Tag: elders

Visio Divina

Praying with our eyes is how Vivianne David describes visio divina. Traditionally, we take that to mean looking at art, but actually we do it all the time. Sitting in nature and allowing it to draw us to the God of creation is an act of visio divina.

Listen to the podcast (30 min)

From Renovare.

#heartivism: Gently Shaking The World

Activism so often includes anger and acts of violence. I am right, so you must be wrong. But Nipun Mehta, founder of Service Space, preaches “heartivism” – a third way between two “right” positions. This article is long but worth the read.

Read Mehta’s talk delivered in January 2023 for the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium at University of Pennsylvania.

Found in Daily Good.

Musings About Valentine’s Day

Joyce Rupp intends to approach Valentine’s Day this year “as a time to observe and affirm the relationships that influence our lives in constructive and satisfying ways.” The lovers, friends, relatives, and colleagues who  “enrich us with their acceptance, guidance, and valuable encouragement.”

Read the reflection.

From Joyce Rupp’s newsletter.

God Hole

“Each of us has a hole in our mind, our heart, and our body that only God can fill,” writes Joanna Seibert. “So instead, we try to fill it with relationships, food, alcohol, drugs, shopping, sports, work, power . . .” But God calls us to help each other find that God hole and fill it with “the best unconditional love we can muster.”

Read the reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

Reclaim Your Chicken

Crowd Solidarity

Sometimes, says Diana Butler Bass, our prideful knowledge of scripture keeps us from clearly hearing the truth of the biblical message. The crowd that heard Jesus utter the Beatitudes might have been far different from us and so heard those words in a far different way than we do.

Read the reflection.

From The Cottage Sunday Musings.

The Unchosen One

What happens when a child actor is overlooked for the part of Anakin Skywalker for a Star Wars movie?  It depends on how you tell your story, says Devon Michael, who tells his own story in this Karma video.

Watch the video.

From Karmatube.

Unexpected Grace and Gratitude in Prison

Artist Brooke Rothshank went to Elkhart County Jail in Indiana to teach a class to the prisoners not knowing what to expect. But, she says, “When I left that first day I felt as if I had discovered a room full of goodness that was hidden away. I know these men made mistakes. I know I’ve made mistakes.  We didn’t know each other’s past, so all we could do was start right there in the present.”

Read the reflection.

From Grateful Living.

Today’s To-Do: Reach Out to an Older Relative

We often connect with the older adults in our lives only at family gatherings and holidays. But talking to older adults can be interesting and good for everyone. An article to pass on to your younger family and friends.

Read the short article.

From The Upside.

Crossing Thresholds

“A threshold is not a simple boundary,” says the Irish poet John O’Donohue. “It is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms and atmospheres.” Thresholds bring fear, confusion, excitement, hope, or sadness. We need to see them as not only something ending but also as opportunity for something to begin.

Read more from  our current Wisdom Years online study “Following the Epiphany Light” on our website.

Learn about the entire study.

Jesus the Good Shepherd and His Discovery

Jesus called himself “the good shepherd,” but did he always know that? In his life he was more like a lost sheep, thirsty, hungry, so terribly vulnerable and alone.

Read or listen to the sermon by Br. Curtis Almquist.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Two Types Of Heartbreaks

Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering, says Parker Palmer. But our hearts can react to sorrow in two ways: they can break apart like shards of glass or open wider, growing into greater capacity for love.

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

It’s All About the Glass

Whether we are a glass-half-full person or a glass-half-empty person, we are living as grateful people when we are grateful for having a glass at all. “Knowing that our lives are incomprehensibly precious, fragile, and fleeting reminds us to stop in our tracks and take stock, every moment, of what matters, how much is enough, and where wisdom would direct our attention,” says Kristi Nelson.

Read the reflection.

From Grateful Living.

A Call to Awakening

“Saints are those who wake up while in this world, instead of waiting for the next one,” says Richard Rohr. “History is continually graced with people who somehow learned to act beyond and outside their self-interest and for the good of the world, people who clearly operated by a power larger than their own. Consider Gandhi, Oskar Schindler, Martin Luther King Jr. Add to them Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Óscar Romero, César Chávez, and many unsung leaders.”

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.