the sensation of life
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?”
Every year everything I have ever learned in my lifetime leads back to this: the fires and the black river of loss whose other side is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know. Mary Oliver: In Blackwater Woods I was listening to Radio 3 over breakfast on Wednesday. Bryn Terfel was interviewed and … Continue reading Lass auch Dir die Brust bewegen, Liebchen, höre mich!
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
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
If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent If the unheard, unspoken Word is unspoken, unheard; Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard, The Word without a word, the Word within The world and for the world; And the light shone in darkness and Against the Word the unstilled world … Continue reading Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown
What do you long for? What are your deepest wishes? Spirituality is how you live out your deepest longing, day by day, year by year, in and through all the ups and downs of life. Prayer begins with desire … Continue reading
This time of plague is a desolation for many: loss of work, loss of income, loss of health, loss of life; traumatic, dangerous front-line work; and decimated support services. Those of us not so endangered still suffer desolation. There is overwhelming uncertainty: where will we be next year, or next week!? How are we to live now? What is God’s call now? … Continue reading
A few years ago I was at a day conference with Silence in the City. It was a hot summer’s day. I was due to meet up with a couple of people later. Towards the end of the talk, both people sent texts begging off because of the heat. I was irritated. I do not … Continue reading Distraction
Stop asking God for what you think you want. What God is waiting for is not a right conclusion to a matter but for our suppleness in falling into His hands for Him to work in us. Benedicta Ward, Discernment: A Rare Bird When I ask people what they say to God, they often tell … Continue reading Preemptive strikes upon the Divine
This year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, “What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?” It is clear that this is what Jesus was doing all day every day. But it is not … Continue reading What shall we do?