In a Divided World, We Need to Choose Empathy

Jamil Zaki writes about losing a friendship over differing values but realizes that using empathy can restore relationships. Empathy unites individuals, relationships, and teams, says Zaki, but it also can be very fragile. Fortunately there are ways to reignite it.

Read the essay.

From Greater Good Magazine.

Blood and Water Poured Out

“Sometimes the very thing that breaks your heart is also the thing that opens it to warmth and gratitude,” says Ron Rolheiser in this essay about dying. This happens in death, says Fr. Ron. “Our task, in the end, is to do what this man did, die in such a way that our going away is our final gift to those whom we love.”

Read the reflection.

More about Ron Rolheiser.

Choosing the Lowest Place

Jesus shows us the beauty of the downward path, “a path that leads to life and peace and to true greatness,” says Br. David Vryhof of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. Jesus lives a life of humility and teaches us how to do so. Humility is about acknowledging that all we have and all we possess proceeds solely from God’s generous love.

Read the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Gratitude And Acceptance

We can spend all of our time and energy obsessing over past mistakes or fearing what the future will bring. But neither of these option is good for us or for our world. Better to live consciously, moment by moment, giving thanks for each day’s gifts.

Read the short meditation.

From Joanna Seibert.

Appreciation is Generative

When you tend what you value, what you value thrives. Appreciation allows you to become more intimate with what is. And it also changes what is.

Listen to the 3-minute meditation.

From Grateful Living.

Joy to the World

Tomorrow, Oct. 4, is the day we especially remember and give thanks for St. Francis of Assisi. In his sermon on joy for the day, Br. Geoffrey Tristram recalls visiting the town of Assisi in Italy and offers three suggestions for connecting with joy in our lives.

Read or listen to the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

Finding God’s Kingdom as We Age

Growing older, says Alice Fryling, is a moving target. Some days we appreciate the ability to spend more time in quiet and less time rushing. Other things, like loss of energy, we don’t welcome. Fryling finds comfort and direction in the words and actions of Jesus.

Read the essay.

From the DePree Center of Fuller Seminary.

At Home in Our Own Skin

“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability. To be alive is to be vulnerable,” said Madeleine L’Engle. And often, adds Terry Hershey, we are not comfortable in our own skin.

Read the reflection.

From Terry Hershey’s Sabbath Moment.

More Than Enough

We think we should be doing more. Our offering to God of our time and energy is too paltry to have significance, we think. Fred Smith reminds us that God has set us in a certain place for a certain task, and no matter how big or small it is, it is enough.

Read the essay.

From The Gathering

Life After Death

Nothing is wasted in nature or in love, says poet Laura Gilpin in this short excerpt from her longer poem.

Read the poem.

Found in Daily Good.

A Cloud Never Dies

Thich Nhat Hanh introduced the concept of mindfulness in his home country of Vietnam and the entire world. His inspiration was his experience of war in his own young life in Vietnam. “A Cloud Never Dies” tells the story of this humble young Vietnamese monk and poet whose wisdom and compassion were forged in the suffering of war.

Watch the biographical video. (It is about 30 minutes long.)

From Karmatube.

There Are Many Voices Beside Ours

For Native Americans, interrupting someone who is talking is seen as bad manners or even stupidity. “People should regard their words as seeds says Ella Cara Deloria, a Yankton Dakota educator. “They should sow them, and then allow them to grow in silence.”

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

The Eight Kinds of Humility to Help You Stay Grounded

Most cultures value humility as a virtue to be emulated. Humility teaches us to see that there is always more to learn and different perspectives to be considered. This articles offers eight different varieties of humility to think about and learn from.

Read the article.

Found in Daily Good.

Gratitude Lists Didn’t Work For Me

Writer Andrea Gibson confesses that “what we are truly craving can only be found with gratitude, and what taught me to be grateful was not what’s sweet about this life, but what’s sour.”

Read the essay.

From Grateful Living.

God is not a Cosmic Egotist

What response is there to God’s staggering generosity in the act of creation? What do we give back to the one who gave us everything? “We give thanks. We bow in honor. We dare to draw near — boldly, because permission has been granted, and trembling because God is infinite personal energy and only fools approach that lightly,” says Brian Morykon of Renovare.

Read the essay.

From Renovare.

Drawing a Picture of God

We each have a picture of God, whether or not we are aware of that. We may believe that God is an unloving tyrant, or a divine candy machine, or a scrupulous bookkeeper of our sins. Dallas Willard has pointed out that since we live at the mercy of our ideas, we would be wise to reflect carefully on those that we have about God.

Read the essay.

From Renovare.

The Practice Before The Practice

A life of spirit, regardless of the path we choose, begins with a person’s acceptance that they are part of something larger than themselves, says Mark Nepo. “We are meaning-seeking creatures,” says Nepo, “looking for what matters though we carry what matters deep within us.”

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

The Framed Infinite

Windows are to be looked through, but often they are just overlooked. A window is “a portal, and a horn of plenty, an altar, an avenue whose significance is vital and imperative to life,” says writer Pavithra Mehta. “if you do not have a meaningful relationship with windows, then it is possible, that you have some difficulty perceiving grace,” she says.

Read the reflection.

From Daily Good.

An Alternate Expression of Love and Trust.

When someone you love is angry with you, it may be that you are the recipient of that person’s anger but not the cause of it. You may be the one safe place where this person can lash out without fear of retaliation and have his or her bitterness absorbed. “But this can be very hard to accept, even when we understand why it’s happening,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser. 

Read the reflection.

From Ron Rolheiser blog.

Staring Mercy in the Eye

When Brother Jim Woodrum looked at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), he found that the rich man had probably committed no crime in his acquisition of wealth. Rather his was the sin of omission: He never saw Lazarus lying at his gate.

Read or listen to the sermon.

From Society of St. John the Evangelist.

An Ode To Imagination

It is our ability to imagine what does not yet exist, and then to create it, that is unique to our species, says writer Geneen Marie Haugen. “The human imagination may be our greatest unacknowledged and underutilized innate capacity,” she says.

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

11 Interventions in the 10 Days of Your Dying

If you have lost a loved one, you will resonate with this remembrance of the days of death. It is the little details that embed themselves in memory.

Read the reflection.

From Orion Magazine.

Be Awake

When Jesus tells his followers to watch and be awake, (Mark 13:33–35) he is not threatening us or talking about punishment. He is reminding us to be fully conscious to his presence among us all the time. We say, “Christ will come again,” but Christ is already and always here. We are called to participate in the “sacrament of the present moment.”

Read the reflection.

From Center for Action and Contemplation.

You Shall Have no Other Gods Before Me

What is idolatry? Most of us are not making a golden calf in the basement, but we diminish God in very many ways. “Whenever we conceive of God as somehow being defensive, exotic, anti-enjoyment, less compassionate and intelligent than ourselves, and preferring orthodoxy to compassion, we are breaking the first commandment. Such is idolatry,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

Finishing Craft Projects with Love

Donna Savastio started making a rug as a gift for her sister. But when she developed Alzheimer’s disease, she could no longer follow the intricate instructions to complete the rug. Out of seemingly nowhere someone showed up who offered to complete the rug.  He was from Loose Ends, a program that matches volunteer knitters, quilters and other crafters with projects left unfinished when a person dies or becomes disabled. 

Read the story.

Found in Karuna News.

When Time Stands Still

Renowned scripture scholar Gerhard Lohfink says we can experience time right now as it will be experienced in eternity.  It happens whenever we’re in adoration of God. It is then that we stand in pure wonder, pure admiration, ecstatic awe, entirely stripped of our own heartaches, headaches, and idiosyncratic focus. “God’s person, beauty, goodness, and truth overwhelm us so as to take our minds off of ourselves and leave us standing outside of ourselves,” says Fr. Ron Rolheiser.

Read the reflection.

From the blog of Ron Rolheiser.

A Flame In A Dark Cave

Imagine a flame in a dark cave. It shows its own surroundings, but it also reminds us of how much more there is of that cave that we do not yet know. We see, says writer Colin Walsh, “that life isn’t about reaching firm conclusions anyway, but about opening yourself to the possibility that you might be wrong, that there’s always more to learn.”

Read the reflection.

From Awakin.

 The Gift of Tiny Miracles

The little girl was delighted when she found the penny on the post office floor – several times.  What delights us? What brings us joy? And can we take the risk of sharing those moments with others?

Read the reflection.

From Terry Hershey.

Jesus’ Work of Shalom

The idea of biblical justice, says Shane Claiborne, was not getting what you deserve. “Rather, it was making right what was done wrong, restoring what had been destroyed, healing the wounds of an offensive act. It was about bringing balance and wholeness back to the community, which is why you often see scales as an icon for justice.”

Read the reflection.

From the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Let Your Life Speak

Listening for the voice of vocation as older adults
Online
Sept 7 – Oct 12
4 – 5:15 p.m. (Central time)

What is my purpose now, we ask.  Now that I am retired, now that the kids are grown, now that I can’t do everything I used to be able to do, does God still have need of me? Emphatically, yes. In this 6-week study, starting September 7, we will use Parker Palmer’s book Let Your Life Speak to look at what our faith and experience have taught us and how we can continue to offer our skills and talents for God’s kingdom. 

Click on the link for all the information: https://wisdomyears.org/let-your-life-speak/

The Radical Act of Letting Things Hurt

When someone we care about is hurting, our first instinct is to try to make it better. But not only is that unhelpful, it can actually be harmful, says Maria Popova.

Read the essay and watch the animated video.

Found in Daily Good.

A Case for the Porch

Front porches are the original social media. From the porch one can talk to neighbors about the goings-on up and down the street, even from the required distance of COVID. Porches are “the perfect vehicle to get outside without leaving home,” says writer Charlie Hailey in Orion magazine.

Read the essay.

Found in Daily Good.

Psalm 23 and Shepherds

When we think of shepherds, we envision young boys out in the fields with staff and slingshot.  But in biblical times, girls were more often shepherds than we realize. Perhaps we need to read the Bible stories we thought we knew so well looking for new insights.

Read the short reflection.

From Joanna Seibert.

Meditation: Being Attentive to God

The psalmist declares he meditates on God all night (Ps 63:6). But meditation is not just thinking. Christian meditation, says Joyce Huggett, engages every part of us — our mind, our emotions, our imagination, our creativity and, supremely, our will. Meditation establishes a connection with God.

Read the essay.

From Renovare.

Let Your Life Speak

Listening for the voice of vocation as older adults
Online
Sept 7 – Oct 12
4 – 5:15 p.m. (Central time)

What is my purpose now, we ask.  Now that I am retired, now that the kids are grown, now that I can’t do everything I used to be able to do, does God still have need of me? Emphatically, yes. In this 6-week study, starting September 7, we will use Parker Palmer’s book Let Your Life Speak to look at what our faith and experience have taught us and how we can continue to offer our skills and talents for God’s kingdom. 

Click on the link for all the information: https://wisdomyears.org/let-your-life-speak/