My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
As some of you know I look for places to find a bit of quiet, a physical place with little external noise. I can find these in some churches. This past week in search for quiet I went to a local catholic church. The first thing i notice as I walked in was yhe quiet. I could hear every breath I took. This was what I was looking for. After about 10 minutes of this quiet in walked these five ladies who then proceeded to pray the rosary. So much for the quiet.
How you see life, depends on your perspective, your angle of view, if something makes no sense, look again with new eyes.
“It was a strange feeling going into a church I did not know for a service that I did not really believe in, but once inside I couldn’t help a feeling of warmth and security. Outside there were wars and road accidents and murders, striptease clubs and battered babies and frayed tempers and unhappy marriages and people contemplating suicide and bad jokes, but once in St. Martin’s there was peace. Surely people go to church not to involve themselves in the world’s problems but to escape from them.” ― Michael Palin,
“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.”
Doug Larson
Quiet time found in an empty church as light beams flow in.
I saw a sign yesterday posted out in front of a church, it read “If you’ve been praying for snow, please stop.” But, because of our need for moisture in Colorado, I say keep it going. We had about 5-6 inches of snow through the night, that works for me. Anymore than that I’ll be complaining. The temperatures are not bad at 16 degrees (F). Stay warm for those caught in frigid weather and enjoy this last Friday of January 2014!
“After 40 years of ingesting every aspect of photographic science and composition, I still find the camera to be an endlessly intriguing partner that challenges my imagination and knowledge. All that with only 3 variables of shutter speed, aperture and focal length.” – Ralph Auletta
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” Strive each day to be who you really are.
Thomas Merton
“Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care.”
Henri Nouwen
As I’ve mentioned previously I have a couple of churches I use for quiet time during the weekdays. I’ve seen this lady in the above image several times. On one occasion she had a young girl in a wheelchair with her. At first the sounds the young girl made was disturbing but after a few minutes they no longer bothered me. In fact I was glad she was there. It also helped me realize how good my life is. I have three healthy children and four healthy grandchildren. At the moment I have a daughter and two grandchildren living with me because of poor choices. Yet, this woman has burdens in her life far greater than mine. I do not know her name but I believe Church is not the building she prays in but her willingness to car for her daughter.
Wikipedia says prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication. Some form of prayer is found in most major religions. In contrast with Western religion, Eastern religion for the most part discards worship and places devotional emphasis on the practice of meditation alongside scriptural study. Consequently, prayer is seen as a form of meditation or an adjunct practice to meditation.
Prayer and meditation have become important to me over the past thirty years. Prior to that any prayer life I had consisted of short burst of frustration or fear, “Oh my God!” There has been a move within me to for more quiet contemplation and meditation. So I find places where I can have those quiet moments. I use a couple of churches with in walking distance. I use a nearby park and a couple nature areas for more quiet. A quiet corner of my condo can make for a nice place also.
All three monotheistic Religions have a variety of prayer books: The Muslim Prayer Book – for praying five times a day; The Book of Common Prayer -which has prayers for seven times a day; Liturgy of the Hours – used by monastic communities to pray seven times a day; Siddur – the Jewish prayer book for praying three times a day. I could be wrong on these prayer books but it gives us some idea of the importance for prayer within these religions.