by Catherine Smith | Apr 18, 2025 | Holy Week, Reflections
We quietly mark this day when, He who hung the earth upon the waters today is hung on the cross. The Lectionary for Ordinary Radicals We are living in solemn times and averting our eyes can never truly heal us. This is a day when the power of Love is so spent upon us,... by Catherine Smith | Mar 7, 2025 | Reflections
Catherine lives a life of contemplation in action. This is a way that intentionally cultivates space to notice and receive the Holy Presence in all things. From that receptive space and encounter all vital action is set in motion. This is as important for the identity... by Catherine Smith | Feb 28, 2025 | Reflections
On the news we hear that two Israeli children, held hostage by Hamas, but also by Israeli in its avid pursuit of genocide. Perhaps they were murdered by Hamas, perhaps they died of starvation like many Palestinian children. Food and health care are both more than... by Catherine Smith | Jan 31, 2025 | Prayers, Reflections
February 2nd is a day of many names, Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation and a new one to me this year; the feast of Holy Encounter. I like that. It’s also World Wetlands Day and of course Groundhog Day. It’s the first two in the list I want to linger with here.... by Catherine Smith | Dec 4, 2024 | Advent, Reflections
(The Wednesday, Friday & Saturday following St. Lucy’s Day which falls on December 13th.) This is an excerpt from the Advent/December section of the resource Entwining: Ember Days and the Circling Seasons. It is the first day of three in this season. You can read... by Catherine Smith | Dec 2, 2024 | Prayers
Lectio Divina, Divine or Sacred Reading is a way of prayer that uses a text as a portal to receptive stillness. Scripture, poetry, a paragraph of writing, even your life can be a text. When you’ve chosen a text you can listen below to be guided through the... by Catherine Smith | Nov 6, 2024 | Reflections
This for many of us is a gut blow of a day. It’s hard to catch a breath. The very air we move in seems heavy. We’re frightened and full of grief. Perhaps too full of grief to be angry, though that may come. Or numbness, that may come too, even more numbness than we’ve... by Catherine Smith | Nov 5, 2024 | Reflections
Today,the fading fibre of my fatherheavy-makes my heart. And there is more. The thick, malignant possibilityof a draining democracy;the stoppers all are out. Circles more and more of politicians’ speechand less of limbless children,mothers’ gasping griefand fathers’... by Catherine Smith | Oct 31, 2024 | Reflections
It’s early morning and the sky is a thinning dark; the sense of light is in it. It is a familiar long loved fabric washed over and over, the colour under the colour showing through. It is the first of the Hallows Days, the Triduum of Thin Days. Hallows, according to... by Catherine Smith | Sep 13, 2024 | Resources for Our Gathered Life
I am so grateful that the denomination of which I am a part has over the years come to honour the liturgical seasons of the church year. It seems to me that each has something to offer and to elicit in the circling movement of my life with the Holy One. I... by Catherine Smith | Aug 27, 2024 | Reflections
These days it feels as though touch is ever more important. I need the soft mulch of the labyrinth under my feet, the cool rain drops left on the deck, the stone in my hand, the basil picked for the sauce. In the midst of the torrent images of war, and genocide,... by Catherine Smith | Aug 23, 2024 | Prayers, Reflections
Sometimes summer seems to move at a pace that creates a blur. Lectio Divina offers a way of clarifying the movements and images of our days. We open ourselves to the wisdom waiting for our hearts in the garden. We slow down, we deepen, we rest, we are called. You can...