26 January 2024 New Beginnings
- quietspacesplymout
- Jan 23
- 4 min read
Opening Prayer
For peace
As the fever of day calms towards twilight
May all that is strained in us come to ease.
We pray for all who suffered violence today,
May an unexpected serenity surprise them.
For those who risk their lives each day for peace,
May their hearts glimpse providence at the heart of history.
That those who make riches from violence and war
Might hear in their dreams the cries of the lost.
That we might see through our fear of each other
A new vision to heal our fatal attraction to aggression.
That those who enjoy the privilege of peace
Might not forget their tormented brothers and sisters.
That the wolf might lie down with the lamb,
That our swords be beaten into ploughshares
And no hurt or harm be done Anywhere along the holy mountain.
Amen
O'Donohue, John. Benedictus: (Kindle Locations 3291-3307). Transworld. Kindle Edition.
Wonderfully saved by good powers, we await with confidence what may come.
God is with us evening and morning and most certainly on every new day.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Readings
For a new beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
O'Donohue, John. Benedictus: A Book Of Blessings (Transworld). Kindle Edition. Loc 422-443
This time of year we think about New Year Resolutions… is anyone still sticking to theirs?
We see new beginnings in nature - the naked trees, frosted ground with seeds of new beginnings waiting to ‘begin’ the journey into spring and the maturity of summer.
I wonder what Jesus thought of his new beginning – his baptism by John and the commencement of his ministry climaxing with the cross, and resurrection.
I wonder what Peter thought when Jesus ascended to Heaven and at Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit?
New beginnings can be momentous events – such as moving house. They can also be a change in mental focus and framework. Or a new mental paradigm.
A new way of seeing God perhaps?
Being able to forgive a friend and commence a new beginning with them?
New beginnings can be full of hope and we all need hope in our lives.
Have you recently undertaken any new beginnings?
Karen G
Introduction to Silence
The Sound of Silence
A GROUP OF TEENAGE BOYS FROM AN URBAN HIGH school have been invited to spend a day in the country at a nearby convent. The elderly sisters are anxious, not without good reason, as the school is notorious for the antisocial behavior of its students. All through the day they keep an eagle eye out for any signs of trouble, but the boys seem to settle in well enough and respect the prevailing silence and stillness. At the end of the day—a day blessed with sunshine and blue skies—one of the guests, a burly six-footer, sidles up to the mother superior. “Can we come again, sister?” he asks, gruffly. She smiles her assent, and he continues. “I never heard silence before in all my life. And I never heard the birds singing, till today.”
Silf, Margaret. Compass Points: Meeting God Every Day at Every Turn (p. 212). Loyola Press. Kindle Edition.
Blessing
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.
O'Donohue, John. Benedictus: (Kindle Locations 382-389). Transworld. Kindle Edition.
Thoughts to ponder:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Thresholds
O'Donohue, John. Benedictus: A Book Of Blessings (Kindle Locations 881-897). Transworld. Kindle Edition.
Whereas patience is the mother of expectation,
Stepping Stones
Silf, Margaret. Compass Points: Meeting God Every Day at Every Turn (pp. 224). Loyola Press. Kindle Edition.
We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning,
Henri Nouwen https://henrinouwen.org/meditations/a-new-beginning/
One of the most radical demands for you and me is the discovery of our lives as a series of movements or passages.
For the time of necessary decision
O'Donohue, John. Benedictus: A Book Of Blessings (Kindle Locations 2239-2259).Transworld. Kindle Edition.
Will Tomorrow Ever Come?
Silf, Margaret. Compass Points: Meeting God Every Day at Every Turn (pp. 209-210). Loyola Press. Kindle Edition.
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