OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Wakening to Oneness – Right Here, Right Now – This Very Atom
The material of the doomed stars and the material of my doomed body are actually the same material. Literally the same atoms… It is astonishing but true that if I could attach a small tag to each of the atoms of my body and travel with them backward in time, I would find that those atoms originated in particular stars in the sky. Those exact atoms.
– Alan Lightman
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
Wakening to Oneness – Our Collective Boat
We’re all in the same boat – radiant and broken . . .
– Sy Safransky
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
Just Keep Going
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.
– Rainer Maria Rilke
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
Wednesday of Hope – Accepting Disappointment
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
The Beauty Brought by Cataclysm
The fifth power is cataclysm. Cataclysm is the process by which the universe destroys some of its structures-not only in the sense of accidents that might happen but also as a part of its ongoing emergence. The universe systematically breaks apart particular aspects of itself as a necessary process for ongoing vibrant creativity to continue. In other words, the beauty that has characterized fourteen billion years of existence would not have been possible, so far as science has been able to understand, without the process of cataclysm.
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
The Blessing Found in a Curse
What is the sharpest fact in your life right now? Take a moment to consider your most haunting terror, your most persistent aggravation or relentless criticism of yourself, or a deep shame you have taken upon yourself. Feel it in your body. That terror, aggravation, shame, or sadness is your dearest enemy. Never trust a teacher who would devise ways for you to avoid meeting with such potential, for all of your creative power for the Way is found right there. It is tied up in that, usually tied up in defending the self against that. So, turning that way is turning toward your true freedom, and your most fertile condition at every moment. Such is the blessing found in a curse.
That painful and difficult matter can be a Dharma gate into a richer maturity. Practice is not just a matter of breaking through the fact of suffering, but of realizing suffering as a Dharma gate. And when a Dharma gate opens to you, it opens to great freedom, nothing holy. There’s nothing pious here.
– Susan Murphy, Upside Down Zen
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
The Ground Has Always Been Shaky
Fear is a very timely topic now, because fear these days seems so palpable, so atmospheric. You can almost smell the fear around you. The polarization, fundamentalism, aggression, violence, and unkindness that are happening everywhere on the planet – these bring out our fear and nervousness and make us feel that we are on shaky ground.
The truth is that the ground has always been shaky, forever. But in times when fear is prevalent, that truth is more obvious. All this fear surrounding us may sound like the bad news, but in fact it’s the good news. Fear is like a dot that emerges in the space in front of us and captures our attention. It is like a doorway we could go through, but where that doorway leads is not predetermined. It is up to us. Usually when we’re afraid, it sets off a chain reaction. We go inward and start to armor ourselves, trying to protect ourselves from whatever we think is going to hurt us. But our attempts to protect ourselves do not lessen the fear. Quite the opposite – the rear is actually escalating. Rather than becoming free from fear, we become hardened. As our fear spreads within, it makes us harder and more set in our ways.
…Becoming more in touch with ourselves gives birth to enormous appreciation for the world and for other people. It can sound corny, but you feel grateful for the beauty of the world. It’s a very special way to live. Your heart is filled with gratitude, appreciation, compassion, and caring for other people. And it all comes from touching that shakiness within and being willing to be present with it.
– Pema Chodron, “Smile at Fear,” Shambhala Sun, March 2011
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
The Gift of Chaos
I have a great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift.
– Septima Poinsette Clark
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
Wakening to Oneness – Be Willing to Experience Aloneness
Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within.
-Jennifer Welwood
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
Entering through the Mess
There was no mess anywhere and mess always provides an entry point.
– Ann Belford Ulanov
This month Santa Sabina Center’s online retreat is “Grounding Ourselves When There is No Ground: A Buddhist-Christian Perspective on Living in Interesting Times.” So this month’s quotes will be related to groundlessness and how we meet the unexpected in our lives.
To learn more about our retreat and/or register, please go to: http://www.santasabinacenter.org/retreats-page
