This newsletter is a publication of the Mystical Order of the White Rose, an emerging multi-faith, monastic cyber-community. We support and share information about mystical, monastic, contemplative and creative ways of living. We encourage prayer, meditation, lectio divina, journaling, fasting, hospitality, worship, spiritual and religious communities, simple living, creativity and service to others (including humans, animals, the environment and the planet).You can view past issues here and you can subscribe here if you are not already a subscriber.
Table of Contents
-- Update
-- Peace Pilgrim Honored
-- Wandering Monk, Reluctant Gyrovague - A Blog
-- The Purpose of Pilgrimage
-- Multi-faith, Multi-media Daily Devotions (July 18-31)
-- St. Anthony - Father of Monasticism
-- Links Of Interest
-- Summer Recipe
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Update from newsletter editor Cynthia Kiteley Lee
I offer my apologies for the lateness of this (now) monthly issue of the Mystical Order of the White Rose newsletter. My husband had a major health meltdown several weeks ago that has included two heart seizures, (one before and one after) the implantation of a pacemaker-plus-defibrillator, an almost week-long hospital stay (for both of us), and test results showing a mass in his pancreas that might be cancerous but might be just a blood clot. We will be traveling out of state in a few days to see a surgeon and submit to further tests and medical "procedures" to determine what the growth in the pancreas is and what to do about it.
Instead of being away from home for long periods and out on the road, pulling long shifts in connection with his transportation service, Johnny's health challenges have led him to stay at home most of the time, and he has had to accept a drastically reduced work load. He has dealt with great pain, weakness and misery with courage and dignity. We are receiving wonderful prayer support from family, friends and our church community as well as excellent medical care.
Naturally, this drastically altered lifestyle and the demands and stresses involved in caring for an invalid at home have had a disruptive effect on my home-based projects, one of which is the Mystical Order of the White Rose. I cannot tell what other medical and health dramas, traumas and developments may unfold for us in the weeks and months to come, but I do plan to continue publishing this newsletter on a monthly basis.
Especially during times like this, I think about what Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval abbess and "a kick-ass healer-singer-mystic woman ahead of her time" said about our selves, our lives, being like "feathers on the breath of God."
May God's Breath Uplift and Inpire You,
Cynthia
You can listen to Hildegard von Bingen's songs and music here. This YouTube video has only one static image on it---of Sophia--or the Mother of the World-- so you won't be distracted from the music by lots of animation and movement.
Here is a quote attributed to HIldegard:
Underneath all the texts, all the sacred psalms and canticles, these watery varieties of sounds and silences, terrifying, mysterious, whirling, and sometimes gestating and gentle, must somehow be felt in the pulse, ebb, and flow of the music that sings in me. My new song must float like a feather on the breath of God.
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Peace Pilgrim Honored
compiled by Cynthia Kiteley Lee
From 1953 to 1981 a silver haired woman calling herself only "Peace Pilgrim" walked more than 25,000 miles on a personal pilgrimage for peace. She vowed to "remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food." In the course of her 28 year pilgrimage she touched the hearts, minds, and lives of thousands of individuals all across North America. Her message was both simple and profound. It continues to inspire people all over the world.
Were she alive, Peace Pilgrim's 100th birthday would have fallen on July 18 this year and special 100th birthday celebrations were held for her. You can view a musical, sophisticated documentary about Peace Pilgrim by clicking here. Peace Pilgrim died in 1982.
I can't remember how or when I first stumbled across the small dark blue booklet Steps To Inner Peace by Peace Pilgrim. All I know is that I have never stopped reading and rereading this 20th century devotional classic since I found it. Free hard copy versions of the booklet are available by request and a PDF version of Steps to Inner Peace can be accessed immediately from this link.
Peace Pilgrim has been described as a modern-day St. Francis of Assissi and as a "secular saint." She had no affiliation with any religious or spiritual organization. Peace Pilgrim was truly a universal mystic. She inspired reverence and respect among thousands during her years of crisscrossing North America in a pair of canvas tennis shoes.
Writing and speaking were two of Peace Pilgrim's special gifst She was an articulate spokesperson for world peace and inner peace and wrote with clarity and authority on many aspects of spiritual development and harmonious living. A book compiled by Friends of Peace Pilgrim after her death, Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work In Her Own Words, is also available for free by request (hard copy) and can be accessed immediately online at: this link.
It's probably best to start out visiting the main Peace Pilgrim website here: http://www.peacepilgrim.com/ before going straight to her free booklet and book sites, so that you can get a better feeling for her and her ministry.
Wandering Monk, Reluctant Gyrovague - A Blog
This blog is written by a multi-fiath, monastically oriented mystic who shares her spiritual journey. http://www.seekerswanted.blogspot.com/
Click here to read her post on "Monastery for People Of No Particular Tradition" http://seekerswanted.blogspot.com/2007/08/monastery-for-people-of-no-particular.html
The Purpose of Pilgrimage
The purpose of the pilgrimage is to make life more meaningful. Through sacred travel, individuals can find the path to the divine, the ultimate source of life. The essence of the sacred way is "tracing a sacred route of tests and trials, ordeals and obstacles, to arrive at a holy place and attempt to fathom the secrets of its power." As Francis Huxley points out in The Sacred, "The sacred itself is plainly a mystery of consciousness, using the word mystery to signify not a problem that can be intellectually solved, but a process of awakening and transformation that must be acted out in order to be experienced, and experienced if one is to make it one's own."
- Phil Cousineau
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Multi-Faith, Multi-Media Daily Devotions
Friday, July 18 -- We are not separate . . . .
We are not separate from our fellow humans. The whole thing is a totality. It's only from that higher viewpoint that you can know what it is to love your neighbor as yourself. From that higher viewpoint there becomes just one realistic way to work, and that is for the good of the whole. As long as you work for your selfish little self, you're just one cell against all those other cells, and you're way out of harmony. But as soon as you begin working for the good of the whole, you find yourself in harmony with all of your fellow human beings. You see, it's the easy, harmonious way to live.
- Peace Pilgrim
Musical, sophisticated documentary about Peace Pilgrim: click here.
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Saturday July 19 -- Heaven is . . . .
. . . . that heaven which is perfect life and perfect love, music and dancing, rhythm and melody, grace and courtesy, stars and atoms and beasts and flowers and men and angels and all with Christ, and Christ with God.
- Michael Stancliffe, former Dean of Winchester Cathedral in England, from his book: Stars and Angels--Meditations for the Christian Year. This 176-page paperback book is available from Christianbooks.com for just $1.49. Click here to order it.
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Sunday, July 20 -- Our hunger is for more than food . . . .
This is the heart of whole-body eating. Be there when you eat ....Taste it. Savor it....Rejoice in it. See how it makes your body feel. Take in all the sensations. But don't just eat the food. Eat the ambiance. Eat the colors. Eat the aromas. Eat the conversation. Eat the company sitting next to you. Eat the entire experience....We don't just hunger for food alone.
- Marc David
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Monday, July 21-- Belonging to God . . . .
When you feel that you belong to God like the rays belong to the sun, the stream to the ocean, the soul to Awareness---that is meditation.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
Learn more about the life and teachings of Swami Jyoti by clicking here.
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Tuesday, July 22 -- Whatever we do matters . . . .
Things don’t happen in spite of us. You and I are as important as anyone else and as responsible as anyone else. Whatever you and I do, speak or think is contributing to the entire energy of the world.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
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Wednesday, July 23 -- Have no fear . . . .
Have no fear for what tomorrow may bring. The same loving God who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. God will either shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.
- Francis de Sales
Gregorian Chant at St. Thomas Acquinas Seminary soothes the soul.
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Thursday, July 24 -- Rest is not idleness....
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer's day listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
- Sir John Lubbock
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Friday, July 25 -- God's Place . . . .
The monk waits for God even when prayers seem to go unheard and unanswered. He keeps standing in one place. His place. This place. He is a lover of the brothers and of the place. He answers God's call to be in this place simply because God is God, and this is God's place.
- Michael Downey
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Saturday, July 26-- The whole of life . . . .
You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.
- J. Krishnamurti
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Sunday, July 27 -- Sacred idleness . . . .
Work is not always required ... there is such a thing as sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.
-- George McDonald
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Monday, July 28 -- Simplify life . . . .
Simplify life to bring inner and outer well-being into harmony. Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. Many lives are cluttered not only with unnecessary possessions but also with meaningless activities. Cluttered loves are out-of-harmony lives and require simplification. Wants and needs can become the same in a human life and, when this is accomplished, there will be a sense of harmony between inner and outer well-being. Such harmony is needful not only in the individual life but in the collective life too.
- Peace Pilgrim
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Tuesday, July 29 -- O gentle soul reach out . . . .
Intuition - a poem by Susan Landon
What knowledge flows within our veins is born
with us, a message hidden by our God.
Then search for yours, and never dare to scorn
the prophet wild whose puzzling words will prod
you toward a path now indistinct, but right.
How else to find your way, escape the maze
of earthly pain, the sorrow born of night?
O gentle soul, reach out. For she who stays
within the earthly world alone ignores
the cosmic pull that rules our lives. So reach
for greater things, set sail for distant shores.
Let love and silence guide you, for in each
are found a path to inner depth. The goal
must be a course that elevates your soul.
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Wednesday, July 30 -- Spend one hour a day in adoration . . . .
When I visited Mother Teresa of Calcutta a few years ago and asked her how to live out my vocation as a priest, she simply said: "Spend one hour a day in adoration of your Lord and never do anything you know is wrong, and you will be all right."
- Henri M. Nouwen
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Thursday, July 31 -- O Holy Wisdom . . . .
O Holy Wisdom, Soaring Power, encompass us with wings unfurled, and carry us, encircling all, above, below, and through the world.
- Hildegard von Bingen from: O Holy Spirit, Root of Life
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graphic is in public domain
St. Anthony - Father of Monasticism
Many people assume that Christian monasticism began in the Middle Ages in Europe, but its origins go back much earlier.
St. Anthony, who is often referred to as the Father of Monasticism, was born around 251 A.D. in Fayum, Egypt and spent much of his adult life as a hermit who withdrew to the desert. He is said to have fought demons for years while spending solitary hours in a tomb located near Fayum. He later chose to withdraw more completely from "society" and lived on a mountain on the east bank of the Nile.
A brief History of Monasticism can be found here.
Information about the history and spirituality of Celtic Monasticism can be found here.
Click here to read an article on "Unexpected Monks" about modern forms of monasticism.
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Links of Interest
A Guide To Monastic Guest Houses - First published 10 years ago, this guide has undergone four revisions. To get the most current edition you can go here: http://www.biggerbooks.com/bk_detail.aspx?isbn=9780819218483
The Desert Fathers Past and Present: Photos of Monks and Monasteries of the Eastern Churches http://www.innerlightproductions.com/
The Monastic Marketplace gifts and specialty items from several monasteries.
John Michael Talbot - Franciscan Hermitage Founder & Director and popular Christian troubadour. http://johnmichaeltalbot.blogspot.com/ You can find and listen to his songs at this website: http://www.rhapsody.com/johnmichaeltalbot
Wish For Love - Sacred geometry and more....
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Summer Recipe for Chilled Potato Salad Almondine
1 lb. small new potatoes, 1/2 lb. haricots verts (green beans), 1 cup slivered almonds, 1/4 cup white-wine vinegar, 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, juice of 2 lemons, 2 shallots (minced), 2 heaping Tbsp. Dijon mustard, sea salt and black pepper, to taste, 1/4 cup parsley (chopped), 4 hard-boiled eggs (quartered), sprinkle of patrika for garnish.
Boil potatoes until knife comes out clean when inserted into skin. Trim ends of haricots verts and blanch for 2 minutes in boiling water. Remove and place in ice water to stop them from cooking. Toast almond slivers until light brown. Whisk vinegar, oil, lemon juiice, shallots, mustard, and a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper, to taste; mix thoroughly with the potatoes, haricots verts, almonds, and parsley. Sprinkle eggs, paprika, sea salt and pepper over top, specifically seasoning the eggs.
Courtesy of Parade magazine www.parade.com May 18, 2008 issue.
