the Journey

How All Things Hold Together

In his poem “The Coming,” Welsh poet R. S. Thomas pictures God the creator holding the globe in his hands with Christ looking on. Together they see the suffering and hopelessness man has wrought on the world they created. And Christ says, “Let me go there.”

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Read “The Coming”

A Choice for Love

“Love is a decision,” says Richard Roohr. “And we had better make the decision to love early in the day because once we’re a few hours into low-level resentment, anger, or disappointment, it’s too late.

Read the reflection.

From the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Mourning our Unfinished Symphony

None of us gets the entire symphony in our lifetime. And we need to mourn that incompleteness. “All of us will die with some unfulfilled dreams; none of us will find full, abiding, ecstatic embrace this side of eternity,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. How do we come to terms with that?

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

Simple Was Satisfying

What makes you smile? Tea on the patio with friends? A face-lick from your dog? It’s about paying attention to the small things. “If you’re completely preoccupied with your medical test or doctor’s appointment next week, you might miss the rare migratory birds outside your window right now,” says Susan Bauer-Wu in this Awakin essay.

Read the essay.

From Awakin.

Rethinking the Bucket List

An end-of-life Hospice counselor talks about what people really want in the “last chapter” of their lives. To live each day as if it is your last, says Kathleen Taylor, “discover your uniqueness, do some introspection.” In our last days, we become our authentic selves, says Taylor in this ten-minute TED talk.

Watch the video.

From Karma tube.

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, Aug. 15, 2025

Marjorie George

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

You find me on the journey and guide my steps..
You encompass me with love wherever I go…
Your mysteries fill me with wonder!

 -Nan Merrill, Psalms for Praying
Found in Well for the Journey

Falling Upward – Our Fall Study

What is the container we build for ourselves in the first half of our lives, and what does that container reveal to us in the second half of our lives? Those are the questions for Richard Rohr in his classical work Falling Upward. This fall the Wisdom Years community will dig into those questions as we engage Falling Upward beginning Sept. 4. For all the details and to join us, click here.

Letting The Hero Die

When you finally get to the place where you don’t have to identify with the part of you that needs to win, needs to be recognized, needs to know, this is where your transcendent life begins. “Every defeat is just an angel, tugging at your sleeve, telling you that you don’t have to keep banging your head against the wall,” says Paul Weinfield.

Read the essay.

From Awakin.

Caring for Self and Others in Times of Trouble: Some Spiritual Tools and Tips

Breathe. Breathe again. Take time in your day to stop and take 10 deep breaths. That is one of 13 tips for living peacefully in these perilous times. Choose which ones are soothing for you and practice them as you can.

Read the suggestions.

From Grateful Living.

Being Ready for God

“What if instead of focusing on doing actions in times of powerlessness, you focused on states of being, like being patient, being charitable, being forgiving, or even being joyful? What if for one day you thought more about how you should be than what you should do?”

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

The Descent into Hell

Is there a time in some people’s lives when the situation is so dire that we cannot even open the door to let Jesus in? Must we be the ones who initiate the action of inviting Jesus into those horrible times? No, says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. Jesus does not wait to have the door opened. When we are unable to act, Jesus walks right through the door to rescue us.

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

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.

Falling Upward – our Fall 2025 Study

Falling Upward – our Fall 2025 Study

Marjorie George

Living our most authentic spirituality in the second half of life.

This fall, the Wisdom Years will take on our most profound study of spirituality yet as we explore in depth Richard Rohr’s classic work, Falling Upward. In Falling Upward, Rohr explains that there are two tasks in human life. The first task is to build a strong “container” or identity; the second is to find the contents that the container was meant to hold.

In the first half of life we are concerned with surviving successfully. But at a certain life-stage we begin to long for more – a deepening spirituality that seeks to know what our personal “container” was truly meant to hold. The second half of life is a further journey, a deeper journey, in which we find that the failings of the first half of our lives are actually the foundation for the second half.

Starting September 4, we will divide the 13 chapters plus introduction of Falling Upward into two seven-week sessions.
Sept. 4 to Oct. 16 and Oct. 30 to Dec. 18. (No sessions on Oct. 23 or Nov. 27.)

We will each read Falling Upward on our own, then gather weekly on Thursdays at 4 p.m. (Central time) by Zoom for gentle but fruitful conversations.

If you would like to join the Wisdom Years community for this dynamic study using Falling Upward, send an email to Marjorie George at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com.

There is no charge for this course, but you will need to provide your own book. (Note that Falling Upward was first published in 2011 then revised in 2023. You may use either edition for this course.) Purchase the book at St. Mark’s Bookstore (https://www.stmarksbookstore.com/) through their bookshop link (https://bookshop.org/shop/stmarksbookstoresa) or from your favorite book retailer.

Never let the cost of the book keep you from joining us. Scholarship funds are available.

Questions? Email to marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com.

Richard Rohr is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation which is dedicated to offering Christian contemplative wisdom through teachings, practices, and community engagement. The goal of CAC is to help people live out this wisdom in practical ways—so that they become instruments of love, peacemaking, and positive change in the world.

Gathered Wisdom, June 15, 2025

Marjorie George

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

Sometimes you can swim with the current to the top of the tide, to the pause between flow and ebb ….
The earth is still turning, and gravity is still pulling …. But in that one spot, you experience stillness.

 -Patricia Hanlon, Swimming to the Top of the Tide
Found in Well for the Journey

Not this Time

When will the flashing lights of an EMS vehicle stop at your house? As we face our mortality, we need to take the time to make our inevitable passing as calm and meaningful as possible for everyone, says Sandy Reynolds of “A Crone in the Woods.” Reynolds offers fee-based workshops and retreats about preparing for our deaths. Investigate them in this article.

Read the article.

From A Crone in the Woods.

God is not in lockdown

The Kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field, according to Saint Matthew (13:44). The man digging wasn’t looking for treasure, didn’t expect to find any. But there it was. “He was probably in the middle of a rather ordinary job, perhaps digging up a field to sow some seeds,” says Br. Geoffrey Tristram. God is like that – God shows up in the most unexpected places.

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Microscope to Telescope: Expand Your Perspective

This practice invites us to spend some time with whatever thought we have been carrying around. Looking at the thought under a microscope is far different than looking at it through a telescope.

Read or listen to do this practice on your own.

From Grateful Living.

Meal-Based Social Action

Jesus didn’t want his community to have a social ethic; he wanted it to be a social ethic, says Richard Rohr. Mostly Jesus proclaimed this not by what he said but by what he did – eating with everyone.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Book Event

The Pilgrim Life: Finding God Along the Way by Deborah Smith Douglas.

From the back cover:  “Deborah Douglas not only invites us to become stronger in our faith; she cheers for us as we go along.  She celebrates each step.  She offers grounded encouragement and heartfelt joy.”   The Rev. Mary Earle, from the Foreword.

Deborah will be at St. Mark’s Bookstore in San Antonio on June 17 for Tea, Scones, & Conversation at 1:30 p.m.  She and Mary Earle will be in conversation about this book.  (They are close personal friends!  Promises to be rich!)

RSVP www.stmarksbookstore@gmail.com

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, May 15, 2025

Marjorie George

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

I want to worship at the shrine of everywhere,
want to know every inch
of this earth as an altar…

Every step a step
from holy to holy
to holy.

-Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, “Sacred Ground,” The Unfolding

Found at Well for the Journey

Old Age and The Receding Time

We can live our aging in anger and regret, or we can embrace it as a “juicy, creative threshold.” It is a place of hard-won wisdom, says Stephanie Raffelock in this essay.

Read the essay.

From Creative Eldering.

Our Longing for God’s Justice

It is not enough, says Fr. Ron Rolheiser, that we should be happy. We want others to be miserable. We can so easily identify the sins of others and call down God’s wrath upon them.  But that says more about us than about them.

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

Risking Trust

In the parable of the talents, the one who buried his gift rather than risking it is judged harshly (Matthew 25:14-30). The temptation for us in this chaotic world is to protect ourselves by shrinking back, staying hidden. But are we instead called to risk the gifts we have been given?

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Sharing Someone Else’s Wound

The man who ran the rabbit farm took upon himself the young woman’s wound so he could get antibiotics and share them with her. It saved her life. What does it take to push against all that pressure and do the right thing, with courage and moral clarity, and to see another person as a person, when everything around you is telling you not to?

Read the story.

From Awakin.

How Forgiveness Changes You and Your Brain

The act of forgiveness  activates structures and pathways in the brain that improve resilience and social connection more broadly. We are empowered to step beyond painful experiences in an energized, motivated, and connected way.

Read the article.

From Daily Good.

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, Dec 17, 2024

Marjorie George

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

The Wisdom Years wishes you a blessed Christmas as we welcome the Holy One who comes to live among us.

Gathered Wisdom is taking a Christmas break. We will be back in January.

The Mystery of Bethlehem

With the birth of Jesus, new light comes into the world. Our ancestors in the faith knew that we needed this light particularly in winter time “when things seem most dark,” says Br. James Koester.

Read the reflection.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Staying Awake

“Live as if you were going to die tomorrow,” say some. But can we really do that? It’s hard to be present to every moment, says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. Having rituals helps. Starting each day with prayer is essential.

Read the reflection.

From Ron Rolheiser blog.

A New Vision of God

For most of us, God will have the same characteristics as our mothers and fathers.  If our father was stern, God will be stern. “Jesus inserted into the human imagination a radical new vision of God—non-dominating, nonviolent, supreme in service, and self-giving,” says Brian McLaren.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Happiness Break: 5 Minutes of Gratitude

This practice guides you to take a good look at the things in your life that make you the most happy. At this resource, find more ways to bring gratitude into daily life.

Read the article.

From Greater Good Science Center.

The Sacrament of Joy

The little boys wanted to talk to the ducklings, so of course they got into the pond. “Every day, we are bombarded with the same insistent injunction—the implication that life begins some place other than where we are, right now,” says Terry Hershey. “And we too easily miss the ‘duckling moments.’”

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, Nov 5, 2024

Marjorie George

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

In chaos, I choose love.
In conflict, I choose love.
Even to the end, I will choose love.
I will not save the world,
but I will help the world;
I will be a force for good.

-Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Unfolding Light (www.unfoldinglight.net)

Advent Rejoicing

Life is messy. But our God promises to stand with us in the midst of it. That is the message of Advent, says writer and podcaster Kate Bowler. This Advent, the Wisdom Years community will connect with the Advent message using Kate’s offering The Weary World Rejoices. We will read daily devotionals on our own, then come together on Thursdays, Dec. 5, 12 and 19 for an hour of online conversation.

To lean more and sign up to join us, click this link.

Trusting in Christ’s Peace

We need a little good news. Like hearing that however bad the storms of life become, Christ is there to calm the waters and bring peace. “Peace” and “be still” can be our watchwords also, says Bishop Barbara Harris.

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Intelligence versus Wisdom

What is the difference between being smart and being wise? “Wisdom is intelligence that’s colored by understanding,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. “When intelligence is not informed by empathy, what it produces will generally not contribute to the common good.”

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

Standing in the Gap

How do we stay hopeful in the face of despair and disillusionment—especially when politics threaten to tear us in two? In this podcast, Kate Bowler speaks with Parker Palmer, a writer, teacher, and activist. Palmer brings wisdom from the years of living in this world without letting the bad in it overcome the good.

Listen to the podcast.

From Kate Bowler.

Growing Older

Getting older is about learning how to let go, says Bishop Steven Charleston – even letting go of names and memories we can no longer recall. He places memories with the Holy Spirit, to be recalled on the other side.

Read the short 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, Oct 29, 2024

Marjorie George

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

A prayer for All Saints Day, November 1:
We pray for the “whole family of God, the living and the dead, those whom we love and those whom we hurt, bound together in Christ by sacrament, prayer, and praise” (Book of Common Prayer pg 862).

Who are the Saints

On November 1 each year, the Church celebrates All Saints Day in which we remember those we love but see no longer. In this sermon, Richard Rohr tells us saints are those who have been wounded and healed – not just people who reached perfection, but ordinary people like us.

Listen to the sermon.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

The Unclarity of Holiness

We live in a time of chaos and confusion. We long for clear and fruitful outcomes, and we want to know how we will get there, if we will get there. Br. Lucas Hall says we are to trust that “these confusing things, these things that we can’t clearly parse, will be used to the promised victory of God.”

Read or listen to the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Love Beyond Death

Why do we continue to pray for the dead? It is not because they need God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is to continue to be in communication with them, “to remain mindful of the special oxygen they breathed into the planet during their life, and to occasionally share a celebratory glass of wine with them.”

Read the reflection.

From Ron Rolheiser blog.

Four Stories of Mercy

The little girl needed someone to help her cry, so she climbed up into the lap of the nurse at the girls school in Sudan. Sister Marilyn Lacey of Mercy Beyond Borders tells this and more stories of compassion.

Watch the video or read the article.

Found in Daily Good.

Election Night Vigil

Join the Brothers of Society of St John the Evangelist in a vigil on Election Night, Tuesday, November 5. In the face of anxiety, uncertainty, and exhaustion around the 2024 Presidential Election, we invite you to join the Brothers in prayer to God our Creator and Governor for unity, guidance, and protection. The vigil begins at 7:00 PM Eastern Time in St. John’s Chapel, following the Holy Eucharist, and continues until the final polls close at 1:00 AM.

Join at any point in person or online at ssje.org/livestream.

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, Oct. 15, 2024

Marjorie George

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

Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done.
Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Someplace where we can be free.
Starhawk, American author and activist
From Well for the Journey.

Living into All the Honey: Embracing Grief and Joy

Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer reads poems that span grief and joy from her new collection, All the Honey. She speaks of what she knows now about grief she didn’t know before her son died.

Watch the video.

From Karmatube

The First Bible

We are all connected, says Richard Rohr. Everything is part of everything else. Rohr says, “We now take it for granted that everything in the universe is deeply connected and linked, even light itself, which interestingly is the first act of creation” (Genesis 1:3).

Read the reflection

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

Knowing More Than We Know

How do we make decisions? Is it only facts and probabilities that we depend on to try to find the right choice? Or do we rely on some inner sense that we just know is correct? Mary’s acceptance of becoming the mother of Jesus did not come from reason.

Read the reflection. 

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

On Friendship

“One of the richest experiences of grace that we can have this side of eternity is the experience of friendship,” says Ron Rolheiser. “True friendship is only possible among people who are practicing virtue,” he adds.  “A gang is not a circle of friendship, nor are many ideological circles. Why? Because friendship needs to bring grace and grace is only found in virtue.”

Read the reflection.

From Ron Rolheiser.

Join Election Night Virtual Prayers

Everyone is invited to join Election Night Virtual Prayers hosted by The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations from 8 to 10 p.m. (ET) Nov. 5. 

Bishop Sean Rowe, who will become Episcopal Church presiding bishop on Nov. 1, will offer an opening reflection and prayer.

Episcopalians from around the church will hold silence and lead participants in prayers together for peace, the nation, and all people and countries.

For details, click here.

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.