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Read the most recent “MondayMusings,” and other posts about the Loretto Retreat Centers, below. You can also follow Loretto on Facebook directly.
Psalm 116 is an invitation for fallow time. “Return, oh my soul, to your rest.” Under the surface of whatever expectations tend to keep us rushing from one thing to the next, we can trust that our soul knows the way back home to a place of rest. Perhaps you might like to repeat the Psalm as you take a few slow, deep breaths. Return, oh my soul, to your rest… Return, of my soul, to your rest.
www.lorettocommunity.org/loretto-honors-fallow-time-embracing-the-inside-season/
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A break-up, a job loss, the death of a loved one, a new physical limitation… these are examples of other significant and sometimes prolonged fallow times in life. The political polarization in the U.S., the ravages of a planet that is warming, the reality of war around the globe and the heart-breaking images we see on our screens… any one of these can shake us, throw us off balance, turn our world upside down. Never is it more important (and never is it more difficult) to replenish ourselves deeply during such lean times. “Mine, O thou Lord of life, send my roots rain.” (Gerard Manley Hopkins’, Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend.)
youtube.com/shorts/H4sN3tcwdmo
(Video by JoAnn Gates CoL.)
www.lorettocommunity.org/loretto-honors-fallow-time-embracing-the-inside-season/
#LorettoRetreats #FallowTime
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In her book, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, Tricia Hersey looks underneath our economic system to reveal the toxic productivity that is particularly damaging to the descendants of enslaved people upon whose forced labor our current economy was built. She writes, “Our culture…has told you and reinforced the idea that you came into the world to be a machine, to accomplish, to labor, and to do. Nothing can be further from the truth and when you slowly begin to believe and understand your inherent worth, rest becomes possible in many ways.”
(Photo by Susan Classen CoL.)
www.lorettocommunity.org/loretto-honors-fallow-time-embracing-the-inside-season/
#LorettoRetreats #FallowTime
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Going down under, living during a season with more darkness than light, can call for a different form of nourishment. A few days ago, we placed a protein patty in each of the two Motherhouse bee hives. Hopefully, this will support the honey bees during the winter as they try to keep the queen – and themselves – warm. I think about some of the ways I nourish my soul during fallow time: drinking hot beverages, reading more, perusing seed catalogs, making hearty soups, sending hand-written notes to loved ones, enjoying Orion’s watchful presence... What nourishment might you anticipate giving yourself as we enter into this fallow time?
(Photo by JoAnn Gates CoL.)
www.lorettocommunity.org/loretto-honors-fallow-time-embracing-the-inside-season/
#LorettoRetreats #FallowTime
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I remembered a wonderful book, re reading and sending out to beloved friends: Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen. Have you read it?
Allowing land to lie fallow is a farming practice that gives soil time to rest between crops. Underneath the surface of what looks like an empty field, billions of microorganisms are replenishing nutrients in the soil. Take a moment to reflect on the “soil” of your life. What do you notice under the surface?
www.lorettocommunity.org/loretto-honors-fallow-time-embracing-the-inside-season/
#LorettoRetreats #FallowTime #MondayMusings
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During this Thanksgiving week, I find myself grateful for Velvet Welch who founded Sacred Earth Community Garden as a response to gun violence in Louisville’s West End. During a moving prayer ritual, she and the youth with whom she works, added soil gathered from places where blood had been spilled to a garden bed and planted hyssop and chamomile for cleansing and rest. For whom are you grateful this week? - Susan Classen CoL
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This warmed my heart on this cool November evening. I love me some Sis of Loretto! This was my first ritual I have performed, and my consciousness has not been the same. I am so much more intuned to Spirit! I am grateful to all the beautiful souls that partook to make it all that it was supposed to be! All praises and thank you everyone!
