Meditate | A Memorable Start to the New Year

Meditate is a monthly column in which insights gained from meditating on the Word are shared. We welcome your insights, too, in the form of comments or even your own article. Contact us if you'd like to write a submission for this column. -Editor

“And…” (Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:2…Revelation 22:19; occurring 28,364 times, it is the most common word in the New King James Bible)

The Shining Word “And”

“And” teaches us to say yes
“And” allows us to be both-and
“And” teaches us to be patient and long-suffering
“And” is willing to wait for insight and integration
“And” does not divide the field of the moment
“And” helps us to live in the always imperfect now
“And” keeps us inclusive and compassionate toward everything
“And” demands that our contemplation become action
“And” insists that our action is also contemplative
“And” is the mystery of paradox in all things
“And” is the way of mercy
“And” makes daily, practical love possible

(Adapted from The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See,
pp. 180-181, in Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, “Yes And,” for January 11^th, 2014)

I received a new journal for Christmas and my first entry in it occurred on January 3^rd, a day that began in Minneapolis and ended with us all sick in bed in a hotel room in Denver…we were meant to be in Philadelphia. Or were we?

Click to read more ...

Meditate | Remembering to Pray

Meditate is a monthly column in which insights gained from meditating on the Word are shared. We welcome your insights, too, in the form of comments or even your own article. Contact us if you'd like to write a submission for this column. -Editor

I like to think that the prayer has answers to most every struggle. The problem is that I’ve said the prayer, the “Our Father” we called it as children, so many times that I often forget to say it, or rather, I forget to mean it.

So I try to think more deliberately on the prayer as I speed recite it before my thoughts wander, or drowsily slip in and out of phrases before sleep. When I have done that recently, I was surprised by how powerfully I was struck by one line:

“give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11)

I struggle to trust in the Lord.

Click to read more ...