Sunday
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.
—Richard Rohr
Monday
We can build only on life; only life leads to life. Jesus went to the deepest source of life.
—Richard Rohr
Tuesday
This is not a story about Jesus calming the sea. The storm rages on. But if you want to know how to walk through a storm? Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes focused on this Jesus, on his teachings, on his spirit.
—Michael Curry
Wednesday
As the author of 1 John later wrote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” 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.
—Diana Butler Bass
Thursday
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.
—Theresa Taylor-Stinson
Friday
Ask yourself regularly, “What am I afraid of? Does it matter? Will it matter in the great scheme of things? Is it worth holding on to?” We have to ask whether it is fear that keeps us from loving. Grace will lead us into such fears and emptiness, and grace alone can fill them, if we are willing to stay in the void.
—Richard Rohr
Week Seventeen Practice
Led by the Light
In Mother of God Similar to Fire, Father William McNichols and Mirabai Starr partnered to create a book of icons and prayers to honor the many representations of Mary found across the world and time. We invite you to pray with this image of Mary, “Our Lady of the Lake.”
Walking on water,
You come carrying the light of the world, Blessed one.
You part the tempestuous tide of my life
and shine your candle into the dark corners of my mind,
banishing the shadows that have collected there.
I have lost my way, radiant Lady,
lured by the false lights of the mundane world.
I need to return to the garden of my soul.
You are the Morning Star, sweet Mother,
and I welcome you.
I am ready to rise from the darkness
and greet this new day.
Help me to shed the burdens of my past
and begin again,
galvanized with faith,
cleansed with light.
References:
Prayer by Mirabai Starr, Mother of God Similar to Fire (Orbis Books, 2022), 60–61.
Icon (c) William Hart McNichols. All rights reserved. Images by Fr. Bill McNichols can be found here.
Image credit and inspiration: Pao Dayag, untitled (detail), 2021, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Like a seedling rising out of the earth, we unfold into the brightness of day, knowing that God is a source of protection and life.
