Comments on: “Slow work”

By: Hazel Lamb, UK-22

Hazel Lamb, UK-22 — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 09:08:04 +0000

In reply to Katrine Guzman, UK-22. Little worker bees are potential saviours of our planet, Katrine - provided we work together!!!

By: Katrine Guzman, UK-22

Katrine Guzman, UK-22 — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 09:02:49 +0000

Hazel, as always, I really appreciate and resonate with your thoughts. Especially the sentence about egoistic drive for creating something new and producing results … it is so hard for a little worker bee like me to acknowledge that a meaningful, generous, reconciling life can be composed of more than measurable “outputs” (or maybe even none at all???).

By: Hazel Lamb, UK-22

Hazel Lamb, UK-22 — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 15:19:13 +0000

In reply to Andrea Hug, NA-22. .....a bit like labour pains eh Andrea?!

By: Andrea Hug, NA-22

Andrea Hug, NA-22 — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 14:02:42 +0000

Jer keeps talking about the slow work of reconciling, and it’s a level of patience that we have to B R E A T H E through, eh? I admire the awareness of the gifts we receive from listening…and slowing down…and the honesty around ‘catching myself’ as not doing it. It is a constant challenge for me. Thank you for your reflection.

By: Franceska Dante, UK-22

Franceska Dante, UK-22 — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 20:06:39 +0000

The human heartbeat has 5 separate actions in what we call a single beat. The first 4 actions are just that – actions, electrical impulses, contractions etc. The 5th part of the wave form is exactly the opposite – the heart rests. What actually triggers the action of the heart is that resting phase and, when the heart is in a rhythm that doesn’t allow it to pump blood effectively, the defibrillator shock that is applied to it sends it into that resting state so that this will trigger normal function to resume at the next wave. This is a perfect metaphor for the church’s ‘ordinary time’, in which we find ourselves from Pentecost right through to Advent: symbolised by the liturgical colour green, this is a time when we grow not through the celebration of major festivals or the privations of penitential seasons but by the everyday celebration of Word and Sacrament, the constants of our faith. It also seems to be a metaphor for where you are finding yourself: in the small things. God has managed to bless you with the insight to realise that even the most fertile ground must rest sometimes if it is to nourish further crops and that you are no different. Enjoy the small things! Enjoy the everyday! You will spring forth from this refreshed and with new focus, I am sure. A very happy Ordinary Time to you!