Verse of the day
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
– Matthew 5:9 (NIV)
Voice of the day
There is no path to peace, but peace itself is the path.
– Richard Rohr, OFM, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (2007)
Prayer of the day
Help us to forge the path of peace. May it lead us toward justice and reconciliation.
Verse of the day
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
– 1 John 4:7-8
Voice of the day
The whole cosmos is a Self-giving of God. And we will find our place in the great dance only to the extent that we love.
– J. Philip Newell, Christ of the Celts(2008)
Prayer of the day May my love for others direct the search for my place in the cosmos.
This picture is from our time in Florence, Alabama after Denise’s father’s death whilst we were working on sorting out his estate. It continues to be a challenge for my sweet partner in life and faith. The challenge continues into this new year. This prayer shines a light for us as we walk this pathway together.
Guide us, our great Mentor, through the ups and downs of life. Strengthen us to leave behind what hinders our calling, and to keep moving
toward ever-greater reality.
A prayer from Tree of Life: Celtic Prayers to the Universal Christ by Ray Simpson (p. 35)
There are days when one wonders… when one struggles to recover the plot or the path. On those days, this is a beautiful reminder:
The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them. – Thomas Merton (No Man Is an Island p. 168)
Thank you, Thomas Merton, for this reminder ♥️
“It’s not you who should solve my problems, God,
but I yours, God of the asylum-seekers.
It’s not you who should feed the hungry,
but I who should protect your children
from the terror of the banks and armies.
It’s not you who should make room for the refugees,
but I who should receive you,
hardly hidden God of the desolate.
You dreamed me, God,
Practicing walking upright
and learning to kneel down,
more beautiful that I am now,
happier than I dare to be,
freer than our country allows.
Don’t stop dreaming me, God.
I don’t want to stop remembering
that I am your tree,
planted by the streams
of living water.”
—Dorothee Soelle
“Monastic tradition has taught me the treasure offered in the rise and fall of each day and the invitation to tend the gift and quality of each moment.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, The Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
In which part of your day do you most often find “treasure?”
What is it like to taste peace? I know it may sound like a weird question but Thomas Merton invited me to contemplate that question in his journal entry from January 3rd and 4th, 1968.
Evening—new moon—snow hard crackling and squealing under my rubber boots. The dark pines over the hermitage. The graceful black fans and branches of the tall oaks between my field and the monastery. I said Compline and looked at the cold valley and tasted its peace. Who is entitled to such peace? I don’t know. But I would be foolish to leave it for no reason. — January 3 and 4, 1968 (The Other Side of the Mountain: The End of the Journey)
Tonight I stepped out onto our deck on the first night that I was able to see Sister Moon this year. Merton’s description of the evening moon and saying Compline at his hermitage is such a beautiful and sensory experience. Being in the presence of Sister Moon was indeed one of those moments of peace.
This taste of peace took me back to the nighttime walks in the Rocky Mountains where we lived for five years. How many times (day or night) did Denise and I simply take in the breathtaking beauty of this sacred space.
The experience we had simply being in the presence of the bull moose pictured above defied description. A sacred and holy moment that I can revisit by sitting in silence and closing my eyes. We could literally taste the peace of that moment.
Sister Moon, Brother Moose, and the invitation to simply be and embrace the moment… what a gift from our Creator. Perhaps Thomas is inviting me to spend more time embracing and tasting the peace that surrounds me. It is an invitation to “Be Still” in the present moment.
The word that chose me for 2022 is Sabbath. Sabbath… a sacred pause… sacred rest… where one can, if their spirit is open to it, taste the peace which is offered to us by our Creator. I invite you, dear reader, to take such moments as a holy invitation to taste the goodness and peace that is right in front of you.
Journalists, scholars, and politicians have been speculating about the likelihood of a second Civil War in the United States. Our divisions have deepened over the past decade. They were on appalling display in the insurrection of January 6, 2021.
We differ sharply over ideology, race, economic justice, and, increasingly, over devotion to or aversion to a personality. Even more troubling, violence has become an all-too-common strategy for resolving our conflicts.
— Read on jakeowensby.com/2022/01/07/a-paradoxical-kind-of-power/
“Imagine if every schoolteacher was given training in restorative justice, conflict de-escalation, mediation, and trauma response. Imagine if our police academies mandated undoing racism and nonviolence workshops for every new recruit. . . . Imagine if our media institutions supported artists who use their art to heal and help us progress as a society. Imagine . . .”—Kazu Haga
“Nonviolent transformation requires of us the spiritual discipline of mindfulness, of attending all of our experiences and embracing the seeming opposites—death and life, sorrow and joy. The spacious consciousness that will grow from this openness brings with it joy, an inner peace, and great strength for the work of choosing life and in so doing, transforming ourselves, families and communities.”—Mary Litell
