Art Of Contemplative Living

Happy Little Things - Holly kluge

Such happy, busy ducks!!

Carmen Bernos de Gasztold (9 October 1919 – 23 September 1995 was a French poet who lived in a Benedictine abbey. She wrote a delightful set of prayers prayed by the creatures on the Ark ❤️ @ksgonda

Turning to the Mystics podcast is a turning inward to reground in the peace that passes all understanding. James Finley is well, James Finley. What a tremendous gift to all of us.

Turning to The Mystics Archives — Center for Action and Contemplation Turning to the Mystics is a podcast for people searching for something more meaningful, intimate and richly present in the divine gift of their lives. James Finley, clinical psychologist and Living School faculty, offers a modern take on the historical contemplative practices of Christian mystics li...

https://vimeo.com/404898231?ref=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1VqT_Vpa59au50BDP1y-IcX9_UyBwwmNaoxfxVGvAMe9Kg9OK4fwFpblc

TAIZE at St. Martin's - Holy Week 2020 This is "TAIZE at St. Martin's - Holy Week 2020" by St. Martins Winnetka on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

There is one thing we shall never fully understand. Why has God chosen us, fragile vessels of clay, to communicate a part of the mystery of Christ? And why do some people respond to this call and others not at all? It is in vessels of clay that we carry this treasure, the Risen Lord, writes a witness to Christ nearly two thousand years ago, to make it quite clear that the radiance comes from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; we are brought down, but not destroyed. Always and everywhere we carry about in our bodies the agony of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed.

Revealed and communicating Christ. Being reflections of the Risen Lord through the lives we lead! And yet we know him so little. If we had only our own weak faith or our personal qualities to count on, where would the radiance of God be? It is not for nothing that God has chosen to reveal himself through our human fragility. How easy then it is for us to make our own, one of the prayers of the Christians of the early church: you do not look on our sins, but only on the faith of your Church.

People who consent to communicate a part of the mystery of Christ through the lives they lead, people who place their trust in him even in the arid stretches in their existence, know that their choice can lead them closer and closer to unseen martyrdom. But for them, no matter what happens, no failure is ever final: hard pressed on every side, they are not crushed; brought down, they are not destroyed.

All those who live out the consequences of Christ’s call to the utmost see their hearts becoming more and more universal. Refusing to spare themselves, they become capable of listening to everything in others, of sharing their pain and their distress. Far from becoming hardened, far from becoming used to suffering, as the years go by, the openness of their heart becomes boundless.

When everything seems to conspire to make them give up, when they carry within themselves the agony of Jesus that is the suffering of people all over the world, how is it that they are not overwhelmed and exhausted? Here is their secret: at every moment, they hand over everything to Christ: other peoples troubles, their own trials, everything that assails them. If they didn’t pray for their enemies as well, part of themselves would remain in darkness.

In this continual handing over to God, everything is thrown into Him, even our tired bodies. And everything comes to life again: to the point that the Risen Christ reveals himself, even in our broken bodies. With our body we start to sing to him... Everything in us starts to sing again until we are filled to overflowing... Jubilate Deo, Jubilate Deo...

TaizÈ Reading
Brother Roger

“Five A.M. in the Pinewoods" by Mary Oliver

I’d seen
their hoofprints in the deep
needles and knew
they ended the long night

under the pines, walking
like two mute
and beautiful women toward
the deeper woods, so I

got up in the dark and
went there. They came
slowly down the hill
and looked at me sitting under

the blue trees, shyly
they stepped
closer and stared
from under their thick lashes and even

nibbled some damp
tassels of weeds. This
is not a poem about a dream,
though it could be.

This is a poem about the world
that is ours, or could be.
Finally
one of them—I swear it!—

would have come to my arms.
But the other
stamped sharp hoof in the
pine needles like

the tap of sanity,
and they went off together through
the trees. When I woke
I was alone,

I was thinking:
so this is how you swim inward,
so this is how you flow outward,
so this is how you pray.

Wilkie Au is an amazing teacher. I did part of my Spiritual Direction trading with him at LMU and my practicum also. Wish I could make this class!! If you are in LA and can make it, it will be wonderful!

Workshop: "Being Whole, Being Holy: Fostering a Spirituality of Integration” with Dr. Wilkie Au “The glory of God is the human person fully alive.” These words of St. Irenaeus encourage us to cultivate a holistic spirituality that integrates the gospel call to holiness and our human longing for wholeness. This workshop will treat the following: 1) models or frameworks for understanding what li...

This should be an amazing workshop. I had a semester with Dr. Noreen Cannon Au, a Jungian, on the psychological dimensions of Spiritual Direction at LMU (I did my Spiritual Direction training there and it was unbelievably powerful. Part of the course was dreamwork. I may fly back for this.

Workshop: "Dreamwork as a Pathway to the Healing and Wholeness" with Dr. Noreen Cannon Au Dreams are a powerful source of self-discovery, personal growth, healing and integration. A dream is like an inner counselor. It helps us to see ourselves more clearly and to identify those blind spots that are keeping us from living the life we want to have. Although many of us are drawn to working...

I was graced to lead morning prayer this morning at St. Alban's - what a wonderful way to begin the weekend! I will now the Friday morning 'regular' leader. 7 AM is very early, but I kept hearing the words from the call to prayer this morning...."Sleep is good, but prayer is better. God is the greatest!!" Sleep IS good, but prayer is so necessary. I need it, the world needs it!!

"Act as though every thing depended on you,
but pray as though everything depended on God." - St. Ignatius

Sending prayers for those who March in peaceful protest today.