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Reflections

Category: Contemplative Living

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“I need to be silent / for a while”

All beings are words of God, His music, His art. Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps in our souls. Every act reveals God and expands His being. I know that may be hard to comprehend. All creatures are doing their best to help God in His birth of Himself. Enough talk for the night. He is laboring in me; I need to be silent for a while, worlds are forming in my heart. -Meister Eckhart It has been a full week and I find myself longing for less words, more silence.  The photo above is of a marvelous

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Discovering the True Self

A couple of weeks ago I had my first Thai massage session. It is different than traditional Swedish style massage in that you are fully clothed and lay on a mat.  The massage practitioner stretches your body in different directions to help release tension.  There is also a lot of rhythmic rocking so that the body relaxes deeply. While we were in the midst of the work, the woman who was giving me the massage commented that I surrendered very easily.  She said most people have a lot of resistance to complete relaxation and releasing into her hold. The next day I

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Going on Retreat

How necessary it is for monks to work in the fields, in the rain, in the sun, in the mud, in the clay, in the wind: these are our spiritual directors and our novice-masters. They form our contemplation. They instill us with virtue. They make us as stable as the land we live in.  -Thomas Merton On this night of the full moon, I am off for a few days of retreat with my spiritual director Abbess Petunia.  I will be listening to the wind, rain, and sunlight for their sacred whispers.  I will root myself among trees and allow the call of

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The Table as Altar

Two weeks ago I went to a Shabbat dinner at the home of my good friend who is also a rabbi.  On occasion she will invite her “women of faith” friends to celebrate this welcoming in of the Sabbath so central to Jewish life and ritual.  There we were, one Jewish rabbi, one Benedictine Oblate, two ordained Methodist ministers, and two Tibetan Buddhists (one of whom has taken robes). We gathered around the table lighting the Shabbat candles while singing a Buddhist mantra.  We read the prayers in Hebrew, washed our hands, and broke the challah bread and drank wine.  As

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Shabbat and Shavasana

On returning from our summer travels I recommitted myself to a deeper exploration of two practices — Sabbath-keeping and yoga.  I believe so strongly in the power of Sabbath, as a witness to a different way of being in the world, as an act of humility that says the world will get by if I lay down my work for a while, as a time to remember who we were created to be. Moving more deeply into a yoga practice is really a reclaiming for me of something that once played a more significant role in my life.  There are

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Article on Contemplation (bonus post)

My article on “The Practice of Contemplation as Witness and Resistance” has been published in the October 2007 issue of The Way (a journal of contemporary spirituality published by the British Jesuits).  They have been behind in their production because of the editor’s illness, but the issue is now available.  Click on the link above to read the article. I also just ran across one of my absolute favorites of the Peanuts comics — it was very tempting to follow Charlie Brown’s lead during those long years in graduate school and it still holds lots of appeal!  I think Tune would embrace this

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Radical Hospitality

This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. [S]he may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. -Rumi I am very grateful

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