Sacred Space

One of my favorite ways to pray is Lectio Divina, a meditative and thoughtful reading of Sacred Scripture and other inspired texts. I have been practicing a Jesuit form of Lectio, titled Sacred Space, for almost four years now. The amount of insight into my life and my relationship with God that this prayer form has given me is truly amazing.

I have also been able to use this form of prayer when praying one-on-one with friends and in small groups.

Sacred Space was started by a group of Jesuits in Ireland. Every year (and now also during Advent and Lent) the Jesuits publish a book of daily Lectio meditations. If you are interested in this form of prayer, I strongly reccomend these books (they are titled Sacred Space 2010, etc).

For those of you interested in learning more. The Jesuits post a guided Sacred Space meditation on their website each day. The prayers are very similar to those in the books and they are provided free of charge in case you cannot afford the book. You can experience Sacred Space here.

Take a few moments to explore this spiritual practice. I hope it touches you in the same way that it has touched me.

Peace turtles!

Peter and John

I realized that there has not been an image posted to the blog in quite some time. This image has been sent to me by Rev. James Doyle, a member of the staff here at Catholic Theological Union. It was painted by Eugene Burnand (1850-1921) and it depics the Apostles Peter and John running to the tomb after recieving word of Christ's Resurrection.




There are a million different ways to follow Christ. My earlier post from the Magnificat shows Mary's response to the Gospel. Here we see on the faces of Peter and John yet another response. This blog is one of the many ways that I attempt to respond to the Gospel. If you are looking for a way to respond, begin by meditating on this image. See where the Spirit takes you.

For more scriptural images, click here.

Peace turtles!

Faithfulness

This Sunday's Gospel reading contains the story of the prodigal son. This is a familiar story that reminds each of us about God's faithfulness despite our own selfish actions. This is a faithfulness that should not be taken lightly... it also should not be taken advantage of. God's faithfulness is not an excuse to fall down, but it also isn't an excuse to stay down when we have fallen. And getting up after a fall is exactly what we strive to do as turtles!

There are other stories wrapped into the Gospel along with the prodigal son story. The Gospel begins:

"Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,
"This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
So to them he addressed this parable.
"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?"

Note the irony here. Jesus says, "What man would not leave the 99 in the desert and go after the lost one?" Well... none of them would, that would be stupid. What would prevent the other 99 from wandering off in the shepherd's absence? But Jesus isn't implying that God is somehow a bad shepherd, he is making a radical statement about the depth of God's faithfulness to each of his loved ones. A radical statement that each of us should take to heart during services this weekend.

This is a big weekend for America. We commemorate the anniversary of September 11th. A despicable act of violence that has led to equally despicable wars, suffering and acts of intolerance and hate (one Church is planning to commemorate the event by burning Qur'ans). All of these events serve as a constant reminder that we so often stray from Jesus' teaching to Love. Let us reflect on, and thank God for, God's faithfulness!

Our God loves turtles! Peace!