Rev. Catharine Is Currently
On Medical Leave

Where There’s Despair, Hope

This week in Reflections, I wrote about love. About the difficult demands of u/Universalism. I wrote about how I cannot in good conscience, given my theology, write off everyone who voted for Trump as less than human. I can’t write off any of them as “other.” Not even the  ones who would or do wish […]

Seven Ways to Treat Ourselves as Cherished Toddlers

Note the title of this post. It includes the expression cherished toddlers. Many toddlers are not treated well at all. Not at all. Egregiously, in fact. But loved and cherished toddlers often receive nurturing routine, wonderful play, acknowledgement of limits, and plenty of other things from the adults who love them. I am working on […]

Retreat Hopes

I’ve been writing quite a bit here and there about the season, the growing nights, the shrinking days, and the invitations of the darkness. I am also hosting a virtual retreat—a day of rest and renewal you take for yourself at home, supported by four calls, recordings, and handouts from me—on December 19th. For more […]

Rest for God’s Beloved–That’s You!

“It is in vain that you get up early and go to bed late, eating the bread of anxious toil. For God gives restful sleep to the beloved.” (Psalm 127:2) I used to go on retreat with a congregation of Roman Catholic religious sisters. One retreat in particular stands out in my mind. At the […]

Take a Moment to Take Stock (v. 2016)

NB: Originally written in November 2014 *** We will never come to the end of the to-do list. There will never be else at all left to us. Even when we die, most of us will leave many things unfinished. My father, in the last days of his life, said he still had a mystery […]

Watched By Every Human Love

from “Lullaby” by W.H. Auden Beauty, midnight, vision dies: Let the winds of dawn that blow Softly round your dreaming head Such a day of sweetness show Eye and knocking heart may bless, Find the mortal world enough; Noons of dryness see you fed By the involuntary powers, Nights of insult let you pass Watched […]

Blessed Routine

Today’s blog may resonate with you or it may not—in a way, that’s always true. Today, I am aware of it because I feel vulnerable writing about this topic. I begin (below) with boredom, but really the topic is chaos. The felt need to have chaos in order to be interesting, worthwhile, unique, special… But… […]

Gentleness, But Discipline, Too

Sometimes the very thing that has inspired this ministry—spiritual practice—gets undermined by my working on the ministry. Silly? Yes. Common? Yes, that too. There is some dispute as to who made the following wise remark—I’ve heard it attributed to at least three spiritual or religious leaders:  If I am busy, I must pray for an […]

Altars, Altars Everywhere!

I am looking at the rickety wooden table to the left of my desk. It was given to me by Maria, my first lover, then roommate, then ex-roommate, now reconnected friend. Maria gave me this small, wooden table she painted sky blue. She gave it to me to be an altar, a place to center […]

My Gentleness Thing

“I will be gentle with myself. / I will love myself. / I am a child of the Universe / Being born each moment.” ~Libana~ When I first heard that chant, it sounded a little hokey, a little woo, as we say these days. I didn’t get why it was important or what it meant. […]