Nov. 19 Week reflections

I apparently missed these earlier

Sunday Nov.19-Ps.123 emphasizes being ridiculed and looked upon with contempt. Have you had that experience? How have you coped with it? How does religious faith help cope with it?

Monday-"We can call upon our ancestors, the communion of Saints, to support us in our dark journeys. To remember that grief is ancient and that many before us have gleaned wisdom about how to navigate it I find incredibly comforting at times. Another resource we have available to us are our loved ones beyond the veil. Consider calling on their support the next time you feel a wave of grief rising. Ask them to help you hold it with you."--- Christine Valters Paintner,

Tuesday-Any place where we withdraw to meet God in prayer is a place of “secret encounter and reward.” Here we come to know God, and to know ourselves. Here we come to recognize our disordered attachments, to do battle with our most persistent temptations, and to grow in the virtues of obedience, humility and love.-Br. David Vryhof

Wednesday-John Donne-He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light, and he can bring thee summer out of winter, though thou hast no spring. Though in the ways of fortune, understanding, or conscience thou hast been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied, now God comes to thee, not as the dawning of the day, not as the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon.

Thursday-"One fruit of contemplation is that we slowly become more conscious of everything as a sacred vessel, each person and object, each moment in time is a dwelling place for the Holy Presence.”--- Christine Valters Paintner,

Friday-Vincent van Gogh-If only we try to live sincerely, it will go well with us, even though we are certain to experience real sorrow, and great disappointments, and will also probably commit great faults and do wrong things. But it certainly is true that it is better to be high-spirited – even though one makes more mistakes – than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength; and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much; and what is done in love, is well done.

Saturday-Geese appear high over us,pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,

as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here.   *Wendell Berry,