Spirituality of the desert: the gift of the desert
Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything. Abba Moses Do not be always wanting everything to turn out as you think it should, but rather as God pleases, then you will be undisturbed and thankful in your prayer. Abba Nilus Prayer leads us straight into the heart of mystery where […]
Spirituality of the desert: (costing not less than everything)
This is a difficult country, and our home. Edwin Muir Strive with all your might to bring your interior activity into accord with God, and you will overcome exterior passions Abba Arsenius When you walk through fire you shall not be burned. Isaiah 43:2 The desert is the primal scriptural symbol of the absence of […]
Spirituality of the desert: desert wisdom
Nothing can overcome us, but only humility. AmmaTheodora Hearing that a brother was to be brought before the council, he came also, carrying a leaking basket of sand. He said, “How should I judge my brother when my sins run out behind me like the sand in this basket?” Abba Moses Nothing can overcome us, […]
Spirituality of the desert
This meditation is the first in Fr Philip Carter’s series Spirituality of the desert, the series that will accompany us during Lent this year. Desert: Uninhabited, desolate; uncultivated, barren. Waterless and treeless region…. It is difficult to conceive of either Judaism or Christianity without the desert. The austerity and relentless simplicity of the desert- and […]
The way it is
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. Welcome back to Spirit Matters for 2024. we hope […]
The poetry of faith: teach us to sit still
This post from Fr Philip Carter is our last post for the year 2023. we hope you have enjoyed the journey of meditation, through words, images and music. We will be taking a time of rest in January and will see you again in February 2024. “Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us […]
The poetry of faith: a bridge of hope
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. …to totter on planks we hope will become bridges […]
The poetry of faith: mystery must be our way of life
“To discover how to be human now is the reason we follow this star”. W H Auden “Mysteries mustBe our way of life. Without them we mightStop trying to learn and hoping to succeedIn the work we half-choose and giving thelove we need.” Elizabeth Jennings Image: Marian Hall, Desert landscape, Xenotopia II We are inescapably […]
The poetry of faith: waiting beyond words
“Love’s not love unless it’s vulnerable” Dennis Potter, in an interview only days before his death from cancer said that “Religion has always been to me the wound, never the bandage”. Being vulnerable is meaning to carry our wound (vulnus). It is not, as popularly thought, overcoming weakness and vulnerability, but accepting that this place […]
The poetry of faith: the treasure is everywhere
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. “We live the given life, not the planned”. Wendell […]