Contemplate Lincoln & The Contemplative Cathedral

Contemplate Lincoln July 2025 Newsletter Shadow Land Psychologist Carl Jung gave humanity one of the greatest gifts by giving us language, understanding, and wisdom to describe and work with the shadow. I have come to love the term Psychospiritual Growth as it puts together two things that have never really been separate. Co-mingling the wisdom and practices of spiritual traditions with the wisdom and practices of the field of psychology has long been a passion of mine and a framework for my...

Contemplative Connection June 15th, 2025 God Declares Recently, during our lectio practice, this verse hit me differently than ever before, even though it has long been one of my favorites. On this particular reading, the word “declare” jumped off the page and led me to ponder what it is that God is declaring through the Spirit. Now, there are particular declarations for each of us in different moments in our lives and to the collective at different times in history. But I was struck by the...

Contemplate Lincoln June Newsletter The 4th Wave Continued In our last newsletter, I wrote about a 4 wave model of the modern contemplative movement. You can read that here: May 2025 Newsletter On October 25th, 2018, “contemplative giant” to quote Father Rohr, Thomas Keating, passed away, marking a clear transition in the modern Christian contemplative movement. Since his passing, Contemplative Outreach, the torch bearer of the Centering Prayer movement, has gone through multiple massive...

Contemplative Connection May 2025 - Mid Month Newsletter At The Heart of Matter Summer is quickly approaching, and with it warmer temperatures, popping buds, and emerging color. We are also invited to emerge and join in with what creation is doing around us. Most of us have already started answering the call by ending our winter cloistering and spending more time outside this spring. Our connection to the earth is vital to our spiritual and physical wellness. As Ilia Delio says, “matter...

May 2025 Contemplate Lincoln Newsletter Meeting in the Mountains Last week, Joselyn and I had the tremendous opportunity to meet with 16 other contemplative community creators in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. This marked our fourth year gathering on retreat together. It has been a big year for our little organization that we affectionately call 3CN (Contemplative Community Creators Network). Over the last 12 months, we have launched a website https://www.contemplativecommunities.org/and...

April 14th, 2025 Contemplative Connection Newsletter "May the power of your love, O Lord, fiery and sweet as honey, wean my heart from everything under heaven, that I may die for love of your love, you who were so good as to die for love of my love!" ~St. Francis of Assisi We come to the end of this year's Lenten journey and begin our journey with Jesus. From Palm Sunday, to the cross, and finally to resurrection. A journey that reveals, as Richard Rohr says, the universal path of...

April 2025 Contemplate Lincoln Newsletter Headed Towards Holy Week. The lectionary Gospel stories of Lent and Holy Week take us through Jesus’ ministry from the wilderness to the grave and his resurrection. The stories teach us about Jesus, yes, but as Rohr often reminds us they also teach us about God, the spiritual journey, ourselves, and humanity. There are different ways we can read the stories: reflecting on what it means for us, for the collective, for the journey, or our image of God....

March, 17th 2025 Contemplative Connection Newsletter Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Short Form of Saint Patrick’s Breastplate Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears...

March 2025 Contemplate Lincoln Newsletter Hi Friends, Welcome to maybe our biggest newsletter to date. Lots of good stuff going on in our community in the next few months so be sure to check them all out. I want to highlight our upcoming in-person retreat at The Benedictine Center in Schuyler, NE! As a community primarily housed online, this is an excellent opportunity to gather and practice together in person. This has been a long time coming and I am very much looking forward to it. Many...