| May 16 | Issac Barnes May, Spiritual Journey | |
| May 23 | Singing | |
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6838373064?pwd=QTB6NzA5THBzSTk0TnBZR1pGMFhFZz09
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Patricia brought two selections from The Faithful Gardner by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“What is this faithful process of spirit and seed that touches empty ground and makes it rich again? Its greater workings I cannot claim to understand. I only know that in its care, what has seemed dead is dead no longer what has seemed lost is no longer lost, that which some have claimed “impossible,” is made clearly possible, and what ground is fallow is only resting – resting and waiting for the blessed seed to arrive on the wind with all Godspeed. And it will.”
A prayer.
Refuse to fall down.
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled,
and it will be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you from
lifting your heart
toward heaven
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.
Eileen read from Always We Begin Again: A Benedictine Way of Life by John McQuiston II
Each Day
At the beginning of each day,
after we open our eyes
to receive the light of that day,
As we listen to the voices
and sounds
that surround us,
We must resolve to treat each hour
as the rarest of gifts,
and be grateful
for the consciousness
that allows us to experience it,
recalling in thanks
that our awareness is a present
from we know not where,
or how , or why.
When we rise from sleep let us rise up for the joy
of the true Work that we will be about
this day,
and considerately cheer one another on.
Life will always provide matters for concern.
Each day, however, brings with it reasons for joy.
Every day carries the potential
to bring the experience of heaven;
have the courage to expect good from it.
Be gentle with this life,
and use the light of life
to live fully in your time.
Bill offer a poem by Derek Mahon. A video of the author reading it is included in comments about the poem at https://anthonywilsonpoetry.com/2012/10/06/lifesaving-poems-derek-mahons-everything-is-going-to-be-all-right/ .
Everything is Going to be All Right
How should I not be glad to contemplate
the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
There will be dying, there will be dying,
but there is no need to go into that.
The poems flow from the hand unbidden
and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
The sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.
Derek Mahon, from Selected Poems
(There were other offerings. If Friends submit them to the editor, they can be added to this page.)