Green Patches

Franciscan Advent Resources - Peace Made Flesh

From the Franciscan Friars of The Holy Name -  this was published  in 2008; I gave it a mention last Advent , but could easily be used again each year.

Elegiac

 - image credit: Wikimedia Commons courtsey of The Prints and Photographs Divison, Library of Congress

'Elegiac', Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' is strangely apt...

Francsican prayers of peace from the Francsican JPIC: Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation Group can be found here.  

There will be vigils for Prayers for peace  on 17 September from 8 pm to Midnight at both the Covent Chapel in Freeland and at St Mary's  Bridge Chapel in Derby. These have been arranged by the JPIC representatives in the two areas and anybody nearby is welcome to join them for all or some of the time.

 

 

Not "or," but "and"

“The greatest vocation is not the contemplative, nor is it the active,
 but the utter art form of putting the two together." (Fr Richard Rohr)

I'm flagging up this   "Action and Contemplation: Franciscan Spirituality Today" conference, for the unfortunate few in the UK who've been away on Mars these last few months,hence haven't  realised that Richard Rohr will be around a fair old bit this summmer. He'll be appearing at Greenbelt, of course, and elsewhere.

As a tertiary Franciscan, I find that his reflections concentrate the mind wonderfully, (not that I'd necessarily go along with everything he says; "challenging" is a good way of describing his works). Challenging in a positive way. I've blogged about  my struggles to integrate  action and contemplation before, especially in connection with my recent journeying from one church community to another. Then again, the courses I'm taking have both touched on the topic recently; this balancing act being a key element of many branches of the Christian spiritual tradition. Integrating one's inner  'Martha' and  'Mary;' or put another way, 'Leah' and 'Rachel,' by way of 'Jacob.' (Think about it!); "Use-ful" and "Use-less," another conundrum.

The Youtube clip is also very pertinent personally, given that over the next few weeks I'll be needing to make a decision about whether to put myself forward for possible admission to the final, spiritual direction focussed section of one of my courses.

Finally, I do wonder why I have my best outbreaks of "blogitis" when up against a deadline; in this case, train leaving in an hour!

A new beginning?

Be conscious of God, and  speak always the truth. (Koran)

 From BBC News  report of President Barack Obama's keynote  Middle East speech in Cairo