Examen in Tranquility

I have been following and exploring the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola this month with the Jesuits of Britain Pathways to God. One of the practices that they encourage is to pray the “Examen” which teaches a guided meditation to daily examen your day or your week through prayer. The following phrases and…

Silent Night

After a long day of activities, I relish bedtime… It is wonderful to slide in-between clean sheets-soft blanket-and take a moment to pause over a treasured book so that I might quiet my thoughts enough to drift into sleep… And yet the house can seem ominous at times when the an unfamiliar sound breaks the…

A Study in Red

As we continue in our search for new perspectives of the cross, I wanted to share this blog I originally posted last year. Fitting for this month as I meditated on the color red. Gazing at the numerous paintings by Rogier van der Weyden some time ago, I was struck by this work in particular and how…

Feeling Unclean

We have all felt like we didn’t fit in with a certain crowd of people. They drive nicer cars or they like to talk about things that are out of our life experience. Real or imagined we tend to pull away from people like this because we fear we are just not good enough… But what…

Pictures of Faith

From the earliest days of our Christian heritage, people have been expressing their faith through imagery. These pictures became tools of their devotion so they might focus their thoughts on a humanistic vision of Jesus. This image from the 2nd century, illustrates beautifully early Christian’s love and devotion to Mary. Through her, they connected more deeply to Christ’s humanity and in the process found little pieces of themselves…

Te Deum (Praise the Lord)

It is the end of another semester for me which means my life is a whirlwind of concerts and recitals. Good weather has finally arrived and my heart is full of praises today as I rest in the knowledge of God’s greatness and love. Please join me as we use this photograph paired with a…

Two Socks

Because I am involved in several different projects that fill me up with great delight, I wanted to simply share with you two things that came colliding into my awareness this week. First I revisited one of my favorite movies Dances with Wolves.  I was once again transported into another time with the beautiful score…

Jesus and How We Imagine Him

Where do you find Jesus? By that I mean, how do you picture or imagine him in your mind’s eye? Have you ever thought about your process? or does this seem idolatrous to create an “image” of Jesus even in the privacy of your mind? The stories we find in the Bible are filled with…

Wind: A Place of Resistance

Our daily news reports can be very discouraging at times.  Well, if we are really honest, we would likely admit that most of the time the true nature of things can cause us to despair. As we observe todays events from the sidelines, we each may decide to either bury our heads in the sand or become very bitter; we might lose…

Water: Flowing into the Impossible

What can we do to restore our faith in our God of wonders….our God who has the power to control the elements and orchestrate the impossible? Looking more to nature now as our summer gently slides into its final month, I have decided to turn my attention to day trips that occur within an easy drive of Frederick….