Contemplative Haven

In my recent wanderings I noticed that the Spirituality & Practice website is offering an e-course which may be of interest to some for this upcoming Lent.  The course is entitled, “Practicing Spirituality with Edward Hays”.

I was not familiar with Father Edward Hays, but you can read a brief bio of him in the description of the e-course to which I’ve linked above.  A little something that caught my eye:

Over his long and illustrious career, Hays has been a pioneer manifesting a daring mystical sensibility and an unbridled imagination that makes his vision consistently fresh and invigorating.

Father Hays has authored more than thirty “best-selling books on contemporary spirituality”, titles of which you can see here at Ave Maria Press (just click on “Titles by this Author”), so even if you are not able to take the e-course you may be interested to see if you can locate any of his books at your library.

Among other assignments/responsibilities throughout his years as a priest, Father Hays was the director of Shantivanam House of Prayer, of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.A. If you click on the “About” section in the menu and read the history of Shantivanam, you will see how Father Hays established this House of Prayer in the early seventies for his archdiocese. On the Shantivanam homepage to which I’ve linked, scroll down and take the “visual exploration” of this beautiful House of Prayer and retreat facility – your spirit will thank you. Well, I never imagined myself saying these exact words, but how I’d love to meet you, my friends, this summer in Kansas!

[A candle-gift from my niece at Christmas]

A very warm welcome to our Catholic blogging community goes out to Miss Linda, author of two blogs:

A Life Lived Faithfully and A Life Lived Joyfully

No matter how strong our faith, it can always use reinforcing, upholding or encouraging.  And joy?  Well, couldn’t we all use much more of that?

At “A Life Lived Faithfully”, Miss Linda shares beautiful artwork as well as helps us along through the liturgical year with timely posts and reflections.  At “A Life Lived Joyfully” we share in her daily adventures with such things as cats, computers and Kindles, as well as her gorgeous creations; Miss Linda is a very gifted seamstress.

Here’s to faith and joy, to Miss Linda, and perhaps even to the remote possibility of dragging out my sewing machine! 

Some of you may recall Neven Pesa from a post I did in April 2008 here at Contemplative Haven and also from one at Consecrated to Mary.

Neven contacted some of us last month (Catholic Seminarian Rocker is what he titled his email!) to update us on his story; he was enthusiastic when I asked him if I could share his email with my readers.  He also attached a track of “Gloria In Excelsis Deo” which he wrote, arranged, composed and performed (I wish I could embed it here for you all to hear; it’s just beautiful).

The wonderful news is that this past autumn, Neven was accepted as a Postulant of the Basilian Salvatorian Order, of the Catholic Byzantine Rite, located in Methuen, Massachusetts, U.S.A.  Here is a picture of Neven with his Bishop:

My warmest congratulations to you, Neven!

Although the website that Neven had formerly set up and to which I linked in my original posts is now defunct, Neven would like me to pass along his thanks to all of you who supported him in any way – spiritually, morally or financially. Neven writes:

Admittedly, I am still very far from meeting my goal of becoming completely debt-free and some would say that my venture, in the world’s eyes, has been a failure. Sales have been modest but considering that I am not attached to a record label and have no advertising behind me except word-of-mouth, I believe that my venture has been more of spiritual quality than of monetary “quantity”. Quality – as in your love, encouragement and prayers.

Neven’s CD, Shekinah Hosanna, is still available at CDBaby (I have it, and I love it), and he just finished recording a second CD under a different band name (I will update you when I receive the information).

So Neven, once again, warm congratulations on becoming a Postulant of the  Basilian Salvatorian Order; best of success for your seminary studies, for your music and for your deepening prayer-life and journey of intimacy with Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Keep us updated; our prayers are with you!

This evening, Canadians who watched the horrific fate of Haiti on their televisions were also met with the face of an extremely emotional Michaelle Jean, our Governor General who was born in Haiti, sobbing and breaking down in a press conference. I could not help but ask myself, where was her compassion, where were her tears, where was this display of emotionalism for the thousands and thousands of murdered babies when she smilingly bestowed the Order of Canada on our most (in)famous abortionist?

It is time for each and every one of us to become aware of, and take responsibility for, the repercussions on both the earthly and spiritual planes of our decisions and actions. I am not saying our Governor General is solely responsible for the devastation in Haiti. I am saying that she, and millions of people the world over, appear to be asleep.  They do not seem to realize that there are universal principles at work here – that light attracts light, love attracts love, darkness and negativity attract darkness and negativity, violence, murder and death attract the same, that all of life is interconnected.  Sin has repercussions, and these repercussions have to be taken squarely on our own shoulders and not blamed on our loving God, as many are wont to do.

The Messages (Volume 1, page 136) Jesus says: 

“Abortion is murder, dear ones.  Do not be fooled…Your generation is suffering untold calamities because of this grave, grave sin.”  

The Messages (Volume 1, pg. 92) Mary says:

“We must help souls to realize that it is time to come back to Jesus now.  Time is short.  There is no other way to say that.”

Let us pray now for the people of Haiti, for the eternal salvation of the souls who may have died unprepared spiritually, for the success of the rescue efforts, for strength for the families and friends of the victims, and in gratitude for the global outpouring of relief:

Prayer for All People

O Lord, we bring before You the distress and dangers of peoples and nations, the pleas of the imprisoned and the captive, the sorrows of the grief-stricken, the needs of the refugees, the impotence of the weak, the weariness of the despondent, and the weaknesses of the aging.  O Lord, stay close to all of them. [Catholic Book of Prayers]

… that I feel we will be bursting with creativity.  It’s behind the scenes with so many of my blogger-friends.  It’s been building up for years (sometimes decades) in the heart area to such a degree that if it isn’t released the heart will surely implode.  This, of course, is exactly the opposite of what is desirable.  The world doesn’t need imploding hearts, crippled spirits or any more people “living lives of quiet desperation”.  The world needs joy, beauty, healing and love…

Our friend Carol has a beautiful post calling out to all of us to co-create, appealing to us to flood the world with the beauty of the talents the Lord has bestowed.  She links to and quotes from Venerable Pope John Paul II’s “Letter of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to Artists” (April 4, 1999), whose words are upheld and reinforced by Pope Benedict XVI on the tenth anniversary of this letter. (This clip from the Vatican’s YouTube Channel is only 1 minute and 42 seconds long):

“Art in all of its expressions has the ability to broaden the horizons of human consciousness and it becomes an avenue to the transcendent, to God.”  So let us journey on, to “grasp the profound meaning of our existence”, and help others to do so as well.

[Note:  Since Carol had closed the comments for this particular post on her site, I would just like to thank her here for the links she put in for my two blogs, for anyone who may be starting, in the midst of, or considering his/her Consecration to Mary.]

She was, par excellence, a laywoman, a mother and a spouse, an ordinary woman as far as human eyes could see.  Christ came through her, and she will help us, better than anyone else, to find him in the hubbub and noise of our technology, in the confused maze of our immense urban development, in the quiet, silent, dangerous spaces of the universe that we are discovering.  For she is the guiding star of creation, the Bogoroditza, this woman who has given birth to God.  Her name in Russian means just that.  One whole sentence in one word.

So let us re-think.  Better, let us re-pray our approach to Mary.

[Catherine Doherty, Bogoroditza, pg. 26]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Yes, we are a new breed of contemplatives, whose monasteries and convents are the busy streets of new pagan cities.  They are the noisy thoroughfares of immense metropolises that sing the hymns of the flesh, the world and the devil.  Our place will be the endless rural roads that would be God’s if men who hate him or do not know him did not travel on them.  Those immense countrysides hold almost invulnerable the secret of man’s inhumanity to them.

Yes, we are a new breed of contemplatives, who must learn repose, rest, on the breast of God, listening to the perfect music of his heartbeats whilst we go about his business and that of his Father.  It will be amongst one of the most broken down, discordant, uneven, out of pitch music that the world ever heard.

[Catherine Doherty, Bogoroditza, pg. 134]

Please remember Madonna House in your prayers, and if possible your donations, in 2010.

My intention for 2010:

Bruce Springsteen Live in Dublin

And with God’s grace, how I’m going to do it:

Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.

[Norman Vincent Peale]

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Truly, the “dawn of redeeming grace.”

Yes, I received an early gift as I was putting some recycling in the box outside this morning.  I glimpsed him out of the corner of my eye, and ran back inside to get the camera.  He wouldn’t stop moving, so it’s out of focus, but can you see this glorious woodpecker in my neighbour’s tree?

I hope I will have time to pay a visit to some of you throughout the day, but if things continue the way the morning has been going (burned popcorn for the tree strands, and now the whole house bears the fragrance), I have my doubts… unexpected overnight company last night…son has cold and sore throat and is supposed to read at the Mass this evening…and where oh where did I hide the stocking stuffers…