Speaking of Seasons....

My below “favorite things” post on seasons reminded me of this recent reflection from Blessings of the Daily….

“As we journey along the pleasant and sometimes unpleasant rhythm of the season, we become more and more aware of the immutable wisdom of the seasons and of their Creator. We become more attentive to the questions of living in harmony with nature’s cycles, of looking deep into the seasons which shape our daily lives. From then, we glean inspiration and inner sustenance.

Ultimately, our lives become fully integrated only when we accept the guidance of God and harmonize with the cycles of nature, the cycles of the heart, the cycles of the liturgy, and the cycles of life and death.”

Taken from: Blessing of the Daily: A Monastic Prayer Book by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourette (September 22 entry)

Favorite Things…Buenos Aires Style (#6 – Seasons)

It’s been awhile since my last “favorite things” in Buenos Aires post. As Facebook friends in the U.S. are sharing about pumpkin patches, Halloween costumes, fall colors, carving pumpkins, and crisper weather; we here in Buenos Aires are enjoying some of our first consistent warmer temperatures of spring. September and October are typically warm one day and cold the next. I’ve learned to not put away the warmer clothes too soon. But, I think I can now safely pull out the flip-flops and shorts! The parks and plazas are full of people enjoying the sun.

I have written a lot about the seasons here these past few years. Being from Southern California, experiencing the cycle of seasons was something new to me. And while I whine when it is cold and whine in the sweaty heat, I do enjoy the rhythm of seasons here in Buenos Aires. Below are pictures I took of one tree through the seasons. This tree is just down the street from my apartment.

You can check out my first five favorite things by clicking here.

Autumn & Lent

Lent begins in just one week. I continue to contribute regular reflections to This Ignatian Life blog (http://ignatianlife.org/). As Lent spans the end of summer and beginning of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, I reflected on "Autumn and Lent" in my most recent blog post. For those of you who follow my blog or receive my prayer letters some of this may sound familiar.

You can read my reflection here:

http://ignatianlife.org/autumnandlent/

Favorite Advent Prayers

Advent and new church liturgical year begins Sunday! Happy New Year!

This morning I posted an Advent prayer for the first week of Advent on the Prayers & Creeds blog. It is taken from Chistine Sine’s 2010 Advent Meditation video, “Christ Is Coming.”

Here’s the link to the prayer:

http://prayersandcreeds.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/advent-prayer-christ-is-coming/

I have now posted weekly prayers on the Prayers & Creeds blog for two years. During these two years I have posted several Advent prayers. Here are some of my favorites...just click on the prayer.

Prayer for Welcoming Advent

Advent Collect for Southern Hemisphere

Advent Prayer from Walter Brueggemann

Advent Prayer from Henri Nouwen

Awaiting the Christ

Hope Revived

Jacarandas in Buenos Aires

I have been paying attention to trees this springtime in Buenos Aires. But, I'll have more on that later in an upcoming Advent reflection. Just today I was noticing a few Jacaranda trees in bloom in my neighborhood. Here is a link to some great photos of springtime Jacarandas in the Buenos Aires right now.

http://www.argentinaindependent.com/culture/thecity/the-indy-eye-jacarandas-/

¡bienvenido primavera!

Welcome spring! Today is the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. I took the pictures above this morning across the street from my apartment. On Saturday night our church will welcome spring with its annual spring costume party...fun times!!

At the change of the seasons I often reflect on a great chapter from Parker Palmer in his book, Let Your Life Speak. Here are just a few quotes on spring that sticks with me this morning….

“In my own life, as my winters segue into spring, I not only find it hard to cope with mud but hard to credit the small harbingers of larger life to come, hard to hope until the outcome is secure. Spring teaches me to look more carefully for the green stems of possibility: for the intuitive hunch that may turn into a larger insight, for the glance or touch that may thaw a frozen relationship, for the stranger’s act of kindness that makes the world seem hospitable again.”

“From autumn’s profligate seedings to the great spring giveaway, nature teaches a steady lesson: if we want to save our lives, we cannot cling to them but must spend them with abandon. When we are obsessed with bottom lines and productivity, with efficiency of time and motion, with the rational relation of means and ends, with projecting reasonable goals and making a beeline toward them, it seems unlikely that our work will ever bear full fruit, unlikely that we will ever know the fullness of spring in our lives.”

More reflections on spring, coming soon….