Remember how I’m reading through Esther de Waal’s Living With Contradiction? I’ll admit I’m slow-going on it, but really fascinated. Last night I read a chapter titled “Living with Myself.” Sounds like something I need to learn from, huh? Here’s what I found most fascinating. De Waal spends a lot of time focusing on the tension and the interrelationship of three major Benedictine vows that the novice lays on the altar in his or her moment of entering the monastic community. … [Read more...]
Meditation
February 4, 2011 By 1 Comment
"How Meditation May Change the Brain," an article published in the New York Times last Friday has remained one of their most emailed articles throughout this week of insane news. Despite the craziness of winter weather across the country and the intensity of the Egyptian riots, people have been drawn to an article about how meditation may actually make our brains look different. Here’s the gist of Sindya N. Bhanoo's article: “…those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks … [Read more...]
Dawn, Day, Dusk, Dark
January 26, 2011 By 3 Comments
Yesterday I mentioned Scot Sherman’s sermon from this past Sunday. One of the stories he told in that sermon was about a man he had encountered who, in becoming serious about his faith, discovered Thomas Merton’s idea that prayer and contemplation should be something we practice at “dawn, day, dusk and dark.” I’ve had that on my mind this week as I’ve thought about what it means to be at peace with the ways I can’t pray at this point in my life. I met with my spiritual director … [Read more...]
Weakness and Acceptance
January 21, 2011 By 10 Comments
There’s a point in pregnancy when you suddenly think: “Something’s wrong with me!” Of course, the something wrong is actually the reality that a five pound human has invaded your entire body and you can’t get away from him. He shows up in how you walk (here comes Ms. Puddleduck), in how you react to the world around you (emotional crazy-lady!), in how you appear (I promise my nose is not this big in regular life), and in your inability to keep from shouting “ouch!” at the check out … [Read more...]
Wholeness in Contradiction: A New Year’s Resolution
January 10, 2011 By 6 Comments
“We are all seeking wholeness,” the amazing Esther de Waal writes in Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality, a book I’ve owned for 6 months and am finally picking up to read. She says that in The Rule of St. Benedict, we can find a handbook of healing: “St. Dunstan’s first biographer, almost a thousand years ago, described the saint as a man, ‘following the health-giving Rule of St. Benedict” (12). I’m finding myself impressed by her thought that … [Read more...]
Why I wish I lived in a commune.
January 6, 2011 By 11 Comments
I just rode home in the back seat of a Volkswagen with two seventeen year old girls manning the front seats, singing at the top of their lungs to Taylor Swift. There are few things I love more in the world that singing to cheesy pop songs in the car with teenage girls. Ahhhhh. Being home in Philadelphia is good. I'm only here for a couple more days and will finally be back to real life and an actual schedule (which I'm craving!) and a home that I have the pleasure of caring for. (As much as … [Read more...]
Good Words
December 1, 2010 By 6 Comments
A couple of weeks ago, Matt Nault, one of the pastors at my church, spoke about my favorite blessing in scripture. It’s found in the book of Numbers (Chapter 6), when Aaron is instructed to sing these words over the Israelites every time they close their worship service. It’s called a Benediction. It means “Good Words.” That’s the same thing my man, St. Benedict’s name means. And I’ll admit, that’s one of the reasons I’m most drawn to Benedict. I love the idea of being named, … [Read more...]
The Waiting
November 29, 2010 By 5 Comments
Yesterday was the first day of Advent. The word comes from the Latin, “Adventus,” which means, “arrival, approach, coming.” Usually, we think of this entire season leading up to the big day of Christmas as “Christmastime,” but the church throughout history has not celebrated Christ’s arrival until the actual day. During the days of Advent, the days leading up to the 25th, we’re challenged to practice a solemn period of contemplation, almost a miniature Lent. It’s a time of … [Read more...]
St. Benedict and the Complainy Pregnant Lady.
October 8, 2010 By 2 Comments
This has not been an easy week for rest. Last weekend when we moved, all my crazies kicked and I unpacked like a maniac for three days straight. (My body forgot I was pregnant. Was I hungry? Sleepy? Noooooo. I just needed the towels folded and on the correct shelf.) I went from the realization that I was not, in fact, a superhero whose powers included not needing food or sleep, into a week of beginning my part time job with Young Life, babysitting another two year old for a couple of days, and … [Read more...]
Ah, Stability.
September 1, 2010 By 5 Comments
“All stability challenges us to engage the people where we are. We do not listen to monastic wisdom but rather exploit it if we believe that we can enjoy the life with God that it points to without engaging this bedrock reality: life with the God we know in Jesus Christ is lived in community with other people. We can only grow into the fullness of what we are made to be in Christ by opening ourselves to the particular brothers and sisters who mediate Christ’s presence to us.” -Jonathan … [Read more...]
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