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FRIDAY FAVORITES FOR PRAYER AND WRITING

Posted on by Lisa Deam

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, or just “be” better, I’ll include it below.

Since yesterday was National Poetry Day (in the UK, anyway), this week’s faves begin with some lovely poems and prayers. These pave the way for explorations of the way we label ourselves and the way we find and nourish our creativity. Enjoy!

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Having It Out With Melancholy: Amanda Palmer Reads Jane Kenyon’s Stunning Poem About Life With and After Depression via Brain Pickings (take a listen . . .)

Enter Autumn Cautiously via Emily Polis Gibson (“May we find the color amidst the gray”)

Turn, and Be Saved via Kelly Chripczuk (“Sometimes, all it takes/is the slight movement of your eye . . .”)

A Psalm of Mercy Relentless via Jenneth Graser (a beautiful prayer for mercy)

Questions for the One Who Waits via Richard Chess (a meditation on Psalm 27 and the experience of waiting)

Are You an Extravert or Introvert? Or Maybe That’s the Wrong Question via Gina Butz (a call for contemplation rather than labeling)

Cultivating Creativity in Chaos via Carolina Hinojosa-Cisneros (understanding your creativity and helping it to flourish)

 

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH: HILDEGARD OF BINGEN: A SPIRITUAL READER

Posted on by Lisa Deam

Week 3: Bloom Abundantly
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This month, we’re dipping into Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader (compiled and translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher). The past two weeks, we looked at selections from Hildegard’s major theological work, the Scivias.

Hildegard was also a prolific correspondent. She wrote letters to rulers, other religious, and friends. These letters are full of admonition, advice, and encouragement.

In the excerpts below, Hildegard writes to Empress Irene, the wife of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Commenus. She speaks prophetic words of encouragement to the empress. Let yourself be encouraged, too:

Listen to what God’s Spirit has to say to you. In winter, God lets the tree He loves hibernate, but in Summer, He makes it bloom abundantly and protects it from every disease. This is you. Remember also that every polluted body of water is purified by the stream gushing from the rock in the East, a clean, fast-running river. Who is like this river? Those whom God grants success and honor. They’re not ruled by the poisonous North wind and its advancing evil.

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Turn to God. Be confident that He has touched you. Continue to give Him the burnt offerings of your heart’s openness. Sigh, and know He hears you. . . . Yes, the Living Eye watches over you. He wants you to live eternally.

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Read more.

For reflection:

Hildegard week 3, version 2.png

FRIDAY FAVORITES FOR PRAYER AND WRITING

Posted on by Lisa Deam

Welcome to Friday Favorites! Wow, I really love this week’s favorites. Sometimes, the web is on fire. I hope you enjoy these articles and podcasts on Christian spirituality, writing, and creativity. If you have a minute, find me on Twitter (@LisaKDeam) or Facebook and let me know which favorite spoke to you the most.

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Stony Cliffs & Rock Badgers: Meditations on The Rule of Saint Benedict via Father SJMC (a wonderful lectio divina reflection on St. Benedict’s rule)

Who Are You? Learn to Locate the Authentic Source of Your Identity via Christopher L. Heuertz (read an excerpt from Chris’s new book, The Sacred Enneagram)

The Least of Us via Sarah Arthur (what do you do with the realization that you can’t fix the world?)

Writing As Pilgrimage via Jennifer Ochstein (I totally get the writing-pilgrimage connection; do you?)

Martha Graham on the Hidden Danger of Comparing Yourself to Others via James Clear (creatives, do you play the comparison game or have trouble judging your own work? You need to read this)

How a Book Really Gets Made via Anne Bogel (listen to Anne talk about the process of creating a book and get a behind-the-scenes look at her new book, Reading People)

Why Being A Perfectionist Wrecks Our Creativity (& How To Avoid It) via James Prescott (on grappling with the hard truth that no piece of writing will ever be perfect)

Tweet of the Week:

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH: HILDEGARD OF BINGEN: A SPIRITUAL READER

Posted on by Lisa Deam

Week Two: Hope for the Church

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Yesterday (Sept. 17) was the Feast Day of Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), the Benedictine nun, abbess, and writer. All this month, we’re looking at a selection of her written works — Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader (collected and translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher).

In her theological text, the Scivias, Hildegard records a series of visions she received. I find her apocalyptic visions especially striking. They seem incredibly relevant for our time, when many people voice concerns about the future of Christianity and the Church. Listen to Hildegard’s diagnosis:

Today, the Catholic faith dithers, on a global scale. The Gospel limps its way around the world. The early Church Fathers (who wrote so well) are ignored. People are apathetic. They refuse to read and taste the nourishment in the Scriptures . . .

Does this diagnosis sound familiar? If so, take hope! Despite the dire state of affairs of the Church, its future is assured. In Hildegard’s vision, the voice of heaven says:

Everything on earth is hurrying to its end. The world’s troubles and its many disasters tell you this. But my Son’s bride, the Church, will never ever be destroyed, no matter how many times she’s assaulted. At the end of time she’ll be stronger, more beautiful, more magnificent than ever before. She’ll enjoy the sweet embraces of her Beloved. That’s what the vision you just saw means.

Hildegard ends this vision in her own words:

Then I looked to the East and saw the One-who-shines-so-bright-that-I-can-never-see-Him-clearly, but I was able to see that up close to His breast, He was holding something that looked like a dirty lump, the size of a human heart, decorated around the edge with gems and pearls. This is our gentle Father hugging humanity to Himself. That’s why no one can reject anyone—because the Son of the Father is God incarnate who Himself accepted the human form.

Read more.

For reflection:

Hildegard week 2

FRIDAY FAVORITES FOR PRAYER AND WRITING

Posted on by Lisa Deam

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, or just “be” better, I’ll include it below.

Do you have someone else’s article or post to share? Join the Contemplative Writers Facebook group, comment on today’s post on my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter (@LisaKDeam) to nominate your favorite articles, blog posts, and books by Thursday at noon each week.

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Can We Offer Hope to a Chaotic World by Withdrawing? A Parable via Ed Cyzewski (read this beautiful parable about contemplation and action)

Hope in the Darkness via Richard Rohr (this post includes a lovely chant based on Psalm 139)

Let Us Fall In Love With God via Christine Sine (a prayer from the Society of Jesus)

Suffering: Whispers in the Noise via Renee Long (what do we do with all the hurting in the world?)

Where Does It Hurt? via Krista Tippett (an On Being interview with civil rights icon Ruby Sales)

Ian Cron – Know Your Writing Strengths: Enneagram for Writers via Hope*Writers (a podcast episode)

 

 

WEEKLY PRAYER

Posted on by Lisa Deam

The Recollection Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:

Give me the grace to recollect myself in the little heaven of my soul where You have established Your dwelling. There You let me find You, there I feel that You are closer to me than anywhere else, and there You prepare my soul quickly to enter into intimacy with You…Help me O Lord, to withdraw my senses from exterior things, make them docile to the commands of my will, so that when I want to converse with You, they will retire at once, like bees shutting themselves up in the hive in order to make honey.

Source

BOOK OF THE MONTH: HILDEGARD OF BINGEN: A SPIRITUAL READER

Posted on by Lisa Deam

Week One: Combating self-doubt, anger, and pride

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Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine nun, abbess, writer—and so much more. The medievalist Carmen Acevedo Butcher describes her as an:

“abbess/artist/cosmologist/composer/
counselor/dietitian/dramatist/epistoler/
healer/linguist/mystic/naturalist/
philosopher/poet/political consulstant/
preacher/prophet/visionary!”

Butcher collected a selection of this extraordinary medieval woman’s works in Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader. We’ll be taking a look at some of these selections this month.

Hildegard’s first major theological text, the Scivias, contains twenty-six visions that Hildegard had. She wrote them down, she said, to help others learn to praise and adore God.

In one part of this work, Hildegard writes passionately of something we all recognize: feelings of self-doubt, anger, and pride.

My self-doubt makes me miserable. I feel oppressed by all things . . . I doubt everything when I feel this way, including my salvation.

Hildegard knows these doubts and feelings are the work of the devil. Here is how she combats them:

But when God helps me remember that He created me, then—even in the middle of my depression—I tell the Devil, “I won’t give in to my fragile clay. I’ll fight you!” How? When my inner self decides to rebel against God, I’ll walk with wise patience over the marrow and blood of my body. I’ll be the lion defending himself from a snake, roaring and knocking it back into its hole. I won’t let myself give in to the Devil’s arrows.

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When anger tries to burn up the temple of my body, I’ll look to God’s goodness, which anger never touched. I’ll look to God whom anger never touched, and I’ll become sweeter than the breeze whose gentleness moistens the earth. I’ll look to the God of peace, because then I’ll have spiritual joy as the virtues begin to show themselves in me, strengthening me with their vibrant greenness. I’ll look to God whom anger never touched, and—because I look to Him—I’ll experience God’s calm goodness.

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And when hatred tries to diminish who I am, I’ll look to the kindness of God’s Son and to His pain. How will I get myself in hand? I’ll accept the thorns that give off the delicate fragrance of roses. They grew to honor the One who was faithful, and by controlling myself I’ll bring honor to my Lord.

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Read more.

For reflection

Hildegard week 1, version 2

FRIDAY FAVORITES FOR PRAYER AND WRITING

Posted on by Lisa Deam

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, or just “be” better, I’ll include it below.

Do you have someone else’s article or post to share? Join the Contemplative Writers Facebook group, contact me on my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter (@LisaKDeam) to nominate your favorite articles, blog posts, and books by Thursday at noon each week.

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Twelve Books (Besides Mine) You Should Be Reading via Shawn Smucker (take a look at this great list – and be sure to grab a copy of Shawn’s book, which released this week!)

Daily Lectio Divina: Psalm 97:11-12 via Laura Cavanaugh (a guided lectio divina podcast)

Exploring the Silence and Laughter of Eternity with Carl McColman via Contemplify (listen to Carl being interviewed on mysticism, silence, and . . . laughter!)

A Forgotten Poet Laureate of Nature on How Beauty Dissolves the Boundary Between Ourselves and the World via Brain Pickings (attending to the transcendent fragments of nature is a way to inhabit our own wholeness)

Why I’m Over Building a Platform via Carrie Stephens (a writer weighs in on this hot topic; what’s your opinion?)

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Tweet of the Week:

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Look for Hildegard of Bingen in our Book of the Month feature beginning this Monday!