From Brother Paul Quenon of the Abbey of Gethsemane: Contemplation is simply maybe a big fat word for gratitude. To sense the presence of God in life and around me and in other people gives me a very deep gratitude. Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, May 6, 2011 If contemplation is gratitude, it may be that [...]
Category Archive for 'Grace'
This has been a wonderful season for flowers. The Easter lilies in our yard, though, bloom weeks after Easter Day has come and gone. As they were growing this year, I noticed that one especially tall plant was leaning precariously toward the sidewalk. I knew I would have to stake it, if it were not [...]
Stumbling into the Reign of God
Posted in Acceptance, Christmas, Grace on Dec 23rd, 2008
The poet U. A. Fanthorpe pictures the shepherds and the Magi – those familiar visitors to the infant Jesus – walking “haphazard by starlight straight/Into the kingdom of heaven”: This was the moment when Before Turned into After, and the future’s Uninvented timekeepers presented arms. This was the moment when nothing Happened. Only dull peace [...]
Gifts come in all shapes. A few days ago the back doorbell rang. I went to answer it, but no one was there. Then as I stood there it rang again — with no one pushing it. That in itself was no mystery. Sometimes a particularly vigorous finger on the button will make the bell [...]
Rocking and Bobbing
Posted in Grace on Feb 18th, 2005
As you approach New Orleans on Interstate 10, as I did a couple of weeks ago, you begin to notice that the land has changed. The ground has become unstable, and with it the surface of the highway, creating a pavement that rises and dips. No matter how hard the highway engineers work to make [...]