Aligning with Grace

Like many of you, I began this new month, new year, and new decade, full of expectations. But so far, this year of 2020, is all the more significant because I had cataract surgery.

What I came to realize is, that even though my sight seemed better the day after the first surgery, there have been many fluctuations, and that perhaps the idea of seeing 20/20 was more symbolic of seeing in a different way. Perhaps it was about seeing more deeply. 

Not on the outside.

But on the inside.

Since reading is very difficult for me at the moment, I have had to make some adjustments in my daily schedule, such as in making time to listen to things more. Luckily, I have a vast arsenal of podcasts, recorded lectures, and so forth to keep me entertained. It also means I need to sit, or recline, and close my eyes and rest more often. It's all good.

I never realized how sight dependent I am. Or how much reading I actually do on a daily basis. But here is the thing.

For nearly a year, I have been praying e…

Advent: Emmanuel - God is With Us (A Repost)
This is a time of year when there are songs we only listen to once...
I like to pull out old Advent and Christmas classics and new ones as well, and allow their rich melodies to fill all the corners of my heart and soul...
A friend recently asked me what kind of music I had on my ipod. I proceeded to describe the wide variety of genres and playlists I had so carefully organized - spanning from folk rock, to classical, to jazz, and to mantras and liturgical music. My friend stopped right there - totally surprised - though in the seventies - when we were in our late teens and early twenties, she and I earned our spending money by playing liturgical music in several parishes...
I love classic Advent songs of awaiting like "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and my favorite rendition is by Mannheim Steamroller. I wait all year to hear this song and enter into the deep longing and stillness it calls me to.
I also love an original piece by Michael…

Advent - a Time for Giving and Receiving Joy
Joy is one of the greatest gifts that we can have and we can give - not only at this time of year that naturally invites it and elicits it - but in every other season as well!
"Joy is prayer -  Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you catch souls. She gives most who gives with joy." - Mother Teresa

"Never miss a joy in this world of trouble... that's my theory! Happiness, like mercy, is twice blessed: it blesses those most intimately associated with it and it blesses all those who see it, hear it, touch it or breathe the same atmosphere." - Kate Douglas Wiggin

Feel joy, and spread joy. And remember, that ancient Egyptians could only cross over to the next life if they could affirm that in that lifetime, they had indeed found and received joy.... (A Repost)

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Advent - A Season for Peace (A Repost)
I did not set out to write a series of Advent reflections. I write only when I am inspired to do so - and when I get a clear message that somehow something in my heart must be conveyed...
And while I know that not everyone that reads this blog comes from the same spiritual or philosophical background - or even the same interests or convictions - I try to convey messages and values that are both timeless and universal, and accessible to all. And so today, I write of peace, because in the last few days, so many messages received have reminded me of its importance...
As I mentioned a few days ago, I have been reading the daily reflections on a a site called "Following the Star," and this weeks entries focus on peace.
Forty-two years ago today, Thomas Merton, perhaps the most prolific spiritual writer of all time - and most certainly of the 20th century - died accidentally, while attending a monastic conference in Thailand. Merton was a Trappis…

Advent - A Time for Miracles (A Repost)
I arise in the darkness and am drawn to meditation after a deep, and nourishing sleep...
I sit in the stillness, the gentle rain, and the quiet - and give thanks for so many things...
I marvel at the beauty of the last few days - sweet time spent with soul friends - and with a community of kindred souls...
I am grateful for so many messages given and received...
I revel in the opportunities to share with like-minded souls the blessings we have received and the incredible work God is doing in our lives...
I sit and I pray - and ask to be shown the way through some situations I must navigate - buoyed by the dearest soul companion who shared her own story and encouraged me to ask every day, to be shown the way - and be willing to discover that the path was always there in front of me - waiting for my recognition...
I share with a lovely friend and student - that despite whatever may be - or not be in my life - God's love and the network of suppor…

ADVENT - A Season for Forgiveness (A Repost)
Today, I send out a few Christmas cards, and in many of them, I simply wrote:
"May the blessings of this Sacred Season inviting Stillness and Silence be yours. I am grateful for the gift of you!"

Advent, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali - all more or less intersect - and echo and invite the celebration of light - and at heart are joyous occasions.
It is also a time to set right things that aren't, and I found myself reflecting on this yesterday, as I read through the readings for the day. This weekend, I went down to the basement to retrieve and dust off my Lectionary - a remnant of the days I was a liturgist and responsible for worship services. I was moved to add the liturgical readings of the day to my morning reflections. Today, for example, is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception...
In my morning meditations, I read from the booklet "Walk With Me," that I picked up at St. Mary's Catholic Church, in London, an…