To Read
A meditation on the Fruit of the Spirit and life in the Spirit.
To Watch
A meditation on the work of Christ in the world:
To Listen
This podcast features Pádraig ó Tuama and talks through how he works to erase the us/them thinking in the Northern Ireland conflict.
Pádraig Ó Tuama — Belonging Creates and Undoes Us - The On Being Project
To Pray
I’ve found this prayer pattern by Pádraig ó Tuama from his book In the Shelter helpful as I approach praying:
Neither I nor the poets I love have found the keys to the kingdom of prayer and we cannot force God to stumble over us where we sit. But I know that it’s a good idea to sit anyway. So every morning, I kneel, waiting, making friends with the habit of listening, hoping that I’m being listened to. There, I greet God in my own disorder. I say hello to my chaos, my unmade decisions, my unmade bed, my desire and my trouble. I say hello to distraction and privilege, I greet the day and I greet my beloved and bewildering Jesus. I recognize and greet my burdens, my luck, my controlled and uncontrollable story. I greet my untold stories, my unfolding story, my unloved body, my own body. I greet the things I think will happen and I say hello to everything I do not know about the day. I greet my own small world and I hope that I can meet the bigger world that day. I greet my story and hope that I can forget my story during the day, and hope that I can hear some stories, and greet some surprising stories during the long day ahead. I greet God, and I greet the God who is more God than the God I greet. Hello to you all, I say, as the sun rises above the chimneys of North Belfast. Hello.
St. Patrick’s Breastplate is a wonderful prayer that embraces the wideness of Christ in the world:
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.
I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.
Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through the mighty strength
Of the Lord of creation.
Here is the prayer from the end of the service based on the last half of Galatians 5:
Breathe in affection for others
Breathe out the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival
Breathe in exuberance about life
Breathe out frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness
Breathe in serenity
Breathe out the stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage
Breathe in a willingness to stick with things
Breathe out small-minded and lopsided pursuits
Breathe in a sense of compassion in the heart
Breathe out cutthroat competition
Breathe in a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people
Breathe out ugly parodies of community
Breathe in loyal commitments
Breathe out an impotence to love or be loved
Breathe in not needing to force our way in life
Breathe out all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants
Breathe in marshaling and directing our energies wisely
Breathe out uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions