Category Archives: Mystical

Being Counted

Posted on March 6, 2020 by

“I talked to a nurse practitioner about my gastric reflux,” I said to my spiritual director. “I changed my diet, don’t eat after supper and raised the head of our bed. And that’s not all I’ve been doing to care … Continue reading →

Posted in community, compassion, Ignatian Spirituality, Lent, Mindfulness, Mystical, Reflections, Spiritual Direction, Stories, Stories of an Everyday Pilgrim | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Fail Better

Posted on August 30, 2019 by

I ended my eight-day retreat with a keen desire to be more compassionate. But within days, I acted on a judgment and hurt someone. Soon afterward, I read Pema Chödrön’s fail fail again fail better. Chödrön says that when things … Continue reading →

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Compassion Leads the Way

Posted on August 23, 2019 by

This is my last post about what happened on my 8-day silent retreat in July. If you haven’t read the previous ones, I encourage you to do that before you read today’s. I stood with the Trinity looking down at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Ignatian Spirituality, Mystical, Praying with the Imagination, Reflections, Spiritual Direction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Yes

Posted on July 12, 2019 by

“I tell people you need to pray as long as it takes to get to YES, a foundational yes–yes to reality, to the moment, to God present in the grass, to God present in you and in me,” Richard Rohr … Continue reading →

Posted in Mindfulness, Mystical, Prayer, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Legend of La Loba

Posted on May 17, 2019 by

There is an old woman who lives in a hidden place that everyone knows but few have ever seen. . . . The sole work of La Loba, [the Wolf Woman], is the collecting of bones. She is known to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Mystical, Reflections, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How God Waits

Posted on March 22, 2019 by

On Monday I participated in a one-day silent prayer retreat with friends using last week’s post as our guide. I listened to Steve Bell sing Lenten Lands and a feeling of hope rose up in me. God has turned the … Continue reading →

Posted in Lent, Mystical, Prayer, Reflections, Songs, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Advent IV: Presence

Posted on December 21, 2018 by

Instead of the usual Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, I have chosen different words for each week in Advent this year. I’m feeling pretty good, then suddenly I’m not. I received an email, and in it, my friend tells me … Continue reading →

Posted in Advent, Christmas, Mystical, Reflections, Spiritual Direction, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Doorway

Posted on August 17, 2018 by

My Eight-Day Retreat: Part 5 Father Roshan picked up on the theme of finding the lost and assigned me the story of Zacchaeus for one of my prayers. I took the despised tax-collector’s place. However, in my story, everyone was … Continue reading →

Posted in Ignatian Spirituality, Mystical, Prayer, Praying with the Imagination, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

God Desires Us

Posted on July 27, 2018 by

Today I am on the last day of my eight-day retreat. So I offer you this post from 2015  which illustrates the loving God I am retreating with.  “You can’t catch the Macdonald bus here,” a man says to me at … Continue reading →

Posted in Mystical, Poetry, Popular Posts, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Adrift in an Ocean of Love

Posted on January 19, 2018 by

I’m thinking about my desire to know God’s love for me on God’s terms, not mine. James Finley said in a recent webinar Through the Dark Night, that we long for a sense of union with God that we will experience only … Continue reading →

Posted in Mystical, Poverty of Spirit, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments