One needful Lenten discipline

Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. John 3.5 I have understood something new about Lent this year. It starts with a question: Why did Jesus go into the wilderness immediately after his baptism? I’ve always imagined Jesus discerning who and what … Continue reading One needful Lenten discipline

Retreat days for Advent

Thursday 2nd or Saturday 4th December 2021 If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.” St John of the Cross Advent is a time of waiting. A birth is due … Continue reading Retreat days for Advent

8 ways to be with thoughts in prayer

Poppies

How’s it going in surrendering yourself to the Mystery that has intimately accessed your heart and has brought you to this place that it might translate you into itself?James Finley  If you ask me just precisely how one is to go about doing the contemplative work of love, I am at a complete loss. All … Continue reading 8 ways to be with thoughts in prayer

Ignatian Scaffolding

In case you haven’t guessed, I am a big fan of Ignatian Spirituality. And with that couplet is the genesis of a problem. By using the phrase ‘Ignatian Spirituality’, I am already creating something that I’m not sure has much substance. I’m a fan of God and Jesus. I’m a fan of prayer. I’m a … Continue reading Ignatian Scaffolding

Retreat Day: “What do You want me to do?”

FeaturedSt Bees

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking Many of us long to know what we should do with our lives and how we should live on a day by day basis. Those of us with a religious bent want … Continue reading Retreat Day: “What do You want me to do?”

Retreat day: Coming home (last call)

Moss

The truth is that we are always home. On this retreat day, we will explore coming home to our bodies, to ourselves, to the present, our own presence and The Presence, and to our place and purpose in the world. I will offer what I consider to be some important landscapes for exploration, but the … Continue reading Retreat day: Coming home (last call)

Retreat Day: Coming Home

Moss

When we take up occupation of the site of our bodies in stillness before God, we are granted a place to be, simply in virtue of being there as material beings made by God. Rowan Williams: Lear and Eurydice The truth is that we are always home. On this retreat day, we will explore coming … Continue reading Retreat Day: Coming Home

Coterminous

Moss

Sunday morning: sitting, praying. I have taken to moving my chair to face the window so I look out on the simple morning light. I tend to alternate between journaling and a still and silent awareness of being this body. I say ‘praying’ but really I am pondering what I want to do today: what … Continue reading Coterminous

It’s only your imagination

Path

By their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7.16 A person is walking along the street and a thought comes to her: “I ought to phone my Auntie Julie. I know it is boring, and I never know what to say, but she must be lonely stuck in her flat with no visitors.” Another person … Continue reading It’s only your imagination

Retreat Day: last call

There a just a few tickets left on the Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown. I am offering it on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th February. Please contact me if you would like to come. Here are a few more details. The shape of the day 0930 Arrival, housekeeping, and introduction1000 Prayer 1: Home1200 Prayer 2: … Continue reading Retreat Day: last call