2020 Preparing for Advent

Ideally, a human life should be a constant pilgrimage of discovery. The most exciting discoveries happen at the frontiers. When you come to know something new, you come closer to yourself and to the world. Discovery enlarges and refines your sensibility. When you discover something, you transfigure some of the forsakenness of the world.John O’Donohue…

Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere – A #BlackLivesMatter Anti-Racism Book List …

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. — Martin Luther King, Jr from A Testament of Hope – The American Dream As a product of my culture, my racial illiteracy has rested…

Book Recommendation: Places of Light

This book was written by two people I met while on a pilgrimage to Paris-Chartres in 2015. Places of Light: The Gift of Cathedrals to the World Embark on a pilgrimage through the great cathedrals of the world. Gernot Candolini and Jennifer Brandon invite readers to experience some of the exemplary cathedrals of Europe and…

Advent Day 01: A Sacred Season …

Christmas is a swiftly moving season with few clear boundaries. The day after we've packed up our Halloween costumes, Hallmark Channel begins nearly two months of twenty-four-seven presentations of Christmas movies. Shortly thereafter, we are inundated with ads inviting us to shop early to get the best bargains. The holiday rush is in full swing…

Courage Is Fear Walking …

We want life to be as dazzling and painless as possible. Life, on the other hand, has a way of humbling us, and heartbreak is built into its agreement with the world. We’re young, until we’re not. We’re healthy, until we’re not. We’re with those we love, until we’re not. Life’s beauty is inseparable from…

In Memoriam: Mary Oliver …

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her poetry often explored nature and the spiritual world. She died on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at her home in Florida. We celebrate her life with deep gratitude for the remarkable human being she was and how she…

ILLUMINATED 2018 …

In gratitude for all the blessing prayers that I frequently post on In Silence Waits, I am sharing information about an advent retreat that Jan Richardson is offering from December 1, 2018 to December 28, 2018. Retreat Details ILLUMINATED 2018 is an elegantly simple online journey toward Christmas that you can enter into from anywhere you…

Building a Bridge (Book Recommendation) …

http://youtu.be/j_LgIcqe6rY Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity The New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Jesus: A Pilgrimage turns his attention to the relationship between LGBT Catholics and the Church in this loving, inclusive, and revolutionary book. On the day…

Best Books of 2016 …

The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New by Annie Dillard In recognition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s long and lauded career as a master essayist, a landmark collection, including her most beloved pieces and some rarely seen work, rigorously curated by the author herself. Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds as Light by Paula D'Arcy…