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

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)

Lass auch Dir die Brust bewegen, Liebchen, höre mich!

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!

Thoughts in a time of plague

Desert, Newberry Springs, CA (photo by Julian Maddock)

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

Audio Prayer: Presence, Gratitude, and Kindness

Christ is risen. Alleluia. This is my third offering of recorded prayer. It is a version from the post, “The only 3 prayers you need,” in which I suggested that presence, gratitude, and kindness comprise the three important prayers. This audio file is longer than the others. Here it is one complete recording. Presence - … Continue reading Audio Prayer: Presence, Gratitude, and Kindness