Dear Friends,
I hope that the final days of this special time have been good for you & that you are settling into the routines again.
Our theme this week is Beginning – the New Year is only in its first couple of weeks and we all experience ‘beginnings’ in many different ways – each day gives us a new beginning – so we hope you will find meaning here.
Our blessing this week is another one called ‘Deep Peace’ but from Sacred Pathways.
Those who join us for Evening Prayer either on zoom or in person at the Blessed Sacrament church: it is good to be back praying with you regularly or from time to time.
With our love & prayer
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
John O’Donohue
New Day
an ancient Irish prayer.
This new day you gave to us,
From your great eternity.
This new day enfold us
In your loving hold.
God be in us this day
God ever with us stay
God be in the night
Keep us by thy light
God be in our hearts
God abide, never depart.
“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
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Starting something new is an opportunity to reflect on the past, set new goals, and achieve personal growth. Change may be challenging, but it is essential to embrace it and adapt to new circumstances. Remember, every new beginning offers a chance for a fresh start and an opportunity to pursue one’s passions.
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It’s important to consider our friendship with God who meets us wherever we are. When we look back on a past year or past relationship or past situation, we may nostalgically long to return to that place. But the graces of those times and the memories of the past can come with us. And God, most importantly, is never left behind. God moves with us from the present moment into the future, into new and hopeful beginnings.
The future is not some
place we are going to
But one we are creating.
The paths to it are not found
but made
And the activity of making
them
Changes but the maker and
the destination.
A KENYAN LORETTO SISTER