“Monastic wisdom tells us the sacred is right here, right now.”
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
How do you attune to the sacred in the here and now?
To register for the self-study companion retreat to the book with extra resources and guidance, click here. Use code HEART20 to take 20% off through May 31st, this Sunday.
I have found that Saint Teresa’s call to focus on the goodness of God when I need to discern helps me fight the demons of despair, self-rejection, and fear, and has overcome the powers of darkness with the power of God many times. I have often prayed the prayer of Saint Teresa, “Solo Dios basta, God alone is enough,” when I have needed to discern whether what I was hearing and experiencing was of God or not. Praying these words slowly and out loud can help me enter into God’s presence, where there is peace and certainty that God is always with me and loves me.
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you.
Those who cling to God
will lack nothing
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
God alone is enough.
Active nonviolence is a way of showing that unity is truly more powerful and more fruitful than conflict. Everything in the world is interconnected. Certainly differences can cause frictions. But let us face them constructively and nonviolently, so that “tensions and oppositions can achieve a diversified and life-giving unity,” preserving “what is valid and useful on both sides” — Against War: Building A Culture Of Peace, p. 79
A beautiful offering from our dear friends and Abbess of the Abbey of the Arts, a wonderful online community. Her book of blessings, like her other writings, is absolutely beautiful!
Spirit of courage,
we stand huddled too,
like the disciples in the upper room,
wondering what is real and true anymore.
Reveal to us the pulse of your fire
in each of our hearts
and send us with bread and roses
out into a world
hungry for nourishment.
Bless us with visions of peace;
carry it across every sky
on wings of a dove.
Help us understand one another
so that we might know
our common purpose in love.
Let the winds of change
rush in and upend all our fears.
Empower us for a more
just and loving future
where we dance with your wild grace.
~Christine Valters Paintner, A Book of Everyday Blessings: 100 Prayers for Dancing Monks, Artists, and Pilgrims (Ave Maria Press)
With the current US administration being fixated on the violent attacks on the sovereignty of other nations and the incredible audacity of saying they will take those countries over, these words of Pope Francis speak truth to power.
…this piecemeal violence, of different kinds and levels, causes great suffering: wars in different countries and continents; terrorism, organized crime, and unforeseen acts of violence; the abuses suffered by migrants and victims of human trafficking; and the devastation of the environment. Where does this lead? Can violence achieve any goal of lasting value? Or does it merely lead to retaliation and a cycle of deadly conflicts that benefit only a few “warlords”? Violence is not the cure for our broken world. . . . — Against War: Building A Culture of Peace, p. 77
I realized that war was monstrous. If it didn’t kill those it touched, it took away a piece of their souls, so they could never be whole again.
– Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, The Mountains Sing (2020)
From today’s Sojourner’s Verse and Voice
The below quote and the skills discussed are noticeably lacking in the current US administration. We need peacemakers and peace builders. In the words of that classic protest slogan… No Justice, No Peace… Know Justice, Know Peace.
Encounter and unity are always to be sought, without fear of diversity. So it is with peace: it too must be cultivated in the parched soil of conflict and discord, because today, in spite of everything, there is no real alternative to peacemaking. Truces maintained by walls and displays of power will not lead to peace, but only the concrete desire to listen and to engage in dialogue. — Against War: Building a Culture of Peace, p. 72
A few years ago I met an old professor at the University of Notre Dame. Looking back on his long life of teaching, he said with a funny twinkle in his eyes: “I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
That is the great conversion in our life: to recognize and believe that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and prepares us for his return. Our great temptations are boredom and bitterness. When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, our peace of mind by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new war, our desire for a stable government by a constant changing of the guards, and our desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness. But when we believe that patience can make our expectations grow, then fate can be converted into a vocation, wounds into a call for deeper understanding, and sadness into a birthplace of joy. — Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life
“Greed offers us a false promise of self-sufficiency. We mustn’t forget that no matter the wealth or items we accumulate, we are still at risk. Catastrophe, illness, or diminishment with age will come to all of us.”
—Lisa Colón DeLay, The Way of the Desert Elders: How the Wisdom of Ancient Christians Sustains Us Today our Lift Every Voice Book Club selection for May and June
What else falsely promises you a sense of control over circumstances or others, and what is at the root of that desire for security?
View or listen to our conversation with the author here.
Verse of the day
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
– 1 John 4:20
Voice of the day
The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: “You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together.”
– Oswaldo Payá
Prayer of the day
God our first conciliator, when we dissolve into disagreement, turn our minds to radical openness in finding common ground.
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 