Contemplative Haven

“The Desert Fathers believed that the wilderness had been created as supremely valuable in the eyes of God precisely because it had no value to men.  The wasteland was the land that could never be wasted by men because it offered them nothing.  There was nothing to attract them.  There was nothing to exploit.  The [...]

…at Consecrated to Mary…

“Give freely of thy spirit and judge not; be longsuffering and patient, for when you are kind with the kindness of the spirit to those who are unregenerate, the act frees your own unregeneracy as well.  Blessed is he that sees and understands and forgives.”
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“Laziness and cowardice are two of the greatest enemies of the spiritual life.  And they are most dangerous of all when they mask as “discretion.”  This illusion would not be so fatal if discretion itself were not one of the most important virtues of a spiritual man….
Discretion tells us what God wants of us and [...]

After reading the post that Abbot Joseph (of “Word Incarnate” in my sidebar) wrote in remembrance of the one-year anniversary of Laura’s death, Todd Agnew’s version of this classic hymn came immediately to mind, for many reasons:

Hallelujah!  Tears of sorrow, tears of joy.  Laura, please pray for us. 

During this period leading up to the Feastday of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, I will be making the novena I posted about last year here and here, in which different aspects of Our Lady’s beautiful Icon are meditated upon each day.  To all those who are making a novena at this time, may you be filled with [...]

“True creative sympathy does not throw one into the darkness of another’s life. Stand in the light that has been revealed to you by your communion with him who said, “My joy I give unto thee,” and by so doing help to illumine the one in need.”
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“During [...]

“We cannot be happy if we expect to live all the time at the highest peak of intensity.  Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.
Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of [...]

Recently I received a comment on my February 2008 post for the Feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes.  It was from Mr. Kamalakar Rao Ponnapalli, inviting us to watch the trailer of his movie entitled, “Our Lady of Lourdes”, of which he is writer and producer.  There has also been a website set up here, where you can see some posters [...]

The Prayer (by Jones Very.  American poet, 1813-1880)
Wilt Thou not visit me?
The plant beside me feels thy gentle dew,
And every blade of grass I see
From thy deep earth its quickening moisture drew.
Wilt Thou not visit me?
Thy morning calls on me with cheering tone;
And every hill and tree
Lend but one voice, – the voice of Thee [...]