Archive for Friday Blog

Spiritual Companionship at the Time of Death

The ministry of spiritual companionship can be so rewarding and evokes a sense of the reciprocity inherent in giving. Graduating from Shalem’s Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program gave me the needed credentials to serve as a hospice chaplain with Louisiana Hospice & Palliative Care in Opelousas, LA. (Chaplain credentialing requirements vary among agencies.) I […]

January 01, 2022 by Andrea Vidrine
Categories: Beloved Community, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Living, Continuous Prayer, Gratitude, Grief, Listening, Loss, Love, Self Compassion, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual direction, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: ani vidrine, awareness, body prayer, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, grief, grounding, healing, hope, hospice, listening, love, peace, prayer, presence, spiritual companioning, Spiritual Guidance Program, spiritual practice, spirituality, suffering, and trust. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

We are all meant to be Mothers of God

Luke 1: 39-45 from The Message Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly, You’re […]

December 12, 2021 by Anita Davidson 1 Comment
Categories: Advent, Beloved Community, Christmas, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Discernment, Gratitude, Love, Parenthood, Prayer, Self Compassion, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: Advent, awareness, children, Christmas, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, Elizabeth, God, grounding, healing, hope, Inspiration, Jesus, joy, love, Mary, Meister Eckart, peace, prayer, presence, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, and trust. Formats: Friday Blog.

Blind Hope

Expectancy and joy filled my heart as I arrived at Dayspring Silent Retreat Center to lead our first in-person open retreat since the pandemic closed our doors.  The theme was “seeding hope in transition,” a theme that fired my prayer for a long time preceding this October weekend. What I quickly realized at the start was […]

October 10, 2021 by Ann Dean 1 Comment
Categories: Beloved Community, Body Prayer, Breath, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Prayer Group, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Coronavirus, Gratitude, Grief, Leading Contemplative Prayer Groups and Retreats, Listening, Loss, Love, Nature and spirituality, Non-duality, Pandemic, Prayer, Retreat time, Self Compassion, Solitude, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, and spiritual growth. Tags: Ann Dean, autumn, awareness, Barb Kelly, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, Covid-19, Dayspring, discernment, earth, God, grief, grounding, healing, hope, In person retreat, Inspiration, Jesus, joy, leadership, listening, love, Meditation, nature, pandemic, peace, prayer, presence, Psalm 3, retreat, silence, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, Stephen Mitchell, suffering, transition, and trust. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

The Isle of Iona: A Thin Place

“I’ve heard it called a ‘thin place,’” he told me. “I’m not sure I believe that so I want to see for myself.” It sounded to my ears as if he’d laid down a challenge — to me or the island; I wasn’t sure which. This apparent skepticism from someone I respect gave me pause. […]

October 10, 2021 by Leah Rampy 2 Comments
Categories: Beloved Community, Body Prayer, Breath, Celtic spirituality, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Gratitude, Iona, Listening, Love, Nature and spirituality, Non-duality, Pilgrimage, Prayer, Retreat time, Self Compassion, Solitude, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: benedictine, body prayer, Carole Crumley, celtic christianity, Celtic Spirituality, Celtic wisdom, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, earth, God, grounding, healing, hope, Inspiration, Iona, Iona Abbey, Iona Pilgrimage, joy, leadership, Leah Rampy, listening, love, nature, peace, pilgrimage, prayer, presence, religion, retreat, silence, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, St. Columba, St. Martin's Cross, thin place, trust, and walking. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

Keep Walking: An Invitation to Pilgrimage with Shalem on the Camino de Santiago

Walking has long been a pillar of my spiritual life. As a child, I remember walking with my grandmother around her neighborhood and mine, noticing the rabbits hopping about and the birds whizzing from feeder to feeder. I recall many walks with my mother at the cemetery, laying flowers on her father’s grave and listening […]

October 10, 2021 by Jackson Droney 2 Comments
Categories: Beloved Community, Body Prayer, Breath, Camino, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Discernment, Gratitude, Listening, Nature and spirituality, Non-duality, Pilgrimage, Prayer, Retreat time, Self Compassion, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, spirituality in community, and Walking meditation. Tags: awareness, body prayer, Brenda Bertrand, camino, Camino de Santiago, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, discernment, earth, God, grounding, healing, hope, Inspiration, Jackson Droney, joy, love, Meditation, nature, peace, pilgrimage, pilgrims, Portuguese Way, prayer, presence, retreat, Santiago de Compostela, silence, Spain, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, St. James, suffering, trust, walking, and walking meditation. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

Reflections on “Watering the Garden”

About nine years ago I became a Deacon at church. Not long after agreeing to lead a small prayer group, I suddenly found myself in situations where I needed to pray out loud and lead others in prayer. Knowing how to pray properly is something I have struggled with for a good portion of my […]

September 09, 2021 by Diane DeSieno 3 Comments
Categories: Beloved Community, Body Prayer, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Prayer Group, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Heart Longings, Listening, Love, Nature and spirituality, Non-duality, Personal Spiritual Deepening, Prayer, School of Prayer, Self Compassion, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: awareness, center for action and contemplation, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative prayer, contemplative tradition, Diane DeSieno, garden, garden imagery, God, grounding, healing, Heart Longings, Heart Longings: An Introduction to the Contemplative Path, How to pray, Inspiration, Interior Castle, listening, love, nature, peace, prayer, presence, silence, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, teresa of avila, and watering the garden. Formats: Friday Blog.

The Gift of Being Here

Opening the kitchen door to gauge the morning’s suitability for an early walk, I inhaled quickly and held my breath in reverence and awe. Cool refreshing air slid over me after days of stifling heat. Huge, puffy clouds rose in the bright blue sky. Even from my city view, obstructed by buildings, wires, and trees, […]

September 09, 2021 by Mary van Balen
Categories: Beloved Community, Breath, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Contemplative Voices Award, Continuous Prayer, Discernment, Gratitude, Grief, Listening, Loss, Love, Nature and spirituality, Non-duality, Pandemic, Personal Spiritual Deepening, Prayer, Race, Self Compassion, Service, social justice, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: awareness, Byrd Baylor, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, Contemplative Voices Award, earth, God, gratitude, grief, grounding, healing, hope, inestimable gift, Inspiration, Joanna Macy, joy, listening, love, Mary van Balen, nature, peace, prayer, presence, silence, social justice, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, suffering, The Great Turning, The Great Unraveling, trust, walking, World as Lover, and World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Planetary Awakening. Formats: Friday Blog.

Five Gathered

Reflection on the Experience of a Group Spiritual Direction Workshop at Shalem Institute. I had the bountiful blessing of making four very close friends at the Group Spiritual Direction workshop on Zoom last June. It was not your typical friendship. Five individuals gathered together in faith, in silence, in prayer, and in profound empathy. The […]

August 08, 2021 by Craig Hammond 1 Comment
Categories: Beloved Community, Body Prayer, Breath, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Prayer Group, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Discernment, Gratitude, Grief, Group Spiritual Direction, Listening, Loss, Love, Nature and spirituality, Non-duality, Prayer, Self Compassion, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual direction, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: awareness, breathing, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, discernment, earth, empathy, God, grief, grounding, group spiritual direction, healing, hope, Jesus, joy, listening, love, Meditation, nature, peace, presence, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, suffering, and trust. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

Come Away

Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. Mark 6:31 For the past six weeks our home has been filled to overflowing with the presence of our daughter, her husband and our 19-month-old granddaughter. For several of those days, another of our children, just back from two years in Australia, joined […]

July 07, 2021 by Anita Davidson 2 Comments
Categories: Beloved Community, Breath, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Coronavirus, Discernment, Listening, Loss, Love, Nature and spirituality, Non-duality, Pandemic, Prayer, Retreat time, Self Compassion, Solitude, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: awareness, breathing, children, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, Covid-19, discernment, God, grief, grounding, healing, hope, Inspiration, Jesus, listening, love, Meditation, nature, pandemic, peace, prayer, presence, retreat, silence, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, suffering, and trust. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

Just as He Was

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was.  Mark 4: 35-36 This story, of course, continues with the calming of the storm, but I found myself stuck on that last […]

June 06, 2021 by Anita Davidson 1 Comment
Categories: Beloved Community, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Discernment, Listening, Love, Non-duality, Prayer, Retreat time, Self Compassion, Service, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: acceptance, awareness, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, discernment, God, grounding, healing, hope, Inspiration, Jesus, leadership, listening, love, Meditation, nonjudgement, Parables, peace, prayer, presence, retreat, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, and trust. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.