The Celtic Monk

Dear Friends,         Every once in a while, I get stopped by an image.   Most often, I am reading or looking for something else when such an image seems quite simply to call my name.   It insists I pay attention. It says, “look here,” or “this is important.”   or “I’m what you were looking for.”           At least that’s what the image above said to me--when I saw it.   Yet I didn’t stop.   Because of course I was too busy. It’s December for heaven’s sake.   There are concerts and teas and parties and gifts to be bought and wrapped.   There’s traditional food to be made and cookies.   Don’t forget the cookies.         Yet this particular image was persistent, so as is my habit I simply hit COPY and SAVE and it ended up in my bottomless folder of images that try to speak to me.   The ones I save for someday. And some of t...

Dear friends,          For more than half of the voting public of these United States, it has been a rough week. My FB page is filled with disbelief, tears, rage, and horror expressed from across the nation— folks who are somewhere between uncomfortable or outright afraid.            I’ve read too much already.   Said too much already about this election.   I went from a sleepless Tuesday, to a tearful Wednesday, to an angry Thursday and a numb Friday.   By Saturday I felt like those drivers who slow down to see the crash…I just couldn’t stop watching, listening.   I woke up for the 5 th night in a row at 2:00 a.m. staring at the ceiling, my mind racing.   And I thought to myself, "think of something beautiful.   Picture something beautiful."            So this is sad, but for the longest time I couldn’t.   I couldn’t pul...

        So as I sit down to write, I’m a little bleary eyed from staying up to watch the final two games of the World Series where my long-suffering Cubbies finally brought it home .         But as the photos and comments continue to fill social media, it occurs to me that there are lessons in this historic win for all of us--lessons we may sense but have not put into words.  So I have a quartet of options—you likely could add a few of your own.   ·          The plan was new.   ·          The key players are young.   ·          The leaders prepared. ·          The playing field, hostile. PLAN.   If you were listening, you heard over and over again that Theo Epstein was trying something new.   Buil...

Any religion, philosophy or world-view that does not begin with an understanding of all creation existing in God and God in all creation, is part of the problem. "Let us love one another, for love is from God" Scripture tells us. Let us live so. Peace upon you and your house. thecelticmonk

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Chapel at St. John's Abbey Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing some of the poetry I wrote while away this month along with some of the photo's I took.  Hoping you will be blessed by it.    ~  KLW Reflected beauty          Clouds gliding effortlessly across mirrored sky-scrapers.        S herbet, rose and pale lavender skies Long after the sun has set on Siesta Key.        T he silhouette of your beloved on the steamy glass shower door.       Sun-drops on the wind blown ripples of my favorite pond that look like a million points of light.       All of these are reflected beauty.       To which I could add the depth in the eyes of my grand-daughter in which I can see her ancestors three generations past, including me.     ...

No matter where I live, I am a Chicagoan. It's sights and sounds (and sound-bytes) are in my head. This week I listened to Chris Fabry Live, a radio call-in program that addressed the topic of Lent: who practiced, who didn't, why some did, why others did not.  Callers lined up with their very nice sounding rationalizations for what they had already decided was true. I find most people who call in to talk shows don't do it to listen or learn, but to share their already made up minds ;-) It was an amusing use of my 'car time'. But it seems that the conversation has stuck with me.  So while putting my k-cup in my coffee machine this morning a metaphor came to mind regarding what I heard and it was simply this: "for the love of the game." For the love of the game, that's why we observe the season of Lent.  It's all about Love... and the game (sorry if it seems irreverent) is our relationship with/to God....