Monthly Archives: June 2020
Reflections in Solitude: Week 11 – 7 June 2020
This week’s reflections in solitude come from one of the sisters at the Benedictine Abbey in Jamberoo NSW. In keeping with the theme of creation, Sr Magdalen offers a beautiful reflection on the falling of a fig tree near the retreat cottages during a recent storm.
I found Magdalen’s words challenging, reassuring, and illuminating. Though they were written for Ascension Day, I feel they fit especially well with this week’s Genesis reading and I commend this video to you. You are encouraged to watch it where indicated in the worship guide or whenever you wish:
Peace to you all,
Christine
Home Worship 7 June 2020
Dear Friends,
The nights have turned long and cold this week as we move toward winter solstice – the longest night of the year. I’ve noticed a weariness and fatigue falling on me earlier as the sun sets even before our evening meal. I am so grateful I have a home for shelter and a warm bed!
This week’s reading is the litany of creation from Genesis. I’ve provided photographs for the different stanzas of the litany for imago divina. Imago divina, like its better known counterpart practice lectio divina, is a sacred listening but, instead of words, we listen deeply to an image. The chosen photographs attempt to be more than illustrations for the words or colour and shape on what would otherwise be a black and white page. As with lectio divina, we are invited to sit prayerfully with what is before us, asking God to speak to us through what is there.
So, after reading the passage slowly, you might spend time with all the images or choose one to focus on for your listening. Alternatively (or also), you might want to extend your sacred listening with a contemplative walk in nature with the words “It is good” from Genesis resounding within you.
This week’s Reflections in Solitude come from one of the sisters at the Benedictine Abbey in Jamberoo NSW. In keeping with the theme of creation, Sr Magdalen offers a beautiful reflection on the falling of a fig tree near the retreat cottages during a recent storm.
I found Magdalen’s words challenging, reassuring, and illuminating. Though they were written for Ascension Day, I feel they fit especially well with this week’s Genesis reading and I commend this video to you. You are encouraged to watch it where indicated in the worship guide or whenever you wish:
The Home Worship Guide for this Sunday is available here.
Peace to you all,
Christine
Home Worship Guide: Trinity Sunday 7 June 2020
Mid-week encouragement for you
Dear Friends,
I know from experience that maintaining a worshipful/prayerful life over the long hall can be difficult, especially in isolation – like any discipline. Some of us may feel like we’re flailing in our Sabbath observance and personal prayer. Or maybe we are wading through feelings of dryness, boredom or pointlessness.
Take heart! Such experiences are natural and part of the journey towards deepening faith. In fact, spiritual teachers through the ages suggest that the closer we get to God and the real in our lives, the greater the resistance and challenge. As I’ve discovered, such seasons can provide a wealth of wisdom and insight if we are prepared to delve into them, especially with a spiritual companion.
Whether your current journey of prayer has been difficult or joyful and freeing, I thought you might appreciate a mid-week word of encouragement. So, this from John O’Donohue (Irish priest, poet and author):
Prayer has to do with breathing. The way we were taught to pray was almost exclusively cerebral. We confined our prayers to inside the shell of the cranium. It is conceivable that one can have thousands of holy thoughts and holy words about God within one’s mind and yet be totally away from God.
…To pray is to come into presence. It is about leaving the heavy emotional, cognitive and ideological baggage outside the door. When you sit down and come into the presence it is then that you are most your self. This presence is the nearest thing to us. Simply by being still and silent, by coming into the stillness of your own heart, you will find the God that is waiting there within you for your arrival home.
And to help us get out of our heads as we open ourselves to Presence, this beautiful choral piece by a young, talented pianist composer Ola Gjeilo accompanied with photographs. Best heard with headphones on and in stillness:
In peace,
Christine