Interested in Southern Lights, January 23-25, 2026? Or already coming? Lots of information here …
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
0 Comments4 Minutes
Are you carrying some mixture of grief, anger, and fear and not sure what to do with it?
- Listen and learn with others on a similar journey
- Practice simple spiritual rhythms you can actually use
- Find language for hard conversations
- Make room for a quieter, steadier hope in the year ahead
0 Comments1 Minutes
Podcast News
If you've never listened to the podcast I cohost, I hope you'll check out Learning How to See. We're in Season 9 right now, which means you have 8 past seasons you can catch up on too. You'll find links to your favorite platforms here:
https://cac.org/podcast/learning-how-to-see/
I've enjoyed being a guest on many other wonderful podcasts in 2025. Here are some recent ones.
-- I talked with Heather Bigley about a favorite move, The Color Purple, here.
-- I talked with Monica Ahlbin about my new novel, The Last Voyage, here.
-- I talked with friends from the Tadatmya Sangha about the soul and desire and so much more, here.
-- I talked with Andy Hale and the CBF community about my new novel, The Last Voyage, here.
-- I also talked about The Last Voyage with Kate Rademacher (two podcasts at once!), here.
And if you want to read The Last Voyage, you'll find ordering options here. A great Christmas gift ... with volume 2 coming out fall 2026 and volume 3 in 2027.
0 Comments1 Minutes
Thanksgiving 2025
The American holiday of Thanksgiving has a complex and disturbing history that too few of us know (you can learn from Mark Charles about its hidden history here). Yet giving thanks is a good thing, as Diana Butler Bass explains (and Psalm 92 agrees!).
One of the joys and honors I experienced this year was team teaching a workshop with Franciscan Action Network's Michele Dunne. As part of our workshop, we linked up sections of the beautiful and profound Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address to quotes from St. Francis of Assisi. You may find them helpful for a reflection around your table today. (A is the Haudenosaunee Address and B is from St. Francis.)
One of the reasons I love these resources is that they link thanksgiving for creation and thanksgiving to creation; they thank the Creator not to the exclusion of creation but in connection with creation. As St. Francis says, they praise God through creation ... in a way that includes creation.
A: Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.
So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.
Now our minds are one.
B: Be conscious, o human, of the wondrous state
in which the Lord God has placed you,
for you were created in God’s image and likeness
according to the Spirit.
And yet all the creatures under heaven, each according to its nature,
serve, know, and obey their Creator better than you.
A: We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun.
Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west,
bringing the light of a new day.
He is the sources of all the fires of life.
B: Praised be you, my Lord, through all your creatures
especially Sir Brother Sun
who is the day through whom you bring us light.
And he is lovely, shining with great splendor,
for he heralds you, Most High.
A: We put our minds together to give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the nighttime sky.
She … governs the movement of the ocean tides.
By her changing face we measure time…
We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry.
We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness
and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things.
When we travel at night, they guide us.
B: Praised by you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars.
In heaven you formed them,
full of light, precious and fair.
A: We are thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds.
We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us
and purify the air we breathe.
They help us to bring the change of seasons.
From the four directions they come, bringing us messages
and giving us strength.
B: And praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind
through air and cloud
through calm and every weather
by which you sustain your creatures.
A: We give thanks to all the waters of the world
for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength.
Water is life.
We know its power in many forms—
waterfalls and rain, mists and streams,
rivers and oceans.
B: Praised be you, my Lord,
through Sister Water,
so very useful and humble,
precious and chaste.
A: We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth,
for she gives us all they we need for life.
She supports our feet as we walk about upon her.
It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time.
B: Praised be you, my Lord
through our Sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains us and directs us,
bringing forth all kinds of fruits
and colored flowers and herbs.
A: Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit,
and send greetings and thanks
for all the gifts of Creation.
Everything we need to live
a good life is here
on this Mother Earth.
For all the love that is still around us,
we gather our minds together
as one and send our choicest words
of greetings
and thanks to the Creator.
B: Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
yours is the praise, the glory and
the honor and every blessing.
O praise and bless my Lord,
give God thanks and serve
with great humility.
0 Comments6 Minutes
Q & R: Can you explain the beatitudes?
A friend sent me this question:
Just read today's CAC Daily Meditation and appreciated your thoughts about gratitude. Noting the reference to the Beatitudes, I'm wondering about your suggestions for your books, or other writing, that might help me understand them? The Daily Mediation pulls from your book "Naked Spirituality."I struggle with seeing the 'blessed' part. Especially on the hard days - when the Feds block big things I work on (and many other insanities they perpetrate), or when good people I love struggle with big things.
Thanks for your question! I've written about the beatitudes in several of my books, along with Naked Spirituality, especially The Secret Message of Jesus and We Make the Road by Walking.
Here, I think, is the key to the beatitudes.
The empire works hard to make the rich happy, but we value the poor and work on their behalf.The empire builds monuments to those who kill and dominate, but we honor those who mourn those who have been killed.The empire praises the aggressive and arrogant, but we hold the meek and gentle in highest honor.The empire rewards those who hunger and thirst for wealth and power for themselves, but we raise a toast to honor those who hunger and thirst for justice for all.The empire makes heroes of the tough and merciless, but we speak up to celebrate the gracious and merciful.The empire admires those who are clever and deceitful to get what they want, but we admire those who are authentic, sincere, and genuine.The empire holds in highest regard those who make war, but we revere those who make peace.The empire tips their hats to those who persecute their opponents, but we show highest respect those who are persecuted for their justice-seeking work.
0 Comments3 Minutes