Existential living

 1. PRAYER

Lord, I feel overwhelmed by the demands of my day. Help me to discern what truly matters and to prioritize tasks with wisdom and discernment. Grant me the grace to say 'no' to unnecessary commitments and to find moments of peace and quiet amidst the chaos. Help me to trust in Your plan for my day, and to find joy in the simple things. May I be a source of calm and strength for those around me, and may I rest in Your presence, knowing that You are with me always. Amen." 

2.  MEDITATION 

https://youtu.be/uiSySV2dtyY?si=IIlcmh-G1jEyDNca

3.  SONG

https://youtu.be/AgThST2lvcI?si=W82ZyXsEPDArFPPh

4.  NARRATIVE 

5.   MEDITATION 

https://youtu.be/YxfnUPqWV0k?si=itb5-nr0EyVQPK99

6.  SHARING 

7.  PRAYER AND INTENTIONS 

Dear Lord, at the start of this day, help me to keep the eyes of my heart on You, and may I not sacrifice what is really important for what I perceive to be urgent.

Help me not to be too busy to forget to look at all the beauty that surrounds me in the world that You have created. Help me not to be so much in a hurry that I miss listening to Your still small voice.

Keep me I pray from ‘busy-ness’ and may I draw ever closer to You. In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen.

Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/prayer/prayer-to-keep-me-from-being-too-busy-130

8.  SONG

https://youtu.be/eybNQQXIYkM?si=4KaEfrzt8fVyQQiM

Hope by ROHR

 

1. PRAYER

Prayer for Hope:

"Lord, when darkness surrounds me, and the path ahead seems unclear, I come to you seeking hope. Grant me the strength to face my challenges with courage, and the faith to trust in your plan, even when I cannot see the way. Fill my heart with your peace and remind me of your unwavering love. Help me to find joy in the small moments and to see the light even in the darkest times. In your name, I pray, Amen."

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/X8lhX44CPqU?si=Jslw6mIsqa_zj_sS

3.  SONG

https://youtu.be/q-dWxto9-XQ?si=QV60bjvji2UU4U9M

4.  NARRATIVE

https://cac.org/daily-meditations/remembering-our-hope/

Remembering Our Hope

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Richard Rohr reflects on the prophetic task of integrating our individual and collective memories, which creates the conditions for hope within us:

Memory is very often the key to understanding. Memory integrates, reconciles, and puts the individual members into perspective as a part of the whole. For us to recognize what God is doing and therefore who God is, we must pray like Paul “that your love may more and more abound, both in understanding and wealth of experience” (Philippians 1:9).

Our remembrance that God has remembered us will be the highway into the future, the straight path of the Lord promised by John the Baptizer [see Luke 3:3–6]. Where there is no memory, there will be no pain, but neither will there be hope. Memory is the basis of both the pain and the rejoicing. We need to re-member both of them; it seems that we cannot have one without the other. Do not be too quick to “heal all of those memories,” unless that means also feeling them deeply and taking them all into our salvation history. God seems to be calling us to suffer the whole of reality, to remember the good along with the bad. Perhaps that is the course of the journey toward new sight and new hope. Memory creates a readiness for salvation, an emptiness to receive love, and a fullness to enjoy it.

Only in an experience and a remembering of the good do we have the power to stand against this death [caused by evil]. As Baruch tells Jerusalem, we must “rejoice that you are remembered by God” [5:5]. In that remembrance we have new sight, and the evil can be absorbed and blotted out.

It takes a prophet of sorts, one who sees clearly, one who has traveled the highway before, one who remembers everything, to guide us beyond our blocked, selective, and partial remembering: “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever” [Baruch 5:1]. Choose your friends carefully and listen to those who speak truth to you and help you remember all things.

Ask God for companions (sometimes Jesus alone!) who will walk the highway of remembering with you, filling in the valleys and leveling the mountains and hills, making the winding ways straight and the rough ways smooth. Then humankind shall see the salvation of God.

The repentance that the Baptist calls us to is one of remembering, and of remembering together, and then bearing the consequences of that remembrance. It is no easy matter, for the burden of re-membering is great. But we must try for the sake of truth.

So “Up Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see” your whole life. See what God has given freely. [Our] hope lies hidden in the past. “And rejoice that you are remembered by God.”

Reference: Richard Rohr, Near Occasions of Grace (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993), 3–5.

ADDITIONAL ESSAY ON HOPE

Renae 🖤

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Published in

ILLUMINATION

·3 min read·Jan 30, 2023

4/When All Hope Is Lost

Recognise what made you lose hope in the first place. Sometimes you lose hope in humanity, but hope can also be lost within yourself.

You may think that things won’t get better or that you will be stuck in a never-ending cycle of sadness forever. In these moments I remind myself how quickly life can change and that in every downfall there is a lesson waiting to be learnt.

You Can’t Find Hope If You Don’t Search For It

When you lose hope, you may be reluctant to do anything. Living life can feel like a chore and you may not be able to see a way forward.

The answers are always there, you just have to look for them. Sometimes it might require you to use a magnifying glass.

If you don’t know where to look, the first thing that I would suggest is to take a step back from the world around you and search for the wisdom that has already been placed inside of you.

Your search for hope may be a continuous battle. There will be times when you feel like you have succeeded in your search and moments when you feel like you’re back at square one.

I wish finding hope was as easy as turning to a friend or asking google. But I have learnt that hope is an inward journey.

It is the battle between faith and doubt.

Trust yourself, stop listening to your mind and listen to your heart.

5.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/zW3-9bUhbRw?si=eIb2I9vfR4TpWus8

6.  SHARING

7.  PRAYER AND INTENTIONS

Gracious God, our God of hope, we come to You today, each in our different seasons of life. Lord, we admit that sometimes our minds are full of hopeless thoughts. We get so discouraged, Lord, that we lose sight of all we have to be grateful for.

So today, Lord, we call out to You, in thankfulness and praise. We lay down all “gloom and doom” thoughts in exchange for Your thoughts.

Love, joy, peace, goodness, and hope…these are the beautiful things we focus on now. Thank You. Thank You for never running out of hope. We draw from Your endless reservoirs of hope today.

In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

8.  SONG

https://youtu.be/qIDDeKVxbuc?si=R1ayANpGtBcKmQ-2

My Easy Laksa

I did not use any ingredients that will make you take a special trip to the Asian store.  Except for the vermicelli noodles but you can use spaghetti or ramen from a package. No coconut milk or lemon grass. I was happy with this and so would you. So comforting in these dreary rainy days in our beloved Pittsburgh. 

My Easy Laksa

Based on https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/easy-laksa/

Ingredients 

Noodles

2 (1.2 oz) bundles vermicelli noodles

Water

Soup

1 small red or white onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced 

2 cm ginger, minced

1 small tomato, chopped 

1/2 cup or more water

1 -2 piece dry red chili, crumbled 

1/4 tsp turmeric 

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 tablespoon lime juice 

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

2 cups oat milk or other nondairy milk

2 tablespoons miso paste

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: add tofu, cubed and chopped celery or cilantro 

Instructions 

Noodles 

Place two bundles of vermicelli noodles in enough water to cover them and microwave till noodles soften but not mushy. About 3 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Soup

Place water in a skillet then add onion, garlic, ginger and tomato. Allow the water to cook the vegetables. Then add dry chili, turmeric and curry powder to the mixture and heat through. 

Add the oat milk and miso paste to the mixture and allow to boil gently. Add the noodles and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with tofu and chopped celery or cilantro if you like. 

What kind of person are we becoming

 

1. Prayer

Father, thank you for the promise that age doesn’t preclude flourishing and fruitfulness. By your Spirit and grace, keep us ever full of “sap and green”. You are our Rock and righteousness—our stability and standing in grace are inviolate.

Though outwardly we are “wasting away”, we will not lose heart—in fact, we will thrive in heart; for you will bring to completion the good work you began in us. As our eyesight grows dimmer, let us see the beauty of Jesus with increasingly clarity. As our hearing gets fainter, let us hear your voice louder than ever, declaring us to be your beloved children of grace—in whom you delight, and for whom you’ve prepared an eternity beyond anything we can hope or imagine. So very Amen we gratefully pray, in Jesus’ triumphant and tender name.

2. Meditation 

https://youtu.be/jG04iKv3Aks?si=YK21F7Lmf5uOZMYy

 

3. Song

https://youtu.be/J43UNvSn7FE?si=c-a6aAhDuKa3vuxu

4.  Narrative

What Kind of Person Are We Becoming?

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Contemplative elder and Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister writes of the humility we must cultivate if we hope to grow in love and compassion as we age:  

If we learn anything at all as time goes by and the changing seasons become fewer and fewer, it is that there are some things in life that cannot be fixed. It is more than possible that we will go to our graves with a great deal of personal concerns, of life agendas, left unresolved. . . . So has life been wasted? Has it all been for nothing?

Only if we mistake the meaning of the last period of life. This time of life is not meant to solidify us in our inadequacies. It is meant to free us to mature even more. . . .

This is the period of life when we must begin to look inside our own hearts and souls rather than outside ourselves for the answers to our problems, for the fixing of the problems. This is the time for facing ourselves, for bringing ourselves into the light.

Chittister invites us to consider aging as an opportunity to grow into our true and larger selves:

Now is the time to ask ourselves what kind of person we have been becoming all these years. And do we like that person? Did we become more honest, more decent, more caring, more merciful as we went along because of all these things? And if not, what must we be doing about it now? . . .  

Can we begin to see ourselves as only part of the universe, just a fragment of it, not its center? Can we give ourselves to accepting the heat and the rain, the pain and the limitations, the inconveniences and discomforts of life, without setting out to passively punish the rest of the human race for the daily exigencies that come with being human?

Can we smile at what we have not smiled at for years? Can we give ourselves away to those who need us? Can we speak our truth without needing to be right and accept the vagaries of life now—without needing the entire rest of the world to swaddle us beyond any human justification for expecting it? Can we talk to people decently and allow them to talk to us? . . .

Now, this period, this aging process, is the last time we’re given to be more than all the small things we have allowed ourselves to be over the years. But first, we must face what the smallness is, and rejoice in the time we have left to turn sweet instead of more sour than ever.

A burden of these years is the danger of giving in to our most selfish selves.

A blessing of these years is the opportunity to face what it is in us that has been enslaving us, and to let our spirit fly free of whatever has been tying it to the Earth all these years.

Reference:

Joan Chittister, The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully (New York: BlueBridge, 2008), 179–180, 181, 182, 183.

Explore Further. . .

• Read Richard on “falling into mercy” and the second half of life.
• Learn more about this year’s theme Nothing Stands Alone.
• Meet the team behind the Daily Meditations.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DMWCz8Qnt/

5.  Meditation 

https://youtu.be/j3Dm6fFZVPM?si=FtvQflRoyxdNBiJG

6.  Sharing

7.  Prayer and intentions 

17th Century Nun's Prayer

Lord,
Though knowest better than I know myself
that I am
growing older and will some day be old.
Keep me from the fatal
habit of thinking I must say something on every subject
and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out
everybody's affairs.
Make me thoughtful but not moody;
helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a
pity not to use it all,
but Thou knowest Lord that I want a few
friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;
give me wing to get to that point.
Seal my lips on my aches and pains.
They are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is
becoming sweeter as the years go by.
I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure
them with patience.

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing
humility and a lessing cocksureness when my memory seems to
clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson
that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a Saint-
some of them are so hard to live with
- but a sour old person is one
of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good
things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people.
And, give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

- Author Unknown

8.  Song

https://youtu.be/vqTF8v3wKYE?si=FyHgPOfqYLvoZ_bR

https://youtu.be/_z-1fTlSDF0?si=8YO7Ta31-FDlJTxW

Paula’s prayer meeting 3/12/2025

 Song:  Come Back To Me

https://youtu.be/zZ1va7CAdcg?si=awO1yOKb3CYzirj8

INTO THE WILDERNESS

The Invitation of Lent

Song:  Westen Priory – “Hosea: Come Back to Me”

“Come back to me, with all your heart.

Don’t let fear, keep us apart.

Trees do bend, though straight and tall

so must we to others call.

Long have I waited for your coming home to me

and living deeply our new life.”

 

Hebrew Scriptures:   Deuteronomy 8. 2-3

Remember

how the Lord your God led you

all the way in the wilderness these forty years,

to humble you

and to test you

in order to know what was in your heart,

whether or not you would keep his commandments.

He humbled you,

causing you to hunger

and then feeding you with manna,

which neither you nor your ancestors had known,

to teach you that people do not live on bread alone

but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

REFLECTIONS ON DESERT  

Adapted from Ron Rolheiser’s Lenten Devotions “Daybreaks”

 

The desert empties you.  The idea is not so much that you do things there, but that things happen to you while there – silent, unseen, transforming things. 

 

Your job is only to have the courage to be there.  The idea is that God does the work, providing you have the courage to show up.  

 

The desert, Scriptures assures us, is the place where God is especially near. 

The desert empties you.  It re-gestates the soul.  This emptiness is a womb.  It re-molds the soul and lets us be born again.