The Winter Solstice is the day each year with the shortest amount of daylight. Each year, the light grows shorter and the darkness lasts longer, until today. Even now, with our technologies to turn night into day and bring light into the darkness, the balance of light and darkness shapes our lives. I work with […]
Light in the Darkness Read More »
Our lives are filled with things which must be done: errands, tasks, to-dos, responsibilities. We move through life accomplishing these things, checking off each one and moving on to the next one. We finish our errands, meet our responsibilities, get things done. Our lives have a rhythm, a comfortable pattern, that keeps us going. We
Remembering & Anticipating Read More »
1. That person with a striking haircut, piercings, and tattoos really can help me learn how to us my new iPad, iPhone, and iMac. 2. I may be able to survive without caffeinated coffee. 3. There are people who are interested in listening to what I have to share with them. 4. Being kind is
12 Lessons That I Learned This Year Read More »
Each year, our church has a special Advent Lessons and Carols service. We remind ourselves, in music and words, of how our journey together begins. We light the candles and take turns telling the story. Telling our story is part of the preparation, part of the anticipation, of Advent. It helps us remember, helps us
Advent Lessons & Carols Read More »
It may be because we are afraid of the dark. As the days get shorter and darkness grows, as we approach the end of each year, we enter a season that our culture calls “The Holidays.” We barely have time to experience each one distinctly. They blend together, becoming one big excuse to spend and
So, What is This Advent, Anyway? Read More »
Cyprian Consiglio is a musician and composer, spiritual teacher, and Camaldolese Benedictine monk; he is part of the same branch of the Benedictine family to which I am connected as a lay oblate. Brother Cyprian begins Prayer in the Cave of the Heart by acknowledging the growing hunger for interiority in our world, and our
Book Review: Prayer in the Cave of the Heart Read More »
Advent is the season in the liturgical year which precedes Christmas. It is a season of preparation and anticipation, of listening and openness. Listen: John’s Gospel says that “In the beginning was the Word,” and that “the Word became flesh and lived among us.” Listen: People traveled to seek advice from early Christian monastics, the
Advent: Listening for the Word Read More »
November is, in many ways, a very contemplative month. It begins in the wake of costumes and frivolity; false selves on display for all to see. The days grow colder and darker, almost as if the month is turning inward. Candles and treats give way to the early evenings of standard time. Like contemplation, November
I have read quite a few books about contemplation and people who practice it as I have become one of those people. For me, those books often tend to be fairly conceptual and a little cosmic, and not to include much accessible or tangible help. It can be challenging to talk or write clearly about
Book Review: A Sunlit Absence Read More »
People who build walls want their walls to run true. Whether they are framed in lumber, built of bricks, or made of stacked stones, good walls are balanced and level, positioned correctly, and remain upright. True walls are in the right place, they are straight and square to their foundations, and they stay standing. Walls
