Stranded on the Mainland: Inner Pilgrimage and Living Alone as a Spiritual Path:

"We can slip into the Beautiful with the same ease as we slip into the seamless embrace of water; something ancient within us already trusts that this embrace will hold us." (John O'Donohue). Yesterday, as the Solemnity of the Annunciation was drawing to a close, I finally found what I was looking for to mark the first anniversary of starting my new Blog . It is an interview with one of my very favourite Irish writers and speakers, John O'Donohue.  The interview was about his book, Beauty the Invisible Embrace. Is my blog holding me? A Caution if you listen:  Both the interviewer and O'Donohue speak very quickly-- they leap between nuggets. I recommend pausing the interview after each answer. I did, and found myself in the middle of an impromtu lenten retreat led by the beautiful Irish mystic, John O'Donohue+. Happy 4th Sunday of Lent! https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=mkUrv4jWipY Amen "And I will wake, in my beautiful dream, with your arms and the...

The first time I saw the building I call home now, it looked so big, foreboding, stark, and grey.  Like an out-of-place-mountain at a major intersection in the suburbs of Scarborough.  But I was drawn to it too.  For reasons unknown it reminded me of a Carmelite monastery. It would become my "Carmel." And I am grateful for that. Recently, I was blessed to be deeply listened to while I try to explain how my soul needs beauty. I explain how I'm not living in a physically beautiful neighbourhood or historically beautiful and charming apartment building. I say I still long for shaded, quiet, tree-lined streets, and beaches, and an ocean. But still, where I am feels right. Why? An unexpected answer is given to me, "God is drawing you to himself, into His own beauty." Later, I search my bookcases for Ruth Burrows' memoir, "Before the Living God".  I have a feeling this now very old Carmelite nun might have written something that will shed light on the pa...

"By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night."   (Exodus 13:21).  Toronto and the whole GTA have been under a cloud of thick fog for more than 24 hours now. Brain fog? Are we not all in a sort of Exodus now?  An Exodus from Covid-19?  The future is unknown.  Democracies are being threatened.  There is the threat of climate change, even the threat of WWIII.  This is scary stuff.  I imagine we are all a little disregulated and triggered these days.  Maybe this extended time of fog is mirroring that? But now, on St. Patrick's Day morning, the sky is brightening.   Surprise!  Surprise! Perfect timing! "For everything there is a time." (Ecclesiates).  A time for fog, and a time for the sun to break through.  Speaking of clouds and fog, I want to end by suggesting a podcast from the Centre...

Lenten Connections: “For it is not knowing much, but realising and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul." ― Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises . Today is the 2nd Sunday of Lent.  Yesterday, I turned on Salt & Light TV to find Holy Mass being beamed straight into my little apartment in Scarborough, all the way from Rome. This always amazes me. And is something I was so grateful to Pope Francis for when Covid-19 hit.  I looked so forward to Pope Francis' daily masses from Santa Marta chapel (with Sr. Bernadette's comforting and beautiful voice translating).  They were a lifeline. But, back to the mass I and many others watched being celebrated on TV yesterday for the 400th anniversary of the canonization of the Jesuit Saint Ignatius. The mass had just started, I hadn't missed much.  Then, after watching for a few minutes, I noticed a priest who I had received communion from at Our Lady of Lourdes in Toronto, when I was...

A few weeks ago I waved hello to the lady school bus driver in our neighbourhood.  I was walking down Lawrence Avenue to the Mediterranean grocery store.  It was snowing.  I love walking in the snow! The lady bus driver smiled and waved back to me.  I felt deeply, joyfully connected to her, although I've never spoken to her.  Her empty yellow bus was stopped on the road near my very favourite shawarma restaurant. She must have dropped all her kids off at school.  I thought of the kids in Ukraine who hadn't been dropped off at school this morning because of the horrible war in their country. I am also thinking of the Let Love podcast I listened to this week; Rest, Prayer, and Listening .  I wonder if my resting, prayer, and listening is doing anything to help the situation in Ukraine?  I want to believe it is. I want to believe rest, prayer, listening, and waving to school bus drivers are not indulgences but powerful actions for peace....

Today is the first Monday of Lent 2022.  A wonderful winter Lenten day for turning on desk damps during the day.   It's raining this morning with possible sleet and snow forecast for later today.   God, "causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."  - Matthew 5:45 .   Lord, help me keep praying for both the country of Russia and of Ukraine.   On dark and rainy days like these, I find lamplight creates a contemplative atmosphere. Helpful in these times.   It has a different quality about it now.   A peaceful, grounding presence now. Rainy days and Mondays, they don't get me down now, like they did when I was a social worker and and political staffer.   Now they give me permission to rest, pray, and listen.    Thanks be to God.   Amen wallpaperflare.com   https://sistersoflife.podbean. com/e/s7-episode-2-rest- prayer-and-listening/ Best Let Love podcast episode y...

Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.  "When it is evening, you say, "It will be fair weather; for the sky is red." And in the morning, "It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening." You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."   (Matthew 16:2-3). So today is the first Sunday of Lent.  Hydro-One-knockout-force-winds are forecast today.  Sunrise struggled this morning.  Then it strengthened behind a bank of grey clouds.  Grey clouds made the horizon look like a bank of ashes.  I thought again of the poem in my last blog, Radical Ashes. Lord help me accept the red skies in morning, and red skies at night.   Help me accept all the warnings and delights of the days You have planned for me.  Help me be more accepting of crazy humankind (including me).   Help me fight for kindness inside me, no matter what is happe...