Not long ago I found myself in the middle of a group of people and various means of communication, all trying to sort out a schedule…Multiple people, some texting, some phoning, etc. After several flips and shifts over the course of a couple of hours, it seemed as though everyone was at last on the…
Tag: wonder
Binding Dust–A Poem
Ash Wednesday, with its accompanying symbols and rituals, is still resonating within me the day following. In the past, I have wondered why not “You are glory and unto Glory you shall return?” This year, however…with so much crumbling…the idea of dust–and not only the idea, but the reality, of dust…it settles closer to Centre…
55 Lessons
It has happened again: another trip around the sun; another candle on the cake. I’ve learned a lot while sailing this ocean of time and space and thought to begin a list, in no particular order, of lessons learned. I simply stopped at 55, though I was pleased to see that I could have gone…
Safe journeys
Years ago, I was a week in a retreat house run by a men’s monastic community. Every evening after Compline had been chanted, the Abbot would offer a blessing that ended with wishing everyone a peaceful night and a happy death. At the time, I thought that a bit morbid to hear every evening. I…
All Saints and All Souls, 2024
Coming up at the end of this week are two of my favourite liturgical feasts—those of All Saints and All Souls. I simply love how they afford a particular opportunity to collectively call to mind loved ones that have gone before and also to envision the communion of saints who accompany us. All Saints-All Souls…
10K Surrenders (a Poem)
We do not attain anything by our own holiness but by ten thousand surrenders to mercy. A lifetime of received forgiveness allows us to become mercy. -Richard Rohr- Ten thousand surrenders to mercy One. When I experiencethe nine thousandnine hundred ninetyninewaysyou find to show me that You are as I made you-wondrous and full of grace…and yes, also challenge…and…
That which remains
A couple of Sundays ago, I watched a friend, a priest and preacher, deliver her sermon to the congregation gathered at her parish. She spoke of the Gospel of the day in which Jesus poses the question, Who do you say that I am? This was developed and included a reference to the element of…
It’s all Here (From the Journal…)
Was just speaking with someone yesterday about how I don’t necessarily need to go anywhere to have ‘adventure’ present itself. Opening the door is sometimes all the invitation necessary. It also does depend on how you interpret ‘adventure,’ I suppose. For me, I guess I’d say it has something to do with wonder, curiosity, story,…
Both Subtle and Flamboyant
Someone asked me once whether I searched for concrete knowledge of God. My response was that I preferred the experience of Mystery. Enticing, both subtle and flamboyant—in tolerable proportion, and always just that far away…until becoming part of its fullness. And, somehow, I don’t think we need to die to become enfolded in its expanse—we…
Until Quiet: A Poem
Until Quiet With you at the tip of my pen, I wroteuntil words found their branches, tucked infeathers, and nesting lightly, breathed inthe incense of lilac and pine,rose, earth, and cedar; until stillness,revealing its canopy, drew me intoall of its dimensions, offered meits hand to enter the depths of its colour-stained span of mystery; until…
Consider the Lilies 