Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Jesus the Catalyst for New Possibilities ~ As we move into the last week before Christmas, we explore the idea that in being born into the world, Jesus became a part of the very essence of life and creation. Much more than an historical figure or church figurehead, Diarmuid O’Murchu says Jesus is a catalyst for new possibilities in the creation story. This powerful reality is something we can carry with us into the New Year, contemplating what this means for us in our daily life and within our own unfolding story. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, December 12, 2017
The Stable of Our Love Advent is so counter cultural. This season tells us to slow down and assess what our spiritual life looks like. It challenges me to ask the questions – How is my prayer life? What is my relationship with God? How are my relationships with others? But our culture tells us otherwise. The messages of the world tell us – shop – more – consume. This year I want it to be different. I want to embrace the dark, quiet time. I want to reflect and deepen my prayer. I want to enter the stable and sit with Jesus. I want to slow down and be silent enough to hear my inner peace, to hear the world’s beauty, and to hear the message that Jesus brought at his birth. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, God’s Son, God’s Self, with us to dwell. The O Antiphons have been described as “a unique work of art and a special ornament of the pre-Christmas liturgy, filled with the Spirit of the Word of God”. They “create a poetry that fills the liturgy with its splendor”, and their composer shows “a magnificent command of the Bible’s wealth of motifs”. The antiphons are, in fact, a collage of Old Testament types of Christ. Their predominant theme is messianic, stressing the hope of the Savior’s coming. Jesus is invoked by various titles, mainly taken from the prophet Isaiah. The sequence progresses historically, from the beginning, before creation, to the very gates of Bethlehem. Tonight we will pray the O Antiphons and reflect on God With Us, what that means and how we live it. Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, November 28, 2017
The True Nature of Your Beloved. ~ We waste so much of our lives comparing ourselves to others. God, on the other hand delights in the uniqueness of each of us. How much more pleasant can life be when we allow ourselves to be held in the divine embrace and relax into knowing how very loved we are. The true nature of our Beloved is total, unconditional love. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Where there is no love, put love – and you will find love. ~ My favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving and my all time favorite person is Dorothy Day – seemed like a great combination for this week’s prayer. The way Dorothy chose to live her life inspires me and challenges me…and for her I am grateful. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, November 14, 2017
A Path in God ~ When we begin to open our minds and hearts to the Mystery of Life as it is new insights enrich our understanding. The reality is that none of us is all saint and none of us is all sinner. We together are the gift of Wholeness that God intends and loves. And we are given the possibility of loving God through each other. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Make of yourself a LIGHT ~ We are entering the season of darkness. As we descend into the deep night of winter, we wait for the light to come. In the approaching seasons of Advent and Lent, we watch for a message, a Messiah, a new understanding that we hope will illuminate our spiritual darkness. But we are not here to be illuminated. We are here to be a light for others on the journey. And though we may die unknowing and unenlightened, if even a modicum of our lives is consumed in service, love, empathy and compassion for others, we will have fulfilled our purpose and Buddha’s admonition to “make of yourself a light.” Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Celebrating Fourteen Years of God’s Love ~ Our annual anniversary celebration comes on a Wednesday this year. We celebrate God’s goodness and the power of the circle of prayer that each gathering of friends brings into our blessed Centering Space. Sr. Carol and Betsy
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Tuesday, October 24, 2017
The Prayer of the Heart ~ I believe that all of us have experienced dry periods in our spiritual lives. Perhaps we need to look a different way at praying, prayer and ourselves.
Mary Timko
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Tuesday, October 17, 2017
l experience life through my encounter with other humans and cosmic realities. Father Stan Chu Ilo ~ Father Stan Chu Ilo speaks of his native continent with great affection. “If you ask me about the true picture of Africa, I would say it is a multiplicity of human experience held together by a common African spirituality based in the connections between people.” This week we are invited to look closely at how an insight into another spirituality can enrich our own. Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Who is my neighbor? ~ Who are the people that you want to reject or prefer to avoid? Who are the “they” you have in mind when you say “they are unwelcome, unworthy, not one of us, or just plain wrong?” I know I want to believe that I would accept even my enemy as neighbor, but I can recall situations where an “other” made me very uncomfortable. I know my head and heart do no always agree. Marilyn Maciel wonders about the possibility of a world where there are no “others.” Richard Rohr says we need them to be whole. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Love is What God Is ~ October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis is often the backyard statue holding birdseed. Or the warm fuzzy saint who adored animals. Or the weird party guy who gave up everything to follow Jesus. While these things are true, it seems we should concentrate on his journey of conversion and his unfailing love of God. The more I read about Francis’ life – not unlike Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and others – I am drawn to his struggle, his honesty, his challenges, and his willingness to give up so much and choose to live simply in order to make room for God in all things and in all ways. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Beyond Forms to the True Self in God ~ The daily life of holiness– another word for wholeness– is made of simple calls to help others and to pray, yet there is a tendency to complicate faith or separate our daily life from our ideas of what it means to be religious or spiritual The Buddhists have a saying about how to find enlightenment: “Chop wood. Carry water.” What this means is that to open ourselves to transformation is a process over which we have little control except in the daily, small efforts to live a faithful, human life. The ultimate goal will take care of itself. It doesn’t matter how lofty our thoughts may be, what religious training we have, or what great spiritual truths we have discovered. If we can’t live a life of faith in practical acts of service, it means nothing to the letting go of our small self so that our deepest True Self in God can emerge. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, September 19, 2017
There is nothing to fear. You can do no wrong. ~ There are some fundamental beliefs that emerge from the new and old testaments, as well as in the writing of religious scholars of many traditions and practices, including The Tao and Buddhism. The first – and the one we hear most often – is that we are loved unconditionally. The other two are concepts that are more difficult for us to get our minds around: 1) we have nothing to fear and 2) we can do no wrong. In a world that is filled with suffering and what we have traditionally called “sin” how can these things be true? Our spirit, existing in this earthly form, has no fear and so enters in the “play” of life and creation willingly and joyfully, with no concern for the outcome. It is only the ego that gets entangled in the web of fear, sin, judgment and uncertainty. Learning to trust the love that gave birth to our form can set our spirits free, even in the midst of our earthly challenges. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Learning from Landscapes ~ In the past month we have joined together to experience stunning happenings in our Universe. The solar eclipse brought us together in joyful celebration, a rare “once in a lifetime event” which yielded spectacular, awe inspiring photo images. Some of us have already marked a date on our calendars, April 8, 2024, when a total solar eclipse will be seen in all its glory here in Ohio. In stark contrast, the devastation of tropical storm Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida hasbrought the nation together to witness the destructive power of water and wind as well. Our hearts are still moved to do all we can to ease the pain and suffering of those who lost so much in so quick a time. This week’s prayer puts us in touch with the rhythms of our own lives as we journey through time. It invites us to acknowledge gratefully the presence of grace as gifts from our Creator. These gifts allow humans to rejoice and to cry together. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Giving Hearts: alive for one another!~ Community can’t be commanded or enforced. Neither can it be expected to just happen. The bond that forms individuals into a whole is one of mutual respect and acceptance. We seek to allow the space for community to grow within and among persons who are open to receiving God’s love and sharing it with others. Henri Nouwen describes how and Joe Wise lists the many, many areas of life in which giving hearts are needed. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, August 29, 2017
A Grace of Sense ~ Does the silence of prayer and meditation require silence? Is it the only way to relate with God? Is there a time and a place for silence? Is silence better than our other activities? What is our relationship with silence? Why do we love it? Why do we struggle? This week’s prayer takes a look at all these questions with a lens of silent prayer, the world around us, T.S. Elliot and a bit of Ignatian Spirituality. Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, August 22, 2017
A God Who Plays ~ Is it not delightful that there is only one letter difference in our words pray and play? For much of my religious life I have boldly conflated the two. When I am on retreat, I feel the Spirit inviting me to relax and let go into creation. When I am on vacation, the very ocean and beach sing to me of the Presence of the Creator. It is a blessing to find that Brother David Steindl-Rast has that same insight. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, August 15, 2017
It’s in Every One of Us What are we waiting for? A miracle to make us ready for whatever God asks of us? To be pure before we think we can pray? It is already there. We aren’t being asked to do the impossible, just to do something and let God take the next step after that. There are too many difficult needs in the world that we can never completely fill, problems to be solved that are beyond our ability to unravel. We can’t be the answer to every prayer in the world, but we can be love every day, anywhere. Like St. Teresa of Avila said, he lives in us now. “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world.” But first it has to begin in the awareness of knowing how wholly and completely loved we are. God isn’t waiting for us to be perfect; that will never happen in this life. Just sit in the quiet and feel yourself loved. Let it sink in, and realize that it is in every one of us. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Praise Belongs to You, O Beloved As one who loves to garden, I have always enjoyed the passage from Matthew about the seeds and the soil. But of course the passage is not really about seeds and soil. It is about what a person chooses to do with the Good News of Jesus. In the readings and song I have chosen for this week’s prayer, I challenge myself to look at the soil I am spending my life in. Am I temporarily enthusiastic; am I filled with anxiety and worry; am I only a person of faith on the surface; or, am I becoming that person of deep faith where the seeds grow strong and lush?Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Eternal life is now. When will I see it? How can I be it? Tommy James said in his 1968 pop hit Crystal Blue Persuasion that finding the beauty that is already here is “So easy to find, Just look to your soul and open your mind.” In his book Awareness, Anthony DeMello champions that idea when he encourages us to “let whatever happens, happen.” It is only through connecting to the reality of what is, can we experience the wonder and beauty of the eternal life that exists in us already. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Where is the Good News Today? What is the Good News? Has the Good News changed in 2000 years? Is it still Good News? Has it changed over your lifetime? Have you helped spread the Good News? Do we each have our own Good News to leave behind? And…do we all fit into the Good News somewhere? In my search for the Good News I never thought that I would come to the realization that I have to share the Good News from my true self, the self God made me to be and wants me to be. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Life in boxes ~Since the 4th of July it would seem that we are all rushing toward the start of school and the end of summer. Supply lists are out, rosters have been posted, practice has begun…and so have the sales. Our prayer this week is a reminder that life doesn’t come in boxes. Life is no a commodity that can be returned if it doesn’t fit or meet our expectations, All of the life around us is a gift. Let’s enjoy it and be grateful! Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Once there was a time when the whole of rational creation formed a single dancing chorus looking upwards to the one leader of this dance. Gregory of Nyssa ~ We are all musicians in Love’s orchestra. From the cosmos to the deepest depths of the sea, we and everyone and everything else created by God, work toward the harmony that we are all intended for. God created us to be dependent and independent and part of the orchestra, all within the created being we call our self. May we always be open to God’s love and assistance in finding our own harmony. Peggy Gerovac
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Wednesday, July 5, 2017
an abiding, universal love ~ Accept that you are loved by a God whose love is abiding and universal. You belong to the universe, you are precious and invited to sit in silent attention to this mystery that is truth. But sitting is not enough. You are called to celebrate the reality of your beauty by taking your awareness into the world… your everyday, ordinary world , declaring to others that they, too, are beloved. We are each and all held in an abiding, universal love always. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, June 27, 2017
“Prayer is the breath of life, the sunrise of the soul.” Gerard Straub ~ Can we all agree that our world is a bit broken? While I might live in a comfortable community where I want for nothing, I am fully aware that so many suffer. What can I do? Increase my love for others; reach out in love; and pray. Always pray. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, June 20, 2017
And Light Will Fill You ~ The beautiful gift of nature can be a constant mirror for the love that God holds for us at all times. The Summer Solstice is one such day among the 365 days that we circle the sun. Love is always present just as the sun is for us. Through the ups and the downs, the good times and bad times, in the light and the dark, Love keeps coming our way. May we open our hearts to the wonder God’s of life within us. Ginny May-Schiros
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Tuesday, June 13, 2017
See wholeness — everywhere ~Happiness is state of mind. It is available to us every minute of our lives, but only if we can open our eyes and hearts to see beauty and wholeness everywhere. When you awaken to this truth, you realize that NOTHING has to change for you to be happy. The moment you think you need a different job to be happy, you lose the joy of the present moment. The moment you think someone in your life is wrong, needs to change or should repent some action, happiness flees. Happiness will find you the moment you stop your mind from wanting something different and see instead the perfection in what is. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Entering into the Heart of Summer – What better time to consider creativity than in “the heart of summer?” This week’s reflection ask us to recapture the innocence and freedom we may have experienced on vacation, recently or long ago. It also invites us to notice children at play. Memories or dreams can rekindle our imaginations and move us to a mystical awareness of life and the meaning of significance ordinary moments experienced with open hearts. In the here and now, we encounter the cosmic, Sacred source of all that is. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, May 30, 2017
“God wants to fill you with grace and courage so that you can go out into the world and let your light shine.” Matthew Kelley –The interesting thing about talents to me is that we are almost ashamed of our talents. We downplay our talents because we don’t want to sound egotistical. When in reality, admitting our talents and being aware of our shortcomings or I prefer growing edges that is true humility. It is admitting to who God made us. Matthew Kelley talks about the incredible privilege it is to bring others closer to God. Being who we are and then being who we were meant to be takes work. The phrase a work in progress is true. Letting our lights shine and letting others know that is for God that we do that, it is almost a daunting task we undertake. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Praying for others is an act of hospitality. Sybil MacBeth in her book Praying with Color says, “Praying for others is an act of hospitality. It involves opening the door of our hearts and minds and admitting people into our consciousness. We invite them to take up residence for a time and allow them to engage our feelings and thoughts. Like entertaining guests for a weekend, praying for others requires time and energy. It is a way of saying, “Yes, I will hang with you and support you in your challenges and your suffering.” In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells us, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” What does this mean for us in our culture that is currently feeding on a negative, put-down mentality Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, May 16, 2017
a special kind of mystic – “Who are we that gather in this ordinary space?” asks Linnea Good in this week’s song. Why, of course, we respond, it’s ordinary us. We miss the fact that every “ordinary” being… human and otherwise… is an extraordinary miracle of nature and grace. Brother David Steindl-Rast says that each of us is a “unique, irreplaceable mystic” that only we in our ordinariness can become. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Listening to Your Memories for Wisdom Our memories of life can hold pearls of wisdom if we look and listen without judgement or attachment. We can sometimes see things that happened long ago in a whole new light when looked at from the present moment. Suddenly the lessons we needed to learn in that painful experience or that joyful moment are so much clearer when seen looking in the rearview mirror. Sometimes, hindsight really is 20/20. So take a few minutes to allow God to take you back in time for a few moments, and see what comes to the surface for healing, enjoyment and release. Ginny Schiros
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Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Let go. Hit the Restart Button. Just BE! We have two simple choices in every moment. To live out of ego or to live out of spirit. What happens to someone who has a Near Death Experience is that they quit looking at everything through their own personal ego. They realize ego is temporary and spirit is permanent, and they have a profound understanding of what that means in a forever sense. They quit making decisions out of the mess of conflicting messages coming from the ego and instead make SPIRIT their primary filter. It is a shift in perspective that we can all adopt in our efforts to seek true inner peace. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, April 25, 2017
If God Stopped Thinking of Me, He Would Cease to Exist. ~ We believe that God is always present to us. How present are we to God? Is God our primary focus each day? What percent of our attention do we give to God,20, 40 50 percent of our time. This was one of the last Lenten ideas I was asked to consider. So as I contemplated this idea I wondered whether I truly believe God is always there. If God is, why do some of the scripture passages in the Old testament say, “Then God remembered His people, Israel.” Does God turn a deaf ear to us as a parent might to a willful, prideful, or whiney child? Many other scripture passages tell us that God will never forget us, his children. In this relationship, what is our part? Mary Timko
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Tuesday, April 18, 2017
It had better be true. ~ How does one who mourns experience hope? Some say “without Good Friday there’d be no Easter.” For those whose dreams are destroyed or “deferred” there are no glib explanations. Pained by the struggles of our brothers and sisters around the world, we celebrate the holiday “for the sake of the children,” but we find ourselves called to “see and touch” members of our struggling global family and like Thomas, to believe. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, April 11, 2017
A Time to Watch and Pray ~ “Broken relationships and betrayal are central elements in the climax of our Lenten Journey. This reality is painful. Yet we can face it with Resurrection hope. Holy Week is a time to watch and pray.” Rev. Delmarshae Sledge
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Tuesday, April 4, 2017
“Life in God should be a daring adventure of love but often we settle for mediocrity.” Ilia Delio – Prayer is countercultural. Prayer is a daring adventure. Prayer is never alone. Our quiet reflective prayer at Centering Space helps us to do all this and to carry it forward into our lives. We learn through prayer that we are interconnected, we are dependent and we are challenged. Prayer brings all of this to us with love. And our love for God grows allowing us to live in this love more and more even when the world around us feels disconnected to this experience. Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, March 28, 2017
God Within You – If we only look at how we are each so uniquely made, we can come to understand the love that God has for each of us as individuals. There isn’t any one person who is exactly like another; this is as it was meant to be. As we learn to understand who we are and accept that God loves us wholly and completely even as we make mistakes, we can join in the mystery of our life as co-creators because God is alive within us. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, March 21, 2017
All praise be Yours, my God, through Brothers Wind and Air, by which You cherish all that You have made. Francis of Assisi ~ For me the element that symbolizes Spring is air: the quickening breath of all nature, the newness of life coming back from a winter of death and solemn stillness. The Breath of God is the Spirit which flows through us. We share in life-receiving and life-giving. Hildegard of Bingen reminds us that we participate in the “soul of God” when we share ourselves with each other. The Vernal (greening) Equinox is this week. Let’s open our hearts to receive and share the divine breath. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Repentance is about rebirth – Fasting and sacrifice are so much a part of Lent. But what are these things really? Is fasting about giving up something? Or is it about taking on something? Is it about giving up chocolate? Or is it about sharing what you have with those who suffer and are oppressed?
Growing up I always sacrificed something during Lent only to indulge on the Sundays of Lent and then over indulge on Easter. But is that what God is calling us to? Of course not. We are being called to change our hearts during this journey. To be cracked open and see those in our midst who could use a little help, love, and compassion. That has so little to do with chocolate.
Lent is 40 days for Christians to step out of the ordinary and re-asses what the journey has been about and the choices we have been making; it is about stepping into a new space and looking at this journey with Jesus in a new light; Lent gives us the opportunity to clean out and make things right with God, our neighbor and ourselves; it is an opportunity to change from the inside out. That’s the repentance part – getting it right with all of God’s creation.
It is a healing period of repentance when in the end all is forgiven. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Conversion is the Grace of Letting Go ~ How often have you prayed to have some change come into your life? How often have you prayed for something without being WILLING to let the thing go that is standing between you and the thing for which you are praying? We have to turn this thing around. We have to let go first, and then the grace that comes from that movement is that we are converted to the very thing for which we are praying. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, February 28, 2017
The Landscape of Possibility ~ Our prayer this week moves us from Mardi Gras and Ask Wednesday. What a difference a day makes! Nature teases us with clouds and sunshine; snow and rain one day and a warm breeze and bird songs the next. Out of habit, we tune into the weather forecast and ask what will get us through the changing seasons, from winter into springtime? Simultaneously, as we begin the annual journey through Lent to Easter, we ready ourselves for challenges and choices not unlike those that Nature offers. We tend our gardens, remove the debris and notice new life which has weathered the winter storms. We realign the edges of flower beds whose boundaries have been broken by the snow plows. We clear new space for plantings. And dream of the bursts of color which will enhance our curb appeal.
In our souls deep within arises the “the landscape of possibility” where “our deepest longings meet our willingness to make them real.” Hope frees us to clear away the debris collected during spiritual hibernation. We notice invitations that grace presents. We expand our hearts’ boundaries, making room for new life. And we share Good News with others: the opportunity to experience a new season enlivening in them the hope that fulfills it. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, February 21, 2017
From Forgiveness to Renewal and on to Pure Joy ~ Lent is a time to search for God and who it is we were meant to be. This Lent takes us right into spring and into the pure love of God through the cross. Let’s try to find the buds of joy within us and nurture them through fasting, alms and repentance and find our way to holiness. True holiness, like true humility, is seeing ourselves as we are with our gifts and our weaknesses. In the busyness of our lives, I think we forget that each day we have the choice to be who we want to be. Let’s make the choice to be who God meant for us to be, holy, because God is Holy. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Love does that ~ In our spiritual journey, in our lives and in our understanding of God, love grows, love frees. With great spiritual leaders, like Meister Eckhart, we can both learn and be inspired to expand this understanding of love and then live it. Our prayer this week, centers on Eckhart’s belief as well as his inspired work. “Love Does That” reminds us of Valentines, those we remember and those we are living today. Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, February 7, 2017
deep in the love of God ~ So often we ask what is God’s will? How can I find it? How do I know I am following it? Ilia Delio’s explanation is amazingly simple: “the will of God is God’s love for us.” God wants us to know we are loved and to respond in love. She posits that the purpose and meaning of our lives and, indeed, of the life of all that exists is the mystery of God’s Love. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, January 31, 2017
When talk leads to nothing ~ And maybe nothing is where something can begin. After all the words that can be said, isn’t it our presence to another person, or they to us, that forms the ground of a relationship? Isn’t it the same when we speak to God in prayer and finally all the words pass away? By beginning to listen to something deeper than the words that divide us, maybe we can find our way home again to a place of connection and communion. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Give thanks to the Beloved I am fairly certain the best movie I have ever seen was Cinema Paradiso. It is a beautiful film about a young boy and an older man and their life long relationship. The man is a patient and tender teacher for the young boy as he is taught the skills of being a movie theater projectionist. What I remember from the story is the steady strength the boy gets from the man. The love is constant and unconditional; as God’s love is for us. No matter what challenges they face in the years of friendship they are faithful to one another. As the boy grows up and leaves for college and career, and then finally a significant move, the deep connection they have with each other never falters. They lose touch and yet they never really do. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Let contemplation guide us to action rooted in love – Every four years during the election cycle, we have winners and losers. We feel we have “won” if the person who represents our view wins, and vice versa if our candidate loses. The Bible is more than clear on this issue. We are not to put our hopes and confidence in “princes, horses or chariots” but only in the love of God. As we advance into a new year with a new political administration coming into power, Richard Rohr encourages us to remember that while turmoil and fear may swirl around us, we are encouraged to cultivate a contemplative mind that keeps us in steady contact with that love that promises to navigate us smoothly through changing times. “Only a contemplative mind can hold our fear, confusion, vulnerability and anger and guide us toward love. Let’s use this milestone moment to begin again with confidence and true inner freedom and to move out into the world with compassion,” says Richard Rohr. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, January 10, 2017
With Open Hands. We pray for peace this week in our families, our country and our world. We ponder the suggestion that a clenched fist is a barrier to forgiveness. We pray with open hands and open hearts: “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with (us).” Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, January 3, 2017
What Is Prayer, But Hope. Just as we see the melting snow as hope for the coming spring, So the New Year is our hope of a renewed hope in the Lord? Mary Timko
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Tuesday, December 27, 2016
We realize our divine nature by becoming true humans. Made in the image of God, it would seem that to become perfectly like God we need only become perfectly who we are. Perfection isn’t meeting some arbitrary and impossible standard. Rather my perfection will be to become Carol as best I am able; to listen to my inner being and become more aware of all that surrounds me and lifts me up and tries to keep me down and offers me insights of what life is about. Jesus lived to be the best Jesus he could be. That’s all that’s asked of each of us. Not to become Jesus, but to become the very best you. Believe me, this isn’t easy! Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
What Shall We Call Him? The carols of this Christmas season capture parts of the familiar gospel story of Mary, Joseph and their infant son. In this last week of Advent we think of young couples about to bring a child into the world. We imagine Mary and Joseph wondering about their child. “What shall we call him?”Just for a minute play with the options: a family name, a popular name in Nazareth, a name with a story behind it? Try not to over spiritualize the Nativity. Mary & Joseph are poor, observant Jews who are trying to live peaceful lives amid the daily tensions of life under Roman occupation. Consider the words of this week’s song: “God Beyond All Names” and gain new insight into these holy days. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016
“We’ll stay hungry if we eat alone.” Sara Miles I love Sara Miles’ first sentence in this week’s reflection, “We’ll stay hungry if we eat alone.” Didn’t Jesus spend a good part of his time eating with friends and strangers? Not so much to be physically nourished, but rather to make connections, to grow in community, to work life out together. Miles goes on to write, “We’ll never feel truly fed if we’re constantly competing to get our share.” We are in this together. The story from the stable suggests this very message – Jesus comes to all of us in a run down, cold environment. Mary and Joseph needed help from others for food, warmth, and some level of comfort. The book, Jesus Freak: Feeding, Healing, Raising the Dead by Sara Miles is a beautiful reflection on the many ways in which we are called to feed, heal and raise others up in this life. We can’t go it alone. Betsy Nero
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esday, December 6, 2016
To Live in the World – How do we live in the world as integrated and whole persons? Deep down, underneath the trappings of fancy or mundane clothing, academic degrees or awards, and all of our worries, the soul knows what this life is about. This something we all know goes deeper than any description we can give to it, though it can’t be quantified or defined. We all long for this inner life of authority wedded with humility even though it seems so elusive. The key to living in this world is listening to this most human and basic part of ourselves and following that road home to the inner place of stillness where the soul lives. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Love invites us to say “Yes” to our lives – Kathleen Norris asks, when the mystery of God’s love breaks through do we run from it, or do we respond, as the Blessed Virgin Mary responded, with a resounding YES! The Annunciation invites us all to consider the mystery and the miracle of the love that pervades our being. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Make My Heart Your Bethlehem, Be Born in Me –Each year In the back of our minds there is a tugging. There is a thought trying to burst forth into our consciousness that there is more; there is a grand miraculous event looming throughout Advent. “We are secretly in a close connection with the eternal truth and love, even if we ourselves are not aware of it.” Yet, we go on ignoring this connection, ignoring the grand miraculous event as if we don’t want the truth to ruin our good times. What if letting Jesus into our hearts opens a doorway to a new life in service to God and each other? Mary Timko
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Tuesday, November 15, 2016
A Spirit-filled Way – When we speak of “all” that exists, all that God creates, that Spirit sanctifies, that Jesus loves, it is a challenge to recognize that all includes what we dislike and fear as well as what we love. Our call is to see beyond the divisions that our culture has taught us to believe in and to act on the truth of unity. The Holy Spirit is present within and among us in all that is, the pleasant and the unpleasant, the lovely and the not-so-very… the light and the dark, all is One. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Our Deepest Prayer – The deepest prayer…what could that be? We strive for perfection, for transformation, for the most profound words to express our longing for union with our Creator, yet in the end it must be very simple. We are lovable and loving when we remain true to our deepest, created selves. God loves us as we are, and the deepest prayer comes from this place of our true nature–beyond striving, beyond our ideas of perfection, beyond words. This simplicity of being loved and loving is where our deepest prayers are born. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Blessed are you! Holy are you! I love the saints! Men and women who struggled with their faith, in some cases didn’t even start out with faith. They were lost; they made bad choices; they messed up big time. And now? Happily living alongside Jesus himself.
Are we called to be saints? I think so, but not in a way where we’ll appear one day on a holy card. I do think, however, our lives are meant to be lived in a way that honors God each and every day. Be the best we can be – offering ourselves up for the good of the faith community. And as Michael O. Garvey says, saints refuse to accept things as they are. Saints are those people who did and are still doing all they can to change things to make life a little easier for someone else. Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day’s dear friend and co-founder of the Catholic Worker, was to have said that we should live our lives in a way that it makes it easier for others to get to heaven. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Pray to the mystery, trusting in life’s divine significance – Life is a mystery that we desperately try to peer into at our most vulnerable and tragic moments. But it is a mystery that cannot be fathomed, but only lived into with faith and persistence. Elizabeth Barrett Browning writes, “Our daily joy and pain advance to a divine significance.” Faith calls us to understand that our choices and actions, our very lives, are of tremendous importance. We are part of a greater whole that, however obscure it seems, is singing in a coordinated symphony of life, and we are called only to sing our single note with passion, conviction and love. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Fit to be Alive – In what seems like an unending season of skepticism and negativity, we are offered alternatives by Ed Hayes and Maya Angelou. In Chasing Joy: Musings on a Bittersweet World, Hayes cites St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians and raises the question: How can one “rejoice always” in the world as we know it today? Paul’s response: “Do not quench the Spirit.” Angelou invites us all to lean on our Father, Mother, God with gratitude and humility, fully aware of our brothers and sisters, and to pray for PEACE. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, October 11, 2016
If you but knew the gift of God – Philippians 4: 11-14.: I have learned to manage on whatever I have. I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty. There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Recklessly, abundantly, completely… So very many years ago when I made my vows as a Sister, instead of saying “for life” I said “forever.” I heard gasps. But my reasoning was that if all of this was true and God was as wonderful as I’d been assured, then why would I not give myself past this life, no holds barred, into infinity, whatever that meant. I don’t imagine myself a Saint, but I do know the joy that makes sainthood possible. And as Henry Miller writes, I know that joy includes accepting this world and all that is as it is. “the only world, the world of NOW.” Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Be Open to Change – Change comes at at every turn of our lives. Whether we are aware of it or not, God is present in all the challenges that change may bring. You may look in the mirror of your heart and ask, do I really have to accept this change? Can’t things just stay the way they are? The answer will be in your willingness to participate in the possibilities of your own life. By walking through the doors of change as they open before us, we become partners with the God of creation. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, September 20, 2016
“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” ~ Rumi I have liked the “Life is Good” company motto ever since I saw the first shirt – “Love what you do; and do what you love.” And to that I say, Amen. Following up with that is a beautiful line by Frederick Buechner when he defines vocation as ‘the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.’” I have to ask myself, am I doing what I love – I think I am; am I doing something that is meeting the world’s needs – this area is a bit weak. I am challenged by this and yet will also commit to finding more ways in which I might connect with the world and be of greater service. . Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Love is the Great Transformer – Recognizing the changing nature of all creation is the first step toward accepting the isness of life and the moment in which we now are. Every moment is whole in itself and each moment brings us closer to the peace and appreciation that are God’s gifts. Surrendering to God’s Love as we experience it, enables us to share that Love and our unique expression of compassion to others. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Go forward into vulnerability – We are invited this week to “lean into what is,” to accept reality as it is. This includes accepting that we are loved, and then surrendering to the truth of the moment, without judgment, without resentment, without making ourselves a “victim.” When we surrender to what is, we can also relax. There is nothing to fix or change, about ourselves or others. Finally we can become the “hole in the flute that the Christ’s breath moves through,” as Hafiz tells us. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Frail dust, Remember, you are Splendor! Moving through the heart of every person is an ache for God. We live under the eye of God. There is no escape from that loving gaze, There is only one way for this ache in us to be healed and that is in becoming like God. When we meet God face to face, without dying, there will be no ache left. The ache will be pure joy., This will take until heaven, but heaven begins right where we are. Holiness is within our grasp, at our fingertips. Macrina Wiederkehr. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Street Spirituality. Quietly we sit together and open ourselves to the Presence of God within each and among all of us. Then we leave this blessed space and go back to our wider and more active worlds where we encounter the Presence of God within and among our families, friends, co-workers and strangers. Both of these encounters are essential and each one enriches and enhances the other. Thank God for the gift of being Love in silent solitude and busy community. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Belonging to God. Belonging is what makes us feel we have a place in the world. For most of us, this is what gives our lives meaning and purpose. We belong to families, organizations, and churches. We know we belong because we feel welcome in those places. Belonging to others in this world is critical to our well-being, but if we settle for just that, what is left when our worldly identity is shaken? Too often, when faced with solitude, loneliness or loss, we run from this question in fear. We mistakenly think we are safer if we never explore the depths of our crises. Fortunately for us, the hidden gift is that during these times of having the surface stripped away, we have the rich opportunity to explore this question deeply and find belonging to our deepest self in God. Ginny May-Schiros
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Tuesday, August 9, 2016
We can only hope to point the way. – Richard Rohr teaches us that no matter how much we try to help others to fill up the dark spaces, surrender to what is, find the spiritual solution to their problems, trust in the guidance and protection of the God who breathes life into us all, the best and only thing we can do is point the way. In the end analysis, the most powerful tool we have at our disposal is to live what we believe passionately and continuously, hoping that a life lived with faith, compassion and persistence in the face of all odds will point the way for others whose lives we touch. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Surrender to something that was not in the ‘plans,’ receive it as gift. – In story of Kevin and the Blackbird, Kevin enters into this moment of surprise when the blackbird lands on him, with great love and hospitality. How many times in our lives do we reach out our hands for a particular purpose, and something else arrives? Something that may cause discomfort, something we may want to pull away from, but in our wiser moments we know that this is a holy gift we are invited to receive. Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Sing a Song – Why do we sing? Maybe just because we can.
When do I sing? “Sing out loud; sing out strong”?
At the close of July 2016 here’s what brings about a song for me… Looking forward to a road trip to Washington DC to visit great friends; continuing to tweek my garden; sitting in an Adirondack chair in my backyard with a good book; watching three content cats living in my house; conversations with my nieces; a walk in the metroparks; sitting at Huntington Park watching a sunset; creating a mandala; preparing a retreat; getting up early; talking with a friend; sitting still; Centering Space; and finally, a powerful moment of silence on the Hope Memorial bridge with like-minded people who really do believe that prayer, and silence, and stillness affects the energy and love and peace in the world. Being with people who do realize “that we’re all in this together.” Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Enter into the Garden of Solitude – I read the other day that you can not have a spiritual life without prayer. I thought, well I guess I don’t have a spiritual life. I have had a difficult time praying since September of 2012. And there in front of me was a book on Reaching Out by Henri Nouwen. Trying to figure ourselves out takes work. Relationships take work. Our relationship with God takes work. Nouwen’s book covers his version of all three. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016
The joy of bursting and bearing fruit – The change, a world at peace, and growth, all people caring for one another, that we desire isn’t happening as swiftly as we want and we grow impatient. Why bother? Whatever we did to make it happen didn’t work, so why try again? God the Divine Vinedresser says “give me time to tend this situation.” We are still in the time of becoming. How are we growing? Are we bearing fruit? Thank God for the divine patience that lets us try again and again. Thank God for the love that bears us up, and draws us forward. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Becoming Free – In a world that is full of oppression on both a political and personal level, freedom is something that is very precious. We all want to be free, yet we easily misunderstand the true basis of freedom. Freedom is discovering that much of what we grasp onto so firmly in our lives, even to the point of entitled violence, isn’t what makes us truly free. Freedom is discovering our true homeland in the heart of God and the family of human kind. Freedom is being awakened to who we really are as children of God and responding in loving service to our sisters and brothers of the earth. Freedom is found in the silence that lives within us. Ginny Schiros
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Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The Spirituality of Letting Go – Letting go. Why is it so difficult? To let go of things, security, people, ideas, beliefs, while all okay on their own, there are times in life when we need to walk away. What am I attached to? So much really. But scripture tells us, that to lose our lives we will save our lives. This passage has always challenged me. It’s so confusing; such a paradox; so complicated. But I grow in understanding of it more and more. I understand now that to hold fast to anything is useless. We live lives of letting go. What I am coming to understand is that I need to relinquish my need to have my life, my world, my relationships just so. We are called to turn all over to God. And I believe that when we “let go – and let God” it frees us to be more of who we are meant to be; it certainly will lead us to a greater sense of peace and happiness. The photo I chose to use is of St. Francis. Who better than Francis to teach us the meaning and benefits of letting go? He gave up everything for God, and in return was greatly blessed.
To be truly blessed, to be fully alive, I recognize the need to turn away from my “attachments” and turn all of my focus and energy on God. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Listening is our bridge from the outer world to the inner world. Don Campbell It is said by many spiritual leaders, help gurus and others who seek to improve our lives, that we need to find meaning in our lives. Many of times this means “the meaning of our life.” Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee tells us that we need to find the meaning around us and this can be easily done if we look, see and reflect on the sacred that is all around us in our ordinary lives. He says without this acknowledgement of the Divine participating in our lives, we seek distractions instead of solutions or acceptance. What sacred experiences might you be missing? Peggy Gerovac
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Tuesday, June 14, 2016
We can only give what exists in us in abundance. We cannot give the world what we are not. And no one is empowered to give us what we cannot recognize in ourselves, whether that is peace or happiness or security. We however, are empowered to recognize the love and generosity we are capable of and nourish those aspects of ourselves so they can flow out into the world around us. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Living the Spiritual Life. What does living a spiritual life really entail? Is it attending prayer and services? Is it reading the great spiritual guru’s of the past and present? Is it feeding the poor, visiting the sick, helping the homeless? Perhaps it is all of the above. How much attention do really put into protecting, enhancing and depending on our Spiritual Lives? Mary Timko
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Tuesday, May 31, 2016
All encounters with others are encounters with the divine. Being there is what it’s all about. How often being there means just waiting. It isn’t even waiting for something to happen, but waiting to realize what has been happening all along. Attention to this moment now, again and again. God is here and what is happening is divine, possibly most especially when we fail to recognize it at all. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Returning to Reverence. What does reverence mean to you? Reverence means being respectful of everyone and everything based on awareness that all is one and all is sacred. It might appear that we are absorbed in the mundane details of everyday life, but if we approach even these common things in life with reverence, suddenly all of life becomes holy. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, May 17, 2016
“A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” Chinese Proverb Peter Maurin presented a challenge at the beginning of the Catholic Worker Movement. He said that we should work towards a society “where it is easier for people to be good.” Joan Chittister in her writings indicates that we are to have those life experiences that will change us “so that we can do what we are meant to do to change it (life) for others.” Make life just a little easier for others; more hopeful; happier. She goes on to quote Aristotle who referred to happiness as, “doing something that makes the world a better place to be.” This prayer and reflection is a challenge for me to look for ways to find greater happiness but more importantly it’s a challenge for me to bring greater happiness to others. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Heartbeats This week we ask the question “How do we know we are alive?” A pulse, a heartbeat, a breath are the normal signs of the presence of life. Joan Chittister, OSB suggests that while there is still life in us, we have the possibility through prayer of aligning our heartbeat with God’s own heartbeat. Then we begin to notice that the world and all created matter is pulsing with life; and each person we meet is inviting us into life-giving communion. We see life from an entirely new perspective. Our eyes, ears, hearts and hands are one. We know what it means to be really alive. We renew the face of the earth. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, May 3, 2016
To truly understand the Gospel, we must live it. Everything we need to live in peace, harmony and happiness is already within us. We are born with the innate capacity to live in unity with this reality. The Gospel tells us of this reality over and over again. But the words remain empty of meaning until we begin to live them; that is…take them into our daily life and really experience what they mean. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Moses found the Holy on the Mountain; Jesus, in the Desert; The Apostles, in the Breaking of the Bread. Where do you find the Holy? My mind has been focused on holy lately. I am not really sure why. I keep seeing, Be holy, for I am holy. So what is holy? Is Creation is holy? How do we as human beings find or reverence “The Holy?” People seem so afraid of being holy as if it is boasting. And yet by our baptisms, we are called to be holy for God is holy. God is ours and we are his. We are called to be priests, prophets, and kings. Was Jesus holy, his actions, his words? Perfect does not mean holy, holy does not necessarily mean perfect. Perhaps it is a journey with…the Holy…. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, April 19, 2016
An Awesome Gift, Freely Given. Ilia Delio writes that once we come to awareness of God’s ongoing and always presence with and within us we are transformed. “Possessed by God we live as those who have received an awesome gift, freely given, a prize won by sheer fortune.” Our next awareness is that we want to share this precious and generous gift with everyone we know and meet. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Mindfulness and the Holy Spirit. When we allow God to come alive in us, the Holy Spirit is ever more present. We may think this requires something profound, but it is simply in the moments of being fully present that we become aware of what is there all the time. As the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has explained in interfaith discussions, the Holy Spirit is the energy of God’s love that is available to each of us in the practice of mindfulness. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Awaken Me! So here we are in the Easter season having made our way through Lent. We’ve spent time in sacrifice, in prayer, in deep reflection about our journey with Christ. But now as we focus more on the resurrection than the cross, are we liberated and joy-filled to think about waking up and embracing the risen Christ? How is Christ alive in my life? How am I showing Christ to others?
I’ve just returned from a trip to Florida. I experienced images of overwhelming wealth and significant poverty. The homeless were abundant. I found myself thinking a great deal about how is it to be homeless (or at least struggling with profound mental illness) in an area where people want for nothing; where life for so many is so extravagant. But for others it means living out of a backpack and accepting handouts from complete strangers. The resurrection challenges us to a new place – a place where the divide between those who have more than they need and those who have so little, lessens. The resurrection should awaken us; draw us out of our complacency; draw us away from our mistakes; remind us to go back home and embrace the Father. God wants us to arise and live and invite others to do the same. Be Christ for others. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
So what do we do now? Our prayer this week focuses on gratitude and motivation in the spiritual life. We see that the graced experience and the action which flows from it are essential if we are to be creditable to others as “religious presence.” Daily acts of solidarity with those whose needs are not being met can indeed change the world. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Out of darkness … LIGHT. Most living things experience a passage from darkness to light. In Holy Week, we are reminded of this passage, as Jesus enters the tomb and emerges the resurrected Christ. Each spring is a reminder to us of this passage as the seed lying dormant all winter in the earth, devoid of light, suddenly emerges into the light intent on fulfilling its destiny. Many of our experiences in life begin in a place of darkness, the seed of our expression germinating in sorrow or uncertainty or fear, only to be carried forth lovingly into the light once again. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, March 15, 2016
What Lies Beyond the Cross? For me, each of the seasons of the church has a unique opportunity for growth. Ordinary time, offers a focus on discipleship. To listen to Jesus’ words, learn what is important to Jesus. Advent is a season of hope, a time to reflect on God becoming human to not only save us but to teach us to be human to one another. Lent is not only a season of alms giving, prayer, and fasting but a time for further spiritual growth and a challenge to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Easter is a time for to rejoicing in the love and mercy of God. It is also a time to begin to put our faith into action and spread the good news. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, March 8, 2016
God’s Dream come True – God’s dream recounted by Jesus whenever he talks about the Realm of God is all of creation functioning in love. Ilia Delio says “To live in the will of God is to live in the transcendent freedom of love.” Father Greg Boyle, SJ says “If you can just receive who people are, then you can stay anchored in joy and peace.” I encourage you to Google their credentials and come share their insights at prayer this week. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, March 1, 2016
What the Soul Wants “Nobody knows what the soul is,” says the poet Mary Oliver. In A Hidden Wholeness Parker Palmer leads us in an exploration of the soul which has many labels in our human attempt to describe it. To philosophers, the soul is the core of our humanity; to Thomas Merton: “the true self.” Buddhists call it our original nature. For Quakers it is the inner light, while Hasidic Jews call it a spark of the divine. And Palmer observes that unfortunately the culture we live in discourages us from paying attention to the soul. “When we do fail to pay attention, we end up living soulless lives.” Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Balance – Are you walking in faith or fear? It is said that life is all about balance. Without balance we are like a ship without a keel and the waves of life overwhelm us. We flounder between the reality of our mortality and our hope for eternal life. If we are too full of fear and the reality of our mortality, we lose hope or veer off into materialism. On the other hand, if we believe only in the primacy of the afterlife, we lose sight of the beauty in the present moment and God’s call in this day. Balance allows us to find the middle way that holds all of life and death together in faith. Ginny Schiros
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Tuesday, February 16, 2016
designed to be creators; created to be saints. It doesn’t appear to be easy being a saint. Too many obstacles. too many demands, too many personal imperfections. And yet, we are called to be saints. How can I be a saint? Me? I fumble too much; I am too easily irritated; too intolerant; too messy. But who are the saints? They are individuals who have been called out of their messiness, their failures, their impatience, and their ordinariness. Saints are simple, ordinary people who chose to embrace and live the Gospel. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, February 9, 2016
See with clarity the sacred life we are called to manifest.We used to give up our favorite vices for Lent, chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol. Nowadays, we tend to disparage the practice and look for other Lenten practices. But Bruce Sanguin in his book “If Darwin Prayed” says these self-denials can actually be powerful spiritual practices. They teach us, he says that our addictions are holding us back from our own spiritual evolution and stifling our capacity to proclaim and enact God’s kingdom. In suffering through the effort it takes to let of our addictions, Sanguin says “we can discover our essential spiritual identity: one with all of creation.” Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Teach me Lord the Truth of Your Love and Compassion as I Journey to You. God not only knows everything about us. But more importantly, God wants us to join in an intimate relationship with him through prayer. Macrina Wiederkehr writes about a way of using everyday events, crumbs she calls them, that make up our daily bread. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Why Pray? When we pray we speak words to a Mystery Who is Love. God is not whatever or whomever we imagine God to be—neither Michelangelo’s powerful white male figure sitting on a cloud nor some grand divine energy wave that is beyond communication. Prayer is our attempt to connect with this Mystery who longs for us to do so. Yet, our human ability is limited. We can’t know, only sense. It is a mystery. So, Why pray? Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The Search for Abundance. So often, we go through our days knowing we need something more, but don’t know what it is. We are hungry and fill ourselves with things that leave us empty. There is hope for us because the spiritual food we need is found within us, in the quiet that allows us to receive what is already ours. Together, we give each other the courage to make the journey inward to find abundance within our hearts. Ginny Schiros
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Tuesday, January 12, 2016
“Be Silent. Be Still. Wait before your God.” (Edwina Gateley) Last week one of my third graders asked me how we can listen to God. That opened up a great conversation with eight year olds. We talked about what we can do in order to hear God. So as I shared ideas with them about getting quiet and removing distractions. I was reminded of the reflection from Thomas Merton about finding some corner where no one can disturb you. For me I am finding it more and more necessary to spend time in my corner.
Jesus taught us what we are to do. Go to the desert, be still, and listen. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016
The Light in Which We Walk … There’s a new calendar on the wall. It’s 2016. Gifts have been exchanged at the Mall. Valentine cards and candy appear on the shelves. In many homes Christmas decorations are packed away. Too quickly the Christmas story has passed through our hearts. This week’s prayer calls us back to Bethlehem where “the light of Christ” comes into our world. We are invited to consider formulating New Year’s resolutions deeper and more expansive than those of the general public. What would our world be like if we began to sing a new song, walking with each other as one? if we each became a blessing to the world? if we lived as people of the Light? Cheryl Keehner, CSA
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 5
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
God does the transforming. Though God does the transforming, we need to do our part. God sent His Son to show how the transforming takes place. This time of year is the perfect time to look forward and see what it is that we want to transform in our lives and work with God to put it all in place. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, December 22, 2015
May God’s Love be born today in our hearts. The prayer we call the Hail Mary is an English translation derived from the Greek. A better understanding of what the angel said in Aramaic is “Don’t be afraid, Mary, you are beloved of God.” And, indeed, each of us is greeted with that salutation each morning and every moment of every day. You are God’s favored one. You exist in God’s love. Mary’s response was accepting that love. It is a challenge that we are reluctant to receive. Don’t be afraid. You are precious in God’s sight and God loves you. Carol Kandiko, CSA
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
The Light dwells where life also dwells. Welcome to the season of dark and light. As we descend into the darkness of winter, we are accompanied by the brilliant light represented by the coming of the Savior into the world. This season of Advent is a time of waiting for the light. We mark it by lighting candles, decorating our houses with bright lights, and welcoming people into our homes, even as we wait to welcome Jesus into the world. Ultimately what we must carry into the growing light of the New Year is the important message that Jesus brought into the world; that there is an inner light that binds us all together, and that carries within it the true purpose and meaning of our existence – a Love that sees no barriers. A Love that transcends death. A Love that we can experience, revel in and share no matter the circumstances of our lives. Syndie Eardly
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 15
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
God of Hope, Come. Advent … a time of waiting, watching, wondering. We pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” What do we mean when we offer these words? Hasn’t he already come? Isn’t He already here? Perhaps Christ is waiting, watching, and wondering about us. Wondering when we’ll come around and enter the journey to follow Him, fully; watching how we choose to live our lives as Christians; waiting for us to give our lives over to Him. In the quiet days of Advent maybe we will hear the still quiet voice of Jesus saying, “Come, I’m waiting.” Betsy Nero
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 8
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Speak from the burnings of your heart. Recent events in Paris and around the world call us to prayer and action. Generally “actions speak louder than words” to make a difference in the lives of real people. History tells us that our questions and the conflicts we experience are not new. The prayer this week allows us to find hope and a perspective from which to respond as global citizens. In challenging us to “speak from the burnings of our heart,” Martin Luther King, Jr. observes: “Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movement well and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close to all around us.” sermon in Riverside Church April, 1967. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 1
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
When the giver receives and the receiver gives, the circle of love can grow as wide as the world. My favorite Snoopy quote is “Every lover needs a lovee.” and I like rephrasing it, “Every giver needs a givee.” In our highly independent and self absorbed culture, most of us much prefer to the giver and often find it difficult to be the receiver. However it can be quite empowering to as we come to realize the gift that we return to the giver simply by accepting to be the receiver. Henri Nouwen expands this insight in his book With Burning Hearts, A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life. Carol Kandiko, CSA
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 17
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
When we can no longer see the path, that’s when we are vulnerable to God’s presence. Throughout our lives, we assign various attributes to our “God.” But when the Loving Father seems absent, the Protector fails to save us from disaster, the Inspiration is sorely absent from our lives, we enter into the dark night. And in the absence of all the comforting Images, we finally become vulnerable to the true experience of God’s presence in our life. Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Getting to YES. We have just celebrated All Saints Day and the Feast of All Souls. There is much we can learn from those who have gone before us into eternity. Imagine one of your loved ones talking to you about moving from “no” to “yes” in your spiritual journey. Consider joining the dance and hearing Shakers saints speak of the necessity of “turning” in order to find new birth. Halloween is over. It’s time to take off our masks and become our True Selves. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
It’s a gift to be simple. So much of life can be simple; so many gifts are free; God’s grace is abundant; we are where we are meant to be. Mary Oliver writes of prayers made from grass. Yes, it is that simple. This journey of faith does not need to be a complicated pilgrimage. I believe God continually reminds us in numerous ways that the love of the Beloved surrounds us, embraces us, and invites us. Our job is to notice and say a simple, “yes.” Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, October 20, 2015
In All Things, God Directs Us. God’s directions to all of us have always been about how to treat one another, to be able to reach outside of our own wants and needs to take care of one another. With God, all things are possible, and our part is to allow God to direct our actions. How many times can we look back and see God’s providence brought to us by another person. God needs us to be the hands, feet, heart, ears…. of compassion. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, October 13, 2015
May our Precious Uniqueness Unite Us in Love. Each of us in our own unique being is a facet of God’s desire to share a tiny bit of God’s own Being with creation. We are challenged to acknowledge and accept those glimpses of divinity in ourselves and, just as challenging, those totally different glimpses in each other. All of us together are a more clear revelation of God’s Self. And never forget God’s Self is Love. Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, October 6, 2015
No Vision, No Effort, No Prayer Is Ever Lost. Why do I bother? We all ask ourselves this question when something happens to thwart an ambition or desire, in spite of hard effort, or when prayers go unanswered, or the peace we seek in our hearts is met by violence and dissension in our streets and in our world. Faith, however asks of us to believe that no vision, no intention, no effort, no prayer is ever lost. Stewart Edward White assures us that any sincere creative effort or intention is “built into the structure of the evolving universe. It carries onward into the way of progressing complexity as certainly as has the evolution of the bird from the reptile.” Syndie Eardly
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Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Harvest the Seeds of Love. As each season comes around again we see the circle in our own lives too. The quiet times, the growth of new life, times of abundance and finally, a time to treasure the best of what we have in life and to let go of what is no longer needed. This time of autumn brings us the chance to reflect on all that is good and life-giving, then to set aside what no longer serves love’s deepest call. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, September 22, 2015
5775: A Year to Review. Our prayer circle meets this week on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Judaism teaches that we cannot attain Divine Forgiveness, until we have seriously sought forgiveness from those we have wronged in the course of our life. Recognizing those mistakes and promising not to repeat them again is the best way to begin any new year. Let us join our prayers together and bless one another with these words: May you meet yourself face-to-face. May you open your hands, heart, mind and soul to change. May you cast out fear, regrets, and pain. May you be connected to everything in our world. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 22
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Catching Up With God. How often do we feel a total connection with God? I am not sure that I ever feel that way. And perhaps that only happens when we leave this home for our final home. Henri Nouwen believes that that is because we are so slow to hear, to understand, to yield, and so slow to understand. Our challenge is to find God’s wisdom to build our spiritual life. Mary Timko
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Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Our Lives are the Presence of Sacred Mystery. As God-seed each of us is called to surround ourselves with all we need to flourish. It might sound selfish, but it is the call that we are given through birth and baptism: to grow into the sacred presence that we are meant to become. The precious mystery is that we don’t do this alone. Rather God is within and around us always. As we live we unfold into the wonder of Divine Presence. Carol Kandiko, CSA
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 8
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
God invites soul to be wild. To love with wild abandon the richness of experience. To embrace with enthusiasm the infinite variety of the many humans who walk with us on our journey. To sit in awe of the wealth of creativity that emerges as we care for one another and our world. Syndie Eardly
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 1
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Faith Through a New Lens ~ What did you learn about God when you were young and how has that evolved? For most of us, God was Divine Creator, transcendent and all-powerful, dwelling outside-the-created world. In her book, Making the Shift, Elaine Prevallet, a sister of Loretto, announces that God, still transcendent and Creator, Source of all Being, has “moved out of the sky to dwell in our midst.” She reflects on her own faith journey into an awareness of an evolving universe and focuses our attention on the ways we co-create with God. We all have a part to play in renewing the face of the earth. This week’s prayer might lead us into further reflection using Pope Frances’ Laudato Si personally or with a small group. Cheryl Keehner, CSA
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 25
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Spiritual Gardening ~Before visiting a friend this summer I received this text from her, “So I’ve been preparing the garden for your visit. Not by pruning or anything like that…just by being present…talking her thru it. She’s a bit shy and intimidated. She knows how spectacular your garden is…they talk, the gardens. Word is out about your magazine cover-ready space. It’s all the rave. Anyway, I’m reminding her that she too carries the Imago Dei, trying to help her see that she’s unique and gifted and just perfect as is, that no other garden brings what she does to the world. And then, after our talk, we had a drink together…she from the hose, me from a stemmed glass. She can’t wait to see you. She’s literally throwing rose petals down in your path.” Ah, what the garden can do for the soul. Betsy Nero
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Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Coming Home to Your Soul ~ Summer is coming to an end and many of us have gone on trips near and far. Home is where the heart is, we like to say, yet how many of us have really come home to ourselves? We spend so much time distracted and out of touch with our essence that we don’t know who we really are or how to feel at home. It is as if God is something to be achieved outside of ourselves and separate from everything else. When we take the quiet journey within to connect with our essence, we can discover that we are truly at home. The Beloved is not beyond us, but right here, close to home. Ginny May Schiros
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Tuesday, August 4, 2015
The Mystery of Love holds all of God’s Truth. Nature is truly wonderful, beautiful, awesome! It is full of gift and goodness. We can easily forget that it also contains fearsome, poisonous death. If we are truly to celebrate the creative mysteries of God that surround us, we must learn to accept with love even those things that we do not understand. We are here to co-create with God life and beauty and truth and hope. To do so it is necessary to let the ugly duckling in ourselves and others mature to Love. That’s not easy, but so worth it! Carol Kandiko, CSA
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Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Nature is not something outside of us, although we speak about going “into nature” or “visiting the wilderness”. We are an intrinsic part of nature and wilderness and wildness. Our very DNA is born of and part and parcel of nature itself. We belong to the earth and to each other, connected viscerally through earth, wind, fire and water. Knowing this, contemplation of all natural things can be a pathway for self-contemplation. Who are we? What is our role in the midst of God’s creation? How can we honor this deep, spiritual connection to every atom that God has created? Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 28
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
I just finished David Brooks’ book The Road to Character. Beautiful! And I recently heard Pete Seeger’s song “God’s Counting on Me, God’s Counting on You”. Another beautiful experience! This book and this song reminded me how we stumble through our lives, trying to get things right, trying to be a better self – and all of this in the midst of community. Both David Brooks and Pete Seeger speak of our trying to make it right within relationships, within creation, and within the larger world. Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 21
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
As we go through our days with our routines and schedules, how often do we think about God’s will for us. How often have we shied away from someone because we were afraid we would say the wrong thing or that we didn’t think we could help anyway? Just as the Israelites depended on God while they were in exile, we should listen to God in our daily so that we may know when he is calling us to overlook our hesitancy and step forward to be God’s living Manna. Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 14
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Drink in life sip by sip. Summer is the perfect time for the enjoyment of pleasures in life. Time is too short to delay the enjoyment of it. When we lack proper time for the simple pleasures in life, visiting friends, eating together, watching children at play, then we have missed the purpose in life. “Not on bread (tea) alone” do we live. Happiness is hidden in the impractical things that bring delight to the inner person. (Ed Hayes, Pray All Ways, Ave Maria Press, 2007) – Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 7
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Turn aside to see… We each live in a world of our own making, influenced by those who have loved and taught us, hopefully well, but not always so. Each of us is so good and yet so not quite what we thought we should be. But all that is and all that happens brings to us the gift of God’s love. We only need to be open to see it. Seriously, burning bushes surround us always! But in order to see them, we need to challenge the limits of our ego with its many distractions. Still it is always possible to turn aside and see the presence of God. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 30
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Peace is already here. What is it that we seek in our struggles, in our addictions, in our wanting? We seek always peace. Our restless minds seek peace in alcohol, in achievement, in financial security, in entertainment. But what if peace is already here, in the depth of the experience itself? What if peace is in the moment? Can we rest back into that peace even as we wash the dishes, pull weeds in the garden, drive to work? It is not about not struggling, it is about noticing…paying attention to the peace that is in the very depth of our being, and letting that sense of peace flood each moment. This reality within us is the nature of the entire universe. It is love. It is God’s “energy” sustaining us. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 23
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
“If there’s any hope for love at all some walls must fall” Peter, Paul and Mary I absolutely love the music of Peter, Paul and Mary! When I get on a kick of playing their CD’s, I go for days listening over and over to the same songs. “Some Walls” was one song I had never heard. Repeatedly listening to it caused me to really think about our world and to pray for the many, many victims who are caught in crazy conflicts and systems not of their making much less choosing. This song became for me a deep prayer and meditation. It is also a song that speaks to our own personal walls. Indeed, the solution is in their refrain, “If there’s any hope for love at all some walls must fall” – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 16
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
The path to faith is through the darkness of doubt. In a culture such as ours, doubt is an everyday occurrence which usually signals choices. Most of us have learned to see choice as an opportunity, except where with faith is concerned. For many of us, doubt in the life of faith signals danger. Doubt hardly seems a blessing. Perhaps it is because we depend too much on reason. Perhaps, we don’t like to surprises. Maybe, we don’t like to make mistakes. During times of doubt, we long for “glimmers of the Holy” along our spiritual path. We all seek “the assurance of things not seen,” St. Paul’s definition of faith in his letter to the Hebrews. This week, Joan Chittister gives us reason to be grateful for the darkness of doubt. – Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 9
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Receiving Grace The emphasis of our Christian faith has been giving. We are to be generous and it is better to give than to receive. However, we forget, perhaps, that for there to be a giver, there must be a receiver. Often the generous gift of accepting the goodness of another is a way of keeping life flowing among us. All that we have we have received from Love. Surely we are to share with one another and to receive graciously the steady stream of grace that is given from God through our neighbor. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 2
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Wisdom… It May Cost All You Have… Each of us are born with a yearning for something that we find difficult to fill. Perhaps we can’t find it because it was always inside of us. Start searching within and you may be surprised at what you find. After finding it, we have a decision to make. It is worth finding? – Mary Timko Click here for a PDFof the prayer booklet for May 26
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Waiting is not popular in our culture. We are an impatient people, nurtured to actively pursue knowledge, achievement, success, improvement. And we want it NOW. The spiritual life calls us to wait on the unfolding in God’s time, knowing that the seed has been planted, the promise given, and trusting that something is happening that will lead us beyond our expectations. – Syndie Eardly click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 19
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
This Spring I find the Peter, Paul and Mary song “Weave Me the Sunshine” so appropriate for the gifts God is pouring down on us. It’s in the little things that we find life – real, honest to goodness LIFE! And when we give ourselves to God, I believe we are blessed in abundance with Love…found in joy and suffering, the people we care for, the mistakes we’ve made, the risks taken, and so much more. In everything we can find love and life. Every moment is God. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 12
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
We’ve just gone through the drama of Holy Week and Easter Sunday and our consciousness has begun to shift. In the Resurrection, C.S. Lewis identifies “a new mode of being” emerging, “something new as the first organic life” and Walter Bruggemann recognizes “a surging power that touches all of life.” As our reflection of the new Universe story and the Scriptural accounts of Easter converge, we recognize that ours is the story within the Story. We find ourselves impelled to move forward, “holding hands with all the people” (Ps. 149). There is new life on the horizon. – Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 5
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Imago Dei. We are made in the image of God. And because God is within us, we have a divine connection to draw upon that can assist drawing others together and to God. We come to contemplative prayer each week to deepen our spiritual connection to God. We share with one another and our connections deepen as well. Centering Space or other retreat/prayer facilities don’t have a monopoly on deepening spiritual connections. We have the ability to use contemplation to enhance our friendships, our workplaces, our community meeting places. – Mary Timko
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 28
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
There is no path to God that is not first God’s path to us. (John Mogabgab) We each encounter the living God through our unique life journey. We are led through our experiences and relationships to know the presence of one who leads us into the realization of Love. This expansive insight and “knowing” is a clarion call to be what we have realized, to participate in the creating that God shares with us, to live the real presence as an invitation to others. Together as communion and community we co-create the reign of God. – Carol Kandiko, CSA
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 21
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
The Kingdom of Heaven is Spread upon the Earth We think of Heaven or nirvana as an escape from the world of duality, an escape from the turmoil of human existence. Jesus didn’t make this kind of distinction. To him, the world itself was the kingdom of Heaven as much as the world beyond. For Jesus, everything was an expression of the divine. A key challenge for us is to try to see this world as divine and to see ourselves in partnership with all that is, nature, the people we live and work with, the circumstances of our lives. We are called, as Jesus was called, to engage eagerly, joyously with what is, even as we remain rooted in the spiritual reality that underpins it all. – Syndie Eardly
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 14
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
“love was just a way to live and die” John Denver A recurring theme for me is gratitude and waking up to being fully alive. The older I get and the longer I live, it becomes more and more apparent that God has graced every part of my life with abundant gifts. I am trying to pay more attention and recognize the goodness in every daily experience. My prayer as I sit in God’s love is that I am thankful – simply thankful. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 7
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
A Gift of Love God uses events, circumstances, and people in our lives as instruments to hasten a contemplative outlook on life. Prayer becomes a vital part of our day and in prayer we encounter more fully the Author of our life. Through prayer we answer our call to holiness and a transformation into a Divine likeness. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 24
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
We release into the grace of being and becoming Teilhard de Chardin looked long and lovingly at the world God has created and noted that everything takes time. Be patient, he encourages us, this is how God has chosen to do it. Be patient with God, be patient with others and be patient with yourself. We are part of a mystery much more wonderful than we can even imagine. If we can view our own lives within the context of the slow evolution of the universe, we can begin to accept that every little thing we do or say or are is contributing to the great work that God is still creating. St. Patrick would agree! Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 17
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Solitude is charged with the eternal purpose of unity We often long for the peace found in silence, away from the noise and frets of the world. In solitude, we are spiritually nourished, but it is not an end in itself. The spiritual sustenance gained in solitude must be tested in the real world, when faced with real problems. The fruit of the spiritual life is not a withdrawing from the mundane, but a full participation in all that is from a place of unity nourished and sustained by prayer and faith. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 10
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
I am using Gerry Straub’s new book The Loneliness and Longing of Saint Francis for my Lenten prayer and reflection. The excerpt for prayer this week reminds me again that God is everywhere at all times in all things. God is in the struggle I face each day in the sixth grade class; God is in the argument I had with my mother recently; God is in the cold and dreariness of this winter; God is with me when I am sitting quietly reading a book next to one of my cats; God is in the tears of the frightened child I encountered…God created all of this, God loves me in all of this, God teaches me in all of this. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 3
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
We began Lent with ashes and with plans, we set aside this season for prayer, fasting and almsgiving with the solemn purpose of growing in love and solidarity with the One who is the source of all. We look forward to the grace that this time will bring to us and know that our personal Lenten practices are the fuel for our daily living in the wonder and consciousness of our Creator. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 24
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Remember! Don’t forget! You are dust! We have heard these words for years and only now are realizing that the dust we are is actually stardust. But more than that we are also realizing that we are more energy than material. We are amazing miracles of God’s creativity and goodness… and it is our challenge to share in the grace of this mystery with the one who is Love. Lent is a remembering time to focus on how we are doing. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 17
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
What a miracle it is to be alive! Through the unfolding of this magnificent universe we are each a precious and unique gift of God to one another. We have within us the fruit of the past and the seeds of the future. How we respond to these gifts, to all that is, to ourselves and to each other actually determines the future. It is through our discovery of and activation of this awareness that we contribute to and share in creation. We deepen our silence through meditation in order to become more conscious co-creators. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 10
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
As we approach the season of Lent, we are invited to consider the wisdom and insight found in the many aspects of silence. Often, we feel pressured and distracted by the cacophony of the world, and blame the busyness, bluster and brutality of the world for our lack of peace. But perhaps the loudest of all noise is in our own overactive brains, where we feed on fear and judgment, or seek distraction from our pain and depression. Perhaps what we can “give up” during Lent is our attachment to our inner noise, and instead seek an interior serenity by deepening our connection to the wisdom that blossoms in the silence of our hearts. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer for February 3
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Almost finished with January and I am trying to remember what it was I had hoped for in this new year. But when I came upon an old book, Guerillas of Grace, I recognize that God’s got this. Instead of trying to make myself new, making resolutions, making personal changes, I see that I need to stop and become mindful of all that surrounds me and the lessons which abound. What lessons am I meant to learn in the midst of the cold, grey days; what lessons am I meant to learn in the midst of work challenges; what lessons am I meant to learn as one season becomes another; what lessons am I meant to learn in all my relationships; what lessons… No resolutions to keep but rather an awareness of life’s daily lessons. “Take life the way it is.” – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 27
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Violence, hatred, ignorance, uncaring, retaliation are words and actions we hear so much about today. Looking for answers amid all that or searching for solutions with similar tactics, will not bring the peace we are looking for in our world. God’s ways are not human ways. God’s ways are mystery. They are metaphor. They are poetic. They are between the lines. God is heard in silence. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 20
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Each year we come to the New Year and make resolutions to better ourselves. What if the only resolution needed was to listen. Listen not only with our ears, but with our minds, our hearts. The prayer by Max Lucado speaks to this kind of resolution, taking the time in each situation and be mindful of what is truly at stake. And that would be, that we are acting out in the grace of God. Let God be our guide, our voice, our hands, our every move. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 13
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
I am sometimes intrigued by folks who have no faith in God. How do they experience this exquisite world and the gift of life? John Mabry in Noticing the Divine proposes that they are as likely as those who are religious to be in awe and wonder at the ordinary things that surround us. Perhaps even more so if they don’t expect God to take care of the things that are obviously a challenge to each of us. There is so much we can learn from each other. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 6
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
I stand on the threshold of a new year. What a grand place to be…leaving behind good and bad and looking ahead at all that is new. I can’t go wrong from where I stand. There is only hope, possibility, newness, a fresh start. The sun is shining and I step off. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 30
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Jesus calls us to a radical kind of faith in the unfolding of our lives. He calls us to BELIEVE that whatever happens is OK. In spite of uncertainty and suffering, we are called to accept that at all times, we remain in relationship with the One. And that if we remain open to the Spirit’s invitation to rise above the illusion that these things are not OK, we can move forward with a sense of complete and utter peace. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 23
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
In this Advent season, we are experiencing – as a metropolitan community, as a state, a nation, the world – much unrest and violence. Yet we speak of Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Love for all. So we are challenged to not just talk the talk and pray for fairy dust to come at Christmas and make everything better. What is it that we must do? How does peace come today? Rev. Nadia Bolz Weber attempted to name this in a recent homily with her Lutheran congregation. She calls us to listen to our biblical guide, John the Baptizer. She, like John, speaks of repentance and that may seem a bit Lenten, but truthfully peace cannot come without peace of the heart of every person and we must have a way to become free of our brokenness so that we can be peace. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 16
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” What do I mean when I sing or say these words. What do I look for and expect this Advent? For me this Advent I am seeking a period of waiting and awakening; a time for self reflection and personal challenge; an opportunity to be silent and listen for God’s voice in the wilderness; in the darkness. Romero spoke that “something divine entered history;” each one’s history is a meeting place for God. Has the divine entered my history? How does my life reflect the divine? – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 9
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Advent begins with the joyous feast of Thanksgiving still echoing in our hearts. We already have so much, can we really be anticipating more? We are in a season of remembering what we have been given in God’s gift of Self as well as looking forward to the completion of that constant Gift. Let’s not let ourselves be lost in the past and future, but let’s be alive in the present becoming, as Paul urges us, “perfect in holiness” though the loving action of the God of peace. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 2
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Advent is the traditional time to prepare for the birth of our savior. But if we listen to Henri Nouwen it is a time for us to prepare to live our lives as Christ taught us to. It is not always easy to find the right path, and perhaps even more difficult to prepare ourselves for such a task. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 25
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
In the midst of the chaos and pain of life, we dream of and long for another reality – a paradise, heaven, a place of perfection and peace. We absolutely do NOT believe it is possible to have it here. But why is that? If God can look upon this earth and the circumstances as they are, and upon us with love and ecstasy why can we not accept that we are already in paradise? The problem is that our stuff gets in the way of that realization. But if we can teach ourselves to release the stuff in our head that tells us otherwise, if we can drench ourselves in this Holy perception of acceptance…more than acceptance…of ecstasy over the unfolding of creation in its seasons and the comings and goings of humanity, then we experience the reality of heaven on earth. Heaven is already here. Our hearts just need to be large enough to embrace it. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer for November 18
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
In this month of remembrance, we count ourselves among both the saints and the sinners. We are guided by God’s Word to respond as the apostles did to the Great Commission: Go and spread Good News among all the peoples. We recognize that each of us in our daily comings and goings preach the gospel by the witness of our lives. Joan Chittister reminds us that we too are being “evangelized” by those we meet along the way. – Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 11
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
It is a time of heightened awareness of life. All Saints, All Souls, the Day of the Dead are occasions to reflect on the relationships that exist among us while we are here on Earth and continuing even afterwards. Those who have gone before us and those who are coming after us are all One in the heart of God. This is as good a time as any other to dedicate our lives to a more effective consciousness of the Presence in which we are working out our destiny. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 4
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
We have so much to recognize in God’s Word and promise. It is when we practice the mercy and compassion that God shows us in each moment and event of our daily existence that we begin to live the spiritual life that we long for. We are made in God’s image, we are called to express that image in all we do. When we succeed we become the whole and human beings that we have been created to be. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 28
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Nature provides healing in beauty, silence, serenity, perfection, order, simplicity, and sometimes even in its chaos and disorder. And because we are connected to nature as we are connected all living things, we have to wake up to the elements of nature in order to heal a broken world. Jim Brickman sings, “Hope is the something that reminds us, it’s not too late to find us, one day we may be in peace.” And Gerald May wrote, “I have never been able to do this for myself. It has to come through grace…” The reality is that all that surrounds us is connected. And if we are paying attention, we can be part of the healing and making things right. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 21
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Leon Bloy once wrote, “God’s glory is man and woman fully alive.” God realizes his fullest expression in us when we flourish, when Christ’s love is so present in us that we become blessing to others. This can happen through our successes in life, certainly, but also through our joy, our compassion, our mere presence in the lives of our friends, our family, our neighbors, our co-workers. Finding our way to being fully alive is the challenge. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 14
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
This week’s prayer challenges us to notice the ways in which God speaks to us during the course of a day. How open are our hearts? our eyes? our ears? Are we hospitable enough to “entertain angels”? Can we humbly acknowledge the bias that shields us from the Sacred Presence? How can we make ourselves more touchable in order to be touched? – Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 7
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
One day while working with people with addictions I told them that while the choice is very difficult for them, you do have a choice. I began to ruminate on that for a while and realized that each day I too have a choice. I too have the opportunity to bring God into my choices. But how often do I do that? And if I involve God in the choice, what do I do if the choice takes me in a direction I’m not sure I can handle? With new directions there must come new enablings. With new demands there must be new energy. With a new vision there must be new hope and new grace, God’s grace. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 30
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Being human is a challenge of great proportions. We are gifted with talents beyond imagining and burdened by what Merton calls sorrows and stupidities. The wonder of it all is that we are able to make choices that share and enhance the goodness of God’s creation. We make decisions everyday that matter. We are called to shine with Divine Love, to expose the wonder that we are all one. – Carol Kandiko. CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 23
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
While reading Gerald May’s book The Wisdom of Wilderness, I was reminded of Emily’s monologue in Oscar Wilde’s Our Town. After she has been gone a few years, her spirit returns to her house where she remembers relationships and the little things of life that hold much meaning. She wonders if we ever really see and experience things as we are meant to. She says, “Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it–every, every minute?” These statements cause me to wonder what I am missing; what am I not seeing; what should I be paying attention to “without commentary.” – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 16
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
The Spirit has a teaching for every heart. We cannot know or understand another’s pathway, or what someone else experiences or learns along the way. We can point the way for each other, but we cannot liberate each other. And if the way ahead is dim, we can offer – at the very least – our shared humanity with all of its beauty, tragedy, love and dysfunction. . – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 9
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
As we enter into the busyness of harvest time and back to school days, it is good to recall that every moment of our day is an invitation. Busyness has a way of making “time fly” and before we know it, we are on the brink of yet another day, with more items on a “to do” list than we have time to count! The key to “walking in Love’s way,” – to having peace – is reverence, gratitude and wonder. When busy people meet you, another busy person, do they recognize these qualities in your presence? Do they know that God’s Spirit is with them? – Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 2
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
There are times in our prayer lives where we worry about our minds wandering. What if that is the way that prayer is supposed to go? God is there for us as we muddle through our lives enabling us to see the path He is guiding us toward. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 26
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
When we are conscious of God’s love, everything around us is lit up from within. Madeline Duckett, RSM says “To slow down and regularly become aware of the essential relatedness of all things in a single center of Love is a powerful means of living Christian evolutionary consciousness.” – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 19
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
There is simply too much suffering in the world. What would it mean for us – all of us – to live as an instrument of peace? Could we affect global change? What keeps us from trying? Let us bow to the sacred in all creation and see what happens. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 12
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Non-doing is valued in every spiritual tradition. But what does it mean? At its core, it means that you are refraining from trying to change things to satisfy some ego need, or some righteous stance. It does not mean you do not try to help. Rather, it invites us to awareness, to look around at where we live and work, who is in our lives and appreciate with gratitude and acceptance the exact place where we stand. It ultimately invites us to let things be themselves, and living in harmony with what is, we each find our way. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 5
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
The search for God is the project of a lifetime, a journey of many stages. When we stop in the course of a spiritual journey, declaring that we’ve achieved the end or found the God we seek, it is doubtful that we’ve found anything more than our own comfort. Blessed are those who choose to be lead on the path that has no end. – Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 29
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Poverty comes in many ways. Gerard Thomas Straub left a life of fame and fortune to make others aware of those in our lives, communities, our world. How willing are we to give…of ourselves as well as out of our financial and personal resource’s? Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 22
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
I love to analyze Jan Phillips’ song “One.” Sometimes she juxtaposes opposites like infant / crone or outcast / guest… but sometimes it’s parts of a whole that are contrasted: harvest / seed and mountain / view. I like to examine the images that are related in less obvious ways as buffalo / bear and famine /drought. Even those pairings that seem obvious can give me insights into ways in which differences and similarities are interconnected. The message is that we are One with the Creating Mystery and with all of creation. – Carol Kandiko, CSA (photo by Rob Blair for Summit Metro Parks) Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 15
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Being authentic. What does this mean? And how do we live it? What does it mean to be true to ourselves; to live our truth? As pilgrims making our way in this world it can be a challenge to live authentically. Our culture, our traditions, our families, even our church might send us messages that we are to be a certain way; to act a certain way; to all be alike. Our life’s work is finding our true and authentic self and respecting God enough to live accordingly. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 8
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
What do we do when our heart is broken open by sorrow and loss? Instead of scrambling to try to seal up the break by putting a firm shell around the heart, we can honor the truth…that a broken heart can make us softer, more compassionate to others, and even more compassionate and patient with yourselves. Cultivating the softness that is now exposed to the world, we can get better at embracing the world and our lives. Our prayer this week invites you to “befriend all that is within you,” especially the broken parts that can be a source of wisdom. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 1
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
This weeks prayer is a challenge to see ourselves as the binding for community. Often we don’t realize how important we may be in bringing others out of themselves and into a community filled with love and a hope for spiritual renewal. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June, 24 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess depicts the ordinary day to day struggles of laborers, their families and their children living on Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1920’s. It’s summertime and livin’ is far from easy. A hard- earned redemption is depicted in the narrative and expressed in the music of this American folk opera, which beside “Summertime” includes “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” The selection from Matthew’s gospel prods us to ask why do 51% of American laborers use less than one half of their paid vacation time. Is it fear? the economy? competition? self-importance? greed? We hear Jesus say: “Do not worry…” And Roethke recalling his own “time off” concludes that “being, not doing is my first job.” – Sr. Cheryl Keehner, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 17
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
We long to belong. I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense. The possessive “my” defines for us our belonging: my family, my school, my church, my country. These are examples of our desire to fit in and have a place where we are at home. I recall a lyric that says of Earth “It’s not that she belongs to us, but we belong to her.” So it can be said of God Who is our Ultimate Belonging. – Sr. Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 10
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
I know have been called to something significant in my life but often ask and wonder in prayer “am I following the right course?” However, when I simply slow down and remember the joy of the journey and this grand spiritual quest that first pulled me into the loving embrace of God, it is then again I let go and freely follow. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 3
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
In her book The Ecstatic Journey, Sophy Burnham explores the experience of mystical awareness, ultimately concluding that all of us are hidden mystics, because all of us experience moments of profound awareness that point us to something beyond ourselves. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 27
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Pope Francis has inspired me to not only love better, but to receive love better. We can only love by the grace of God who loves us completely. Our task is to receive this love. Our reflection gives us insight into that great love from 4 men, 3 popes, 2 Jesuits, one from Poland, one Italy, one Spain and one Argentina. The key to our loving is God’s love for us. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 20
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Often, we live in fear of our cross. We find ourselves incapable of believing that God may have a new life in store for us. Nothing can change, we say. There is no hope. This is when we end up mired in despair, which is sometimes a reflection of pride. We are called to encounter the gift of God’s grace that can be our resurrection to new life. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 13
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
The twenty-third psalm tells of an idyllic existence in which God’s loving presence is ever with us, no matter what and no matter where. This blessed and wonderful way of life is not a wish or a dream. Rather it is the reality in which we live and move and have our being. All that is needed is our conscious awareness of that which is. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 6
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The song “Brave” by Sara Bareilles has real significance for this time in history. She tells the story of a friend who is gay and desires to share who he is with loved ones. And so she encourages him. This is a song or at least a message Jesus would share. Jesus wants us to speak up and to be brave; be who we are; speak out against injustice; let go of doubt and fear; and listen to him when he says “It’s me, don’t be afraid.” – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 29
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
The celebration of the Resurrection each year calls us to contemplate its meaning. One primary lesson from the Resurrection is that there is more to life than is evidenced by our eyes, and that “moreness” connects us in powerful and spiritual ways. Can we live as if we truly believe in this connection? Ultimately, can we put at the top of our “to do” list every day to be “pure love” in the presence of everyone we encounter because of this belief? – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 22
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
When we think of Holy Week and the Triduum, it is one continuous event. Trying to capture this in an hour prayer experience is a challenge. Redemption is the theme that I’ve chosen to reflect this one event in salvation history, the history of the world. Redemption implies that there is some downfall and a rising up. This Paschal Mystery cycle happens in our own lives and reflects the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our task a midst the “all” of it is to stay connected to God whether we are down or risen or somewhere in between. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 15
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
I don’t know about you, but times and things have changed since I was young. Today we are bombarded with choices. How do we decide on choices that truly feed us and what happens when we make choices that stunt our growth rather than enhance and guide us to the flower that will eventually bloom. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 8
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
I have heard it said, although I forget which saint said it, that all the way to heaven is heaven. Bruce Sanguin offers the insight in his book, “If Darwin Prayed” (and perhaps Darwin did) that the path that we walk through life is not so much the path to God or even a path with God, as though God, were outside of us or separate from us, but rather that we live our life in God. All is holy, all is one. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 1
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Everyone has a purpose right? God loved each of us into being, a unique individual being. God also created us individual yet fully connected to all other unique beings in creation. We have a name. We have a body. We have everything else we need and use to exist in the world. We are each called to a unique life and a unique connection to everything else as work together to build the fulfillment of all. This Lent as we review ourselves and make promises to improve ourselves, we may just be looking to use the gifts we already have; unique and totally gift. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 25
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
During the time preceding the crucifixion, the Apostles are with their beloved Jesus. Walking with him. Praying with him. Dining with him. But suddenly, it is over. He is gone and they are left to their own resources…or so they think. In the Confessions of St. Patrick, he teaches us that we are never left on our own resources. The Spirit himself is praying in us and with us, our voices joined in the great and eternal cry to God. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 18
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
A dear friend of mine recently found the book Take This Bread by Sara Miles and shared it with me. What a profound experience reading about Sara’s journey from restaurant work, to her journalism days in Nicaragua, to wandering into St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her path to conversion is overwhelming in that she goes from a non-believer to the person responsible for starting the food pantry at St. Greg’s. The idea of eating and nourishment – both literally and spiritually – is at the heart of her story. She speaks of the people who become part of the food pantry – both volunteers and guests, “they were all people who, like me, had come to get fed and stayed to help out. Who, like me, took that bread and got changed. We were all converting: turning into new people as we rubbed up against one another.” – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 11
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
The week of Ash Wednesday encourages images of Jesus, the desert, temptation, prayer. It is also a time to be challenged as a Christian, to stretch ourselves spiritually. To allow God to take us from our busyness to the desert. It is in this place that we come to know the love and acceptance God has for us. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet forMarch 4
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Everything in creation is a revelation of God. God is love and God is life! Everything that we encounter is shouting out the glory of God. We can listen deep within our hearts to catch the “faint, clear meaning of reality” or we can ignore the profound mystery that each creature radiates simply by being. The choice is ours, but to pay attention requires us to be truly alive. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 25
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
What keeps me from seeing God? Journeying with God? I have heard it all my life that God is always in our midst; always present; always speaking to us. So why is it difficult to recognize God; to know God’s presence? I know at some point in my younger years I did indeed “say Yes to someone” yet now, that seems so long ago and far away. I want my “house” to be ready and I want to give fully to the journey, Lord help me in my un-readiness. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 18
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Being raised in a “free” country tends to focus our attention on the ideas that freedom allows us to do, say and have what we want. But true spiritual freedom can exist in any country, under any political system, even in the midst of great poverty. The only true and lasting freedom exists in the soul, and in the deep connectedness that we know intuitively and experience in our lives as community or love or oneness. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the Prayer Booklet for February 11
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
I often wonder how much we can really comprehend oneness, the Christian concept of the Body of Christ or any other reference to unity among all creation. Can we really grasp and live the concept that I am not me without the other? The other is then everything else in creation. When we contemplate our own journey and we come to realize how essential everything we experience is, we begin to gain and live the concept of interconnectedness. It is only in recognizing the path as the essential means for this unity do we begin to really understand and live the concept of our path as living in God and not just a means to getting there. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the Prayer Booklet for February 4
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
As we reflect and pray, do we listen for a response? Are there times when we turn away in fear of what might happen instead of leaping forward in faith at what we might become. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 28
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
When we realize the total interconnection of all that God has made, it seems overwhelming. What is our place in such a grand scheme of creation? Mystics tell is that the answer is more simple that we imagine. We need to be our best self and that self is not an independent self, but each of us is, as Jesus put it, neighbor to each other. What we do to another we do to ourselves. What we receive from another is the gift of God’s Spirit. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 21
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
This new year – a 
time to let go perhaps; a time to look for hope; a time to recognize the beauty in our relationships; a time to let in the uncomfortable, the different, the misunderstood – that goes for ideas and people. Perhaps this year it is time to shake “it” up. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 14
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
How do Jesus’ simp
le but profound teachings transform our lives? They transform us not only because the content resonates as truth in our own lives, but because we are witnesses to how Jesus lived out these truths in his own life. His embodiment of the truth of his message is an energy that pours into us, reorganizing our experience and animating our lives in a new and empowered direction. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 7
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Even those who s
eek God find themselves lost. Developing a relationship with Christ helps us not only find our way, it allows us to help and guide other to His light – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for December 17
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
We often miss the
point of gifting at Christmas. We need to give it ALL away. Not a physical package tied up with shiny red ribbon. We need to give it all…pour our spirit out into the world with wild prodigality. Respect everyone even while being disrespected. Love everyone even when rejected. Quit pretending to be perfect and stoic and on top of our game and share our suffering and our vulnerability and our uncertainty so that others will feel empowered to share theirs. We are called to tear off the mask, shed our false exteriors, and drop our defenses. We stand open and naked but not alone. We stand vulnerable with the vulnerable Jesus, a babe called into the world for the purpose of giving it all away. – Syndie Eardly click here for a PDF of the prayer for December 10
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
As we begin Advent we enter into the theme of the already but not yet. We know that the God lives among us and dwells within us, but yet there is more to come. Advent may be a good time to call our attention to God among us. It is easy to go about life never celebrating all the gifts of God around us. Advent calls us to “”pay attention” and “be alert” not for some future event but to the very here and now divine experience waiting for us. – Peggy Gerovac click here for a PDF of the prayer for December 3
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
For this week of thanksgiving and gratitude I really appreciate Joyce Rupp’s reflection. I found myself reading it in a way that made me take inventory of my life and focus on the little things that make all the difference. And to ultimately see ways in which I can “be” more in my little corner of the world. – Betsy Nero
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 26
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
“No man is an island” indeed, nor woman nor child. We need one another and it isn’t simply a cosmetic need. We intrinsically and absolutely receive the gift of life through our parents and family, our community and the whole living web of interconnections that make up divine creation. What we do with and for each other we are doing with and for God. The trick is that it’s all of a piece. There are not better and worse expressions of God, only different and unique. We must come to value them all. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 19
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
We all expect fruits from our reflection, but I for one didn’t realize that my understanding of God’s love, the scriptures and the nearness of God could help me to live with less fear. I might even say that I have found that some of my fears are ill-founded. Trust in God and acceptance of God’s abundant love for us, can be the springboard and basis to live life through a lens of love and abundance, with much less scarcity and fear. . – Peggy Gerovac click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 12
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Prayer is a rather personal endeavor. There are so many different types of prayer; so many different ideas concerning how to pray. I have heard many ideas about whether God wants to hear from us or that God knows the prayers of our hearts. I truly believe that God just likes to hear from us. I also believe that God wanted to hear our voices lifted up in fervent praise, thanksgiving and asking for the needs of our daily life. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for November 5
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Paul Knitter characterizes the interdependent relationship between divine grace and human freedom as a two-partner dance that invites us to embrace the uncertainty and fall into the “groundless spaciousness” of what is yet to come. We are invited not to write the experience to come with the pen of what has been, but to open our spirit to the possibility of the “new” and the “not yet” and the “what is to come” with a passion and love for the majesty and wonder of the potential inherent in the reign of God. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 29
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
While singing “We Are Called” at church recently, I was reminded of our wedding eight years ago. This song was the closing hymn. We chose it as a reminder that we are meant to live the Micah passage: “This is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.” Every time I hear the song I remember back to that great spring day. But more importantly I continue to be challenged by the lyrics and pray that I am doing what Yahweh asks of me. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 15
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Be patient! God isn’t finished with me yet. This adage takes on a whole new meaning in light of an evolving Universe. As divine works in process we have been carefully and lovingly crafted for billions of years, although we think of ourselves in terms only of our particular lifetime. As folks who find it hard to wait for a red light or a fast food burger, it would behoove us to consider the long, loving patience of God and make it a conscious practice of our own. God is Love and Love is patient and we are made in the image of Love. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 15
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
As we begin to encounter another Autumn, we may wish to consider this a time of transformation. In a very special way, we may consider a review of our own personal prayer life to open us up to renewed transformation of our very intimate relationship with The One. This prayer invites us to review the why, the how, the reasons for prayer and so much more. – Peggy Gerovac click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 8
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
How often do we find ourselves irritable, frustrated and feeling poorly due to being overcommitted at work or in ministry? Both Sarah Young, author of, Jesus Calling, and Henri Nouwen author of Dare to Journey, discuss the need for quiet time in reflection with God to rejuvenate ourselves so that we might continue to be God’s representative in our daily lives. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for October 1
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
So many mornings, we awake with an agenda, thinking we know exactly how the day is going to unfold and precisely what are duties are going to be. But then something dramatic happens that reduces our plans to ashes, and we are uncertain where to go and how to proceed and even, how to survive the changes that have upended our concept of what our lives are all about. And yet we move forward. Our spirit moves us forward in the densest of fogs, reassuring us that though we can no longer see our destination, our spirit knows the way to go. . – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 24
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Wherever I am God is there. This was made so clear to me in the past month in my backyard. A beautiful flower grew from either a seed I had planted or from something a critter delivered. As it started to poke through the dirt I thought it was a weed and almost pulled it. But as I tend to do, I leave weeds alone. As this plant started to blossom I was taken by its offering to the garden. Now the plant is very tall and I hesitate to find out its name. As it is, it remains a mystery and I appreciate that about this little gift. Yes, God is always there. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 17
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
“In everything give thanks” are the words of a song by Marvin Sapp. This tells us that it is good to thank God for all our blessings but not only our blessings our struggles and the humdrum too. In the book, “Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers” Anne Lamott expresses this thinking as “radical gratitude.” It may seem radical in theory, but in practice we have probably already thanked God for a struggle or an ordinary day. Maybe we have thanked God after we have gotten through a hard time, but looking back we could see grace in the muck. Our prayer challenges us to rely on our faith and trust to be grateful in the midst of struggle and ho hum, as well as, grace. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 10
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Although we believe in One God, One Life, One Energy creating and flooding the Universe in which we live, we tend to forget that, as essential parts of the Universe, we too are surrounded and filled with that Divine fullness. We tap into this realty when we open our hearts to Mystery in quiet meditation. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for September 3
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
There are different parts to our journey through life. Hopefully, eventually, we look for what gives us purpose, what gives us meaning in our lives. Richard Rohr calls this the search for wisdom and our true self. This wisdom and true self help us to find a closer connection to God and one another. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet August 27
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Kahlil Gibran writes in The Prophet that, “Work is love made visible.” He suggests that if you can only work with distaste, you would be better off to become a beggar. The spiritual pathway calls us to infuse love into each of our tasks, and come to the end of each day with a heart filled with contentment and gratitude. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 20
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Macrina Wiederkehr’s reflection on The Eye of God suggests the stresses of life, the losses, and the disappointments can really enhance our “journey into God.” Melody Beattie affirms that “we can use these times to move forward and upward to higher levels of living, loving and growth.” And finally John Denver offers, “On the road of experience, join in the living day.” And on the road of experience we get everything: the good, the bad, the easy and the painful. It is always our choice how we respond. I am working towards the higher level. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 13 Don Iannone Photography
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
To be a human being means being a creature of faith. No matter what we say we believe in, it requires faith. Atheists and agnostics, as well as those who follow any religion at all, do so from a stance of belief. Rob Bell says that believing in God can sometimes seem like taking a flying leap, but then so does not believing in God. For those who leap into a stance of trusting the Creator of all that is, there is richness to life that satisfies and gratifies. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for August 6
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
All of us were born with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. While being born with them is a gift in itself, it is still up to us to bring them not only to fruition but to use them to share your God given talents with one another. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet July 30
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Our days over the last few years seem to be filled with lots of noise that divides. We hear peoples opinions and media reports that pit one person against another or one group against another. Even movies, television, and books seem to offer more and more stories about the bad guys, the enemy or those who are somehow less than us. Yet, in God we are all one. We are one with each other, we are one with earth, one with the stars, even one with the microbes. In prayer we can take the time to clarify for ourselves how united we are, so that we minimize our own reactions (less than Christ-like) which fuel division and diminish the beauty and glory of being one with all. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 23
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
“Who Am I?” may be the most important question we can ask ourselves upon awakening each day. Even as we awaken to the day, we are often “asleep” to who we really are. In his book “A Private History of Awe,” Scott Russell Sanders, an American novelist and essayist, wrote, “I sometimes wonder if all other animals, all plants, maybe even stars and rivers and rocks, dwell in steady awareness of God, while humans alone, afflicted with self-consciousness, imagine ourselves apart.” How can we cultivate the steady awareness of God that plants, animals and rocks seem to live in so naturally? – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 16
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
“It’s all good.” All of life’s beauty, experiences, and relationships teach us so much. Life is rich with goodness – even in the midst of difficulty and suffering. Everything is good simply because everything is a gift from God. In my garden where I find it so easy to see life’s beauty I am reflecting on what in life and to whom should I bow. And I am beginning to make it my new prayerful practice. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 9
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
There is an energy in the world that brings life into being: growing, evolving, reproducing, becoming and producing more and more life. This expression of divine energy lights up the Universe. It is ours to know, to feel, to experience and celebrate. We, in God’s image, are made to “surge and flow and be wild,” to be love and to share love, always and everywhere. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for July 2
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Often nature can teach us about ourselves and others. We can learn the lessons of physical care and nourishment from encounters in nature. We can also learn the social lessons like living in harmony with those in our environment. A recent article reminds me of how nature can lead me to the Transcendent, the Mystery. This is because Mystery is active in flowers and the wind and in me. In the Christian tradition, we are held up, cared for, by the Spirit who lives on in the ordinary human person and the world which we live. We cannot see the wind of spirit active in and through all.– Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer bookelet for June 25
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Stewart Edward White once explained that if you had to copy a thing, you would look at it long and hard; a glance wouldn’t do you any good. So if you want to become anything, you must keep looking at it, not just vaguely and generally but fixedly, so you can reproduce it. That is attention. Where are we focusing our attention in life? What is at the heart of our spiritual desire? And do we challenge ourselves to keep a single-minded focus on that desire so that we become all that we were meant to be? – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 18
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
What are your inner gifts and talents? Most of us are reasonably articulate about our deficits and weaknesses. We become fluent at explaining our incompetency’s but look straight at our gifts and talents and then mutter, “Oh, that old thing?” Both Dr. Wayne Dyer and Dawna Markova believe that it is with these talents that we discover who we are and who we are meant to be. They both believe that we need to clear ourselves out of the way and let the Spirit shift us into a new direction. The difficult part is hearing and moving as the Spirit directs us. -Mary Timko click here for a pdf of the prayer booklet for June 11
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Life as we know it is full of its ups and downs. Some times we assist in the ups of the world and truthfully sometimes we contribute to the downs. Whatever the struggles you see in your day; natural disasters, gun violence, disease, loss of companionship . . . , we all could use a little mercy. And we all could show a little mercy to those in our life who are struggling through there own challenges. It’s true, the whole world could use a little mercy now and prayer is an avenue to this grace. -Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for June 4
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
We live in a Universe permeated with divine presence. This precious planet is alive with opportunities to encounter Holy Wisdom and Grace. The question is are we aware? Whatever opens your heart to the Mystery is God’s invitation. Don’t miss it! – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 28
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Some of us at Centering Space spent Lent listening to Rob Bell, a Pastor and spiritual writer and his unique way of portraying God. As I read one of his books over the last couple of weeks I came across a question he poses and I thought that I would bring it to Reflective Prayer. The question is, “Does God get what God wants?” Another question he places in juxtaposition with the first question is, “Do we get what we want?” In trying to answer these questions Bell looks at the Christian beliefs held by many denominations about Heaven and Hell. He wonders about the kind of God we have faith in. Did God create us and our world to be brought together in salvation? Or did God only plan on saving some of us? Is that God’s choice or is it our choice? Is it more important for God to be a Judge who is condemning? Or is it more important to be a parent that Loves us unconditionally, and more than that a Creator that reconciles everything created to perfect order? – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 21
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Ah, the struggle of living our questions. But in our asking and living and answering we have to believe that the journey is all worth it…all of it. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for May 14
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Spring! The brilliant sunshine, the clear days, the lilting birdsong, the blossoming trees, the beautiful flowers all sing to us a song of love, reminding us that the universe is alive with joy and creativity. Each of us is also a note of that composition, gifted with our own ability to express love in every glance of acceptance, every expression of gratitude, every act of kindness, and every manifestation of joy. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the Prayer Booklet for May 7
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Yes, it’s true, we need each other. Period! – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 30
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Earth Day is described as a secular event. How exciting that a celebration which honors the “Grandeur of God” should be called “secular.” The lines are blurring. The unity of all of creation is becoming more and more apparent. As Sister Elaine Prevallet, SL points out “…all across the globe, Holy Wisdom is nudging in amazing ways, prying open doors to bring us all into the deep communion of love that is the pinnacle of our human capacities.” It is a sacred truth that every day is Earth Day. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 26
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The poet Hafiz said, “Now is the time to remember that all you do is sacred.” It is good, ever so often, to take a long look at our ordinary lives to see how we are living this and maybe how we are not. It is in the pots and pans, the sunsets, the relationships and daily living that we can be at prayer. When contemplation expands our consciousness of God beyond our designated prayer times, we integrate our prayer into our actions and live more intentionally. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 16
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Some times in life there are many ways but it is always to the same truth. In my life as a Christian, I have had many examples and yet there is only one truth. Follow that truth! –Mary Timko
Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 9
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
In spite of the disturbances that characterize our lives, the joy of Jesus can lift up our lives in celebration. This is the core of spiritual work. When you are comfortable with pain passing through you, you will be free. This world will never be able to bother you again because the worst the world can do is to hit the pain energy stored within you. If you do not care, if you are no longer afraid of yourself, you are free. You will then be able to walk through this world more vibrant and alive than ever before. You will begin to have truly beautiful experiences rise up within you. Eventually, you will understand that there is an ocean of love behind all of this fear and pain. –Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for April 2
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
At some point in our lives we all experience loneliness and a sense of isolation. This holy week reminds us that our communion with others is significant. I am encouraged by the idea that my being part of a community will help me reach my intended goal – “to be thoroughly used up when I die.” We can’t do this life alone; we need one another.– Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 26
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
For me the element of Spring is air: the quickening of all nature, the newness of life coming back from a winter of death and solemn stillness. The Breath of God is the Spirit which flows through us. We share in life-receiving and life-giving. Hildegard of Bingen reminds us that we participate in the “soul of God” when we share ourselves with each other. The Vernal (greening) Equinox is Wednesday this week. Let’s open our hearts to surrender to the divine breath. – Carol Kandiko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 19
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
We all wonder how we can find and/or make meaning out of the lives we live: beautiful, inspired, rocky, and a mess. Yet, we are told that this very life we live, is the place where we meet God and live out our purpose. Sometimes, we need to take a moment, sit in the silence and look over the life we are living to find God’s participation and orchestration. Then we might see that , “Heaven, after all, is making God-serving meaning of our stories on this rocky, jagged, radiant path of life (Jennifer Hoffman).” – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for March 12
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Lent, for me, is a time of introspection. It is a time to refocus my prayer and spiritual life. In the past I have also used this time to listen for God’s prompting, a prompting to push myself beyond the safety of my own little spiritual alcove where I am safe. I believe that Sir Francis Drake felt safe in an alcove of his own. He challenges us to look beyond ourselves, to tread in unfamiliar social, spiritual and cultural areas in order to follow the path of Jesus. Jesus leads us through his lifetime, through Lent and rejoices with us in the triumph of Easter. – Mary Timko Click here for a PD Fof the prayer booklet for March 5
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
When you are sailing, imagine the feeling when the wind hits the sail just right, and you’re holding the ropes just right. You take off with a perfect feeling of balance. Then the wind shifts and you adjust to it. You, the wind, the sail and the water are one. All the forces are in harmony. Should one force shift, the others shift at the same instant. Our faith calls us to stay at the center, trusting that all is blessing. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 26
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
I am not terribly busy. Well not in comparison to others. However my life certainly is not as quiet as I would like. When I happened upon this prayerful book I was inspired by this idea of stillness over silence. I am paying closer attention to finding that stillness in my daily routine; ways to shut out the noise…that in itself seems to be raising my level of consciousness. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 19
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
It is interesting to celebrate Fat Tuesday just before Ash Wednesday: abundance to renunciation, celebration to penance. But Lenten penance and renunciation lead to abundance of spirit and celebration of life. We mortals are forever caught in the circle of beginnings and endings and beginnings again. Christians call it the Pascal Mystery. Perhaps God calls it reality and love. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for February 12
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Our interconnectedness is beautifully described for ancient Romans by St. Paul and it still inspires us today. Sometimes it is also good to take another look, a more contemporary look at ancient teaching. Jan Phillips poem “We Who Are Alive Today” is the inspiration in our prayer to take another look. As we live out of knowing we depend on God and all that God has created, we can better understand our place in this world. – Peggy Gerovac Click here for a pdf of the prayer booklet for February 5
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
When we think of God, we often think of God as distant from us, or in another realm, transcendent. In order to find God, we must also try to transcend who we are at present in order to reach our truest self. – Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 29
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
As the new year begins and I reflect on yet another set of resolutions, I have decided this year IS going to be different. Rather than a long list of “doing” I am going to focus more on “being.” I am asking myself how am I in the world? How do I pray and meditate and integrate truth and knowing into my daily life? How are my relationships filled with love, forgiveness, and nonviolence. And finally, as I have asked others, how do I create inner peace? Parker Palmer’s A Hidden Wholeness is an excellent tool to help me in designing my plan for this New Year. – Betsy Nero Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 22
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Jesus recognized in children, the kind of total unquestioning trust that he had in God. In that sense, Jesus was exceptionally childlike. That of course is not the usual image people have of him. Describing him as childlike, however, does not mean that he was weak, immature, inexperienced, or naïve. It means that he drew his strength and self-confidence from his childlike trust in God. Even in the most difficult situations in life, we too can learn to trust God at the level of the heart. Even when our minds are racing with questions and fear and protest, our hearts can be at peace and at rest in God. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 15
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
What did you want for Christmas? Did you get it? We tend to confuse want and desire. Our deepest desires are God-given gifts meant to guide us on our own personal journey through life. How well do you know your deepest desire? What would bring you true peace and happiness? Ilia Delio writes: “Desire requires honest, attentive listening to our inner hearts where we discover what we hope for and what will transform our lives.” – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the prayer booklet for January 8
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. ” As we begin 2013 and we continue the Christmas season, we may think beyond the words of Carols and Scripture to now. How is it that we live today conscious of divine presence in Jesus and present in the Body of Christ? We come together to pray and reflect on the mystery of Incarnation and the Cosmic Christ as we make plans for the coming year. Ilia Delio offers this direction, “We must slow down, discover our essential relatedness, be patient and compassionate toward all living creatures, and realize that it is a shared planet with finite resources. ” -Peggy Gerovac Click here for a pdf of the January 1 prayer booklet
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Henri Nouwen and I agree on many things. One of those things is that the Christmas Season has two significant parts, both are necessary. One is the season of waiting for our Savior to come, where we make ourselves ready for Jesus’ arrival. This season is filled with the hope of a new year where God is with us. The second season is the season where we invite Jesus into our very hearts and work with him to realize the change in us that helps us move beyond ourselves and exuberantly accept who we are and the gifts given to us to share. God asks us to share our gifts with those around us. Some years this seems easier to do than others. Yet if we look within and allow God to work in us to shed our self doubts and fears God can not only heal us and show us the way to wholeness, our wholeness will be passes on to others who come to us looking for the God Within.. -Mary Timko Click here for a PDF of the December 18 prayer booklet
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
At no other time of the year are we called so vehemently to live out the tenets of our faith. Especially at Christmas, we are called to re-enliven our faith, stand up most vocally for what we believe in, and more importantly, act on those beliefs in positive, nurturing and helpful ways. -Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the December 11 prayer booklet
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
What a delightful image Brother David Steindl-Rast gives us when he says that one name for God is “Surprise.” I personally delight in those happy surprises that give instant joy, but sometimes the fruit of the surprise must be ripened and readied. The gift might be filtered through long periods of confusion and pain in order that faith and trust and hope and love can be deepened. God’s faithfulness in those times of suspended breath reminds us that the Giver and the Gift are one and the same. What an amazing and life-giving surprise! -Carol Kandiko, CSA photo by JJ Prekop, Jr Click here of a PDF of the December 4 prayer booklet
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
It is often in our own suffering that we search for life’s meaning and for a God who loves and saves us. It is often too, in our sufferings, that we may experience a distancing from God. It is in this time of questions that we find God’s love and we live and grow. – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of the November 27 prayer booklet
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I have always loved Thanksgiving. There is something so plain and very simple about the holiday. And for as long as I can remember I have been challenged by it’s significance. Certainly historically I understand why we gather to remember. But I also realize that for at least one day of the year I am forced into acknowledging God’s love and generosity in my life. I am humbled by all the abundance knowing certainly that I am not always deserving. This holiday, though culturally has become the kick-off to the Christmas season, really is in many ways a beautiful prelude to Advent where we quiet ourselves and embrace the idea of a baby changing the world. – Betsy Nero click here for a PDF of the November 20 prayer booklet
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
“Ours is a story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle.” This line was part of a speech given during the recent political campaign and refers to our struggles as a nation. But I think it can not only be said of Americans, but of Christians and indeed, of all of humanity. It can be reflected upon in terms of our physical struggle to survive, our emotional struggle to adapt, and our spiritual struggle to see what cannot be seen by human eyes…the love of the Creator, the beautiful web of interconnectedness, the amazing plan that is unfolding through our very thoughts and desires. – Syndie Eardly click here for a PDF of the November 13 prayer booklet
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
There is no life apart from God. When Jesus calls us to live on in his love (John 15:9) he is challenging us to an active participation in the one life-giving Love. It is notenough to simply enjoy the passive good feeling of God’s love for me, rather it includes sharing that love with one another. Actually, it is the love that God first has for us that even makes it possible for us to fulfill the commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) – Carol Kandiko, CSA click here for a PDF of the November 6 prayer booklet
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Tao Te Ching asks, “Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?” It is only when we slip out of our ego and into the River of the Spirit that we see ourselves clearly for the first time. And then, our spirit is set free in the world to be who we were meant to be, children of light and expressions of love in the world. – Betsy Nero Click here for a pdf of October 30 prayer booklet
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Tao Te Ching asks, “Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?” It is only when we slip out of our ego and into the River of the Spirit that we see ourselves clearly for the first time. And then, our spirit is set free in the world to be who we were meant to be, children of light and expressions of love in the world. – Syndie Eardly click here for a PDF of October 23 prayer booklet
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Henri Nouwen says that, “No matter how much we desire perfection and completeness, we need to embrace the fact of our limitations.” And yet we still continue living our lives each and every day doing the best we can. At times this may cause us stress, anxiety and or sadness. Nouwen follows this up with this idea, that there is still joy to experience within this dynamic. There is a joy in understanding that we are loved by God despite our limitations. We are loved by family and friends despite our shortcomings. “Thus in the midst of our pain, we can celebrate. In the midst of our broken world we can still dance!” – Mary Timko click here for a PDF of October 16 prayer booklet
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The story of Francis embracing the lepers is an important one for me in my own conversion, not because of the lepers per se. In this prayer we are invited to look at not only our reaction to the lepers, people who are very different from ourselves, but also the lepers in our very selves, our inner lepers. October, autumn is a time of change to our daily lives as the weather changes and often a change to our spiritual selves as well. We may review this time as not only change, but conversion as well. The conversion needed but only known in the depths of ourselves is where we meet God. –Peggy Gerovac Click here for a PDF of the October 9 prayer booklet
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Wisdom isn’t accumulated knowledge, but a way of knowing that transcends what is known. Wisdom is a way of being present in each moment, not to only the outer reality, but to the all-encompassing reality that is true Presence. Wisdom is knowing your presence in the Presence of the One who is Love. As Richard Rohr says: “Those who are fully present know how to see fully, rightly, and truthfully.” and Scripture says: “Desire this lesson and you will learn it.” –Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the October 2 prayer booklet
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
What does it mean to be lost? What does it mean to wait? When we are younger both of these things can be unsettling or even frightening. But as we grow, mature, and live more fully, we can see that our experiences of being lost or having to wait can have a profound impact on our spiritual journey. We are often transformed by that which challenges us to wait; to sit in our “lostness.” In our growing we realize the importance of letting go. We fundamentally know that there is depth and meaning, and yes, there will be a time when we are no longer lost. In the waiting we find ourselves; we find God. These things are not negative. No, in fact, they are life giving. – Betsy Nero
Tuesday, September 18 , 2012
If one wanted to live a blessed life, there is no greater pathway than this, to ask God to guide you in your choices, to not let your eyes see anything in the world but God’s glory, to let your hands touch nothing that is not of service, to let your tongue taste no bread that does not strengthen you for God’s work, to let your heart feel nothing that does not embrace the life you were given. – Syndie Eardly Click here for a PDF of the September 18 prayer booklet
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
When we come to the realization that it is not only safe to trust that the Word of God is true, but that our life depends on is, we can begin to pray. Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us. When we relax into the knowledge that we are unconditionally loved by God and precious in God’s sight, we discover that all we need, the Holy Spirit has given us from before our birth, before our conception, before the creation of the Universe. Every moment of life is the opportunity to wake up to the gift that is your essence. – Carol Kandiko, CSA Click here for a PDF of the September 4 prayer booklet
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sometimes it seems the only certain thing in my life is uncertainty. I have made significant changes in the past two years for which I am grateful. And yet, I am unsettled. The bridge focuses me on the movement in my life; that I am headed into something; and in the midst of all of the turbulence I am finding great beauty. – Betsy Nero