2019 Novena for Peace Day 5: Patient Trust

Worry is in my DNA. I’ve endured a life-long struggle to live in the moment and accept life as it is, as it happens. Paralyzing worry has been one of the greatest catalysts for me to pray. Worry was the reason I began praying a Novena for Peace. It all started after the terrible events … Read more

2019 Novena for Peace Day 1: Love in a Time of Conflict

apples and mirror

The World Mirrors Me Great spiritual teachers have used metaphors of mirrors to describe how we encounter reality. One such metaphor is that the world reflects back to us what we project out to it. If we project love, compassion, and mercy we will see love, compassion, and mercy mirrored back to us. If we … Read more

2017 Peace Novena Day 4: Gratitude

Day 4: Count your blessings in this moment, now. I pray that we all have the awareness to be grateful for what is; that we can stay in the present moment with pure hope for future blessings as we count the blessings we currently enjoy. (If you don’t have time for prayer AND reading this post, … Read more

Remembering Wounded Knee: Mercy in Reconciliation

Peace is impossible without truth and reconciliation. On December 29, 1890, soldiers of the US Army’s 7th Cavalry massacred 300 Lakota Sioux (including women and children) near Wounded Knee creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Tomorrow, December 29, 2015, Lakota elders who are descendants of the original seventy-five survivors (known as Takini) … Read more

Day 7 – Novena of Peace 2013: Joy

Where there is sadness, let me sow joy We cannot, nor should we, deny that sadness exists in the world. In any life, sadness will come to visit. But life itself is such a miraculous gift that even in distressing or dire circumstance, joy is possible. Sometimes, though, we need someone to remind us. Other times we need … Read more

Novena for Peace: Day 3 Shattered Lives

Shattered lives, prayers for peace Yesterday in Connecticut violence ripped through 27 families, a community, and the whole nation. Numb disbelief settles on us as we imagine the horror of mothers and fathers who wailed through the night for their little ones sent off to school to never return home again. Words are so inadequate. What comfort … Read more

What to Do When A Friend is Grieving

  The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing. . . not healing, not curing. . . that is a friend who cares.” ~ Henri Nouwen A number of years ago, I … Read more