The Celtic Monk

"When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the planet, and love will steer the stars." If you know the next line, you're officially old. I found those lyrics running around in my head this evening. I probably haven't heard the song for 30 years--could it be 40 years? I can picture the house I was living in, the rooms in the house where I listened to it, the friends who listened, sang and danced along with me. Music carves itself not only into our mind but also into our emotional memory. When The Age of Aquarius was in its zenith, I was young, daring, happy, hopeful and quite naive. What was that time like for you? It wasn't the opening line noted above that came to me first, however. The line that broke through into my consciousness as I was doing other things, was "harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding..." It sounds more necessary to me today than it did then. In fact, it sounds ...

What a wondrous gift, on that still night, So long ago and far out of sight Did come to a couple, so young and so poor a little boy child -- who’d be called the Savior. They made their way to the shelter provided Set themselves up, in the stable that sided The food and the stalls where animals rest As yet unknowing, their boy child was blest. Was it the star, that awoke Mary’s heart To the holy night, of which she’s a part Of the unfolding story of God’s infinite love; Did she recognize His coo-ing as a voice from above? Or maybe it was Joseph, when the first shepherds came Who knew that from thence, everything would change; For the baby still whaling his loud borning cry; Was the baby Who willingly came forth to die. A legion of angels surrounded that stable; Guarded this family as best they were able. Though not even angels could understand What was to unfold as God, became man. Did the earth tremble? Was there a quake? When God came that night, born for our sake? In the spirits of...

It's what she told me as we met for the first time: "I'm the new face of homelessness... I have 12 silk blouses, 9 strands of pearls and I'm homeless." She came to the church after being told she was number 12 on the list for a room at the shelter. There'd been a sign put up on the door of the house she was renting... it said: FORECLOSED. She had 7 days to evacuate with all her belongings. But she'd paid her rent. She'd paid first, last and a security deposit. The owner was long gone. She was a single mom with a daughter. She didn't have savings, they were just getting by. She needed someplace to stay for a a few weeks so she could re-save what she needed to get her and her daughter into another rental. Though not at the church that day, I received the call. And here's a good place to say that I don't believe in co-incidences only God-incidences. A single mom and the call comes to me. I was a single mom once, for 10 long years. Just ge...

The quality of waiting crossed my mind this week as I sat in the dentist chair with both of his hands and an instrument or two from the hygentist shoved in my mouth. I was anxiously waiting for them to be finished with their work so I could get up from that most uncomfortable chair in which they lower my head below my heart... and that has no support for my lower back. I was done waiting before they were ready to deem me so. I also waited recently for a plane to land so that folks could file off, and I could be among the new board-ers. I was at O'Hare International with the temperature 35 degrees farenheit and dropping. There was a steady rain pelting the windows just trying to turn the rain into sleet and snow -- making the tarmack crew seek plastic slickers and shelter. Again, I was done waiting before Spirit Airlines was ready to deem me so. In contrast I've recently waited for a movie begin, waited in the drive-through lane at Steak n Shake for my chocolate shake, waited t...

Let me begin by saying that I am truly thankful for each of you who faithfully read what I can't help but writing and how you've encouraged me along the way with your comments. You are a blessing in my life and this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful to you and for you. And while I can be cynical about how impersonal "social networking" and other technologies are; last night I was thankful for Skype. Lauren (alomst 5 years old) who knows the story of "Beauty and the Beast" [but had never seen the Disney movie] and I could watch together while 1100 miles apart. It was delightful watching her face as she saw the animated images for the first time. So thankful. This past year I've been especially thankful for the opportunity to walk with folks through the ministry of spiritual direction and how God always shows up. Such a ministry was only a dream for years. Then, in what Scripture would call 'the fullness of time' - at a kairos moment - the pieces...

It's a sign of the times. I mean the times since the financial market went south and everyone became afraid. It's a sign of the times. I mean the last few years when a lot of otherwise sane people became paranoid of a lot of things that before this time they didn't have the time to be afraid of. It's a sign of the times. When otherwise good and decent people act less than goodly and decently believing they are somehow entitled or even 'called' to act that way. It's worth the effort to stop every once in a while to examine who we are and the choices we make. Not so much to look at what we are doing but why; and to test the 'why' with reality and not merely wild imaginings. For instance, is what we're doing and what we're choosing, based on facts, on reality, on truth so well worn that it's become durable yet soft like tumbled leather... or is what we're choosing and what we're doing based on fear, on 'what if's' ...

The Peace River Spirituality Center's book group studied Joan Chittister's Called to Question this year. It's a book for grown-ups. It deals with a life of losses both run-of-the-mill and cataclysmic. Mostly however,its a diary of disappointments that touch each of our lives at the hands of parents, chilldren, friends, institutions, beliefs, The Church, God. We can add our own personal pain to to the list. But it's not Joan's ability to be in touch with disappointment that makes it a good study. It's not even how she faced into or made her way through the circumstances of her life. What makes it worth reading is the clarity with which she sees all of life (hers and ours). In her stories I learned that a worthy goal for this season of my life ought to be an honest assessing of who I am, where I am and where I am going. Time is too short for regrets or what if's that keep us in the past. I found it stunning when in one of the final chapters Chittister ...