Thank you, Sean. Your beautiful writing also conveys a sense of connection, and therefore joy as it reflects back our innocence as much as any starfish, reindeer or neutrino. I especially connected with the reminder 'I have to undo whatever justifies judgment without.' Forgiveness is the entrance to the door of the shared holy instant and beyond that to the Kingdom. I am increasingly grateful that we have been told what the key is, where it can be found, and how to use it.
….”I remembered that God was Love, and only Love was real.” Thank you so much Sean for remembering and for sharing. Going through a very difficult time and received a moment of deeply needed and appreciated comfort upon reading this. Love, Beatrice .
Thank you Sean,i have been waiting for this post and its different from the others. It's quiet and gentle just being in gratitude. Sean i hope you're keeping well been a little concerned about your health so I was glad to get this post
Thanks, Sean. I am doing well. Keeping it simple, as they say. I appreciate your sensing the quiet and gentleness behind this post. Those moments star-gazing - just being still in the night, and letting the night be still in me - are so precious. It is so beautiful to taste even for a moment the end of fear and conflict! Thanks for being here, Sean.
Finally my dreams at night are speaking to me of my worthiness, not of conflict nor things dreamed denied. My memories of Holy Instants is what has sustained me. Thanks for the wonderful post upon awakening this morning.
You're welcome, Silvanus. Yes. Our worthiness is guaranteed by God, and we remember this worthiness but seeing it - and intentionally extending it - to all. Thank you for being here!
Usually we pray some variation of "Thank you for the gift of the food and for the folks who grew, harvested, transported and prepared it. Thank you for the gift of family with whom to share it, and quiet in which to partake of it, and and peace in which to enjoy it. Teach us to be mindful of those who do not share in this bounty and peace, and show us the way to include them. May we not forget that we are one with all life and may we not turn away from one another in fear. Help us to remember always the cause for love."
But also, sometimes we just share a moment of quiet and reverence. Words are not always called for, a point Chrisoula is very good at making and living.
I think the key for us - however we manifest it - is remembering to be grateful and also to see clearly the way in which a meal connects us with all of life - the plant or animal that became the meal, the many folks along the way involved in the distribution and production of the food (not to mention making the table on which to eat, stove on which to cook, etc). In that light, the meal becomes the focal point of our oneness - it connects us to everything, from Sean and Chrisoula who garden and put up and cook all the way out ot the sun and the rain, which nurture our gardens. The whole cosmos is implicated in a meal if one is sufficiently attentive. Not for nothing was commensality so central to Jesus's message and method!
I love those moments out of time which, for me, regularly happen when outside with nature while cycling rural countrysides, when enveloped by the calm and quiet of a snowshoe in the woods with my wife, while gliding over the stillness of the lake on my paddle board, those early mornings on the golf course communing with the dew and deer on the fairway, or simply relaxing while watching a sunset. These are all zen moments that are not planned or expected, they just happen, and the resulting calm and joy is pure.
Thanks for sharing, Tom. Yes - nature seems to do the trick. Tara Singh called dawn his "guru" because of what he learned - not in a merely intellectual sense but a more holistic and enveloping sense - in its presence. I relate :)
Thanks so much for this Sean, I was going down the rabbit hole and in a huge fight with the ego,the kinder l try to be the ego comes back with full force, how do l deal with this?God Bless You Sean!❤️
In my experience, when the ego is going full-steam, it's because it's perceiving a threat, which means that on some level I am truly close to the Holy Spirit, and truly on the verge of accepting God's Love in place of fear.
So rather than fight ego, or try to get ego out of the picture - which is exactly the kind of conflict ego needs - I'll just ask the Holy Spirit quietly to show me what's really going on. Why is ego so worked up?
I don't ask for any outcome - like peace from ego or big gifts from the Holy Spirit. I just ask for clarity. Let me see as much of the truth as possible in this moment.
For me - and everybody's experience is different - it can sometimes help to get busy after making that request. Like go weed the garden, or bake cookies, or clear my email inbox or whatever. Just take the body and give it some work so the mind can stop being so hypervigilant.
I don't worry about being kind or unkind to ego. It's just a pattern of thinking that produces conflict and unhappiness. I notice it for sure - how can I not - but then I just gently remind myself that thinking this way produces suffering, and then ask for help choosing another way.
And, yes, sometimes ego just keeps coming back!
But, again, it can also be helpful when ego is so insistent to see if you can find the grace - and love - that is threatening it. On some level you are communing with angels or ego wouldn't care. Find the angels! Make a space for them to fly in you :)
Thank you, Sean. Your beautiful writing also conveys a sense of connection, and therefore joy as it reflects back our innocence as much as any starfish, reindeer or neutrino. I especially connected with the reminder 'I have to undo whatever justifies judgment without.' Forgiveness is the entrance to the door of the shared holy instant and beyond that to the Kingdom. I am increasingly grateful that we have been told what the key is, where it can be found, and how to use it.
I wish all the gift of blessed peace.
🙏🙏
For me, those quiet and still moments outside reinforce the Oneness and more often than not bring tears of gratitude to my eyes.
Yes . . . that is my experience too April . . . the gratitude is so so important . . .
Love,
Sean
Wonderful
Thank you. 😊
….”I remembered that God was Love, and only Love was real.” Thank you so much Sean for remembering and for sharing. Going through a very difficult time and received a moment of deeply needed and appreciated comfort upon reading this. Love, Beatrice .
You're welcome, Beatrice. I'm glad it was helpful. Love holds us all 🙏🙏
Thank you for being here,.
Love,
Sean
Thank you Sean,i have been waiting for this post and its different from the others. It's quiet and gentle just being in gratitude. Sean i hope you're keeping well been a little concerned about your health so I was glad to get this post
Thanks, Sean. I am doing well. Keeping it simple, as they say. I appreciate your sensing the quiet and gentleness behind this post. Those moments star-gazing - just being still in the night, and letting the night be still in me - are so precious. It is so beautiful to taste even for a moment the end of fear and conflict! Thanks for being here, Sean.
Love,
Sean
Finally my dreams at night are speaking to me of my worthiness, not of conflict nor things dreamed denied. My memories of Holy Instants is what has sustained me. Thanks for the wonderful post upon awakening this morning.
You're welcome, Silvanus. Yes. Our worthiness is guaranteed by God, and we remember this worthiness but seeing it - and intentionally extending it - to all. Thank you for being here!
Love,
Sean
Beautiful, peaceful. What do you pray for grace before a meal? Love, Cyndi
Thank you Cyndi.
Usually we pray some variation of "Thank you for the gift of the food and for the folks who grew, harvested, transported and prepared it. Thank you for the gift of family with whom to share it, and quiet in which to partake of it, and and peace in which to enjoy it. Teach us to be mindful of those who do not share in this bounty and peace, and show us the way to include them. May we not forget that we are one with all life and may we not turn away from one another in fear. Help us to remember always the cause for love."
But also, sometimes we just share a moment of quiet and reverence. Words are not always called for, a point Chrisoula is very good at making and living.
I think the key for us - however we manifest it - is remembering to be grateful and also to see clearly the way in which a meal connects us with all of life - the plant or animal that became the meal, the many folks along the way involved in the distribution and production of the food (not to mention making the table on which to eat, stove on which to cook, etc). In that light, the meal becomes the focal point of our oneness - it connects us to everything, from Sean and Chrisoula who garden and put up and cook all the way out ot the sun and the rain, which nurture our gardens. The whole cosmos is implicated in a meal if one is sufficiently attentive. Not for nothing was commensality so central to Jesus's message and method!
Love,
Sean
I have to undo within whatever justifies jugdement without.
Love it!❣️
🙏🙏
So peaceful. Thank you❣️
I’m glad you asked that question Cyndi.
Good stuff Sean, the post too! Thanks for sharing, everyone. So glad I was led to this group.
Thanks for being here, Mike 🙏🙏
~ Sean
I love those moments out of time which, for me, regularly happen when outside with nature while cycling rural countrysides, when enveloped by the calm and quiet of a snowshoe in the woods with my wife, while gliding over the stillness of the lake on my paddle board, those early mornings on the golf course communing with the dew and deer on the fairway, or simply relaxing while watching a sunset. These are all zen moments that are not planned or expected, they just happen, and the resulting calm and joy is pure.
Thanks for sharing, Tom. Yes - nature seems to do the trick. Tara Singh called dawn his "guru" because of what he learned - not in a merely intellectual sense but a more holistic and enveloping sense - in its presence. I relate :)
Thanks again for being here 🙏🙏
Love,
Sean
Thanks so much for this Sean, I was going down the rabbit hole and in a huge fight with the ego,the kinder l try to be the ego comes back with full force, how do l deal with this?God Bless You Sean!❤️
Hi Jennifer,
In my experience, when the ego is going full-steam, it's because it's perceiving a threat, which means that on some level I am truly close to the Holy Spirit, and truly on the verge of accepting God's Love in place of fear.
So rather than fight ego, or try to get ego out of the picture - which is exactly the kind of conflict ego needs - I'll just ask the Holy Spirit quietly to show me what's really going on. Why is ego so worked up?
I don't ask for any outcome - like peace from ego or big gifts from the Holy Spirit. I just ask for clarity. Let me see as much of the truth as possible in this moment.
For me - and everybody's experience is different - it can sometimes help to get busy after making that request. Like go weed the garden, or bake cookies, or clear my email inbox or whatever. Just take the body and give it some work so the mind can stop being so hypervigilant.
I don't worry about being kind or unkind to ego. It's just a pattern of thinking that produces conflict and unhappiness. I notice it for sure - how can I not - but then I just gently remind myself that thinking this way produces suffering, and then ask for help choosing another way.
And, yes, sometimes ego just keeps coming back!
But, again, it can also be helpful when ego is so insistent to see if you can find the grace - and love - that is threatening it. On some level you are communing with angels or ego wouldn't care. Find the angels! Make a space for them to fly in you :)
Love,
Sean
Thank you so much!❤️