The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been a wonderful day of work and relaxation for us
It has been a time for fellowship and laughter
It has been a time to share sacred stories
A full and blessed day indeed
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
“Discernment is an act of the heart, a way of listening with more than the mind – with the body and the intuition as well. When we discern, we are making space for new revelation to arrive without needing to force it.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD,The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
What new revelation is arriving in your life today?
As we continue to ponder this episode in life which we are in the midst of… as we seek God’s presence even in the midst of this darkness… as we look for that light which shines in the darkness which darkness cannot overcome (John 1:5 my paraphrase)… there are choices we can make.
As my very dear new friend and brother said, “We have been sold a bill of goods, that says Disney is the norm and suffering is to be avoided.” Aren’t we all looking for that hope, that sense of normalcy in this world? In our own small corner of the world? Unfortunately we aren’t finding that normalcy in the blare of the 24/7 news channels who regurgitate the same thoughts over and over and over again as the self-appointed media experts go on and on and on … and for the record, this is NOT partisan… all media is doing this. I saw it during Operation Desert Storm and it has continued. In the post-September 11th days, it became a critical mass of overkill while those of us in the military (yes, even this Chaplain/Padre) were trying to figure out how to best protect and defend our installations as well as how to make our way through the new “normal.”
Depending upon where you live, the news and the updates continue as our nations and world try to protect and defend (some better some worse at doing this) the most vulnerable people in our world. In the midst of the chaos and the storm, many of us are seeking anchors and safe harbors in the midst of the storm. Not safe harbors or anchors to separate us from the world, but rather safe harbors and anchors where we can renew our strength and rise up with wings like eagles to quote Isaiah (40:31) as we seek to offer hope, strength, companionship, and light along the way as the Spirit calls us and guides us. We can rely on Her (as I choose to acknowledge God and the Spirit) to guide us.
Sadly, I don’t have easy answers to these issues. I am just like you, a pilgrim wandering in this wilderness. Yet the consolation for me and for all of us is this: we are not alone. We will walk together through this storm. We will carry each other if necessary…we will support and encourage each other… we will LOVE each other! Isn’t that the bottom line? No matter our religious background, the call is to Love! Yesterday I heard the most uplifting and loving call to that peace from a beautiful spirit… an Imam in Europe. The call to love, to encourage, to walk with each other.
Thomas Merton writes in the preface to No Man is an Island the following: The modern world (he writes this in 1966) is beginning to discover, more and more, that the quality and vitality of a {man or woman’s} life depends upon {his or her} own secret will to go on living. There is a dark force for destruction within us, which someone has called the “death instinct.” It is a terribly powerful thing, this force generated by our own frustrated self-love battling with itself. It is the power of self-love that has turned into self-hatred and which, in adoring itself, adores the monster by which it is consumed. It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. (p. xxi)
Dear readers and friends, may we indeed consent to live for others. For in that living we will find the light, hope, and guidance from God. Deus Dona Nobis Pacem et in Terra… God, grant us peace on earth.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights Flicker and glow
Thankful for another day of virtual worship and fellowship
Thankful for some time with my sweetheart
Thankful for conversations with family
Thankful for a relaxing evening
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
“We need to claim the great wisdom and teachings the scriptures and mystics have to offer to us about remembering the sacredness of all things. We need to live an incarnational theology that takes God’s presence seriously in all of creation. Only from this place of love will our hearts be transformed and a new way of being arise.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD,Earth, Our Original Monastery: Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
How will you accept the invitation to fall in love with creation and see what is inspired from there?
As this nation and world continue to cope with and respond to the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus, many challenges erupt. One of the things I have noticed is the various ways in which people come together or move apart. We are in the midst of social distancing here in the US… or at least in some parts of the US. Anyhow, we are learning some significant lessons on how to be a community in these trying times.
Social Isolation and Distancing is difficult for so many. Not many of us are ready to adopt the life of a hermit. Not many of us are ready to adopt the life of a monastic. Yet we are all being challenged to adopt this life to one degree or another as the Pandemic sweeps across this nation and world.
So, in this time of social isolation and a pandemic, how can we still relate to each other. While we cannot meet friends for dinner at a restaurant or a pint at the local pub or a glass of wine at the winery; we are still a community. Several dear friends from around the globe (literally) who are musicians are offering virtual gigs where we can all enjoy music and fellowship. On the one hand it is wonderful to spend time with Robin and Mick from Ireland while hanging out with Nadine, Erin, and Jon in Colorado. Yes, there is so much that draws us together across so many divisions. Music truly is the universal connection. However, there is an even deeper connection that we have.
That connection is love. Thomas Merton in his book, No Man is an Island said the following about Love, God and Neighbor.
The true answer, which is supernatural, tells us that we must love ourselves in order to be able to love others, that we must find ourselves by giving ourselves to them. The words of Christ are clear: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (p. xix)
Agape… Man is divided against himself and against God by his own selfishness, which divides himself against his brother. This division cannot be healed by a love that places itself only on one side of the rift. Love must reach over to both sides and draw them together. We cannot love ourselves unless we love others, and we cannot love others unless we love ourselves. (p. xx)
This truth never becomes clear as long as we assume that each one of us, individually, is the center of the universe. We do not exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others. (p. xx)
Merton tells us that once we figure out that we are not the center of the universe… once we figure out that there is equal space for all of our sisters and brothers who are all created in God’s image… once we figure out that we are all interconnected… it is then that we can begin to love ourselves and our neighbor. In so doing we are loving God as God first loved us. In this time, dear reader, may we make that sort of love our goal and our aim. Love after all makes the word truly go around. May God lead us in the light and show us the love as we walk this journey together.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been a long but productive day of ministry
Worship and Holy Week preparation
I am thankful for my sweetheart and partner in life and ministry
Finally an enjoyable couple of hours playing Dominoes
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
It has been an exhausting day for my sweetheart and partner in ministry and for me. This journey we are on with COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus is truly emotionally and spiritually exhausting. As we walk with our community and parish through this unknown Valley of the Shadows, we wonder at times where God is in the midst of this. But then the gentle whisper of the Spirit reminds us that we are not alone. She is with us and will guide us through this wilderness.
Now as we fall exhausted into bed, I find comfort in Her presence and in these words of Thomas Merton from his Asian Journals: Our real journey in life is interior: it is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of
love and grace in our hearts.
May the Spirit guide us through these times and may we follow Her through this Wilderness and may She lead us into the sunrise of a new day where the creative action of God’s love may transform us.
Facing the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirement to “shelter in place,” I believe this post from three years ago might be helpful.
— Read on chrisglaser.blogspot.com/2020/04/rage-to-ecstasy-praying-psalms.html
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been another full day of ministry and worship planning
Yikes! Lent is nearly over and Holy Week is upon us
In the midst of all the preparations
Thank you for some sacred and quiet moments
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
