Reflections for Week of Jan. 21

Sunday-Ps.62:5-12 is an invitation to meditation, to silence. Trust in god (v.8) is so complete that one can pour out the heart before god. What would those look like for you?

Monday-As we move toward a new year, notice if your mind is drawn toward making resolutions. Resolutions are usually based in a sense of lack about ourselves, something we need to “fix” so I try to be aware of how I talk to myself. And if there was ever a time of year for advertising to make us question the beauty of our bodies, now would be it. All the promises of a “new you” are seductive. But what if you gave yourself a gift instead? What if you made a commitment to fall in love with your body instead, just as it is? Even in the midst of illness? Even in the midst of its limitations? What if you approached it through trust rather than dissatisfaction? Offered tenderness rather than harsh criticism?Abbey of the Arts

Tuesday-"Conversion is essentially an acknowledgement that we are on a lifelong journey of awakening. We never arrive in this lifetime, but always return and awaken to our call again and again."--- Christine Valters Paintner,

Wednesday-Mother Teresa-We are all capable of good and evil. We are not born bad; everybody has something good inside. Some hide it, some neglect it, but it is there. God created us to love and to be loved, so it is our test from God to choose one path or the other.

Thursday-"The spiritual journey is not about growing more certain about the world, but embracing more and more the mystery at the heart of everything. In a world where so many people are so very certain about the nature of things, especially in religious circles about who God includes and excludes, I believe unknowing calls us to a radical humility."--- Christine Valters Paintner,

Friday-Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” ― Parker J. Palmer

Saturday- In Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love, Lonni Collins Pratt and Fr. Daniel Homan, OSB, say that:Benedictine spirituality insists that if you want to be whole, you have to let the ‘other’ in…  [Furthermore, Benedictine] hospitality requires not grand gestures but opened hearts.  When I let a ‘stranger’ into my heart, I let a new possibility approach me.”