Fr Philip Carter offers a ministry of spirituality, with a series of meditations on some questions that we may ponder as we consider our life in God.
You will find here his reflections and questions for meditation, images, music and poetry to enrich your life’s journey.
Dispositions [eg: being open, truthful, aware] are the means to acquiring reality.
Friedrich von Hugel
Is the way I am – in my life, my prayer, my relationships – helping me towards a greater integration or disintegration?
Prayer is a matter of intention, disposing yourself towards receiving something.
Rowan Williams
What matters is not what happens but how one responds to what happens.
St. John of the Cross
Long before we do anything explicitly religious at all, we have to do something about the fire that burns within us. What we do with that fire, how we channel it, is our spirituality. And how we channel it, the disciplines and habits we choose to live by, will either lead to a greater integration or disintegration within our bodies, minds, and souls.
Ronald Rolheiser
Where am I?
I try (without judgement) to be in touch with the things I cannot change:
my natural family, genetic makeup,
place and culture of birth, upbringing,
education, circumstances,
giftedness, shortcomings,
health, disabilities.
How am I at present?
How am I living with the mystery, with fire?
What is the attitude (reflected in my choices) I bring to life?
Can I get in touch with times in my life when I have been tempted simply to change the WHERE in my life
(to change my circumstances in other words)
instead of changing my attitude?
Have I sometimes simply moved or shifted the circumstances of my life,
hoping that that will make a difference
I take time to place myself before God in reverence, begging that everything in my day be more and more directed to God’s service and praise.
Ignatius of Loyola
Discernment is fundamentally about paying attention and becoming more aware of the movement and action of the Spirit of God. It is not problem solving or having an opinion. It is not about getting it right so much as being “in tune” with the dance of God. In other words, living freely. It is not even about “discovering “ some unknown part of God’s plan. It is spirituality in the concrete, worked out in the actuality of everyday life. It is not theoretical knowledge: “I learn by going where I have to go” (Theodore Roethke). It is “wisdom won at the risk of error”.
The images in this post are of land art by Andy Goldsworthy, renowned British artist and sculptor who works with environmental materials.
For a printable PDF of the text of this meditation please click on the link below.
