Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, but since the 1800’s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of ...
Contemplative practice requires perseverance. Our individual and collective relationships with Divine Love unfold, as most really good relationships do, over the course of a lifetime, and no amount of time is a “long time” in light of the endless depths of the God into Whom we fall in contemplation. Nevertheless, there may come...
Give me your tired, your poor…” “The United States has a long tradition of welcoming refugees, but its resettlement programs had dwindled to historic lows in recent years. In September, 2021, the U.S. announced that the maximum number of refugees admitted to the country in 2022 will be increased to 125,000 - the highest number since 1993. In 2021, the U.S. welcomed refugees from 50 countries, with the vast majority arriving from ...
We share with you this offering from poet and contemplative Elizabeth B. Rooney as we peek attentively through summer’s front door: Morning Light Perhaps the light in heaven Will be like...
World Refugee Awareness Day The United Nations has designated June 20th of each year as World Refugee Awareness Day when all countries focus on ways to improve the lives of refugees. During these times of unrest, war and displacement of people from various countries, it may be helpful to review the meaning of the words used to describe them: refugee, immigrant or migrant. According to the UN: “Refugees are ...
Contemplative blogger Mark L. Lockwood discusses bringing contemplative practice into our relationships: Typically, we associate being contemplative as part of a spiritual practice one does on their own, but in order to relate to others we need to go inside ourselves. We need to become vulnerable and open up into connection if we want deep meaningful relationships to last. Relationships all need sacred space to...
JUNETEENTH On June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, more than 250,000 slaves in the Confederate state of Texas first learned from a Union general that they had been freed more than two years earlier. Slave owners had kept them in bondage and uninformed. June 19th has become known as Juneteenth. It became a federal holiday in June, 2021 and is officially called Juneteenth National Independence Day, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Note - the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Lincoln in ...
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, discusses the prayer of hesychasm: Hesychasm, a contemplative prayer of rest, has its roots in the desert fathers and mothers as well as the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Bishop Kallistos Ware, drawing from John Climacus (AD 525-606) writes: “The hesychast, in ...
St. Teresa of Avila wrote: 'All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent.' This is the conviction that we bring with us from early childhood and apply to everyday life and to our lives in general. It gets stronger...