Jean's Monthly Reflection
Wisdom’s Presence in Our Lives
One gift I pray for each day is the gift of Wisdom – that overflow of Love through which I become open to the Spirit within all life.
Summertime Reflection
In a recent gathering of the women’s group ‘Sisters of Diversity’ we took time to contemplate our childhood memories of summer. For most of us, it was a gathering in of the freedom of unstructured time, of the smells of earth as we worked in the fields, a time of being with elderly Grandparents or Aunts and Uncles.
It’s Memorial Day
As a child growing up in a small town in Maine, Memorial Day was a special event. Our neighboring town held a parade with soldiers in full dress, floats with different church youth groups and fire trucks from the different towns. All the people gathered to watch the parade would walk the mile to our local cemetery where there were speeches, gun salutes, and flags and flowers on the graves of those who had died service their country. There was such a sense of pride in all of us gathered, as we together recognized that these men and women had died so that we might be free to live.
Why Diminishment?
What is there about diminishment that feels so humiliating? I hear stories each week of people who have lost jobs and homes, whose grown children make unwise decisions, whose medical woes dehumanize them. For each of these individuals, fear, shame, and uncertainty arise as they face their perceived failure.
My heart goes out to each one because I know how hard it is to stand in humiliation when people are graduating, homes are being renovated and other people’s lives seem to be going on so successfully.
We Honor Earth - Honoring our Earth
We join with the Earth and with each other. 
To bring new life to the land
To restore the waters
To refresh the air
To restore the waters
To refresh the air
We join with the Earth and with each other.
To renew the forests
To care for the plants
To protect the creatures
To care for the plants
To protect the creatures
We join with the Earth and with each other.
To celebrate the seas
We, too, Are Raised Up
In a recent group spiritual direction session with seminarians, a line from scripture captured my attention. “Jesus was raised from the dead” (Acts 2:14) I know I have heard that line for years, but in listening to the life and death struggles of these men and women, something shifted in me and I experienced the wonder and awe of this event in a new way.
And so the journey to Jerusalem begins.
Scripture says that ‘Jesus set his face resolutely toward Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). I have been so aware of people’s journeys these days of Lent. Two wonderful friends of old have embraced their ‘Jerusalem’ as they deal with a new diagnosis of cancer and the husband moving deeper into Alzheimer. There is a resoluteness in both of them or as the Buddhists would say a ‘leaning into’ what has shown up in their lives. Neither of these friends knows what the path will entail. They don’t know what will be asked of them in their journeys. What they witness to is the resoluteness of faith that Jerusalem is the center of transformation for Jesus and for each of them.
I want to go deeper
I am both amazed and amused when I reflect on the number of individuals who have said “I want to go deeper” these past weeks. My amazement comes from the consistency of this comment from people of different ages and lifestyles. My amusement flows from sensing the movement of the Spirit one more time. From my experience, when the Spirit moves, people are moved to respond in a similar fashion and hence “I want to go deeper” becomes a refrain echoed by any number of people.
One with Haiti
The devastation in Haiti has impacted each of us and the whole world. We watch and wait to see if a miracle can take place in the midst of such monumental destruction and wonder what we can do to help.
The agony of injured people, of family members searching for loved ones, of buildings in utter ruin fill our minds and hearts to overflowing. And a world responds.
Our hearts of compassion go out to all the people of Haiti and all those who still await news of their loved ones.
Our hearts of gratitude go out to all those who are actively involved in the mission of care for the people of Haiti.
Epiphany
Time seems to pass so quickly. I had intended to write a note to wish everyone a blessed new year, but Christmas flowed into a new year and now we are at the Christian celebration of Epiphany.
I have always been captivated by the fidelity of those Magi – the star gazers of old who journeyed faithfully believing in the meaning the star held. To be so aware that the Light they were following was the path for them to a new King is such a marvel.
I have always been captivated by the fidelity of those Magi – the star gazers of old who journeyed faithfully believing in the meaning the star held. To be so aware that the Light they were following was the path for them to a new King is such a marvel.
A Christmas Blessing
Our Prayer for You from the Eremos Community
May you daily open the gift of your life and be grateful for the hidden treasures it contains.
May each person who comes into your life be greeted as another Christ.
May the honor given the Babe of Bethlehem be that which you extend to every guest who enters your presence.
May the hope of this sacred season settle in your soul.
An Advent Reflection
This year, our Advent has been one of focusing on peace. With all that people have experienced this year in terms of wars and job insecurity, of financial crises and religious conflicts, holding these tensions in our world and for our world has been a challenge. We want so much for people and yet so few have even the basics of life. A one-eyed cat adopted us this Advent. With a friendly meow and rubbing against my legs, it was obvious she had once had a safe home. How anyone could just abandon her was beyond my imagination.
October transition
Each of us at one time or another has wondered what happens when we die. Listening to people who engage that question, most say they are not afraid of death but rather the dying process. Their lack of fear seems to stem from their faith: in God, in Christ, in the possibility of reincarnation, in the naturalness of life, in the 'Emptiness' that they have lived into. Whatever individuals believe about death, this transition from October to November is a time when many cultures remember and honor those who have died.
For many of us it is a moment when we remember people who have been significant in our lives. It is a time to symbolize their significance and express our love and gratitude fo
Shifting Sands
Years ago when we chose the name 'Shifting Sands' for our newsletter, someone asked me why we called it 'Shifting Sands'. It evoked in her a sense of instability and fear. She felt something more comforting would be a better fit for us.
While I could understand her feelings, I know too that the experience of change brings with it a sense of instability and impermeability. It feels like the sands under our feet are literally shifting. Shifting Sands symbolizes a felt experience of life as it comes to us, and that is not usually a comfortable experience.
Out of the Blue
One of the purpose statements is that we offer people an opportunity to step back from the busyness of life and contemplate the Source of life. ‘Out of the blue’ came an invitation to facilitate a retreat for Marie Angele and Ann Francis at a condo in Port Aransas. I accepted the invitation truly wanting to be present to them as they step into a new decade of living. There were no other thoughts than this.
