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

The Mystical Life / Thomas Merton Remastered Lecture was my Lectio Divina (spiritual listening) this morning.  You can google it if you're interested in hearing more.  It's on Youtube. Three things Merton said caused me to pause and think:   "When we look inside and see, then we have to travel what we see."  "Have the courage to give a little push when an opening comes."  "Whichever way your heart draws you  then choose that way with all your strength." I imagine saying to Thomas Merton, "But what if I have little strength left for travelling, pushing, or choosing?" I imagine him saying to me-- "Then use it all." A little is a lot in the spiritual life. Amen.

Why do we go where we go?  I'm thinking of Mary Magdalene going to the tomb on Easter morning (John 20:1-18) . On a related note, a phrase jumped out at me in CAC's Daily Meditation today, "To be Resurrection for another I need to be Resurrection for myself." I think I will stop here, let that sink in. We go because of love?  (April 23, 2023) Amen. ImageCredit:ignatianspirituality.com

The 40 days of Lent are over and we are entering Easter Triduum territory (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday).  These can be pretty serious and intense days. To lighten things up a bit, I want to share a funny, wise, down-to-earth talk on the contemplative life, by Fr. Terry Ryan.  Fr. Terry is a Paulist priest staying at Snowmass, a Trappist Monastery in Colorado.  He hails from the Bronx (which will be clear in his talk).  I will put a link at the end of this post. I loved the endearing commotion at the beginning of the recording. I loved Fr. Terry's wonderful stories and his way of telling them. I loved watching a humble, humourous Fr. Terry deal with advertising interruptions throughout his talk.  He's a trooper, God bless him. Another gift in the desert in the 11th hour of Lent. Amen. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=WysUvv0MQmQ&list= PLrd9oadgqwXx91PRQ2SIyru6ElD0Y _pmy&index=13   ImageCredit:Catholic365.com

Last week in Toronto we had a brief thunder and lightning storm in the middle of the night. The next morning I found an excerpt from one of Merton's books, Bread In The Wilderness . The excerpt resonated after the storm. I wrote this post then, but decided to save it for closer to Good Friday. "Under the pressure of a very great love, or in the darkness of a conflict that exacts a heroic renunciation of our whole self, or in the ecstasy of a sudden splendid joy that does not belong to this earth, the soul will be raised out of itself. It will come face to face with the Christ of the Psalms. In an experience that might be likened to a flash of dark lightning. a thunderclap on the surface of the abyss... . (146). Understanding Merton's words above, poet Emily Dickson describes a similar experience of being dealt ... "The imperial thunderbolt, That lays bare your naked soul." Both Merton and Dickinson describe being under the pressure of a very great love. Both desc...