Tag Archives: prayer

Beloved of God, some reminders (Retreat thoughts)

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I spent this past week on my annual retreat. It was an interesting week to be away in the desert grounded in prayer amidst the beauty of God’s creation. Some news of what was happening in our nation and world seeped into my contemplative time. All the more to bring to prayer.

I reenter my daily life renewed and refreshed with some reminders for the journey ahead.

Sunrise in the Sonoran Desert

The sun always rises in the morning. There is light after darkness, light to guide our way. We can be light for one another and love always. Love anyway.

Sunset at the Redemptorist Renewal Center

Each day holds its own cares and worries, joys and delights, challenges and opportunities. Tomorrow is always another day with no mistakes in it, to quote Anne Shirley. The invitation is to be in the present moment and to work towards a more peaceful tomorrow. The arc of justice is long.

1,300 year old petroglyph

Humans are human and God is God. I walked on land inhabited by the Hohokam peoples over 1,000 years ago. They literally left their mark on the rocks. I prayed in the footsteps of what must have been thousands of people in the past sixty years at the retreat center. So many hopes and dreams and experiences of God have been held in the human heart. And those human hearts are held in the heart of God.

Night sky in the desert

We are all part of the immensely wide dream of our loving Creator. I looked up at the night sky and saw stars and moon and planets! All moving through the universe. Light traveling billions of years to reach my eyes. It gives you some perspective.

Prickly pear cactus

Not to say life can’t be messy and scary and overwhelming at times. We each have our own individual prickly points, and so too does society. Right now, our nation is experiencing a clash of prickly points and agendas that are already impacting the most vulnerable among us. What is ours to do in this time? How do we find strength in our vulnerability, stand together, and act in solidarity for the common good?

St Joseph with the Christ Child

I spent time sitting at the feet of this statue of Joseph with the Christ child. Joseph lived in turbulent times, times of uncertainty and abuse of power. He listened (and responded) to God’s dream in love. He took risks. He did the hard work.

At the feet of Joseph … faithful

Joseph was faithful, just as God is faithful. May I be faithful. This is my simple prayer.

Beloved of God,  remember God is love and God is good.

May we be love. May we be good, to ourselves and one another on the long road ahead.

Sign on the Tohono O’odham lands

Solitude, thanks, and praise

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I finish my few days of retreat today, grateful for the blessing and opportunity of this time of solitude, prayer, and reflection.

In the words of our CSJP Constitutions:

“Recognizing gospel peace as both gift and task,  we believe that prayer is fundamental to our life.  …

In unity with the church  and with all of creation  we give praise and thanks to the Giver of all gifts.  We open ourselves to the liberating power of God  whose Spirit in us leads to peace.

Personal prayer deepens our desire  to be united with God in faith,  enabling us to see God’s presence and action in our lives and in the world.”

So much had happened since my annual retreat last October, good and bad, challenging and encouraging, and everything in between … in my own life, my life in community, and our wider world. There is so much to pray for and with! It is pure gift to have the ability to take time away in solitude with God’s love and mercy. Such a gift also carries responsibility, which I do not take lightly.

I have held in prayer many these days, those I promised to pray for, those I know, and many I do not. I know too I have been held in prayer. Again, such gift.

I have been so aware of God’s love these days away,  love beyond measure. In the words of the song  My Beloved by Eliza King (a soundtrack of sorts for this retreat), I have been “leaning on my beloved.”

Graced with time by the ocean, going on long walks and just sitting by the sea, I have been so aware of the gifts of creation given freely by the One who loved us into being, the healing power of Christ who became one of us, and the persistent presence of the Spirit nudging us into wholeness.

God is so good, and so are we. May we remember that in good times as well as the more challenging times. May we be people of peace and reflect God’s love, mercy, and care for all of God’s creation. Amen.

In the rising sun

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Morning prayer from Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter by John Philip Newell …

Early in the morning we seek your presence, O God,

not because you are ever absent from us

but because often we are absent from you

at thr heart of each moment

where you forever dwell.

In the rising sun,

in the unfolding colour and shape of the morning

open our eyes to the mystery of this moment

that in every moment

we may know your life-giving presence.

Open our eyes to this moment

that in every moment

we may know you as the One who is always now

.

(Saturday morning opening prayer, pg. 74)

Limitless Family

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Holy Family, St. Mary’s Church, Unterägeri, Switzerland

Today on this Feast of the Holy Family, I share a reflection and prayer from my book My Friend Joe: Reflections on St. Joseph.

The story of the Holy Family is alive and well today and will continue long into the future. For Christians, the Holy Family is our family. Pope Leo XIII asserts that this divine household “contained within its limits the scarce-born Church.” Mary, mother of Jesus, is the mother of all Christians. Jesus Christ is our brother. And Joseph, our foster father, “the Blessed Patriarch looks upon the multitude of Christians who make up the Church as confided specially to his trust, this limitless family spread over the earth … It is, then, natural and worthy that as the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and girt it about with his protection, he should now cover the cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus Christ.”

We are part of a limitless family. No matter our own experiences of family—nuclear, extended, or chosen—as Christians we are part of the family of God, a limitless family spread over the earth. And Joseph, who first was called to his role by the message of an angel, is there for us when we need him, ready to spread his cloak of mighty love around us, guiding us, comforting us, and protecting us as members of this limitless family of love.

Prayer for Families

St. Joseph, pray for us, your limitless family, bound together in love. Be with all families in good times and bad. Take special care of families separated for whatever reason. Defend us from ourselves, from our growing pains and insecurities, our hurts and complex family dynamics. Share our joy at new life and the promise of tomorrow. Be our comfort in times of trouble, and our guide always. Teach us your way of mighty love for our human family and daily care for Earth, our common home. St. Joseph, husband of Mary and father of Jesus, pray for us. Amen

In Everything

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This week on retreat, I spent a lot of time walking in the nearby woods and meandering on the grounds at St. Raphaela Retreat Center.

This week I also discovered a new hauntingly beautiful song called In Everything by Paper Horses, a singer songwriter supergroup made up of Jess Ray, Sandra McCracken, Taylor Leonhart, and Leslie Jordan. These four artists, individually, are often the soundtrack for my prayer. Together, well, just take a listen in this video prayer I made matching some of my photos and videos from my walks to their song.

Retreat Notes: Autumn Days with Jesus

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I just spent a wonderful week at St. Raphaela Center in Haverford, Pennsylvania. A ministry of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it was a new space for me, although I did know the Grey Nun who was my retreat director. The prayerful spirit and hospitality of the Handmaids made me feel right at home.

It is a privilege to be able to take a week away to just be with God. I do not take that lightly! I made my first directed retreat when I was a Candidate, the initial stage of formation as a Sister. Now I cannot imagine not making time for my annual retreat to renew and ground my relationship with God.

Our Constitutions make it clear why this is a priority for us: “We nurture our life of prayer by reflective reading, particularly Scripture, by periods of solitude and silence, and by an annual retreat.” (30)

In the silence this week, the Autumn leaves hit their peak of the season. Such beauty in the Book of Creation! And so much happening in our wounded world to hold in prayer these days.

Our Trinitarian God is present to me in varied ways and at various seasons of my life. These autumn days of retreat, it was Jesus, my brother, friend, savior, teacher, and healer who was my companion.

Fully human … he gets it. No explanation necessary.

Fully divine … he holds it all in his abundant love.

The suffering and struggle. The joy and peace. In love. Always love. With him and through him and for him, in the mysterious relationship of the Trinity, with the Creator and Spirit and you and me and everything … in love.

And so I pray:

Jesus, teacher, savior, companion and friend, open my heart to your abundant love and my own potential to be love, joy and peace, through your loving presence which will accomplish more than I can ask or imagine. You hold it all. In everything, I thank you. Now, tomorrow, always. Amen

Re-membering our history

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My latest contribution to the conversation was posted today on Global Sisters Report where I reflect on my childhood connection to land where children, men, and women were enslaved by the Catholic Church – on grounds where I prayed during my confirmation retreat as a 13 year old.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1285) quotes from Pope Paul VI’s 1964 Lumen Gentium (11) when speaking of the power and promise of the sacrament of confirmation. Shortly after that retreat, my classmates and I received the sacrament through which we were meant to be “more perfectly bound to the Church.” Which church, I now found myself wondering? The church that enslaved generations of human beings for profit? The church that hid or ignored this history for convenience? Or the church that re-members — finds and claims those who have been lost — and seeks reconciliation and restorative justice?

It is important to re-member those who were lost in the telling of our history, to bring them into the whole fabric of our story, the good and the bad. We are better for the bringing together of all the members of our human family into our memories. The first step is telling the truth, no matter how hard it is to face. 

Visit Global Sisters Report to read the entire column – “Re-membering History is painful, but necessary”

The Gift of God’s Love

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On the morning of my 51st birthday last week, I awoke with a lovely ear worm – “I love you Lord, for you have delivered me.” These are the opening words of Psalm 116 (I Love You Lord) by Mission House. I had discovered a new acoustic version of the song the night before, and to my joy and delight it was still in my heart and head when I awoke that day filled with gratitude for the gift of life and God’s love.

Daily life, with its periodic ups and downs, stumbles and misteps, chaos and noise sometimes makes it harder for me to remember the awesome mystery that God loves me and you and everyone else no matter what. I find it helpful from time to time to take some time away to spot the unmistakable gift of God’s love in nature.

Just the week before I’d gone on an afternoon walk in a local park in Bayonne, New Jersey where I observed two turtles out for a swim on a very hot day. For my birthday present I gifted myself with some quiet time with God in Maryland, in St. Mary’s City and on the Eastern Shore. On my walks and meanderings a cardinal allowed me to take its portrait, some trees gave me shade, and a great blue heron stood still in witness of the wonder of it all. If you don’t believe me, you can watch the video prayer I made set to the beautiful song by Jess Ray and Taylor Leonhardt of Mission House, in which all these friends make a guest appearance.

I love You, Lord
For You have delivered me
I love You, Lord
For You have delivered
My soul from death
My feet from stumbling
I will walk in the land of the living
My soul from death
My feet from stumbling
I will walk in the land of the living

I will bless You, Lord for You heard my cry
I reached out my hand and You saved my life
I will bless You, Lord for You heard my plea
And the God of Heaven turned His ear to me

I will bless You, Lord for unending love
For Your grace and mercy raining down from above
And I will bless You, Lord to the very end
I will call on You as long as I may live

Amen

The concern of I AM

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In today’s reading from the Book of Exodus (3: 13-20) God is revealed to Moses as I AM. Years ago my spiritual director helped me to appreciate this in a particular way. God does not reveal God’s self as I was or I will be but rather I AM. Here and now in this present moment. In every present moment.

This morning as I prayed with this passage, my attention was caught by what Moses is told to tell the people.

“Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and tell them: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated in Egypt; so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

God is concerned about us, in our present, always. We are God’s concern.

Sit with that a minute.

As I sat with that realization this morning I was reminded of a video prayer I made a few years ago while on retreat, set to I Am by singer songwriter Jill Phillips.

I am constant, I am near
I am peace that shatters all your secret fears
I am holy, I am wise
I’m the only one who knows your hearts desires
Your hearts desires

Amen.

What would it be like if we knew this truth in the depths of our hearts … and acted accordingly? Sharing the concern of the Great I AM for ourselves, each other, and our wounded world?