Daily Signet

Long travels, long delays, layovers and standbys.  A day full of getting there.
Long storms, long nights, late freezes and standbys.  A winter full of getting there.
Long illness, long suffering, surgery and standbys.  A year full of getting there.
Long injustice, long hunger, sanctions and standbys.  A decade of getting there.
Long separation, long sleeps, sacrifices and standbys.  An eternity of getting there.
In between grief and getting-there, is standing by. In standby time we anguish
with the unknown.  The worst is over but the birth has not yet happened.
The Jews have set out Elijah’s cup for thousands of years now,
Waiting for the birth.
Did the three days after Jesus’ crucifixion seem like thousands of years?
In celestial time?
What if his followers had all turned against him
because the resurrection did not come at once?
There is no standard gestation time for a birth that follows death.
No direct correlation of death time to rebirth.
The only promise is that it will come,
maybe in this lifetime, or the next.
In this Holy Week I pray for strength in the standby times. 

Jamie Ziegler

On This Day…

St. Mary of Egypt: 4C penitent and wilderness hermit known for her miracles

Washington Irving born 1783 in Manhattan, New York, died 1859: author, essayist, biographer, historian, diplomat.

Works: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Biography of Muhammad, Tales of the Alhambra

Quotes: “Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.” “A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.” “Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.”

Daily Signet

Christuman is a living, growing being—vital and organic, ever becoming more clearly itself. In turn, Christuman continually converts us with inspiration and beauty, mystery and truth.

It is through our choices to convert our energies, our attention, away from those little-self preferences which cannot create more than a mundane life, to those which hold the possibility of glory, that we convert Christuman to contain even greater potential.  It is from the death of the least of each of us, it is our individual conversions that nourish and grow Christuman, allowing its greatness to be made real. 

Christuman has no flesh but us. Without flesh, it would be merely a beautiful theory. Our sacrifices, our love and attention, create and nurture that flesh.

We are convertors converting and being, in turn converted.

Let us, in this season of death and rebirth, die to all in us that is too small for Christuman, that new life may sweep in on the winds of spring to fill those spaces. New life with which to create our conversion into true human beings, that we may continually embody Christuman.

Donna Piper Leichtling

On This Day…

Emile Zola born 1840 in Paris, died 1902: novelist, playwright, journalist.

Works:  Nana, Germinal, Au Bonheur

Quotes: “There are two men inside the artist; the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman.”

Daily Signet

O Holy Spirit,
We call upon the life in us
To regenerate new life—
To replace cells no longer vital
And to revitalize our hearts, our minds, our dedication.
We live in such a jumble of should and rights and wants.
It seems we cannot sustain a rhythm of hours, of seasons, of prayer. 

Renew us.
Make our eyes New
Fire our love that it may flow strong and rich.
Take the death in us
And from its ashes grow green visions
And deep-down imaginatio. 

Out of the “best of each”, the roots of new action;
Out of our contemplative time, new insight.
Our disappointments, new joy,
Our frustrations, hope.
For this season of renewal, we are grateful.
May this season be reborn in us.
Amen.                                                                        

Benjamin Martin

On This Day…

April Fools’ Day!