Creation does not wait for an occasion to gift us with its treasurers. We receive them constantly as things necessary for us to thrive on planet earth. They are the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the beauty that feeds our spirits. Appreciation, gratitude and respect is all that is required from us. We love giving and receiving gifts. Here’s one to consider. We can show the Creator’s generosity our gratitude by caring for one of its creatures, the splendidly arrayed Monarch Butterfly, a gift more precious than anything one can buy anywhere.
Bob Sima (pronounced sEYE-ma) is to music what Wayne Dyer, Don Miguel Ruiz, and Eckhart Tolle are to books and Rumi, Hafiz, and David Whyte are to poetry. He is an award-winning singer-songwriter, spiritual teacher, and musical mystic who has been called Eckhart Tolle with a guitar. With no musical training, he has creatively channeled award winning albums and built a national following. The music that comes through him will vibrate with your spirit exactly where you are.
He is a troubadour, a way-shower, a guide, an awakener, and a musical mystic through the medium of melody. His music bridges daily life and soul consciousness, the eternal with the now through instantly accessible songs that take up residence and resonance in your soul.
When I wrote my previous letter from Ukraine at the beginning of August, no one expected that the world would soon be watching with surprise and pain the events of another war. This time, war in the territory of the state of Israel in the Gaza Strip. The media bore the information about thousands of dead and wounded civilians, including women and children, along with the drama of kidnapped hostages. The horror of the military conflict is repeating itself before our eyes in such a short amount of time. The war in Ukraine that’s been dragging on month after month is no longer an interesting subject for many around the world, and news from the Dnipro River rarely appears on the front pages of the world’s media. Even in Ukraine you can pick up on a certain level of exhaustion, sometimes accompanied by irritation and anger. But despite 627 long days of war drama, I still cannot detect any attitude of resignation, apathy, or surrender — maybe because we’re all aware that the stakes in this war are very high, and its conclusion will shape the future of the Ukrainian nation.
ÆTERNUM is a nomadic experimental music project organized by Fr. Brian John Zuelke, O.P., a Dominican priest friar of the Province of St. Albert the Great. With a Minnesota-grown group of musicians, ÆTERNUM hopes to slowly build up a collection of excellent mash-ups between sacred texts and popular music forms.
ÆTERNUM began as a nagging dream of Fr. Brian’s while in formation to be a religious priest in Saint Louis, MO. Ideas would come to his mind overlaying sounds of his past love of loud, beautiful rock music with his later love of the sacred music traditions of medieval Christianity. But what to do about it?
Tikkun uplifts Jewish, interfaith, and secular prophetic voices of hope that contribute to universal liberation. A catalyst for long-term social change we empower people and communities to heal the world by embracing revolutionary love, compassion, and empathy. We promote a caring society that protects the life support system of the planet and celebrates the Earth and the universe with awe and radical amazement.
Tikkun published “Palestinian-Jewish Solidarity Statement” on October 12, 2023. It begins…
Pope Francis has written a follow-up letter to an earlier one, “Laudato Si” regarding the environmental crisis. This one is titled, “Laudate Deum.” He addresses the people of the world, not just Catholics. Here is the opening paragraph and a link to the entire document.
“Praise God for all his creatures”. This was the message that Saint Francis of Assisi proclaimed by his life, his canticles and all his actions. In this way, he accepted the invitation of the biblical Psalms and reflected the sensitivity of Jesus before the creatures of his Father: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin…
The Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions—after much thought, prayer and heartfelt deliberation, realizing the complex and critical situation at hand—issues the following non-unanimous statement:
In the midst of the Israel-Hamas War, the Parliament of the World’s Religions prays for those suffering. We acknowledge the right of a people to self-defense within the bounds of international law and call for the release of all hostages and the cessation of hostilities. We call for the norms of international humanitarian law to be respected by all parties as they seek to resolve this escalating war through peaceful dialogue and negotiation.
From Shem Center’s Director, Silence is a spiritual practice embraced by Shem Center that is included in our events. At times it is a period of meditation of some length, other times it is a pause after someone speaks in a small group sharing session before another takes a turn. It may be the stillness…
Khizr Khan said about Trump, “A person who has never sacrificed is incapable of love: love of country, love of purpose, love of fellow human beings. Trump is nothing but appetite and ego. Trump is incapable of leading the U.S. again. I wish to pay tribute to General John Francis Kelly and his family. General Kelly is a gold star father as well. We stand with you and are saddened to hear the remarks that Trump made in the White House and after his presidency.”
Khizr Khah is a gold star father, having lost his son Humayun Saqib Muazzam Khan in 2004. Humayun was a United States Army officer who was killed by a suicide attack near Baqubah, Iraq during the Iraq War. He came to national attention in the United States during the 2016 presidential campaign as an example of a Muslim American soldier who died in service to the U.S. military.
Watch his interview on MSNBC.
On Wednesday, August 16th the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative and the Parliament of the World’s Religions hosted a critical discussion on Indigenous peoples, their spiritualities and the shared moral responsibility across faiths to protect the Amazon and the rights and cultures of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions in…
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