Solitude

I’m still here – just enjoying some solitude. Hope everyone had a great summer (or winter, should you live south of the equator!) and is moving into autumn with joy. (Or spring!)

My friend Cassidy Hall posted this quote on Twitter the other day, which inspired me to create this image. The photo was taken last May when I was at The National Shrine of Saint Therese in Juneau, Alaska.

John O’Donohue was an Irish poet and philosopher, a former priest, and he died suddenly in early 2008. I can still remember the shock of learning of his passing. His legacy lives on in his work. I highly recommend learning more about him. Right around the time of his death this interview was released; it is a great listen and I think you will be enchanted with the conversation.

Speaking of good listens, I highly recommend listening to the work of Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson, and Carl McColman via their podcast, Encountering Silence. You will find soul stirring conversation that invites us all into deeper silence. Sure – talking about silence seems counterintuitive, but I hope you will follow the path of words that will lead you to a remarkable solitude.

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Time flies!

Gosh, it has been almost a month since I last posted. My #caminoversary began and with it daily long form Facebook posts with lots of pictures. I’ve abandoned the poor blog temporarily. *sigh* I’ve also been trying to get more exercise, and do actual real life things. Like what, you may wonder… well, I saw my favorite Beatle in concert, Paul McCartney. I went to a football game. Met a social media friend that I have always wanted to meet. (Sorry no photos!) Went hiking in PA with my two friends. Visited theh desert. Stuff like that. I’m also doing a B/W photo challenge on Facebook, that’s kind of fun. I also read some books, a lot of magazines, did some art projects.

And I’m trying not to lose my mind over:

puertoricohurricanesfiresfiresfiresthatmaninthewhitehouse
churchdividespoliticalnightmaresgaloreworldchaosandallsortsofstufflikethat.

But it is hard.

Anyway, here are some photos. Back to living, more writing to follow.

Sprouting and blooming – some thoughts on Thomas Merton

Today we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s birth.

Many years ago, when I first returned to church, I – like many others – read his landmark work, The Seven Storey Mountain.  This book moved me in many ways, including to being the catalyst to get me out of my “God’s-only-up-there” piety and into a faith where my feet were firmly planted on the ground.

There are many gifts that God has given to me through Merton and his work, but today, I am grateful that it was the beginnings of a more integrated life of faith that the book shaped in me. And trust me, that seed was planted in 1990, but has taken many years to start to sprout, and even more years to bloom.

And with feet on the ground, those seeds are still sprouting, still blooming.

Thomas Merton, pray for us!

The Rosary

October is designated as the month of the Rosary. Does this idea make you want to roll your eyes? With images of a kind of quaint piety tumbling through your imagination. Perhaps you are reminded of times when old grandmothers and other elderly women were seen in church, clutching their beads.

As for me, I am very sentimental about the Rosary, but not in a way that is pious or saccharine. It was 25 years ago, in late September/early October, that I, as a young woman, clutched a rosary in my hand and made my way back to Church. Anyway, that is a story that I told before, and I won’t retell it today.

As this month begins this year, it is impossible for me

A Distinctly Disquieting Silence

It is a different kind of quiet. Not the silence of no one home for the moment, it is not the same as that at all. This silence has a depth and texture to it, heretofore unknown in these parts. I’m all for quiet, but this version… has a distinctly disquieting aspect to it.

Let me back up for a moment. When Mark and I married in 2007, his daughter Erica, a young woman who I was already very close with, officially became my stepdaughter. She was with us very frequently, always on Friday, Sunday, and Monday nights no matter what, and every morning. When high school started, she moved in with us pretty much full time, which was a gift.

When I first met Erica in 2004, she was 8 years old and she was at once timid and fierce. The day we met she had her face firmly buried in the safety of her dad’s arm. When he couldn’t get her to talk to me, I noted that I wished that I had someone’s arm to hide in myself! That made her laugh, and from there on in, we were set.

Part of our commitment to married life was that Erica would be a part of everything – and so she was. We truly embraced our commitment to one another as a family and we have been spending time together all these years. As she got older, she would be out or away more often, but she always came back. The silence communicated more of a “see you later.” The room in disarray, clothes draped on furniture, papers scattered, books piled up, and shopping bags everywhere.

This past week the moment that we have all been waiting for came, and we dropped our beautiful girl off at college. This is a great time in her life, and in ours as well, but what an adjustment. The whirlwind that led up to the departure had us all in a high gear. Now the house is more orderly and very quiet.

Today it seems we are at a doorway or a gate, that opens to lead us all to new places. Who knows where we will go, but I do know this… for the moment, the distinctly disquieting silence shapes our days. We respond by doing our typical tasks and activities. None of this is bad, it is just different!

Today we hear the noise of no noise – a new sound that rings throughout the house and our hearts.

Your wild and precious life

For reasons that I can’t entirely explain, I dislike the term bucket list. Why? I’ve already said I can’t entirely explain! Perhaps I just dislike the term “kicking the bucket” that is foundational for said term. Death is not something I am averse to, although I am in no rush to get there!

OK, I just googled “kick the bucket” to check out images, now I can tell you that I now loathe the term bucket list. May it never be mentioned here again.

Let’s go with references to