A place to retreat and spend some time with “The Boss”.
Short inspirational or thought-provoking passages, musings, and prayer time suggestions.
To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do. ~Victor Hugo
Now God almighty, accept my sacred
Song, I pray; unloose the utterance
Of your eternal, sevenfold Spirit, and so
Unlock the inmost sanctum of my heart
That I may find all mysteries within
My power to relate—I, Proba,
Proba /Faltonia Betitia Proba (c.322-c.370) Early Church Mother
God of broken people and broken places
I confess to you my love of comfort,
of the known and predictable,
of the safe and secure.
I recognize that you call us into liminal space
To leave what I know and venture with you into desert and wilderness, into blindness and discomfort
I want to follow you, but it’s hard to leave what I know
Help me to trust you, and to set out.
On the journey of faith,
Far I have come, far I must go
God of broken people and broken places
I thank you for all that Grace has been to me and to many others
I thank you for the space to listen, to grow, to create, to be challenged
I recognize that you are calling me on
To leave what I know and venture with you into new things, into engagement and participation, into creativity and risk, into new structures and opportunities
I want to follow you, but it’s hard to leave what I know and I’m not sure where I’m going
Help me to trust you, and to set out.
On the journey of faith,
Far I have come, far I must go.
God of rebuilt people and rebuilt places
You have plans for deserts and wilderness
‘Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
The thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
Grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.’
God of transformation I look forward to what you will do
With my life and with Grace
On the journey of faith,
Far I have come, far I must go.
From St Mary’s Church in south Ealing, Great Britain
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For the promise of harvest
contained within a seed
I am awed and give my thanks.
For the oak tree
within an acorn
The bread
within a grain
The apple
within a pip
The mystery of nature
gift wrapped
for me to sow
I am awed and give my thanks.
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Don’t Have to Act Crazy Anymore
You Don’t Have to Act Crazy Anymore -
We all know you were good at that.
Now retire, my dear,
From all that hard work you do
Of bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart.
Look in a clear mountain mirror -
See the Beautiful Ancient Warrior
And the Divine elements
You always carry inside
That infused this Universe with sacred Life
So long ago
And join you Eternally
With all Existence – with God!
From: ‘I heard God Laughing – Renderings of Hafiz’ by Daniel Ladinsky
Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world,
by running away from things,
or by turning solitary and going apart from the world.
Rather, we learn an inner solitude
wherever or with whomsoever we may be.
We must learn to penetrate things and find God there.
~ Meister Eckhart (circa 1260)
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From an early Christian:
I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.
I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgment Day.
I bind to myself today
God’s Power to guide me,
God’s Might to uphold me,
God’s Wisdom to teach me,
God’s Eye to watch over me,
God’s Ear to hear me,
God’s Word to give me speech,
God’s Hand to guide me,
God’s Way to lie before me,
God’s Shield to shelter me,
God’s Host to secure me.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the building,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the stern.
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.
Patrick of Ireland, (around 800 AD)
Ephesians 6:10-18
There is an uneasiness – a yearning within us. We try to satisfy it with activities, constant sound, accomplishments, strivings, “things.”
We even call the break between activities as “down time.” a term ripe with the connotation of depression and lack of purpose. How often do we turn on something to keep at nay away the silence we dread. Yes, we dread silence. Listen to a conversation with long pauses and see the body language of “uncomfortable” or the fast tripping of words to fill in the gap.
We are body, mind and spirit, according to the classical definition of a “human.” We keep the body fit by working out and eating healthy foods. We keep the mind sharp by reading, by learning new skills and by interacting with the arts. The uneasiness? That is a neglected spirit longing to be nurtured.
Some nurture the spirit by religion. Within the structure of religion as most experience it, there is activity. High ritual or low. There are words to be read or to hear. There are acclamations to be spoken. Even during the quiet times there is an underpinning of soft music. We are almost never alone with our spirit in quiet contemplation. The Divine shouts out to us and we too surrounded by the wild winds to hear.
Cultivating the spirit is quiet . It is learning the art of contemplation and of soul felt prayer. It is learning the art of listening in silence. These arts have been practiced since the earliest times. Christ often went out alone, often at night, to pray. As the spirit is strengthened by these spiritual exercises, the yearning of the spirit subsides and the lessons learned affect the body and mind. We live out of the spirit. The light of the Divine within increases and more brightly illuminates our path of life . We start to build upon rock and not drifting sands . When faced with challenges, we are equipped to pause – to re-focus – to draw upon the Spirit for strength. We can engage a dialog with the Spirit – listening more than talking. Our spirit has learned. And using the whole of our being – body, mind and spirit – we can climb up and over the obstacle and learn its lesson.
God’s first language is Silence. Everything else is a translation. -Thomas Keating