Every day, I’m realizing, a few love letters drift in from the universe, in the form of emails, listening and viewing tips, art. A sampling from the past week:
From Michele Catanese, spiritual director in Texas:
“This is called Across the Calm Waters of Heaven by Ahmed Alabaca. He is from San Bernardino, CA and wrote this in 2015 after the mass shooting there as a way to help the community heal. He refers to it as the piece for peace. It is breathtaking. The composer is the conductor of this orchestra performed by musicians of color at something called The Colour Festival. Do read his program notes which are part of Alabaca’s comments because the piece is explained beautifully there. “
Check out Michele’s blog. Her most recent post, “Dust to Dust,” is a reflection on Ash Wednesday.
From Brother Rex of Little Portion Hermitage in Maine:
A quote: “True solitude is not the absence of people, but the presence of God. To place our lives before the face of God, to surrender to the movements of God, is to roam free in a space in which we have been given solitude…If the eruption of God’s presence in us occurs in silence and solitude, it allows us to remain thrown among, mixed up with, radically joined to all of the people, who are made of the same clay as we are.” ~Servant of God Madeleine Delbrel
And a book suggestion, apropos of T of Lisieux (remind me next time I pick a saint to obsess about to find one without two accent marks in his or her first name): Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise
From Fr. Frank Sabatté, CSP, NYC priest, artist and portrait embroiderer:
A note thanking me for my recent piece on St. Bernadette (his family comes from the same region in France that Bernadette did), and attaching a portrait he did of her in her native dress:
BY FATHER FRANK SABATTÉ
And from Benny McCabe, boulevardier, raconteur, poet, tango dancer, and global pilgrim of Dublin, Ireland: a podcast called “The Purpose of Lent,” offered by Fr. Mark Patrick Hederman, Benedictine monk and former abbot at Glenstal.
LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, FOR YOUR REDEMPTION IS AT HAND!!!
Very inspiring and uplifting Thank you Heather
Thank you, dear Monique–blessed Lent…
What I love about this particular post is that it is a little spiritual “shot in the arm” for all of our senses, reminding us that beauty exists in the Lenten season, too! Blessings, light and love …
Oh my, my, my! So much beauty, wisdom and inspiration brings me to tears
What a feast you gift, dear Heather! Love(!) “True solitude is not the absence of people, but the presence of God.”
I’m so glad you all found the same richness here that I did. I should do this kind of post more often! Blessed Second Sunday of Lent and many thanks–