Peace Prayer

O God, we are one with you,
You have made us one with you.
You have taught us that if we are open to one another,
You dwell in us.
Help us to preserve this openness
and to fight for it with all our hearts.
—Thomas Merton, from The Seven Storey Mountain

found at explorefaith.org

Christmas Thought

Give food to the
Hungry, O Lord,
And hunger
For You to those who have food.

Christian Grace
found in the book Bread Body Spirit, Finding the Sacred in Food

Abundance - More About Less

As I sat by the window reading, watching the snow accumulate, being warmed by the fire, I was in awe of the gentleness within one feels when the snow is falling. It is a different feeling when you have to go out in it...but settling into the warmth inside was a gentling sensation. Hanging on the deck is a basket that is now overflowing with the abundance of snow we have received - snow being a rare thing here on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia.

These words from Ted Loder, I Have So Few Ways to Pray actually spoke to me of abundance: the unexpected, the surprises, the love that came in the tough places with those surprises, and just how often I found God with so much for me when I thought there was too little.

Lord,

I have so few ways to pray, but you have many ways to answer.

Keep me alert
to your unpredictable answers, to your unexplainable surprises.

And by your grace,
make me one of those surprises for the sake of the One who taught us the surprises
of moving mountains, healing touches, wonderous stories, great banquets,
first suppers,
broken bread...
crosses and resurrections.

Abundance seems to be less about more and more about what you cannot see but what you know in the stillness, in the waiting and in the listening.

Merton Ponderings on Christmas

The mystery of Christmas lays upon us all a debt and an obligation to the rest of [humankind] and to the whole created universe. We who have seen the light of Christ are obliged, by the greatness of the grace that has been given us, to make known the presence of the Savior to the ends of the earth. This we will do not by preaching the glad tidings of His coming, but above all by revealing Him in our lives. Christ is born to us today, in order that He may appear to the whole world through us.

Thomas Merton. Seasons of Celebration (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1965): 112.


Thought for Christmas

This one day is the day of His birth, but every day of our mortal lives must be his manifestation, His divine Epiphany, in the world which He has created and redeemed.

Seasons of Celebration: 112

Contemplative Action Thoughts

These two words, “contemplative” and “action” continue to be infused into living these days. A magnificent piece of music is currently playing, Gloria Patri, written by Vivaldi. The piece is slow and meditative, drawing me again to these two words - contemplative action. Like a cup of tea where the leaves continue to transform the water to make a comforting drink that warms and soothes as it is taken within, these words are infused into my being.

I recently attended a gathering for facilitators of Centering Prayer groups. Due to traffic we arrived a bit late and were there just in time for the first 20 minutes of silence - the first sit of the day of Centering Prayer. The ‘silence’ was filled with sound and movement; the coffee pot gurgled and sloshed as it percolated and also released the fragrance of the brewing beverage into the air, the fan was loud as it intermittently switched on and off to move the air around the room. You could hear others breathing. Be still and know that I am God is the instruction we use for this practice. We moved into stillness and in that place of waiting and being I found my senses became so alive and the smallest movement or sound was crystal clear. There is no sound as each moves into their own heart space to sit with the Spirit - it is a silent movement that draws the heart, mind, body and soul to singleness, to come undivided before God, to come to this precious intimate room within, that has no limits as to size capability.

What really is astonishing me is that action comes from stillness! Yes, in our little coastal community here in British Columbia, I am finally letting my being be open to the reality that there is inner movement as I learn to be still. Lingering, a most delightful action for the senses to embrace, invites me to contemplative spaces. Jesus friends seemed to linger in the places he was. I love lingering, just being present with God in solitude. I love those spaces of time when my husband and I linger together. It isn’t stagnant or stifling in these places. You reach down deep inside, letting your senses connect you to everything around and let the Spirit connect you to this deeply intimate action of being present, awake, aware and alive to this one moment! Business of action and of my mind seem to intrude to steal this time from me all too often and that kind of action paralyzes much of my thinking and my heart. Stillness has to be so intentional for me and while the Spirit often invites me into this place my heart does not always accept the invitation. Yet I know it is the only place where my creative side begins to unfold and my senses become very tuned in. It is the space where “ah ha” moments are revealed.

Be still and know that I am God: to be still one must be present and to know ( that inner place of acknowledging) one must open the heart to listen. It also speaks of obedience - following the voice of Love.

Looking out at the morning fog I feel the stillness and I also feel the embrace of Holy Presence - the stillness invites my soul to gentle and deep action to live, to love, to be and to know God and myself a little better. The words in my journal begin to unfold and creative ideas begin to flow.