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

Today is E (election)-day in Ontario.  It's snowing, this is not such a good sign for an already very low voter turnout in advance polls.  On the other hand, I don't think that low voter turnout means that deep, important changes are not happening under the surface-- I can feel the desire for an un-namable change in me, "there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot" (Jeremiah 29:9). What is this something? I'm thinking of Newfoundland and Labrador premier Andrew Furey who announced (this week) that he is leaving politics and returning to his community to work full-time as an orthopedic trauma surgeon. Premier Furey's media announcement and Q&A that followed was a fireplace poker in my memory. I'm thinking of a car accident I had in the early 1980's and how an Ontario orthopedic trauma surgeon put me back together again. Breathe. What am I weary of holding in? What also is aching humankind-- w...

I don't know why, the picture of the bag at the bottom of this post made me think of 'go-bags.' Ever since a fire in our building, I've tried to keep one packed for me and my cat. Next. I've been wondering what it was like for Mary in Ephesus after Jesus died? I imagine it gave her distance from the grief and loss. I imagine she could be anonymous in Ephesus. That there were fewer triggers. That it was easier to breathe, although I imagine she had trouble sleeping. I imagine there were nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, depression; and for some reason-- I think she had a  Go-Bag. Cb Amen imagesource:pinterest

In these uncertain political times many of us have entered a new (or another) sort of  Footprints in the Sand  situation.  For those who might not know  Footprints in the Sand , here are some opening lines from the poem: "One night a man had a dream.  He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.  Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.  For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to the LORD.  When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand... ." -- Mary Stevenson, 1939. A little side-bar:  I think it's interesting that The Wizard of Oz   would   come out in 1939, and WWII would also begin the same year as Foot Prints in the Sand was written. Continuing. It has been said that Mary Stevenson was still a girl when she wrote her  Footprints poem.   Maybe she saw the movie, maybe it scared her, maybe she...

Almost too much is happening in the world right now for human beings to process. That said, when I watch what's happening in America today, I see (in the news) the results unfolding of almost half a voting country "groomed" by Donald Trump:  I see coercion and force being used to threaten Canada, other countries, and the U.S. itself.  How can anyone now doubt the women and men who accused Donald Trump of sexual, financial, and other abuses?  How can I doubt my temptation to judge half of American voters?  Breathe. I'm trying to pray tonight but it feels like just so many words-- too many knots and loose ends, if that makes sense???  Come Holy Spirit-- pray in me-- past, present, future, pray in the world. Next. I'm flipping through Thomas Merton's  New Seeds of Contemplation--  I open to a page with an old note written in the margin that says, " turn this paragraph into a prayer."   So I do. [Sticking pretty close to Merton's words] I pray: L...