• Home
    • About
  • Prayer Diary
  • Daily Quote
    • Untitled
    • Archives Quote musings 2012
    • Archives, Quote musings 2011
  • Word & Image
  • Resource List
  • Books
  • Prayers and Poems
  • Spiritual Books
  • Archives, scripture
  A Prayer Diary

A Hallelujah sunrise

4/7/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Easter was comforting and exhausting for me. I started the day with two sunrise services, the first live-streamed by SSJE (Society of St. John the Evangelist) at 4:30. The brothers began chanting at the entrance to their chapel on Memorial Drive and then processioned in where they sang the psalms and read scripture—Genesis, Exodus, Ezekiel, Mary’s magnificat, all interspersed with psalms. They were in no hurry to get to the most important moment in Christian faith when we all shout Hallelujah.
     I left before the Hallelujah to walk up the street to the sunrise service at my church (the sun had fully risen by then). About twenty of us stood in the church parking lot, worshipping for the first time together in over a year, shouting hallelujah. 
       By the time I got home, the brothers had shouted Hallelujah, and a magnificent postlude was concluding the service. Exhausted, I took a nap before putting on my Easter bonnet to return to my church, this time on-line, to shout Hallelujah one more time.

0 Comments

Meeting Jesus during Easter Week

4/19/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
I love Easter Week, which begins Easter Sunday and ends the following Saturday, because Jesus feels especially present to me.
According to the Gospels, he was resurrected but hadn’t yet ascended.Jesus was still walking around, meeting two of the apostles on the Road to Emmaus, and showing Thomas his wounds in the Upper Room.
These stories encourage me to be attentive as I take a walk or sit in the Angel Room. Maybe I will meet Jesus, too. That’s what faith is.


0 Comments

No Easter without Good Friday—for Jesus, for us.

4/3/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Good Friday! Easter! My faith has grown exponentially in the past year and with that, no surprise, I notice myself deeply immersed in Holy Week. The experience is more prayerful than analytic. I find myself walking around with Jesus, not saying much, nor does he. We’re just together in all the sorrow, both his and mine, personal and worldly. We’re walking along, walking through it all, walking with God, walking toward God. In Scripture Jesus leads us to God. Jesus goes to God through prayer, but ultimately via the Cross.

     We know God through our difficulties. When we face the truth on our cross, we meet God. It can happen to us again and again; many truth tellings, many crosses. There can be no Resurrection without a Crucifixion, no Easter without Good Friday—for Jesus, for us.


0 Comments

Easter flowers at Santa Maria dei Fiori

4/26/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
The most holy time to visit Santa Maria dei Fiori (the Duomo) is early in the morning when, with prayerful intention you slip in the side door for Mass and prayer. Mass is said in one of the apses; the other two are available for prayer and mediation. Today the central one was filled with Easter flowers -- an aroma and visual feast to experience. No need to think: just be.    

0 Comments

From Easter to Italy~

4/23/2014

0 Comments

 
PictureSanta Trinita
I'm writing this on the plane to Florence after a busy Easter morning. It started with the sunrise service in our backyard with about twenty five people, including some kids. Oh, and three dogs. This was followed by a waffle breakfast at church. Easter service with all those ‘Christ the Lord has risen’ songs, and with everyone singing Mendelssohn’s Hallelujah Chorus, a tradition in my church,! Pastor Tom’s message was honest and simply: Easter helps us frame our sorrows and tragedies in hope.

    When I arrive in Florence I’ll post this, probably just as is. Then I’ll enjoy a cappuccino, wander about and step into Santa Trinita and be grateful.

    P.S. I meant to post this two days ago, but with the lack of sleep and excitement of being here, I forgot. So here it is. More later.



0 Comments

Good Friday vigil~

4/18/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I remember Good Friday growing up. We had the day off from school and from 12 to 3 my UCC church held a vigil. Just watch. No music, no program, no words. Just sit and watch. I like to think that I remember staying for the entire time, but I’m not at all certain that I did. I like to think that my experience was very profound, but I’m not at all certain that it was.

After all, except for this Good Friday vigil, my church upbringing centered on Easter.

      Today I still can’t get my mind around what this day means. I’ve stopped trying to figure out the theology of it all, but this year I am aware that my heart is responding. The most I am able to say, or want to say, is that I’m feeling some holy embrace for all the suffering in the world.  Knowing Jesus suffered gives me hope.



0 Comments

God will put us back together again~

4/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I been thinking about the people who have experienced heartfelt tragedy and sadness during this past year. Are they glad that Lent is coming to an end? Is this Holy Week and the anticipation of Good Friday too much for them to bear? Are they afraid that they will feel no Easter joy, that they won’t be able to sing Hallelujah?

    These are the people that I will put on my prayer list. Their hearts feel broken and they may fear that, like Humpty Dumpty, they are powerless. I can’t fix them, but I can send the salve of God’s peace, which sooths. God will put them back together again. Don’t ask me how this works. I just know that, with faith, it does.


0 Comments

Every prayer is important~

3/19/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I’m in awe of the number of people on my prayer list. Friends, friends of friends, citizens of the world. Do our prayers turn the tide for them? Will my friend get an all clear report on her thyroid condition? My daily ‘top ten’ list is selective, but it doesn’t mean others aren’t on the list in my heart.

     I have to assume that those of you reading this blog have your own list of ten. Yesterday 882 different people click on here. That adds up to 8882  prayers offered from just this little sampling of praying diary people. And what about all of your friends who pray but who didn’t read this yesterday to get counted? One could get discouraged by the enormity of prayer needs.

      But God is bigger, more mysterious, more omnipotent, and more loving that anything we can even begin to imagine, which is a good thing. Then there is lent where suffering is held by God, which is another good thing. And then there is Easter where suffering is released. And that is a very good thing. 

      Oh, one more good thing: 8882 prayers is better than none. Every prayer is important. Don’t give up.


0 Comments

Seasons of faith~

4/22/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I aware that catastrophic news events can detract from my prayer life. On one level I’m praying all the time, but on another I am distracted from my usual prayer and meditation routine. Maybe I need to remember that Christianity is a seasonal faith with the yearly church calendar of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, and Ordinary Time, Our lives, and surely our prayer lives, reflect this in an arbitrary and seeming random fashion—anticipation, birth, suffering, little deaths, resurrections, and all those time when nothing much seems to be happening.

    Last week I discovered how easy it is for me to let go of my usual prayer practice. As I forgive myself (once again), I want to recommit (once again) to the stability that the monastic tradition that passed on through the centuries. We are told to stay in our cell, for it is there that we will come to know all that we need to know. The Rule of St. Benedict tells us, “Listen carefully with the ear of your heart.” That calls for attention to the seasons of my faith.  


0 Comments

The story of Easter never ends~

4/2/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
If Easter is the highlight of our Christian faith, I ought to be right there with the prayer, praying without ceasing. But since I’m not a sequestered religious, that is hardly the case. Family gatherings, meals to be planned, prepared, served and cleared up after seem to take precedence over the church services that I rush off to. Although once I arrive in the pew I remember and am grateful, I must admit that often the celebration aspect of Easter overshadows the worship.

    But the story doesn’t end. Thank God for Easter Monday and all the ordinary days that follow, all the days of a lifetime. I have five days at the cottage before I clean up, lock the door and settle back at home-- five days to watch the sunrise and walk the beach, five days to read and pray about what Easter means for me this year.


0 Comments
<<Previous
    Contact me
    bobbifisher.mac@mac.com

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    Categories

    All
    55 Maxims Of Fr. Hopko
    Amy Carmichael
    Anne Lamott
    Art
    Assisi
    Awe
    Bede Griffiths
    Benedict
    Bible
    Billy Graham
    Blessing
    Bliss
    Bonhoeffer
    Books
    Breathe
    Brigit
    Call
    Canticle Of The Sun
    Celtic Daily Prayer
    Centering Prayer
    Christ
    Christian Life
    Christmas
    Church
    Cloud Of Unknowing
    Coleridge
    Communion
    Compassion
    Contemplation
    Contemplation And Action
    Contemplation And Action
    Cottage By The Sea
    Craft
    Cross Roads
    Cynthia Bourgeault
    Dad
    Daily Prayer
    David Steindl-Rast
    Death
    Death And Dying
    Desert Mothers And Fathers
    Desiderata
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Doris Grumbach
    Dostoyevsky
    Easter
    Edinburgh
    Emmet Fox
    Energy
    Ermetic Life
    Eve Kiley
    Everyday Simplicity
    Faith
    Fasting
    Father Maximos
    Fear
    Florence
    Food
    Forgiveness
    Frederick Buechner
    Friends
    Fruit Of The Spirit
    Gardens
    Gift
    Giving And Receiving
    Giving Thanks
    Giving Thanks
    God Moment
    Grace
    Gratitude
    Harold Rohheiser
    Healing
    Health
    Heart
    Hildegard De Bigen
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Week
    Hope
    Hospitality
    Howard Thurman
    Humility
    Humor
    I Believe
    Icons
    Incarnation
    Intercessory Prayer
    Intercessory Prayer
    Iona
    Iona Prayer Circle
    Ireland
    Italy
    James Martin
    Jeffrey M. Gallagher
    Jesus
    Jesus Prayer
    Joan Chittister
    Job
    Julian Of Norwich
    Kate Tristram
    Katherine Paterson
    Kazantzakis
    Kinds Of Prayer
    Kingdom
    Kyriacos C. Markides
    Laura Hillenbrand
    Lent
    Louie Zamparini
    Love
    Madeline L'Engle
    Maranatha
    Margaret Bullitt Jonas
    Margaret Bullitt-Jonas
    Marsha Sinetar
    Martin B. Copenhaver
    Mary Luti
    Mary Oliver
    Matthew 25
    Max Ehrmann
    Meditation
    Meeting Jesus In The Gospel Of John
    Meister Eckhart
    Midrash
    Ministry
    Miracles
    Mom
    Monastery
    Monastery Of The Heart
    Morton Kelsey
    Mountain Of Silence
    Moving
    Music
    Mystery
    Nature
    Northumbria Community
    Now
    Oliver Herford
    Oswald Chambers
    Othona Community
    Outreach
    Oxyrtynchus Manuscript
    Pamela Dalton St. Francis
    Peace
    Phyllis Tickle
    Pilgrimage
    Pope Francis
    Praise
    Prayer
    Prayer List
    Prayer Questions
    Prayer Questions
    Prayer Shawls
    Prayer Walk
    Pray Without Ceasing
    Psalms
    Raven's Bread
    Reading
    Religious Orders
    Retreat
    Richard Rohr
    Robert J. Wicks
    Rome
    Ronald Rolheiser
    Ross King
    Rule Of Life
    Sabbath
    Sacred Places
    Sacrifice
    Scotland
    Scripture
    Silence
    Simone Weil
    Simplicity
    Sister Madonna Kolbenschlag
    Skye
    Society Of Saint John The Evangelist
    Sol
    Solitude
    Son Of Man
    Spiritual Exercises
    SSJE
    St Augustine685a78b5bd
    St Benedict2e69d019b8
    St Brigid8a489d0d27
    St Francisb0c25165c2
    St Francisda1a8c4071
    St Ignatius97c6861c0b
    Suffering
    Taize Lent743fec0e30
    Talking With God
    Thanksgiving
    Theophan The Recluse
    The Reader
    Thomas Keating
    Thomas Merton
    Thomas-merton
    Thy Will Be Done
    Trinity
    Unbroken
    Upper Room
    Walking With God
    Walter Ciszek
    Way Of A Pilgrim
    Wm Paul Young757e23b986
    Wonder
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly