Theologian and spiritual leader Barbara Holmes invites us to focus on our breath as a way of welcoming God in the present moment:  Breath is the sustainer of life and also the vehicle for entry into the contemplative center. We take deep breaths to still ...

God of Our Wandering Ancestors God of our Wandering Ancestors, Long have we known That your heart is with the refugee. That you were born into time. In a family of refugees Fleeting violence in their....

Mother Teresa once stated that her vocation was simply “the love of Jesus.” Though she was at times criticized for not doing enough to address global...

Facts About Immigration • Human rights include family unity, access to just working conditions and freedom from discrimination on the basis of national origin for everyone. • Immigrants help improve the US. Economy, adding over $31.4 billion to the gross domestic product (GNP) each year. • Many people have no way to legally immigrate to the U.S. because there are very few visas for low-skill workers, and wait times for family members can stretch for decades. • By the second generation, nearly all immigrants know English. Source: “Giving the Facts a Fighting Chance: Addressing Common Questions on Immigration.” American Immigration Council, December 14, 2015. After reading these facts, one way I could educate myself is . . . Submitted by Lori Fick Interested in joining the Peace and Justice Ministry? Please call Lori at 314-691-9335

A key component to the Welcoming Prayer is the direction to “Feel and sink into what you are experiencing this moment in your body” (emphasis added). Recent psychology ...

Father Richard Rohr recommends an alternative take the Welcoming Prayer as a practice to help us surrender to God, Reality, and Love with each moment:   Spiritual teacher Mary Mrozowski (1926–1993) composed and first taught what is now called the Welcoming Prayer... The Welcoming Prayer helps us find...

Imagine being incarcerated for decades! How would one find a sense of purpose to go on living? A program in the Missouri Department of Corrections, called RESTORATIVE JUSTICE is in place at various...

Matthew 24 :35:36   …….”I was……..in prison and you came to see me.” Last December, I was invited to attend the Christmas Mass and luncheon with the Catholic inmates incarcerated at Potosi Correctional Facility - a maximum security prison for men, most of whom are in prison for life, going through the appeals process or waiting to be executed if their appeal has been denied.  ...

The Welcoming Prayer is described as “a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions” [emphasis added]. The prayer boldly asks us to “feel and sink into” our emotions and our body-based reactions to those emotions. This can be challenging when our prayer practice allows fear, shame, trauma, and the other wounds of life to surface, yet these wounds need to be...

This week, we shine a spotlight on an opportunity for prayer: DO YOU HAVE DAYTIME AVAILABILITY? ALL ARE INVITED TO PRAY WITH US Join our Zoom Contemplative Prayer Meeting Mondays 2:45 to 4:00 pm...

Damon Thibodeaux spent 15 years in solitary confinement on death row for a murder he did not commit.  He was allowed out of his cell for one hour each day to sit in the hallway or walk in a yard the size of a dog pen!  In 2012, he became...

Last week, this space shared a description of The Welcoming Prayer, as explained by Contemplative Outreach. Key to the description is that The Welcoming Prayer is “a method of consenting to God’s presence and action” [emphasis added]. This language of consent acknowledges God as the prime actor in our prayer. Indeed, it is fundamental to our understanding of God that all relationship with the Divine is initiated by...

On their website (contemplativeoutreach.org), Contemplative Outreach describes the contemplative practice known as The Welcoming Prayer, and details the guidelines for the practice: The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions to events and situations in daily life. The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is to deepen our...

Any punishment administered in an arbitrary manner is unfair.  For example: if speeders driving yellow cars were consistently ticketed, but speeders who drove other colored cars were  not ticketed, this would be considered ...

Article 1 - The Death Penalty -   Food for Thought   The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty. Exceptions were made in the past that did allow for the death penalty.  How did this change come about? The Catholic Church teaches “every life is a precious gift from God (Gen 2:7, 21-23).  We are created in God’s image and redeemed by Jesus Christ.  When St. John Paul II presents the story of Cain and Able in “The Voice of Your Brother’s Blood Cries to Me from the Ground” (Gen 4:10), he reminds us that God did not take Cain’s life as punishment but ...

We offer these excerpts from Fr. Chuck’s previous bulletin articles for Lectio Divina or another form of contemplative reflection or practice, with prayers of love and gratitude for him, his support, and his ministry! “The message of Jesus Christ and the invitation to be his disciples is very much a counter-cultural message… As life becomes even more hectic and fast-paced, the Church's Advent message is ‘Slow Down!’ As stressors build, the message is ‘Be Patient and Wait!’ As we are bombarded with so many things competing for our attention and our time, the message is ‘Is this really that important?’” (12/2/18)

Some thoughts from Pope Francis and United States Catholic Bishops Conference “Can violence achieve any goal of lasting value? . . . Violence is not the cure for our broken world. Countering violence with violence leads at best to forced migrations and enormous suffering, because vast amounts of resources are diverted to military ends and away from the everyday needs of young people, families experiencing hardship, the elderly, the infirm and ...

M. Scott Peck, M.D. begins his book, The Road Less Traveled with a simple sentence. “Life is difficult.” And it is more difficult for those who have witnessed someone being shot or killed. Nightmares flashbacks, anger, frustration, anxiety and feelings that “no place is safe” will change ...

Because we must approach contemplative prayer with no expectations, we should resist the temptation to “assess” our prayer time and the quality of growth in our relationships with God. It is quite human to want to live up to a certain standard in prayer, and so we set goals for our prayer time – a certain number of minutes spent in prayer, perhaps, or a prayer period with no distractions – as well as ...

According to bradyunited.org, gun violence effects the American economy and cost at least $229 billion yearly. Everytownresearch.org places that cost at $557 billion a year. This comes in the form of lower housing values, admissions to hospitals, emergency room visits, lost wages for the employer and employee, criminal justice cost (paying public defenders, ...