“When we practice moderation, a vitality of mind, body, and spirit returns to the places that were once depleted by too much—or perhaps too little—effort.”
—Melinda Emily Thomas, Sacred Balance: Aligning Body and Spirit Through Yoga and the Benedictine Way
How do you practice moderation? What are you over or underdoing in your life today?
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Detachment is often understood as letting loose of what is attractive. But it sometimes also requires letting go of what is repulsive. You can indeed become attached to dark forces such as resentment and hatred. As long as you seek retaliation, you cling to your own past. Sometimes it seems as though you might lose yourself along with your revenge and hate – so you stand there with balled-up fists, closed to the other who wants to heal. — With Open Hands
Reflection Question: Where are you standing with balled-up fists and how will you take the first step to open your hands?
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.– Proverbs 14: 30
“The spiritual journey calls us out into the wild places where God is not
tamed and domesticated. We are asked to release our agendas and discover
the holy direction for our lives.”
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within
What are the ways you’ve been tamed and domesticated? What are the ways you’ve tamed and domesticated God?
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Verse of the day
They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”
– Genesis 40:8
Voice of the day
The movement of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men and women often calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making. In a moment of dedication they are given wisdom and courage to dare a deed that challenges and to kindle a hope that inspires.
– Howard Thurman
Prayer of the day
God of daring hope, inhabit our hearts with a sense of what’s to come and strengthen our resolve to meet the challenges of our times.
Verse of the day
She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
– Proverbs 31:16
Voice of the day
I just have a feeling, a very strong feeling, that if ever this world is civilized, that it would be more the work of women.
– Emma Tenayuca
Prayer of the day
Nurturing God, show us how to model ourselves after the intrepid example of those who spoke out even when they were actively discouraged from doing so.
Verse of the day
If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
– Romans 8:25
Voice of the day
Some flowers bloom where the green grass grows / Our praise is not for them / But the ones who bloom in the bitter snow / We raise our cups to them
– “We Raise our Cups” from Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown
Prayer of the day
Living God, help us remain convicted in our work to renew the world, even when it seems as though good things cannot grow.
Spirit of Generous Abundance, remind us there is always more than enough— enough food, enough love, enough time, enough resources. Help us to see how our disconnected patterns of living amplify our scarcity. Bring us into the joy and challenge of community where bread divided multiplies, where laughter shared overflows. Empower us to share freely from our own abundance with others in need. Slow us down to see how time expands when we breathe and pay attention. Bless us in our efforts to trust in your goodness and love pulsing through the world, sustaining it moment by moment. Give us the courage to speak out when resources are distributed unfairly so that we may remind others there is more to share. Encourage us to release that which we no longer need to hold on to so tightly. Inspire us to live in a way that witnesses to our trust in the lavish fullness of life.
~Christine Valters Paintner, A Book of Everyday Blessings (Ave Maria Press)
To be a Christian now means to have the courage to preach the true teaching of Christ and not be afraid of it, not be silent out of fear and preach something easy that won’t cause problems. — The Violence of Love, p. 16
Verse of the day
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
– Isaiah 55:2
Voice of the day
Some got their miracle. Not being cured or fixed but finding the sustaining power to wake up every day and do what we’re here to do. In spite of the pain. Daily bread.
– Fr. Jud Duplenticy in “Wake Up Dead Man” (2025)
Prayer of the day
God of the ordinary, may the endurances we bear in day-to-day life be a source of proof that we can prosper and enact your desire for wholeness.
If you dare to believe that you are beloved before you were born, you may suddenly realize that your life is very, very special. You become conscious that you were sent here just for a short time, for twenty, forty, or eighty years, to discover and believe that you are a beloved child of God. The length of time doesn’t matter. You are sent into this world to believe in yourself as God’s chosen one and then to help your brothers and sisters know that they are also beloved sons and daughters of God who belong together. You’re sent into this world to be a people of reconciliation. You are sent to heal, to break down the walls between you and your neighbors, locally, nationally, and globally. Before all the distinctions, the separations, and the walls built on the foundations of fear, there was unity in the mind and heart of God. Out of that unity, you are sent into this world for a little while to claim that you and every other human being belongs to that same God of Love who lives from eternity to eternity. — Finding My Way Home: Pathways to Life and the Spirit
Reflection Question: Where might God be calling you to break down walls with your neighbors today?
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved – you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. – Jeremiah 31: 3
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