As 2025 draws to a close, my gaze is drawn to the center of “A Colossal Shell of Light” image from Hubble Space Telescope. Much darkness surrounds this cosmic beauty, bespeckled with bright shining points of light. The heat at its core still burns bright.

I, too, have had darkness as my companion. So many lives crossed into my world, bringing bright hope and deep joy. I wish to leave most of the darkness behind. I wish to manifest life at the center of my being where Love still burns bright. <3 linda

My solace in these trying days, my best practice to be present to my fears, is to sleep with my window shade fully open. My headboard backs up under the window. As I live in the southwestern United States, I am able to fully open my window. A fan gently stirs the night air around me. Tibetan prayer flags, a gift from my son who hiked to Everest Base Camp, flutter above me. I wrap a prayer shawl around me, as I still feel vulnerable, and its warmth soothes my soul. I commend my soul to God’s loving care, and rest. <3 linda

2025 has been a particular season of inner winter. Now as Advent closes and hope arises again from loss, a new spring of insight awaits. I must sit a while longer in this liminal space, trusting radical growth awaits. Come, Lord Jesus. <3 linda

A grand one-two practice combination!

First, Father Keating: “This is the great gift of contemplative practice: we begin to live from a deeper place, where God’s love becomes the source of our seeing and the measure of our actions.”

Second, the writer of today’s reflection: “the act itself is not the point. The contemplative posture is: let Christ’s compassion take shape in me where I least want it to.”

Place where I least want it to: words of encouragement and affirmation with a distant, distanced sibling served as my coursework this week. Glad to have these contemplative tools in my kit. <3 linda

A question arises from sitting with Ezra Bayda’s “Zen Heart”. Am I able to go to the roots of fear? Only in silence can I be safe enough to look at fear directly and let life just be. I pray to be able to live from the heart of Being Kindness. <3 linda

The image “From the Cave of the Heart” by Tomás Sánchez speaks deeply and profoundly to me. I see myself not in the safety of the cave. I am the figure on the beach, fully exposed to the oncoming tornado(s) of life. All appears calm, serene, peaceful around me. Are these storms without or within? Vulnerable, exposed, I sit and know from my inmost being I am in paradise amidst my sufferings. <3 linda

“The absolutely certain help you can give to someone else is to work on yourself – that is, by loving more, becoming more humble, by trusting more.” Father Keating does not mince words. To first work on myself, loving myself better, humbly trusting and accepting God’s work in me, is not activity toward which I run each day. Yet it is only through this work that I can impact for love my closest loves and my corner of the world. For their sakes I humbly ask God to continue my wholemaking. <3 linda

Kaira Jewel Lingo’s suggested Buddhist practice is a new perspective for living with strong emotions. Can I “accept it, and then embrace it like a loving adult would hold a crying baby.”? Admittedly, my strongest emotions behave similarly to a child with a bad case of colic. I will take this image to heart as I continue navigating strong emotions. <3 linda

I love the quote from Ilia Delio: “To follow Jesus is to be a wholemaker, essentially to love the world into new being and life.” Goodness alone knows how difficult it will be to be a wholemaker because I first acknowledge my need for wholemaking to Wholeness. It is a journey to love myself and the world into new being and life. <3 linda

Each night, before sleep, I pray “May it be done to me according to Thy word, into Your hands I commend my spirit.” Whatever angsts or frustrations I encounter each day, each evening I acknowledge my pledge of participation according to God’s word. I honestly know not all can be easily released yet am daily reminded how much I can “let go and let God”. I do rest sounder. <3 linda

This room began as a laundry area storage closet: dark, solid wooden shelves, a little aisle up the center for access. Today, it is my creative/spiritual grotto. Shelves still exist, up higher on the walls, airy, sturdy and full of my craftwares. A desk occupies the far wall, sharing space with a lamp, my laptop or sewing machine. I come here to be still, read these reflections and write my posts. This small space is indeed holy ground. <3 linda

“…the respiration of grace that is inhaled, received, and released to send out further blessing.” I needed this sentence for my journey now. The God in me inhales grace on each breath.  I hold that grace in my being for moments, allowing it to mix with God’s love in me. I release grace and love on the exhale, sending myself out to serve God in others. <3 linda

I gaze upon Nicholas Roerich’s “The Last Angel” and questions arise as to the angel’s struggles of faith. She appears to be standing at a crossroad. She is a being of goodness, light, love. She is fierce and determined, armed spear and shield, ready to defend to her end. Did she doubt her Lord when asked to leave celestial home and secure her position on earth? I believe she accepted her “doubts as part of the gift of faith.” <3 linda

Beverly Lanzetta writes “The miracle of love is that even if we have never received unconditional love from another person, we have the capacity to be the home of love. We have within ourselves the ability to be the source of love. Love ca be our daily practice.”

To be the recipient of unconditional love from another is a priceless gift. To be able to take that gift and present it to others is my contemplative path. I draw from the unconditional love of this online community to feed my soul, then turn around and pour your love into my corner of Eden. Thank you. <3 linda

“Contemplative service is God in us serving God in others.” Father Keating’s succinct summary strikes me anew. My contemplative service has to be based on love’s viewpoint. I can only see love’s needs clearly when I have “fed my good wolf”. One can fast from media, take a drive to a peaceful hiking place, and be bombarded along the way by billboards of opposing points of views. It comes down to a thought-by-thought response to individual stimuli. Will I allow an advertisement/message to trigger a negative response? Will I choose instead to bless the advertiser? My goal is to “stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it.” (Jer 6:16) My good wolf knows these paths. <3 linda

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