Today we’re praying with St. Columba (521 – 597), Irish abbot and missionary. His Feast Day is coming up on June 9. *** Be thou a bright flame before me, Be thou a Guiding star above me, Be thou a smooth path below me, Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me, Today, tonight and for ever ..read more

Welcome to Friday Favorites! This is our final roundup before we go on summer break here at The Contemplative Writer. Enjoy these rich offerings from a host of talented writers, and accept our blessings for a fruitful summer. Lisa and Prasanta *** ‘I Wake With Wonder’: A Crowdsourced Poem Of Pandemic Pain And Hope via NPR (a community poem about the challenges of the past year and hope for times ahead) A Litany for the Planet via Louise Connor (a prayer for all our neighbors) The Prodigal Son: Visio Divina 2021 via Karen Hice Guzmán (a visio divina exercise from The Well ) Kintsugi and th ..read more

June 9 is traditionally recognized as the Feast of St. Columba, who in 563 AD landed on the Scottish island of Iona to begin a monastic community.  Author Tracy Balzer has visited Iona over a dozen times, most often taking groups of pilgrims with her to learn of the deep and wide Christian influence of those early Celtic Christians.  The following is an excerpt from her new book A Journey of Sea and Stone: How Holy Places Guide and Renew Us (Broadleaf Books), which will be released on June 8, 2022. *** The tiny island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland has a history so momento ..read more

A prayer from St. Augustine of Hippo: *** Great are you, O Lord, and greatly to be praised. Great is your power; your wisdom is infinite. All people, as part of your creation, desire to praise you; all people, who carry the signs of mortality and sin, desire to praise you still. You provoke us toward that delight, for you have created us for yourself, and our hearts cannot be quieted until they find rest in you. . . . You will I seek , O Lord, calling upon you; you will I call, believing in you. Source ..read more

This week’s prayer is from Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510), a late medieval mystic. *** Lord, I give myself to You as a present. I don’t otherwise know what to do with who I am. So please let me exchange this weak and fragile self for Your goodness. I place it in Your hands. You’re the only one who can hide it in Your love and so rule over me. Busy me so much with Your kind Self I’ll have no time or place or inclination for anything or anyone else. Source ..read more

Welcome to Friday Favorites! Here at The Contemplative Writer, one of our favorite “tasks” is rounding up each week’s collection of posts, videos, and podcasts. We hope today’s selection will provide encouragement and opportunity for reflection. Blessings, Lisa and Prasanta *** How I Use My Prayer Rope via Rich Lewis (a short video with helpful ideas for using a prayer rope with the Jesus Prayer) Your Suffering is Sacred (with K. J. Ramsey) via Marc Alan Schelske (on learning how to hold suffering as believers in Jesus Christ) Just For Today via John Blase (a poem about life, loss, and wanting ..read more

Recently I moved my home office from a little, dark corner to my daughter’s former room, which functions now as a guest room. I transported my desk, added a small bookcase (already full!), and some odds and ends. The lighting is better, the room is brighter—and I have a view of my backyard now. Soon the backyard flower patch will be blooming and full of perennials and annuals. I have a direct view of the hummingbird feeder and the orange slices I placed for the orioles. The new perspective and change of venue brought a fresh vigor into my writing and reading, like a like running spring of insp ..read more

This week’s prayer is from John Wesley (1703-1791), Anglican minister and founder of the Methodist movement. *** O Lord, take full possession of my heart, raise there your throne, and command there as you do in heaven. Being created by you, let me live for you; being created for you, let me always act for your glory; being redeemed by you, let me give to you what is yours; and let my spirit cling to you alone, for your name’s sake. Source ..read more

Welcome to Friday Favorites! We hope this week’s roundup, featuring some excellent writers and thinkers, will be thought-provoking and inspiring. Enjoy, and be blessed. Lisa and Prasanta *** Spirituality With A Dog In Your Lap via Casey Tygrett (the great mistake is to idealize the spiritual life) AJB Recommends: Spiritual Practices for Personal and Social Healing via Amy Julia Becker (some resources for finding healing in mind, body, spirit, and community) The Problem(s) of Susan via Matt Mikalatos (what to make of Susan’s fate in C. S. Lewis’s The Last Battle) A Black Woman at War: Battling ..read more

This week I’m excited to feature an excerpt from Putting Joy into Practice: Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church by Phoebe Farag Mikhail. I love the way that Phoebe turns to ancient wisdom to help us live with more joy in our life. In the excerpt below, Phoebe talks about arrow prayers, which can be defined as brief prayers “shot up like an arrow to God.” The practice of saying arrow prayers can restore a measure of joy and equanimity to us during challenging times. I hope you enjoy this excerpt and learn a new way to live with joy! *** Arrow prayers remind us that even when w ..read more