“The scriptures and ancient mystics describe the heart as the place of inner sanctuary where the spark of God lives within each of us. We always have this divine spark within us, but it can be often difficult to remember. “
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
Have you allowed yourself to slow down, become quiet within, and pay attention to how your breath opens the gateway into your inner sanctuary?
Verse of the day
“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
– Matthew 10:29-30
Voice of the day
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. … When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must … become the center of the universe.
– Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
Prayer of the day
On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, help us to remember to love our neighbors more than our borders; let us not be lukewarm when it comes to defending human dignity.
On our daily walks we spend some time walking along the Inter-Coastal Waterway that feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. On that walk we see various birds and wildlife. One time it was a Dolphin swimming with only its dorsal fin showing. Many times we see Great Blue Herons and White Egrets flying, standing in the trees, or fishing in the water. Occasionally we see pelicans flying or sitting on the pier. Today we saw and heard a Cardinal singing in the tree. This experience brought to my mind a piece that Thomas Merton wrote in his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. It also brought to my mind Alana Levandoski’s song, “We Do Not Attend” from her album, ”Pointe Vierge: Thomas Merton’s Journey in Song. It is a beautiful interpretation of his words.
How the valley awakes. At two-fifteen in the morning there are no sounds except in the monastery: the bells ring, the office begins… The first chirps of the waking birds mark the “point vierge” of the dawn under a sky as yet without real light, a moment of awe and inexpressible innocence…
Then they one by one wake up, and become birds. They manifest themselves as birds, beginning to sing. Presently they will be fully themselves, and will even fly. Meanwhile, the most wonderful moment of the day is that when creation in its innocence asks permission to “be” once again, as it did on the first morning that ever was… We face our mornings as men of undaunted purpose. We know the time and we dictate the terms. We know what time it is.
For the birds there is not a time that they tell, but the virgin point between darkness and light, between nonbeing and being. So they wake: first the catbirds and cardinals. Later the song sparrows and the wrens. Last of all the doves and the crows.
Here is an unspeakable secret: paradise is all around us and we do not understand. It is wide open. The sword is taken away, but we do not know it: we are off “one to his farm and another to his merchandise.” Lights on. Clocks ticking. Thermostats working. Stoves cooking. Electric shavers filling radios with static. “Wisdom,” cries the dawn deacon, but we do not attend. (pp. 127-128)
Perhaps that is the blessing offered to us as each new day begins. It is a blessing when we pause to savor the beauty and wonder of Godde’s creation.
“Statio calls us to a sense of reverence for slowness and mindfulness. We can open up a space within for God to work.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, The Wisdom of the Body: A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
What changes do you notice when you pause between activities rather than mindlessly starting and completing another task?
“We need a new spirituality for a global awareness and we need a new way of acting in this polluted world. We have to say no to violence, war, and environmental destruction. We have to end our exploitation and domination of the earth and the poor. At the same time, we have to say yes to life, solidarity, conservation, dialogue and self-determination.”—Louie Vitale, OFM
“Do not be afraid, have no fear,” is the voice we most need to hear. This voice was heard by Zechariah when Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, appeared to him in the temple and told him that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son; this voice was heard by Mary when the same angel entered her house in Nazareth and announced that she would conceive, bear a child, and name him Jesus; this voice was also heard by the women who came to the tomb and saw that the stone was rolled away. “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid.” The voice uttering these words sounds all through history as the voice of God’s messengers, be they angels or saints. It is the voice that announces a whole new way of being, a being in the house of love, the house of the Lord. . . . The house of love is not simply a place in the afterlife, a place in heaven beyond this world. Jesus offers us this house right in the midst of our anxious world.
“When we commit to the contemplative path, we are called to spaciousness and presence rather than rushing and productivity, choosing a simple life in the midst of an abundance of riches rejecting the pervasive consumer message.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
What messages in the pervasive consumer culture in which we live do you reject?
“The root of the word humility is humus, which means ‘of the earth.’ To be humble as a monk means to be profoundly earthy and grounded, to remember from where we arise and to where we return.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Earth, Our Original Monastery: Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
How does this framework of humility feel in your body? How might it inform your spiritual practice?
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”—Jeannette Rankin
Verse of the day
Cast all your anxiety on God because God cares for you.
– 1 Peter 5:7
Voice of the day
Whatever you think your life is going to be like, just know, it’s not gonna be anything like that.
– Abbie Porter, 20th Century Women (2016)
Prayer of the day
God who is both above and yet stepped into time, so much in this life is uncertain. May you gift us with your peace in the midst of shifting ground.
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