Senses of Contemplation (Wednesdays at Saint Andrew’s)Warm dust and candle;stained glass archways into the story; smooth-worn wooden spirals bearing your light;the comfort-music of stillness;the full-bodied enticing awareness of limitless, of home, of Still Morethat was you and is you now and will be so onward and deeper intothe unknown Mystery of what is,as yet, beyond the embraceof our imagination….
Author: Kimberly M. King
I am a Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I am the director of Barat Spirituality Centre, www.baratspirituality.org, a writer, a juggler, a quick wit, a walker. I enjoy reading all sorts of fiction and non-fiction and regularly write both essays and poetry. Other interests and abilities include Spanish/English written translation and simultaneous interpretation, cooking, and time spent thinking and observing.
Frying Pans, Spirals, and These Wintry Days
I have occasionally referred to a communication style I call ‘the compassionate frying pan.’ Direct, possibly jarring, but with heart. I have sometimes employed it, especially when teaching, and other times I have been the recipient of it… when the message that is needed isn’t coming through any other way. I’ve received it from well-intentioned friends, mentors,…
Right book, right moment
As a librarian—and now as an occasional bookseller, I have said to the people who approached me with frustration at not liking the book they recently read— Before you dismiss it entirely, consider that it might not be about the book…it might be about the moment. Keep your mind, eyes, instinct, open for the book…
A Bowl of Incense and a Spoon: A Poem
A Bowl of Incense and a Spoon With the good knife rescuedfrom a thrift store pegboard,The soup pot thurible is readyto incense the kitchen chapel.halve the onion, slice from the root,cross cut into a small dice.I settle my senses into thiswelcome ritual of prayer and blessing.Garlic: three cloves or four, depending,mashed into a paste with…
On One of Fifty-Four Thanksgivings: a Poem
I had occasion recently to reflect on a list of 54 Thanksgivings that I had written as a way to honour my birthday. Items from the full spread of decades made the list…Things that were good from the get-go (Being taught common-sense and trusted to exercise it)…and things now seen in retrospect (Learning, growth, and strength…
From Within
From Within The woman, retired,speaking of grandchildrenwhile examining my arms,kept saying It’s peoplelike you who show up and givewho say to the world—Do you seewhat we have in common? What weneed from each other when ina bad way? What we needcomes from within. I kept thinking about that whenI could feel 36.9 degrees of crimson…
Christmas, 2023
At first I was imagining something new for this year…but then I thought about the liturgy and how we hear the stories of our faith told in cycles and spirals, circles and ever expanding circles. I keep returning to this poem on Christmas Day because it’s a message that isn’t getting old. It’s a message that moves…
Advent IV/ Christmas 2023
Merry Christmas, all…
The Comfort of Two Readings
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God… So begins the first reading of today’s liturgy and my first reading of the day… when I first read it, many different images all came to mind and heart. Some of them were from the news…the tents down the street, soldiers walking the streets in different…
Consider the Lilies 