An Ignatian Contemplation (from St Ignatius Loyola) on aligning with the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane through our own pain or frustration during the Covid-19 pandemic. It involves the use of our imagination and feelings along with elements of mindfulness. It is also set in the context of the Advent season where we are invited to ‘stay awake’ to the suffering of others.
Continue reading “Breathing with compassion”Month: November 2020
Holy waiting
Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark, tells the story of a man who leaves his home to go on a journey and puts his slaves in charge while he is away. He assigns them different work including the task of the doorkeeper “to be on the watch”. They need to be vigilant because he can return home at any minute.
Can we imagine the master’s reaction if he finds his doorkeeper not on the job? Sleep, according to Kieran O’Mahony OSA, is commonly used to mean inattention, lack of alertness, as well as death. Surely not a good thing this Advent season.
Continue reading “Holy waiting”‘The Spirit of the Rose’
It is not someone who has a huge, precious diamond that is richest, but someone who is able to give a huge, precious diamond away. Something like the extremely rare purple-pink Russian diamond called ‘The Spirit of the Rose’ that was sold at auction in Switzerland for €22.5 million.
In a poem by Rumi, we are told that being human is a ‘guest house’. What a wonderful image of our being! For each day we can experience a whole range of emotions such as joy, sadness, enthusiasm and boredom. But the question is do we accept and welcome them all as guests or do we resist and distract ourselves by focusing only on the nice things?
Continue reading “‘The Spirit of the Rose’”
Gratitude In All Things 