Shining Light into the Darkness
Mother Teresa (who is about to become a saint) once said, “We can do no great things. Only small things with great love.” This provides us the way to approach mercy, compassion, and peacemaking. Saint Teresa of Calcutta (as she will be canonized) was influenced by St. Thérèse of Lisieux , a nineteenth century nun …
Today on the first day of our Novena of Peace, Pope Francis invites us to “become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference!” Seeing the Sacred in all things will be the Spark that lights our way. Seeing with Merciful Eyes Changes Everything Our world is infected with religious fundamentalists who …
Prayers & Questions for Meditation & Reflection STEP 1: In preparation for your time of meditation and prayer, find a quiet place where you can sit or recline comfortably. Take a moment to center yourself. Call all of your being into this moment leaving all your cares and worries for another time. Breathe deeply. If …
Violence versus Peace: A Global Struggle It may seem that the world is becoming more unstable, more violent, less compassionate, and less forgiving. In many parts of the world, and for many people, that is true. Death and destruction—both the real and imagined as entertainment—gets an awful lot of media attention, which adds to the …
On the final day of our Novena of Peace, it is important to recognize that conscious awareness turned into compassionate action is the truest path to peace. We become instruments of peace by understanding our ability, responsibility, and power to embrace peace, become peace, and share peace. You can easily insert the word “love” in …
When I wrote last year’s reflections about the Servant’s Way, I had no idea how much they would resonate for me throughout 2014. In November of 2013, I was contemplating what I would do for my Novena for Peace and it occurred to me that the Prayer of Saint Francis was the perfect backdrop for …
Two of the many meanings for joy in Webster’s dictionary are: state of happiness, and the emotion evoked by the prospect of possessing what one desires. In our modern world, the media uses “the prospect of possessing what one desires” in countless forms of advertising and entertainment. The implied promise is that a product, idea, …
On day six of the novena, we are encouraged to bring light into the darkness. In the dead of winter in the Pacific Northwest that I call home, this is a powerful image. Our winter days are short with darkness settling around us more than light. Yet following the winter solstice, the few minutes of …
What an interesting coincidence that hope is the topic for today, the first day of the new year. Every January first, a new seed of hope germinates within us. Will we, in this coming year, create or sustain the life we dream about? Can we become all that we sense is our destiny? Hope is …
Faith is the belief in things unseen. In Opening Hearts Dr. Sauvage shares that his faith was passed on to him as a child by his mother but deepened and made his own through his observations and scientific study of the universe and the human body. In the complexity and miraculous nature of both, Lester …