We were conceived in the mind of God as the partner in a dialogue. Hans Urs von Balthasar Dialogue demands that I leave the place I dwell – the landscape of feelings and thoughts that seem important to me – in order to dwell with your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, fears, hopes. I must deny myself […]
We begin 2022 with a series of Fr Philip’s meditations based on the writings of Julian of Norwich, (1342?-1420), the most popular of the English mystics. As an anchoress she lived in a cell attached to a Norwich church and engaged in prayer and spiritual guidance. I was born a man (woman), but now my […]
Fr Philip and I have enjoyed sharing this blog with you over the past year. We will be taking a sabbatical over the month of January and will look forward to meeting you online again in February of next year, 2022. What is the greatest gift?…That you have a soul – your own, no one […]
This is the first, wildest, and wisest thingI know, that the soul exists, and that it isbuilt entirely out of attention. Mary Oliver ______________________________________ Attending to soul is about noticing and appreciating what is, as opposed to approaching reality with pre-conceived ideas or illusions. It is about openness, awareness, and the savouring of reality. […]
Nobody knows what the soul is Mary Oliver Nobody knows what the soul is. It comes and goeslike the wind over the watersometimes, for days,you don’t think of it. Mary Oliver Image: Kim En Joong, Huile 1877_01 Thomas Moore says we connect with the soul through our complaints. The symptoms of emptiness, meaninglessness, disillusionment, loss […]
Is the soul solid, like iron?Or is it tender and breakable….? Mary Oliver Living soulfully is not about striving, being driven, or searching for perfection. It calls out from us that which lies hidden within: a capacity for openness, wonder and awe. It asks us to attend to everything that is, with patience, sensitivity and […]
My soul is a strange country Randolph Stow Soul language is slippery. “My soul is a strange country” (Randolph Stow) and is impossible to define. It bears out what Erasmus said: that “every definition is a misfortune”. I am trying to keep a soul alive in times not hospitable to the soul.J.M. Coetzee No-one can […]
Breaking open the bread of our lives Breaking open the bread of our lives – carefully and gently – in the presence of the One who broke open the bread of his life for us. Look back…….. Christ has died What has died in my life? What needs to die? What can I mourn? […]
Re-membering: putting ourselves back together as the sisters and brothers we once have been. Carter Heyward ________________________________________ I thought: strange word, remember. To put the members together again, to re-configure. The past passing through one’s heart.Andre Brink ________________________________ Re-membering: putting ourselves back together as the sisters and brothers we once have been.Carter Heyward Image: The […]
Matter is the scaffolding of spirit R.S. Thomas ______________________________________ Sacramental vision is not instant photography of the world in which we live. It is something learned by patient education of our sensitivity to the engagement of God with the world.Alan Ecclestone [A sacrament] is an outward and visible sign ofan inward and spiritual grace.Book of […]