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Life is the only way

A Note Life is the only way to get covered in leaves, catch your breath on the sand, rise on wings; to be a dog, or stroke its warm fur; to tell pain from everything it’s not; to squeeze inside events, dawdle in views, to seek the least of all possible mistakes. An extraordinary chance to remember for a moment a conversation held with the lamp switched off; and if only once to stumble upon a stone, end up soaked in one downpour or another, mislay your keys in the grass; and to follow a spark on the wind with

April 29, 2009

Depths of the Divine Fecundity

There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. The mysterious Unity and Integrity is Wisdom, the Mother of all, Natura naturans. There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity, a silence that is a fount of action and joy. It rises up in wordless gentleness and flows out to me from the unseen roots of all created being, welcoming me tenderly, saluting me with indescribeable humility. This is at once my own being, my own nature, and the Gift of my Creator’s Thought and Art within me, speaking

April 7, 2009

A Prayer to Begin

I’m the secret fire in everything, and everything smells like Me. The living breathe My sweet perfume, and they breathe out praise of Me. They never die because I am their Life. I flame out—intense, godly Life—over the shining fields of corn, I glow in the shimmer of the fire’s embers, I burn in the sun and the moon and the stars. The secret Life of Me breathes in the wind and holds all things together soulfully. This is God’s voice. -Hildegard of Bingen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fiery Spirit, Source of all creative power, Kindle your Holy Spark within me, Breathe into

April 6, 2009

Taking Flight

I awoke this morning, on New Year’s Day, with a heart full of hope. Last year was brimming with new possibilities and the year ahead brings with it so many adventures and invitations to dance on the edges of things, I am absolutely dizzy with anticipation. In a most ordinary moment, I was taking sweet Tune for her morning walk today, when as I returned a flock of pigeons took flight across the street. A fairly common occurrence in the heart of the city, and yet this morning I had this transcendent moment where I felt myself lifted with them, my breath stopped, heart

January 1, 2009

Encountering Coyote

Two weeks ago I shared my journey to the nearby cemetery on a foggy morning as a way of being present to my mother on the anniversary of her death. One thing I did not share then was my brief encounter with coyote on this walk of remembering, in part because I needed to reflect more on this meeting before speaking of it. Despite the fact that I live in a very urban neighborhood of Seattle I had heard there are coyotes roaming who come from the many green spaces and Arboretum of our beautiful city, but I had never

November 2, 2008

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

October 14, 2008

Happy Feast of St. Francis

Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures -Francis of Assisi (dogs encountered across Austria, swan in Hallstatt, Austria)

October 4, 2008

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Category: Nature

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Life is the only way

Depths of the Divine Fecundity

A Prayer to Begin

Taking Flight

Encountering Coyote

Going on Retreat

Happy Feast of St. Francis

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