Touching the Sunrise with Sister Kathryn

My heart melts a bit whenever I remember what God has done for me. I forget. I wander. I wonder. I'm uncertain. I decide to go elsewhere.... But in the end he always brings me back. He always recreates me...recreates us. It is his delight to do so.

Sometimes the pain doesn't go away. That inner heart pain. We see it in the eyes of others who carry regrets and disappointments and sorrow. Today is a guided meditation for healing memories with a practical process anyone can use to grow in serenity and peace.

Today is our final reflection on ways to live the new year in a new way, to seek the new you in the present, every present moment of the coming year. We'll talk about a practice I began to address the negative thoughts that I find myself thinking.... And did I discover how many negative thoughts I had! Jeannette and I talk about how quickly things start to change when a simple practice gets put into place that catches our mind whenever it is engaged (or kidnapped may be better) by a negative thought. ENJOYED THIS PODCAST? HERE ARE 4 WAYS TO GO DEEPER… God has amazing ways of knocking on people's hearts, awakening desires, arousing questions, provoking an unexpected spiritual fire. If you have enjoyed this article, and are ready to embark on a sustained spiritual journey, here are 4 ways you can join me on the journey. You can learn more about them at touchingthesunrise.com . Join my private Facebook Group  and walk the road of healing with a great group ...

When we think of New Year's resolutions, we are often really thinking about closure and control, about getting to a goal that helps me become something I want to be. Poets, authors, and saints offer different perspectives on life that invite openness, vulnerability and love. Jeannette and I talk about contributions from Rainer Maria Rilke, St Augustine, Adrienne Rich, Erich Fromme, Anne Truitt, St Elizabeth Ann Seton, and others. ENJOYED THIS PODCAST? HERE ARE 4 WAYS TO GO DEEPER… God has amazing ways of knocking on people's hearts, awakening desires, arousing questions, provoking an unexpected spiritual fire. If you have enjoyed this article, and are ready to embark on a sustained spiritual journey, here are 4 ways you can join me on the journey. You can learn more about them at touchingthesunrise.com . Join my private Facebook Group  and walk the road of healing with a great group of people. I offer a half-hour live spiritual conference here Tuesday evenings...

This year, instead of resolutions, I began the year with practices. In today's conversation with Jeannette, I share a practice I recently began: doing everything as if it were potentially the final time I would have the privilege of doing it. In our conversation we talk about what I learned after just a few days of doing this and why I think it is more effective than New Year's resolutions.

January is the time when we think about resolutions for the new year, for a new me. By this time the regular spate of articles debating the worth of making resolutions has just about ended. What I want to offer you are four conversations about setting a solid foundation to a new year, a foundation that focuses on practices for the present rather than resolutions for the ideal future image we have of ourselves. We discuss why resolutions sometimes don’t work, and I share my four criteria for effective resolutions. During this month we will be sharing in the podcast some effective practices I’ve started and how they have made a difference almost immediately in my live. And we’ll explore new perspectives from poets, authors and saints that will help us retain the newness of the New Year. Enjoy this conversation between Jeannette and I. Welcome to the New Year 2020. May it be filled with much grace.

Okay, I admit that the title for this article is a little startling. We are celebrating Christmas, right? Check your calendars. It is still December. Look outside. The liturgy is talking about Christ’s birth and the stores are boasting Christmas specials. But I couldn’t resist not sharing with you an insight into the glory of Christmas that I discovered in a very old book The Mass Through the Year by Aemiliana Lohr. Sharing this is important to me because after reading the reflection, I am finding myself saddened that our Christmas celebrations never stretch us beyond “remembering” and “re-enacting” the first Christmas or drawing some comforting or, less often, a challenging application from the Christmas narrative for our own lives. Many present-moment Christmases disappoint as we recall the memories of Christmases of happier years or sorrow through Christmases that now are marred by anniversaries of losses we still regret. We are not the shepherds who were startled from s...