Holding Steady in Prayer

Thursday, April 30, 2026

I said to the Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through.
—Harriet Tubman, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman

Spiritual director Therese Taylor-Stinson offers Harriet Tubman as a model of spiritual courage:

Harriet [Tubman] made three attempts to freedom but returned each time because of fear. The fear of being alone. The fear of dying. The fear of never seeing her family again or being part of a vital community…. Fear can be debilitating. Overcoming debilitating fear brings a new sense of freedom and a focus to accomplish your goal, though the struggle that ensues may seem like only a first step for some. To escape your enslavers is to take ownership of your own life. That is not just a physical or intellectual achievement. It is an emotional achievement that changes how you view yourself and how you allow others to view you. [1]

Taylor-Stinson describes how Tubman’s faith has inspired her own reliance on prayer in times of crisis:

Throughout [Harriet’s] life of approximately ninety-three years, she returned to God again and again, asking for protection, insight, and the ability to lead her family and others to freedom. Despite the many close calls and her own fragility, she would breathe deeply and present herself to God through prayer and song and faith, believing in her call to freedom. [2]

Later in life, she would say that she always knew when danger was near…. She said God would tell her when to stop, when to leave the road, or when to turn in another direction. She was always in prayerful discernment: “’Twasn’t me, ‘twas the Lord! I always told Him, ‘I trust you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ an’ He always did. I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight, and that’s what I’ve always prayed for ever since.”…

Reflecting on the way Harriet faced uncertain times, times of need, even as she sought to help others, I think of a time in my own life—a time of great trial, a time I was unable to pray, a time I felt silenced by others; I fell silent myself, except for one name I repeated again and again: “Jesus.” I did not know what significance the name held, but it was all I had. As the saying and the song go, “There’s something about the name of Jesus!” I found that my silence was prayer. My willingness to trust the unknown was prayer. My desolation was prayer. My intention for a Presence surely greater than me was prayer. I would say, like Jacob, “I will not let go until you bless me.” Though uncertain about what the blessing might be or how the blessing would be delivered, I walked in trust. I trusted that something greater than myself lived in me and would see me through. [3]

References:
[1] Therese Taylor-Stinson, Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic & Freedom Fighter (Broadleaf Books, 2023), 99–100.

[2] Taylor-Stinson, Walking, 27.

[3] Taylor-Stinson, Walking, 117, 119.

Jesus Calling – April 1st, 2026

Jesus Calling – Sarah Young

I am calling you to a life of constant communion with Me. Basic training includes learning to live above your circumstances, even while interacting on that cluttered plane of life. You yearn for a simplified lifestyle, so that your communication with Me can be uninterrupted. But I challenge you to relinquish the fantasy of an uncluttered world. Accept each day as it comes, and find Me in the midst of it all.
Talk with Me about every aspect of your day, including your feelings. Remember that your ultimate goal is not to control or fix everything around you; it is to keep communing with Me. A successful day is one in which you have stayed in touch with Me, even if many things remain undone at the end of the day. Do not let your to-do list (written or mental) become an idol directing your life. Instead, ask My Spirit to guide you moment by moment. He will keep you close to Me.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

1st Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)
17 pray continually,

Proverbs 3:6 (NIV)
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Today’s Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

Today, I come before You seeking constant communion. Help me to rise above life’s clutter in order to embrace each moment as it comes while finding You amidst it all. Grant me the wisdom to surrender the idea of a perfect world and instead, to engage fully with Your presence in every day in every way.

Guide me, Lord, to communicate with You openly, sharing my joys and struggles without reservation or hesitation. Teach me to release the need for control, understanding that true and fulfilling success lies in staying connected with You, regardless of what remains unfinished.

May Your Spirit lead me moment by moment, day by day, shaping my path according to Your will. Let my heart be ever attuned to Your presence as I submit all my ways to You. 

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Breathing in Love, Breathing out Fear

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

READ ON CAC.ORG

Author Diana Butler Bass recounts how fear continued to accompany the disciples well after the resurrection:

If you remember back several weeks, you might recall the reading for the first Sunday of Easter:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”… Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you….” When he had said this, he breathed on them…. [John 20:19–22].

…. The end of the Easter season is also the end of the first half of the Christian year. The cycle of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter focus on the story of Jesus—the promise of his coming, his birth, the light he brings to the world, the seriousness of his mission, his execution, and the mystery of his resurrection….

And here’s the odd thing, something I never really noticed until this year. Fear is foundational to the first half of the year. It isn’t just that the disciples were afraid after Jesus died. The story began—way back in Advent—with the angel telling Mary, “Fear not!”…

Six months later in the church year, Jesus’ story ends with “Peace I leave with you … do not let your hearts be afraid”.…

As the author of 1 John later wrote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” [1 John 4:18]. I think that is the point of Jesus’ life, the story we retrace in the first half of the Christian year, the culmination of which is the Easter season: Perfect love casts out fear.

Butler Bass acknowledges that fear is a biological response and universal experience, but that Jesus’s assurance is also true:

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you….’ When he had said this, he breathed on them…”

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

The door opens toward love—the love of God, the love of neighbor.

I can’t explain it. All I know is that it is right. And I feel it. When I’m scared, I breathe. My breath. Sacred breath. Spirit breath. The in, out, in, out, in, out of life. My heart slows and opens, making room for the other, giving space to love. In, out, in, out. Breathe in peace. Breathe out love.

Peace, love. Peace, love.

Fear abates.

Perfect love casts out fear.

I think of the first words of scripture, how “in the beginning” there was nothing but chaos. Then, God breathed. Chaos was transformed by that breath into a world of beauty and sustenance.

Easter began in confusion and terror behind a locked door. Now, it comes to a quiet conclusion in the breathing … the promise and possibility of new creation. Peace, love.

Perhaps that’s what is meant by resurrection. Being raised from the deadened weight of fear to love.

=====================

From Bradley Jersak

THIS SHEPHERD 

Brothers, sisters,
Siblings in Christ
(and who isn’t?).

We’re all the sheep of his pasture,
and Jesus is truly our good, good Shepherd.

This Shepherd Good,
whose birth to earth,
whose great descent
into our Hades—
saved and saves us
(not least from ourselves).

This Shepherd Great
sought and found me
tangled in thorns,
gorging on blackberries,
(blood-sweet, in tears),
lips stained red with guilt.

This Shepherd Gentle,
whose clarion voice I knew,
called and called 
and called until I lay down.
(Did he make me?
Or did I break me?).
Yes. In him we rest.

This Shepherd Guide
leads me on right paths,
to quiet waters,
if I consent,
when I don’t resist
as soon as I surrender
(one day at a time).

This Shepherd Kind
so gentle, ever attentive,
and woah! Oh so severe,
this Mama Bear,
in the shadowy gulch,
warding off darkness and dread 
even in death’s false victories.

This Shepherd Strong
who never, ever
breaks a little lamb’s leg—
no shepherd has or does.
But the serpents’ skull…
hangs crushed,
a trophy above his hearth.

This Shepherd Love—
If harm were his way to save us,
he is not good at it. No good at all.
And though long-suffering stings,
the whispers of wise Love 
gently persuade us home.

This Shepherd’s Love
takes time—
wades through mess—
then pours rivers of oil,
of mercy,
of gladness,
of life
through our parched souls.

This Shepherd Host,
at whose table wide
we dine and wine 
(or whine)
with enemies
until they’re not
(pass the salt,… friend?).

This Shepherd King
cross-shaped throne,
thorny crown,
leads us
through hell,
through bed,
through bath,
and beyond.

Into his house,
where we dwell.
At his table,
we feast.
In his flock,
we gather
without lack,
souls restored…
or will be soon.

All our days
all our nights,
every dusk and dawn
of our lives,
of his life
forever.

WELCOME TO HIS TABLE

So, my friends, takeaways…

He’s a good, good Shepherd,
He knows you so well,
calls you by name,

You do know his voice, 
you have followed his lead,
even through deep, dangerous gulleys,
sometimes co-suffering with you,

But always I hear him promise,
”I will never abandon you,
I know the way through,
back to the Table,
My Table.
Where you and all are most welcome.”

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God. Have faith also in me.”
—John 14:1

Father Richard Rohr reflects on the relationship between anxiety, fear, and faith:

Our time has been called the age of anxiety, and I think that’s probably a good description. We no longer know what or where our foundations are. When we’re not sure what is certain, when the world and our worldview keep being redefined every few months, we’re going to be anxious. Understandably, we want to get rid of that anxiety as quickly as we can. I know I do. Yet, to be a good leader of anything today—a good pastor, manager, parent, teacher, or even a good citizen, we have to be able to contain and patiently hold a certain degree of anxiety and fear. Greater levels of leadership require leaders who are capable of holding greater anxiety. Leaders who cannot hold anxiety will never lead us any place good or new.

That’s probably why the Bible says “Do not be afraid” almost 150 times! If we cannot calmly hold a certain degree of fear and anxiety, we will always look for somewhere to expel it. Expelling what we can’t embrace gives us an identity, but it’s a negative identity. It’s not life energy, it’s death energy.  

Can we recognize how different the alternative of faith and trust is? Faith can only build on a totally positive place within, however small. God just needs an interior “Yes” to begin, a mustard-seed-sized place that is in love—not fear—that is open to grace.  [1]

One could sum up the Bible, and our lives, as an interplay of fear and faith. In general, people are obsessed and overpowered by fears; they fear what they cannot control. God is one of our primary fears, because God is totally beyond us and totally beyond our control. The good news is that God has breached that fear and become one of us in Jesus. Through Jesus, God says, in effect, “You can stop being afraid. It’s okay. You don’t have to live in chattering fear of me.”

The opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel presents Mary as the archetypal Christian because God comes into her life and proclaims the divine presence within her, immediately telling her through the angel, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30). Through the same divine Spirit, God comes into our lives and announces the divine presence within each of us. All we are asked to do is be present and open. Only after God calls Mary beyond her fear does God give the message of her calling. 

Fear can keep us from hearing what is really being said. Mary’s spirituality is focused on trusting. She said, “Let what you have said be done to me” (Luke 1:38). She doesn’t try to explain or understand. She just says, “I trust you, God. Do with me what you will. Let it be.”

Calming Our Fears

Monday, April 27, 2026

Father Richard responds to the question, “Why was Jesus not afraid?”:

Jesus seemed to know from an early age that we cannot build on fear. We can build only on life; only life leads to life. Jesus went to the deepest source of life. He gazed long and hard into God’s eyes; there, somehow, but most assuredly, he overcame fear. He did not find assurance that he would “win,” because humanly speaking, he didn’t. And I don’t believe that he found assurance that he was right, either, although we tend to think he knew it all.

His only assurance was knowing he spoke only what he had first heard (see John 8:28). He handed over the vision that he had seen in God’s eyes: a love that overcomes fear, and offers a terrible, wonderful courage, allowing us to release our life, to let it fall and go where it might. Jesus’s trust was not in himself but in who he knew he was before God.

When Jesus preaches, he tells others what he first heard: “Do not be afraid.” He learned that well from his own tradition. Those words were communicated again and again, through God, other people, and in prayer: To Abraham and Sarah, God said, “Do not be afraid.” To Moses, “Do not be afraid.” To Joshua and Gideon, “Do not be afraid.” To Samuel and Hannah, “Do not be afraid.” To Judith, “Do not afraid.” To David, in the prayers of his heart, “Do not be afraid.”

To the people of Israel, throughout the prophets again and again, and in every type of cataclysmic situation: “Do not be afraid.”  Through Isaiah, “Do not be afraid.” To Joseph, the father of Jesus and husband of Mary, “Do not be afraid.” And, of course, to Mary who said yes, the angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary.”

Why this word over and over again? Because we’re afraid! We’re wrapped and sometimes even trapped in our fear. We want to go beyond it and yet somehow it controls us. We fear what we do not know and do not understand. We fear that what we are afraid of will control us, while we long to control our own lives.

Deep down, we long for freedom, but if we want to be free from fear, we must be willing to gaze into God’s eyes as Jesus did. We must be willing to ask the same questions Jesus was asking. It’s not important that we get answers. I don’t think Jesus got that many answers, but we need to be asking the right questions: What is it that we desire? What is it that we’re trying to protect? What is it that we’re afraid is going to overtake us and control us?

We can’t attack fear head on. We can’t simply say to ourselves, “Don’t be afraid” because it doesn’t work. It isn’t that simple. We have to go deeper, be curious about where the fear is coming from, and trust God with it. 

Individual Reflection

Where do you most need to hear “Do not be afraid” today?

Group Discussion — choose one:

1. What is your fear trying to protect, and what would it mean to bring it into God’s gaze rather than expel it onto someone or something else?
2. Mary’s response was “let it be done to me.” Where in your life are you being invited to that posture right now?
3. Rohr says we cannot attack fear head-on — we have to go deeper and get curious about where it’s coming from. What might “going deeper” look like for you this week?

Hospitality on Our Earth Home

Friday, April 24, 2026

We can begin to heal that rift between our love and actions, our values and our daily lives, by turning our attention to whatever patch of ground we have been given to tend, even if it is a potted planter on a balcony in the city.
—Ragan Sutterfield, Watch and Wonder

An avid bird watcher, Anglican priest Ragan Sutterfield reflects on what it means to practice hospitality to nature in its many forms: 

Hospitality, in the Christian understanding, is at the heart of all existence, the creation itself. Nothing exists of necessity, all is an extravagance—a gift of the God who made room for the creation…. What if part of what that means is that we too are meant to make room—that part of being fully human is to open up space for other creatures? [1]

Sutterfield suggests ways we can disrupt the commodification of nature and act hospitably: 

To plant a garden, to create a wetland—these seem like small acts in the face of our world of concrete, our obsession with never-ending economic growth. What difference can it make? I think of G. K. Chesterton’s comment, in his wonderful economic critique, The Outline of Sanity, which takes aim at industrial capitalism’s takeover of small shops and farms:

Do anything, however small, that will prevent the completion of the work of capitalist combination. Do anything that will even delay that completion. Save one shop out of a hundred shops…. Keep open one door out of a hundred doors; for so long as one door is open, we are not in prison. Ahab has not his kingdom so long as Naboth has his vineyard [1 Kings 21]. Haman will not be happy in the palace while Mordecai is sitting in the gate [Esther 5:9–13]…. [2]

Hospitality is more than resistance, however; it is also a sacramental practice—a way by which we learn to recognize the holy in the wild lives around us. “There are no unsacred places,” writes Wendell Berry, “there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” The practice of reconciliation ecology is an act in which we relate to the world in its sacredness, keeping ourselves from seeing it as a mere landscape or an interchangeable abstraction for our desires.

I think here of the Orthodox churches of Ethiopia, many of which preserve a belt of forest around their buildings to resemble a renewed Eden. Those sacred forests are now providing the seeds for restoration in the larger landscape, which has been decimated by extractive agriculture. What if we kept alive our yards, the marginal places in the midst of our cities, our places of worship and work, as sacred—not only as places of hospitality for the wild now but also as sources of hospitality for the future? What if each yard could host the future of the planet by holding onto the life needed to reseed the world when we finally wake from the delusions of our extractive ways of life? [3]

___________________________________________________

John Chaffee 5 On Friday

1.

“Emotionally immature people don’t step back and think about how their behavior impacts others. There’s no cringe factor for them, so they seldom apologize or experience regret.”

– Lindsay C. Gibson in Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

For the record, I have not read this book yet.  However, I heard about it from a good friend, and it has been enlightening.

So this week I googled some quotes from it, and this was one of the standout ones.

Emotionally healthy/mature people are able to meaningfully reflect on their own behavior and “cringe.”    It is from this moment of self-accountability that mature people apologize and make a conscious change to their behavior.

As I think back over my life, I realize I have encountered people who seem to have an invincible wall against their own “cringe moments.”  And, if I am being honest, those types are the most difficult for me to stay in a relationship with… but you can go far with someone who knows how to apologize and make amends.

2.

“Is not the person who strips another of clothing called a thief?  And those who do not clothe the naked when they have the power to do so, should they not be called the same?”

– Basil of Caesarea, 4th Century Early Church Father & Bishop

Basil of Caesarea is one of the Cappadocian theologians of the 4th century.  The other two were Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa (who also happened to be Basil’s younger brother).  Together, they were titans of theology and contributed much to the discussion of orthodox theology at a time when the creeds of the early church were just beginning to be formalized.

Fascinatingly enough, Basil and Gregory came from a very rich, aristocratic family.  They held enormous esteem in their region, and their large family produced many notable figures who later became considered saints.

That said, Basil was deeply struck by the account of the young rich man who came to Jesus asking about eternal life, and walked away saddened when Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor.

Here it is, in full:

“Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Matthew 19:16-22)

No doubt, this deeply impacted Basil, who came from a wealthy family and was likely a young man himself when he heard or read that passage of Scripture.  In response, Basil became an outspoken preacher against materialism and how greed and avarice come at the cost of caring for our neighbors with less.

For Basil, being rich was not a problem.  The problem was storing all that accumulated wealth and not using it to benefit those around you.  In this way, Basil connected the issue of wealth directly with the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

If you would like to read Basil’s sermons on the topic, I highly recommend this one by the Popular Patristics Series.

3.

“As a handful of sand thrown into the sea, so are the sins of all humanity in the ocean of divine mercy.”

– Isaac of Nineveh, 7th Century Ascetic

Not only is the love and grace of God unconditional, but it is also infinite.

4.

“Psychologically, as long as we are criticizing, diagnosing, passing judgment, we will at some level be bracing for counterattack, where if we lead with empathy, we remain secure and grounded.  We give and receive mercy through the same opening.”

– Isaac Slater in Do Not Judge Anyone: Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World

Isaac Slater is a Cistercian monk, a member of a Catholic order known for its cloistered life of silence, ora et labora (prayer and work), and an intense practice of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

I have been reading this book because I realized how dang judgmental I am.  I am excruciatingly judgmental in my head, and I am certain it sometimes leaks out.  So why not hit the nail on the head and intentionally get a book of wisdom about the very topic?

Do Not Judge Anyone is full of references to the New Testament and figures from the early Desert Monastics (whom I am a fond admirer of).  It is not a flashy book, but it packs a punch, and I am finding myself underlining whole paragraphs.  It is such a good read, it is making me realize how prevalent judgment is in our world, and that it is so much easier to talk about anything else but how we want to feel better about ourselves by finding someone else to look down on.

My goodness, we are such a wreck, aren’t we?  Lord, have mercy.

5.

“Love needs no cause beyond itself, nor does it demand fruits; it is its own purpose.  I love because I love; I love that I may love.”

– St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th Century Cistercian Monk

Meister Eckhart said something similar.

Love does not need a why.

Love just loves.

Love has no desire to manipulate or force a particular outcome.

Love loves with freedom and without strings attached.

If Love ever loves for the purpose of being reciprocated, to control, to effect a particular outcome, to be seen as loving, or for any other reason than simply to Love… then it isn’t Love; it is a mutation or a malformed mode of relationship.

Recognizing God’s Grace

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Father Richard, drawing on the wisdom of Scripture and tradition, urges respect and recognition of God’s presence in the natural world:

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a Doctor of the Church, wrote: “Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it.” [1] Grace brings nature to a sense of its own sanctity, and it evokes this sacredness within the human heart.

This is the reason St. Francis could speak of animals as “brother” and “sister.” This manifold and diverse world is held together in a uni-verse, which means a reality turning around one thing. Our common name for that one thing is “God,” but the word is not necessary to appreciate the reality. Aquinas explained this theologically; Francis knew it experientially.

Aquinas continues with “The whole universe in its wholeness more perfectly shares in and represents the divine goodness than any one creature by itself.” [2] Paul said the same thing long before Aquinas: “What can be known about God is perfectly plain, since God has made it plain. Ever since God created the world, God’s everlasting power and divinity, however invisible, has been there for the mind to see in the things that God has made” (Romans 1:19–20).

How could humans think we were the only or even the main event? Not only did we think that Earth was the center of the universe; we were certain our human species was the only one that God really cared about. All of creation was just a stage set for the human drama. Normally that is called narcissism. We extracted the soul from everything else. Nature was simply here for our utilitarian purpose, to be used for our consumption. With this belief system, we entered into a state of profound alienation from our own surroundings. We no longer belonged to this world because there was nothing worth belonging to. It was no longer naturally sacred, deserving our reverence or respect. We could rape, plunder, and misuse the earth. We could torture animals and destroy ecosystems because we thought they had no inherent value. We acted as though we were fully in charge.

Every day we have opportunities to reconnect with God through an encounter with nature, whether an ordinary sunrise, a starling on a power line, a tree in a park, or a cloud in the sky. This spirituality doesn’t depend on education or belief. It almost entirely depends on our capacity for simple presence. Often those without formal education and “unbelievers” do this better than many educated, religious people. I have met many like this who put me to shame.

_________________________________________________________

Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: April 23rd

     Keep your eyes on Me, not only for direction but also for empowerment. I never lead you to do something without equipping you for the task. That is why it’s so important to seek My will in everything you do. There are many burned out Christians who think more is always better, who deem it unspiritual to say no.
    In order to know My will, you must spend time with Me–enjoying My Presence. This is not an onerous task but a delightful privilege. I will show you the path of Life; in My Presence is fullness of Joy; at My right hand are pleasures forevermore.

RECOMMENDED BIBLE VERSES:

Psalm 141:8 NLT
8 I look to you for help, O Sovereign LORD. You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.

Psalm 16:11 (NLT)
11 You will show me the way of life,
    granting me the joy of your presence
    and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 16: 8-11: This psalm (16:10 – “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.”) is often called the messianic psalm because it is quoted in the New Testament as referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both Peter and Paul quoted from this psalm when speaking of Christ’s bodily resurrection (see Acts 2:25-28, 31; 13:35-37).

https://youtu.be/ICnct8THNag?si=Uc0VYOsgDMmGr_mx

Click hyperlink above for today’s song

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Earth Day

The earth was entrusted to us in order that it be mother for us, capable of giving to each one what is necessary to live.… The earth is generous and holds nothing back from those who safeguard it. The earth, which is mother of all, asks for respect, not violence.
—Pope Francis, Our Mother Earth

We can learn to drop down into the sweet current of deep grief that helps us appreciate—to know, to praise, and more fully to love—all that we are losing, all that may soon be lost.
—Brian McLaren, Life After Doom

Brian McLaren describes a favorite place in nature from his childhood. He honors the grief that arises when the places we have known and loved change:

I think of a wetland I used to explore as a boy growing up in Maryland, part of the Rock Creek watershed. I spent hours exploring that wetland in every season, sometimes barefoot, sometimes in boots that nearly always overflowed and filled with cold water because I ventured in a little too deep. How could I stay dry when trilling toads and wriggling tadpoles moved among cattails in the spring? How could I stay away in summer and miss a chance to see that single great blue heron or mammoth snapping turtle who both hunted there, resident dinosaurs to my boyhood imagination? How could I not search for newts and crayfish in its cold waters in autumn, its sky-mirroring surface dappled by yellow tulip poplar, red maple, and orange-amber sweet gum leaves?… How could I not return again as soon as the ice melted to search among the brown soggy layers of decomposing leaves where spotted salamanders gathered for mysterious, slow-motion mating rituals, while red-winged blackbirds called conk-la-ree! from the nearby willows?

Several years ago, I was in the old neighborhood again…. The trail was still there, but now it was broad and paved for bicycles. The wetland had disappeared…. As I sat on one of the benches and looked around, I was overcome by sweet grief for the delight I once enjoyed as a boy, a lost magic boys and girls today will never know, at least, not there….

I’m returning to this precious place in my memory, this sacred swampy ground. I’m appreciating it, praising it for what it was, all the more because it has been lost…. You have your lost places unknown to me. I have mine unknown to you. We could not protect them. But we do not let these good creations disappear only to be forgotten, unappreciated, unpraised, unlamented. Our love for them outlasts their existence. So together, we remember them in grief. We feel them more fully revealing themselves to us in their passing away….

Stay with grief long enough to feel its sweetness, long enough for the sweetness and grief to deepen our sensitivity to the exquisite agony and ecstasy that we call appreciation, praise, love … and life.

Jesus Calling: February 24

    Be still in the Light of My Presence, while I communicate Love to you. There is no force in the universe as powerful as My Love. You are constantly aware of limitations: your own and others’. But there is no limit to My Love; it fills all of space, time, and eternity.

    Now you see through a glass, darkly, but someday you will see Me face to Face. Then you will be able to experience fully how wide and long and high and deep is My Love for you. If you were to experience that now, you would be overwhelmed to the point of feeling crushed. But you have an eternity ahead of you, absolutely guaranteed, during when you can enjoy My Presence in unrestricted ecstasy. For now, the knowledge of My loving Presence is sufficient to carry you through each day.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

1st Corinthians 13:12 NLT

12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Ephesians 3:16-19

16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

A Special Note from Father Richard: Healing for a Hurting World

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Dear Friend,

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on something so simple that it almost feels obvious: Nearly everything that Jesus does in his ministry is to heal broken people.

He did not heal people so they could go to heaven; he healed people so they could live fully in this world now. It’s obvious. How did we miss that?

The healing focus of the gospel became corrupted when we made it about securing a “ticket” for the next world, rather than experiencing aliveness in this one. Many of us are tempted to seek an escape from this moment instead of trusting that God’s healing is possible for us now — that even this moment can be good. We have treated “repentance” as the price of our heavenly ticket, when it actually means “a change of mind” — a transformation for the better.

We are living in a time that is crying out for healing. We see the tears of personal and collective grief flowing. We see the anger over injustice, understandably boiling. We see people tempted toward despair and cynicism. At the same time, we see so many people meeting this moment with courage and compassion, as instruments of God’s universal ministry of love, healing, and peacemaking. Geri, a Daily Meditations reader, shares her own story of healing with us:

I had my world fractured last year after my husband passed away from cancer. I have been grieving his loss and at the same time grieving what’s been going on in our country. Sometimes the sadness and anger I feel are overwhelming. But every day, I pray for healing for myself and the world around me. I want to be an instrument of Christ’s peace, whatever that entails. Thank you, Father Richard Rohr, and staff of CAC, for helping me through these uncertain and painful times!

At the Center for Action and Contemplation, we are committed to sharing Christian contemplative wisdom that heals lives for today and inspires action now. Everything we offer is designed to nurture authentic spirituality that brings divine love, healing, and justice into the present world.

The CAC’s work is primarily funded by the support and participation of people like you who give freely and joyfully to support it. We are deeply grateful for each and every one of you.

Twice per year, we pause our usual Daily Meditations and ask for your financial support. If the CAC’s work has been meaningful to you, including the Daily Meditations, please consider making a gift. Every gift, no matter the amount, helps bring the gospel’s message of healing to a world that desperately needs it.   

If you are able, please consider making a monthly gift as a member of the Bonaventure Circle of Support, the CAC’s monthly giving community. Monthly gifts help expand our programs, provide scholarships to students, and carry this transformative wisdom forward for a new generation of seekers.

Tomorrow, the Daily Meditations will continue exploring this week’s topic of “For Love of the Earth.”

Thank you for being part of this community of people who are willing to face the suffering of the world, while trusting that healing is still possible if love remains at the center. 

Peace and every good,

______________________________________________

Sarah Young

Heaven is both present and future. As you walk along your life-path holding My hand, you are already in touch with the essence of heaven: nearness to Me. You can also find many hints of heaven along your pathway, because the earth is radiantly alive with My Presence. Shimmering sunshine awakens your heart, gently reminding you of My brilliant Light. Birds and flowers, trees and skies evoke praises to My holy Name. Keep your eyes and ears fully open as you journey with Me.
     At the end of your life-path is an entrance to heaven. Only I know when you will reach that destination, but I am preparing you for it each step of the way. The absolute certainty of your heavenly home gives you Peace and Joy, to help you along your journey. You know that you will reach your home in My perfect timing; not one moment too soon or too late. Let the hope of heaven encourage you, as you walk along the path of Life with Me.

RECOMMENDED BIBLE VERSES:
1st Corinthians 15:20-23 (NLV)
  20 But it is true! Christ has been raised from the dead! He was the first one to be raised from the dead and all those who are in graves will follow. 21 Death came because of a man, Adam. Being raised from the dead also came because of a Man, Christ. 22 All men will die as Adam died. But all those who belong to Christ will be raised to new life. 23 This is the way it is: Christ was raised from the dead first. Then all those who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead when He comes again.

Additional insight regarding 1st Corinthians 15:20: Jesus as the first part of the harvest was brought to the Temple as an offering (Leviticus 23:10-44). Christ was the first to rise from the dead and never die again. He is our forerunner, the proof of our eventual resurrection to eternal life. 

Additional insight regarding 1st Corinthians 15:21: Death came into the world as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. In Romans 5:12-21, Paul explained why Adam’s sin brought sin to all people, how death and sin spread to all humans because of the first sin, and the parallel between Adam’s death and Christ’s death.

Hebrews 6:19 (NLV)
19 This hope is a safe anchor for our souls. It will never move. This hope goes into the Holiest Place of All behind the curtain of heaven.

Additional insight regarding Hebrews 6:19: God embodies all truth; therefore, he cannot lie, and we can be secure in his promises. We don’t need to wonder if he will change his purposes and plans. Our hope of heaven stands secure and immovable, anchored in God, just as a ship’s anchor holds firmly to the seabed. To someone truly seeking who comes to God in belief, God gives an unconditional promise of acceptance. When you ask God with openness, honesty, and sincerity to save you from your sins, he will do it. If this truth gives you encouragement, assurance, and confidence, grasp it. Don’t let go no matter what happens around you.

Today’s Prayer:

Lord,

As I journey with You, I’m reminded of heaven’s nearness. Your presence fills me with Peace and Joy, reassuring me that You’re leading me to my heavenly home. Help me keep my eyes and ears open to Your guidance along the way. Amen.

FOR LOVE OF THE EARTH

Soul and the Natural World

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Father Richard encourages us to recognize how the soul of nature mirrors our own:

The modern and postmodern selves largely live in a world of their own construction and react for or against human-made ideas. While calling ourselves intelligent, we’ve lost touch with the natural world. As a result, we’ve lost touch with our own souls. I believe we cannot access our full intelligence and wisdom without some real connection to nature.

My spiritual father Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) spent many days, weeks, and even months walking the roads of Umbria and letting nature teach him. Francis knew and respected creation, calling animals, sun, moon, and even the weather and the elements his brothers and sisters. Through extended time in nature, Francis became intimately connected with non-human living things and came to recognize that the natural world was also imbued with soul. Almost all initiation rites—including those of Jesus and John the Baptist (see Matthew 3:13–17)—took place in nature, surely for that reason.

Without such soul recognition and mirroring, we become alienated from nature and from ourselves. Without a visceral connection to the soul of nature, we will not know how to love or respect our own soul. Instead, we try various means to get God and people to accept us instead of experiencing radical belonging to the world itself. We’re trying to say to ourselves and others, “I belong here. I matter.” Of course, that’s true! But contrived and artificial means will never achieve that divine purpose. We are naturally healed in this world when we know things center to center, subject to subject, and soul to soul. [1]

When God manifests spirit through matter, then matter becomes a holy thing. The material world is the place where we can comfortably worship God just by walking in it, loving it, and respecting it. Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. What else could it really be? When we can enjoy all these things as holy, “we experience the universe as a communion of subjects, not as a collection of objects,” as the “geologian” Fr. Thomas Berry said so wisely. [2]

When we love something, we grant it soul, we see its soul, and we let its soul touch ours. We must love something deeply to know its soul (anima). Before the resonance of love, we are largely inattentive to the meaning, value, and power of ordinary things to “save” us and help us live in union with the Source of all being. In fact, until we can appreciate and even delight in the soul of other things, even trees and animals, we probably haven’t discovered our own souls either. Soul knows soul through love, which Jesus teaches as the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37–39). [3]

Reference:
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Soul, the Natural World, and What Is (Center for Action and Contemplation, 2009). Available as MP3 audio download.

[2] Thomas Berry, The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker (Columbia University Press, 2009), 86.

[3] Adapted from Richard Rohr, A New Cosmology: Nature as the First Bible (Center for Action and Contemplation, 2009). Available as MP3 audio download.

Image credit and inspiration: Siska Vrijburg, untitled (detail), 2017, photo, Netherlands. Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. We gaze lovingly upon the trees, the light, the deer—appreciating them, then taking steps to protect them.

All that Breathes Gives Praise

Monday, April 20, 2026

I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour…. How do I talk to a little flower? Through it I talk to the Infinite. And what is the Infinite? It is that silent, small voice … that still, small voice.
—George Washington Carver, The Man Who Talks with the Flowers

Black farmer and author Leah Penniman celebrates the faith of agricultural scientist and inventor George Washington Carver (1864–1943):

Dr. George Washington Carver was a devout Christian and had a practice of waking before dawn to go pray in the forest. He believed that nature was God’s broadcasting system and credited his conversations with plants as informing his numerous scientific breakthroughs and patents. He explained, “Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.”

In conversation with Penniman, Chris Bolden-Newsome, co-founder of Sankofa Community Farm in Pennsylvania, shares:

I am a practitioner of in-cultured African (American) Catholic Christianity…. So much of Catholic Christianity has its origins within an earth-based African context that existed way before its settling and redefinition in central Europe. The Catholic Church as a whole is catching up to its origins. Starting in 1971, with Pope Paul VI, the church has expressed ecological concern, which was amplified to an urgent appeal by 2015, with Pope Francis writing:

If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled. [1]

At its core, Catholicism—and this reflects the African Spiritual ethos in general, I think—is a practice of deep reverence for the intertwining of matter and spirit, and regard for the indispensable role of ancestors, be they blood ancestors, canonized saints, or cultural ancestors like Baba George Carver. At the center of this belief is our understanding that God chooses to connect with creation in Yeshua (Jesus). This essential unity of spirit and matter means that I can’t do anything earthly that does not have a spiritual ramification, and vice versa. I show the same respect for the spider and the snake as I do for people. They are valued friends….

When I see a snake in my garden, I feel so blessed, so I greet them in one of their ancient names and thank them. All creatures bring us God’s wisdom—they are agents and living sacramentals of the guardian spirits of the land.

References:
[1] Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. Read here for the full text of this encyclical.

Leah Penniman, Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists (Amistad, 2023), 23–25.

An Inward Migration

Friday, April 17, 2026

Brian McLaren reflects on how contemplation and community enable him to live according to the values of the kingdom of God:

During my years as a news junkie, I found myself getting a strange high from the latest ugliness report. Each time I indulged, I fanned the flames of something unhealthy … my moral superiority, or resentment, or fear, or despair, or desolation, or us-versus-them hostilities….

The internal realities we construct in our minds actually exist in our minds, ugly or beautiful, false or true. They shape our internal values which influence our external behavior. We tend to make the world around us resemble the world within us. Based on our focus, ugliness is everywhere or beauty abounds.

Alexis Wright is an Aboriginal writer from Australia. As an indigenous person, she understands that the end of the world has been happening for centuries for indigenous people. She understands that both colonizers and colonized need to be liberated from the mindset of colonization. The first step toward freedom, she says, is to decolonize or de-capitalize the mind, so you can “develop strengths that will not be defined by how others believe you should think.” She calls this liberation “sovereignty of mind” [1] ….

The journey to sovereignty of mind requires an inward migration, where we in a sense become refugees from our external nation, culture, economy, and civilization, even though we still live within its borders. We withdraw inwardly….

When I heard Alexis Wright speak of this inward migration, I felt I gained a new insight into Jesus and his oft-quoted but rarely understood term “kingdom of God.” “The kingdom of God is within you,” he said (Luke 17:21). He described the innermost room of your consciousness (Matthew 6:6), where you go to think differently, to sort out your desires and hopes authentically. When you learn how to do that inward migration, that spiritual migration, you find yourself looking for others who have also gone there, who have discovered a freedom and sovereignty of mind….

[Jesus said,] “Wherever two or three of you gather in my name, there I am,” and [we] might understand him to say, “Listen, I understand that you are outnumbered. I understand that so many people around you have been sucked into the story of ugliness. I understand that you are learning to live by a different story where beauty abounds. You don’t need me physically present to tell the beautiful story. You can tell it yourselves. Even just two or three of you can gather together, embodying my way of being in the world. You can be cells of resistance, outposts of transformation, seedbeds of beauty.”

That is the best future I can imagine for organized religion in these dangerous times. Instead of helping nostalgic people inhabit bubbles of the past, religious communities can help people go forward on this inward migration toward sovereignty of mind, where in defiance of a rising level of ugliness, people cultivate beauty… seeing it, creating it, savoring it. Savoring beauty within will lead to beautiful outward action.

_______________________________________________

5 On Friday John Chaffee

1.

“It’s impossible to learn that which you think you already know.”

– Stoic Principle

It is a strange thing that in order to learn, one must admit that they do not know everything.

In my younger years, I was insecure but did not know it.  The way that I protected myself from my own insecurities was to put on a persona that “already knew” about things.  I am sure I rubbed people the wrong way, including myself, over time.

One of the most liberating things to do is to give up assuming you are an expert about anything and admit that there is always more you can learn about any topic.

2.

“As long as we are sheep, we overcome and, though surrounded by countless wolves, we emerge victorious; but if we turn into wolves, we are overcome…”

– St. John Chrysostom, 5th Century Doctor of the Church

This is an interesting one.

The implications of it are profound when you think about it.

It reminds me of aspects of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.  Then, non-violent resistance was mandatory for most protests.  To fight back was to lose the movement’s witness.

This past week, I heard a firsthand account of how Martin Luther King Jr. would dismiss young people from his rallies if they were not committed to nonviolence.  It was of utmost importance to him that everyone attending his events was fully committed to the movement’s ethos.  To put it bluntly, they all had to be willing to be beaten with fists or clubs.

I cannot imagine the courage that would take.

In a world that often operates on violence, oppression, and chaos, it is spiritually important for the sheep to remain sheep and not give in to the temptation to “fight fire with fire” and act like wolves.

3.

“Only without the sword can the Christian wage war: the Lord has abolished the sword.”

– Tertullian, 2nd Century North African Theologian

Fascinatingly enough, the whole idea of a “Just War Theory” did not even come up until after Christianity was legalized and then made the formal religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century.

Prior to the 4th century, it was a given that Christians were nonviolent and would not participate in violence (whether state-sanctioned or not).  Tertullian, the early church theologian, obviously saw much violence in his lifetime, but still maintained that the Christian ethic does not allow one to do harm to someone else.

It was after the legalization of Christianity and through the works of Ambrose, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas that Just War Theory began to formalize.

And, just for the record, Just War Theory mandates that war is “allowable” if it is in self-defense and if it has exhausted all other potential options of peacemaking.  It also states that if a war is motivated at all by anger, retribution, or greed, it is immediately invalidated as a “Just War.”

4.

“Faith is a decision. We cannot avoid that. ‘You cannot serve two masters’ [Matt. 6:24], from now on either you serve God alone or you do not serve God at all. Now you only have one Lord, who is the Lord of the world, who is the Savior of the world, who is the one who creates the world anew. To serve God is your highest honor.

But to this Yes to God belongs an equally clear No. Your Yes to God demands your No to all injustice, to all evil, to all lies, to all oppression and violation of the weak and the poor, to all godlessness and mocking of the Holy. Your Yes to God demands a brave No to everything that will ever hinder you from serving God alone, whether it be your profession, your property, your house, your honor before the world.“

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 20th Century German Pastor

I know I have shared this quote before.

I think what I like about it is the usage of Yes and No.

In order to say Yes to some things, we are bound to say No to other things.

Christianity does not allow for mixed allegiances.  “You cannot serve two gods,” remember?

Perhaps things were “easier” when humanity was more overtly polytheist.  One could pray to the god of peace in the morning, then pray to the god of war in the afternoon.  There was no incongruency or inconsistency because you were praying to different deities.

However, in the realm of radical monotheism, to pray for both peace and war from the same God doesn’t quite seem to work.

As the book of Exodus teaches us, the God of the Israelites does not suffer oppressive empires for long and takes up the plight of those at the bottom of society as his own personal mission.  God is more on the side of those “with the boot of the empire on their neck” than with the emperor or elite who are stepping on those beneath them.

5.

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain.”

– Pope Leo XIV, Current Head of the Catholic Church

This is probably the most important quote of the week.

When Jesus flipped over the tables in the Temple, I believe it was because he was sickened by people who were profiteering off the piety of good people.  The Temple was being made into a marketplace for commerce rather than a place for prayer and compassion.

To anyone who uses religion as a means to a selfish end, I think God will have quite stern words to say.

Why?

Because Jesus himself did not see faith as something to manipulate.  Rather, Jesus had his harshest words for the religious elite who were making gain after gain after gain while doing very little to help those they were taking from.

As soon as Christianity is co-opted for the purposes of “Us vs Them” ideologies, it has ceased to be Christianity.

The faith does not play those types of games.

CONTEMPLATION, LIBERATION, AND ACTION

Taking a Stand in Government

Thursday, April 16, 2026

At the Fall 2025 ReVision Conference, Brian McLaren highlighted the contemplative witness of the philosopher Boethius (d. 524), a contemporary of Benedict of Nursia: 

Boethius was orphaned at a young age and was raised by a very wealthy aristocrat, which brought him enormous benefits. Because of his privilege he was given an education in the Greek and Roman classics. By the age of twenty-five, he was brought into the government of the violent and unstable King Theodoric, becoming a counselor and advisor to the king at thirty-three. This young Christian man had a great position of privilege. So what did he do with it?

Boethius uses his brilliance to do what he believes needs to be done, seeking to integrate Christian theology and Greek philosophy. He also does some important political work in Theodoric’s kingdom. In the year 520 he takes a dangerous stand, borne of his own integrity and faith, for Christian unity between the East and the West, and he pays for it. In 524, he is imprisoned by King Theodoric for defending one of the king’s critics.

In prison, Boethius is removed from public life, like Benedict in his cave. And like Benedict, people come to see him. He uses his remaining months in prison to teach, and eventually to write a text, The Consolation of Philosophy, that is still studied today as the last great work of the Roman classical period and the first great work of medieval literature.

In The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius describes how he is met in his suffering by a female figure who offers him wisdom:

While I was quietly thinking these thoughts over to myself and giving vent to my sorrow with the help of my pen, I became aware of a woman standing over me. She was of awe-inspiring appearance, her eyes burning and keen beyond the usual power of men. She was so full of years that I could hardly think of her as of my own generation, and yet she possessed a vivid color and undiminished vigor. It was difficult to be sure of her height, for sometimes she was of average human size, while at other times she seemed to touch the very sky with the top of her head, and when she lifted herself even higher, she pierced it and was lost to human sight. [1]

Sophia, the feminine figure of wisdom, offers him calm, helps him recenter, and guides him into contemplation you might say. The writing of this book becomes a contemplative practice for him that influences generations of people across the following centuries, through and beyond the decay and complete collapse of the Roman Empire.

Shortly after finishing The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius is brutally tortured and executed. The government in which Boethius worked and strived to do good turns on him and executes him.

These two men, Benedict and Boethius, were called to two completely different paths to live out their Christian faith. [Read about Benedict here.] One stayed in the center of power and tried to influence it, holding fast to his faith. The other left the centers of power and went to the margins to build an alternative community where they could keep the way of Christ alive and maintain some sort of wisdom in a world that was obsessed not with truth, but with power and wealth, violence and weapons.

Jesus Calling – Sarah Young

This is a time in your life when you must learn to let go: of loved ones, of possessions, of control. In order to let go of something that is precious to you, you need to rest in My Presence, where you are complete. Take time to bask in the Light of My Love. As you relax more and more, your grasping hand gradually opens up, releasing your prized possession into My care.
    You can feel secure, even in the midst of cataclysmic changes, through awareness of My continual Presence. The One who never leaves you is the same One who never changes: I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. As you release more and more things into My care, remember that I never let go of your hand. Herein lies your security, which no one and no circumstance can take from you.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 89:15 (NLT)
15 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,
    for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.

Hebrews 13:8 (NLT)
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Isaiah 41:13 (NLT)
13 For I hold you by your right hand—
    I, the Lord your God.
And I say to you,
    ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.

This is a time in your life when you must learn to let go: of loved ones, of possessions, of control. In order to let go of something that is precious to you, you need to rest in My Presence, where you are complete. Take time to bask in the Light of My Love. As you relax more and more, your grasping hand gradually opens up, releasing your prized possession into My care.
    You can feel secure, even in the midst of cataclysmic changes, through awareness of My continual Presence. The One who never leaves you is the same One who never changes: I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. As you release more and more things into My care, remember that I never let go of your hand. Herein lies your security, which no one and no circumstance can take from you.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 89:15 (NLT)
15 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,
    for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.

Hebrews 13:8 (NLT)
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Isaiah 41:13 (NLT)
13 For I hold you by your right hand—
    I, the Lord your God.
And I say to you,
    ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.

Today’s Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

In this season of our lives, You call us to let go – of loved ones, possessions, responsibilities, and the illusion of control. Yet, in the midst of these transitions, You invite us to find completeness in Your perfect and loving presence with peace that surpasses all of our understanding.

Help us, Lord, to rest in the light of Your love, knowing that in Your arms, we lack nothing. As we surrender our grip on what we hold dear, teach us to trust in Your care.

We find security in Your unchanging nature. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your continual presence is our anchor amidst the storms of life that can bring sudden and unrelenting change.

Just as You hold us by our right hand, assuring us not to fear, help us to release our burdens into Your loving embrace. Grant us the grace to trust that You never let go of us, no matter the circumstance.

May we find the overflowing joy in worshipping You as we walk through life in the light of Your presence. Knowing that You are always with us, guiding us, and sustaining us. You are good, Father.

In the perfect name of Jesus, our constant and faithful companion, we pray. Amen.