A sermon about the question God wishes we asked more often so that God can offer God’s first and fundamental promise: “Yes, I will be with you always…
A Resounding Yes (Updated)
“’What is it the season for?’ a wise spiritual director used to ask me, inviting me to tend to my inner seasons as well as the outer one unfolding around me. She knew that nature’s wisdom could offer me guidance and grace.”
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Earth, Our Original Monastery: Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
What is this season of your life, and what might it be telling you?
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Verse of the day
But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.’
– Luke 16:25
Voice of the day
The gift of free time is not a luxury. It is, theologically speaking, the precondition of humanity. It is where we learn to be imago Dei — the image of a God who rests, who delights, who dwells in community…The Sabbath has been stolen from us — not by God’s absence, but by an economic order that treats human beings as instruments of production.
– Omar Haramy, “The Fridge and the Drone”
Prayer of the day
Eternal Refuge, as Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Keep us attuned to one another as we overcome the impulse to measure ourselves by our productivity.
Verse of the day
How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
– Psalm 133:1
Voice of the day
Unity in this sense is a threshold requirement for people to live in freedom and together in a free society. It is the solid rock, as Jesus said, in this case upon which to build a nation. It is not conformity. It is not victory. It is not polite weariness or passive passivity born of exhaustion.
– Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
Prayer of the day
God who finds joy in our harmony, guide us toward the repentance and repair that must precede unity.
I awaken early as usual, have my little pot of breakfast and feed the dog, then she makes circles and squeals, knowing what is next. Morning prayer, walking the canal and river, quiet before the city hums, she stops every few feet to sniff messages left for her on blades of grass and tree trunks, and I wonder at the messages imprinted here for me too, a feather floating, a leaf on my path, an acorn fallen. I pray with my feet, smell dawn’s freshness, the possibility of here and now, the swan glides up the water and the duck quacks a warning to his companions, the blackbird does what he must do and I return home singing amen.
~Christine Valters Paintner, What Enters Through the Open Heart (Monkfish Publishing, 2026)
For Creative Joy (excerpt)
In the way that you looked upon your creation
and called everything so good, kindle in us
the same generous vision.
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, A Book of Everyday Blessings: 100 Prayers for Dancing Monks, Artists, and Pilgrims
You’re invited to practice God’s generous affirmation, “so good”, celebrating the goodness often overlooked.
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New Name (excerpt)
I am becoming
a new version of myself
and I whisper back to the woman I was:
do not be afraid
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, What Enters Through the Open Heart: Poems
What do you want to whisper to who you were before?
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Freedom is the core of the spiritual life. It comes from claiming in your heart that unconditional first love that allows you to love your neighbors freely and unpossessively. Jesus shares this word of hope in our world full of violence – violence in our families, in our communities. In our personal relationships, a moral life is not enough. We must also live the mystical life, a life which is embraced by the God who says, “I love you fully and unconditionally.” — The Road to Peace: Writings on Peace and Justice
Reflection Question: In what ways do you live a mystical life?
To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. – Mark 12: 33
Verse of the day
“In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
– Acts 20:35
Voice of the day
If I can help somebody as I travel along / If I can help somebody in a word or a song / If I can help somebody from doing wrong / No, my living shall not be in vain
– Mahalia Jackson, “If I Can Help Somebody” (1964)
Prayer of the day
God who is seen through the world’s helpers, allow us to perceive all the ways our help can manifest and be a balm.
Verse of the day
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
– Isaiah 11:9
Voice of the day
If we allow sacred places to be destroyed for profit, we are saying that nothing is truly sacred. We are losing something essential about our humanity—our ability to respect Mother Earth, to honor what is holy, and to live in balance with the world around us.
– Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr.
Prayer of the day
May we recognize places where your creation sings as holy ground and champion their right to thrive.
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