Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Today we begin the journey to Bethlehem once again. Later I’ll drive to Mt. Irenaeus for Mass and then our monthly Secular Franciscan meeting. This will be my first meeting since May. I’ve managed to be ill for the past two meetings this fall. Today, the first candle [...]
Archive for November, 2008
Advent
Posted in Christianity, Mt. Irenaeus, Music, mystic, prayer, tagged Advent, Emmanuel on November 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Homecoming
Posted in gratitude, mindfulness, prayer, tagged children, family on November 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s 5:30AM and Devin is leaving home after being here for five days. It’s been his longest visit home in three years, but as I watch him go I think of how blessed we are to have him. How many other parents have lost sons and daughters in the war or how many parents never [...]
Trappist Commercial
Posted in Marian, Trappist, mindfulness, mystic, tagged contemplative, Super Bowl, Trappist on November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Well done!
Wordless noise
Posted in mindfulness, mystic, prayer, tagged contemplative, silence on November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I regularly read Gerry Straub’s blog and usually what he posts touches me. What follows is something that I feel a bit more deeply about. Yesterday, while at Mt. Irenaeus I was touched by the poignancy of this silence.
Listening to God requires silence. Silence is more than not speaking. There is within us a wordless [...]
Thanksgiving
Posted in Peace, Spiritual, gratitude, military, mindfulness, tagged gratitude, Navy, Peace, Thanksgiving, veteran on November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This is a day and a season of thanksgiving and this year I’m most thankful for all that has happened. This has been a watershed year of memories and a chance to reconnect with people and memories from the past. Just yesterday I received a note from a surgeon who was once my boss at [...]
Inherit the wind
Posted in mindfulness, mystic, tagged contemplative on November 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The words and thought of Proverbs 11:29 have been with me a lot this fall. I’ve been pondering these words and not even knowing their source. What does it mean to inherit the wind? There is a lot of wisdom in the Book of Proverbs.
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind:and the [...]
This is the place
Posted in Thomas Merton, gratitude, mindfulness, monastic, tagged contemplative, Thomas Merton on November 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sometimes I question whether this is the place I’m supposed to be. I question whether I’m doing what I ought to be. This Merton quote puts some of that in perspective. I too like to listen to the wind and to live in as much silence as possible.
Everything about this hermitage simply fills me with [...]
God’s light in us all
Posted in Spiritual, mindfulness, mystic, tagged contemplative, Quaker, Sidwell Friends on November 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
News that the Obama girls will be attending Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC sent me a journey to learn more about the school. I’ve long been fascinated with Quakers and regularly contribute to the Friends Committee on National Legislation. In the library under Holy Peace Chapel at Mt. Irenaeus hangs a framed poster with [...]
Angelico
Posted in Bill Douglas, Music, Navy, gratitude, mindfulness, tagged Albany, GA, gratitude, Hospital Corpsman, LinkedIn, NYSCATE on November 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This has been a very busy and productive week. It’s been a week with a full range of emotion. On Monday of this week I received an email from a doctor with whom I worked at the Naval Air Station Dispensary in Albany, GA thirty-five years ago. We were re-introduced on LinkedIn. The power of [...]
Our deepest fear
Posted in Spiritual, gratitude, mindfulness, mystic, tagged fear, Marianne Williamson, self esteem on November 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I came across this quote from Marianne Williamson. I first heard it a couple of years ago at Mt. Irenaeus. I think it’s a powerful thought and one worth sharing again and again.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, [...]
