{"id":27450,"date":"2026-08-12T07:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27450"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:48:13","slug":"27450","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27450","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sacred Reading: A Pathway to Connectivity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"There Is No Striving (Official Lyric Video) \/\/ Rita Springer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bg_1DptZBbU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Wednesday, August 12, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Clare of Assisi provides spiritual counsel to Bohemian princess Agnes of Prague. She recommends praying before images of the cross:&nbsp;<\/em><br><br>Gaze upon, examine, contemplate, most noble queen, desiring to follow your spouse\u2026. If you suffer with him, you will reign with him. Grieving with him, you will rejoice with him. Dying with him on the cross of tribulation, you will possess mansions in heaven with him among the splendors of the saints, and your name will be recorded in the book of life. [1]<br>&nbsp;<br><em>Franciscan friar and author Dan Riley (1943\u20132024) reflects on Clare\u2019s second letter to Agnes and describes this experiential form of prayer as \u201cFranciscan Lectio\u201d:&nbsp;<\/em><br><br>For Clare, Francis, and their followers, what we call \u201cLectio\u201d always moves toward&nbsp;<em>actio<\/em>\u2014the loving and healing action, the merciful movement toward justice. This is spherical in nature, out from the Crucified One in Christ, before whom you and I sit. She brings us into this sphere of love, around the axle\u2014the primal tree.\u2026<br>&nbsp;<br>St. Bonaventure points to us a certain way of prioritizing \u201ccoming to know,\u201d which involves placing ourselves in a place where we might learn more than to know\u2026. In other words, this kind of knowing causes wonder to rise up from our hearts instead of dualism or certainty from our minds. To learn is to enter activity, even if it is dark or unclear or veiled or obscured. You and I journey in trust before the crucifix, a mirror for our lives. We come with our questions. We can be honest and real.<br>&nbsp;<br><em>Riley notes that anything good, true, or beautiful can attract our gaze and invite sacred reading. In this form of prayer, wonder, gratitude, and connectivity can arise within our consciousness:<\/em><br><br>When Clare asks us to gaze upon the crucified Christ, the one whom she had long sat before, she is inviting us into an experience that will unfold differently for each of us. She is inviting us to gaze upon the Christ who has already risen, who has gone on before us into Galilee, \u2026 and entered the world wholly and fully alive. What emerges in her letters to Agnes is an invitation into the core of a beautiful, terrible mystery that is at the heart of all that is created: freedom in the Cosmic Christ. When she says \u201cgaze upon,\u201d I believe she is inviting us to open the focal point of our gaze. Clare was not caught up in her sinfulness while looking at the crucifix. She was rejoining the deep call of the suffering, dying, and resurrection of Christ. (She was doing Lectio with the crucifix.) She was looking at becoming one with the axis of the cosmos, the love-pole of life\u2019s compass, and in this experience she was able to be a large enough \u201ctent\u201d for Agnes and others\u2026. Again, we see in St. Clare the heart of Franciscanism: a deep, personal integrated journey&nbsp;<em>within<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>through<\/em>&nbsp;Christ and&nbsp;<em>out&nbsp;<\/em>into the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>=====================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sitwithchuck.substack.com\/p\/keep-calm-and-carry-on\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Keep Calm and Carry On?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Commodification of Calm, and How Ancient Wisdom Can Help<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@chuckdegroat\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@chuckdegroat\">CHUCK DEGROAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AUG 12, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cWithin each of us is a divine treasure, and if we hope to discover it, we need to go deep into the heart of who we are. To find that treasure requires that we work like a wood carver who does not work by adding, but by cutting away, removing what is rough to reveal what shimmers from within.\u201d \u2014<\/em>Meister Eckhart (1260\u20131328)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Years ago when I began training as a Christian therapist, I asked a question:&nbsp;<strong>What\u2019s the goal?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I really wasn\u2019t sure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Was it catharsis\u2014a good, healing cry?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Was it insight\u2014an aha about your childhood wounds?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Was it a better boundary\u2014meant to foster connection?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was also finishing my Master of Divinity degree, and was considering the larger&nbsp;<em>telos&nbsp;<\/em>of it all\u2014what is flourishing on this therapeutic journey?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seemed to matter for the significant work of soul care we were engaged in. And yet, from supervisor to supervisor, the answers varied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years later, my first book\u2014<em>Leaving Egypt: Finding God in the Wilderness Places\u2014<\/em>&nbsp;was devoted to that question, as I anchored my own vision in the long journey home from slavery, through Sinai and sandy deserts, to a secure place\u2014from neurosis to theosis, as I titled one chapter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, we\u2019ve learned a lot more about nervous system physiology, and I sense new goals being offered beyond catharsis, insight, and boundaries. Today, we\u2019re invited to the kind of work that produces \u201ccalm,\u201d that fosters \u201cregulation,\u201d that invites \u201cventral anchoring,\u201d and more\u2014a new language of the nervous system, offering an invaluable contribution to human flourishing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yet, it\u2019s become an industry, with apps and techniques and vagus nerve stimulation devices and books.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Calm\u2122 has been commodified.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is This \u201cCalm\u201d You\u2019re Seeking?&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When a group I was engaging was asking about resources and techniques and devices and media that could help them find this elusive state of calm, I pausing because I sensed the urgency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a moment, I asked:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What if what you\u2019re seeking is already yours?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I saw a few blank stares.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But my point was this: we\u2019ve turned nervous system regulation into another pursuit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it\u2019s not surprising.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I\u2019ve written about in&nbsp;<em>Healing What\u2019s Within,&nbsp;<\/em>it\u2019s what we know in our bones, an ancient echo of a slithering serpent\u2019s deceit in Genesis 3\u2014the not-so-subtle hint that what you\u2019re looking for is out there, waiting to be grasped, like Adam and Eve grasped for the tempting fruit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Purchase this vagal toning device for $399!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or, grab this yearlong subscription to the state-of-the-art breathwork app!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or, enroll in this training for nervous system work not available anywhere else!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And\u2014guess what?!\u2014that buzzing anxiety will go away.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That nagging restlessness will disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, the promised land is just over the horizon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do you feel the pull?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s just out there\u2014yours to acquire\u2014until it isn\u2019t.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s not to say that particular practices aren\u2019t valuable\u2014they are, and I commend them regularly\u2014as resources to support someone,&nbsp;<em>not the guaranteed means<\/em>&nbsp;to unlocking the elusive calm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, I\u2019m deeply invested in engaging the best insights of today\u2019s neuroscience, but when I sense its limits, I continually return to ancient wisdom.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ancient Calm?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, I pulled a dusty copy of Cyprian Smith\u2019s&nbsp;<em>The Way of Paradox: Spiritual Life as Taught by Meister Eckhart<\/em>&nbsp;off my shelf. I set it alongside Jon Sweeney and Mark Burrow\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Meister Eckhart: Book of the Heart.&nbsp;<\/em>And these two books accompanied me on a little birthday vacation week away.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sitting back in my camp chair one morning with a few hours of spacious time ahead, I exhaled.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!s3vR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe0d97a33-d383-498f-8f1a-89d53aec16f2_300x420.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!s3vR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe0d97a33-d383-498f-8f1a-89d53aec16f2_300x420.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!BY77!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3adaaf9c-5ffe-4786-be18-cce130ab1cb9_378x594.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!BY77!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3adaaf9c-5ffe-4786-be18-cce130ab1cb9_378x594.jpeg\" alt=\"The Way of Paradox: Spiritual Life as Taught by Meister Eckhart \u2013 Abbey  Bookshop\" title=\"The Way of Paradox: Spiritual Life as Taught by Meister Eckhart \u2013 Abbey  Bookshop\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Echoing Jesus\u2019s \u201cthe kingdom of heaven is within you\u201d and his words to the elder son \u201ceverything I have is (already) yours,\u201d the German Dominican philosopher and priest Meister Eckhart was eager to remind his listeners that what you\u2019re seeking is already yours.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He once said:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cGod is at home. It is we who\u2019ve gone out for a walk.\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You hear this echoed in the quote at the top, too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eckhart knew his own restless heart, and he was interested in calm. In fact, he had a word for it:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Gelassenheit<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I\u2019m no German scholar, but I\u2019ve done a little digging and Eckhart\u2019s vision of calm is a bit different than ours. For Eckhart, this \u201ccalm\u201d state he envisions is not one we grasp or acquire or achieve. The best of contemporary neuroscience would agree, but marketplace products offering calm don\u2019t always heed the science.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Eckhart,&nbsp;<em>gelassenheit<\/em>&nbsp;described a state of relinquishment, of letting go, of opening our hands, even releasement (as John O\u2019Donohue names it).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!pTQt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4f2c3eac-8d7f-45a9-b42f-893e1159341b_1200x628.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!pTQt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4f2c3eac-8d7f-45a9-b42f-893e1159341b_1200x628.png\" alt=\"Prayer of Surrender at the End of Life - CommonSpirit Health | Mission\" title=\"Prayer of Surrender at the End of Life - CommonSpirit Health | Mission\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Eckhart might\u2019ve said that&nbsp;<strong>grasping is the problem.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We grasp after some image of God fashioned for pragmatic or power-seeking motives.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We grasp after some image of ourselves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We grasp for success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We grasp for healing, for certainty, and even for calm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And I feel this.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve spent a lot of my life chasing the thing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s what we learned in school, in sports, in games, even in a church\u2014there was always another achievement to unlock. We\u2019re practically formed to grasp in our earliest years, and this grasping serves us in the first half of life until we hit a wall or realize our limits\u2014often through significant disorientation, disruptions, and more. Most of us don\u2019t know what to do when we arrive at this wall, and there are too-few guides around to help us navigate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, we grasp some more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scan your life: what did you learn to grasp for? What subtle formation oriented your life toward grasping? What did your school reward? What did your church prize? What would you need to achieve to be sanctified, smart, or successful? How were you formed to grasp?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Already Yours<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I turned 56 last week and grabbed copies of those books before Sara and I took a short birthday trip.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Because I needed to be reminded.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even after midlife\u2019s pruning, I still grasp.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even after experiencing the futility of grasping, I keep reaching.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eckhart might say today that we\u2019re all addicts looking for the next fix\u2014even if that fix is what we call \u201ccalm.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the invitation\u2014for you and for me\u2014is to simply notice the grasping. Notice that subtle pull within to search for it, to reach for it, to purchase it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, breathe.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Breathe in\u2014and exhale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps an old prayer might help:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Calm me oh Lord (inhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you stilled the storm (exhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still me oh Lord (inhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep me from harm (exhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let all the tumult (inhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>within me cease (exhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enfold me Lord (inhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>in Your peace. (Exhale)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(Celtic prayer via David Adam)&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then consider: what if what I\u2019m searching for is already available, in some mysterious way, to me, even within me?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What if I\u2019m already the beloved?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What if Jesus\u2019s words to the elder brother are true and it\u2019s all&nbsp;<em>already<\/em>mine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What if I\u2019m one with God, even now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What if \u201chome\u201d is a spacious place within?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What if a \u201chidden wholeness\u201d is my spiritual birthright and eternal inheritance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, as I wrote about years ago in a Lenten devotional, what if all I need to do is to&nbsp;<strong>fall into the goodness that is already given<\/strong>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sacred Reading: A Pathway to Connectivity Wednesday, August 12, 2026 Clare of Assisi provides spiritual counsel to Bohemian princess Agnes of Prague. She recommends praying before images of the cross:&nbsp; Gaze upon, examine, contemplate, most noble queen, desiring to follow your spouse\u2026. If you suffer with him, you will reign with him. Grieving with him, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27450"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27456,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27450\/revisions\/27456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}