photo: franciscans peace

“Up to now, we have been more driven by outer authority (“it is a sin if you don’t” or “the church says…”) than drawn in by the calm and loving inner authority (the in-dwelling Holy Spirit) of prayer, practice, and inner experience… For all practical purposes, this change of identity is the major – almost seismic – shift in motivation and consciousness itself that mature religion rightly calls conversion. It is the very heart of all religious transformation (“changing forms”). Without it, religion is mostly a mere belonging system or a mere belief system, but it does not radically change your consciousness or motivation.

Christianity is much more about living and doing than thinking.”

-Richard Rohr, the Immortal Diamond

franciscans peace
© erin dunigan 2013

photo: malibu sky

You are the Eternal Mystery that enables
and holds and enlivens all things
—even us and even me.
Every name falls short of Your goodness and Your greatness.
We can only see who You are in what is.
In the beginning, now, and always.
Amen.

-Richard Rohr

malibu sky
© erin dunigan 2013

photo: mindfulness

“You’ve got to practice meditation when you walk, stand, lie down, sit, and work, while washing your hands, washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, drinking tea, talking to friends, or whatever you are doing:

While washing the dishes, you might be thinking about the tea afterwards, and so try to get them out of the way as quickly as possible in order to sit and drink tea. But that means that you are incapable of living during the time you are washing the dishes. When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life. Just as when you’re drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life…

Be mindful 24 hours a day, not just during the one hour you may allot for formal meditation or reading scripture and reciting prayers. Each act must be carried out in mindfulness.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness

tea
© erin dunigan 2012

photo: love

“Standing in the lowly place with the easily despised, and the readily left out, and with the demonized — so that the demonizing will stop — and with the disposable — so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away. That gives me life, that’s where I want to be. I think that’s where Jesus insists on standing.” – Father Greg Boyle

love                                                                                    Chiang Mai, Thailand
© erin dunigan 2012