Heart on His Head 🐾 – Aloka Walks for Peace... His name means Divine Light. www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_4w...

THE DESERT IS A DRY PLACE BUT FULL OF WATER: God reveals himself to the little and wounded and to each of us to the extent that we accept that we are little and wounded. JEAN VANIER. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. JESUS CHRIST.

THE HOUND OF HEAVEN O God turn your spirit loose here and us with it that we may go where the silence is, to face with you the utter mystery of questions without answers, pain without balm, sorrow without comfort and fears without relief which hound our days and haunt our sleep.

HERMIT RULE 4: Do not let the world’s discord affect you, nor be afraid. Be mindful in all that you do. Keep your lives simple and with the help of God you will overcome any obstacle.

SUNG MEDITATION - LATE HAVE I LOVED YOU... Prayer of St Augustine of Hippo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJX...

We often talk about the way we talk and frequently try to see the way we see, but for some reason we rarely touch on the way we touch. The hands of God have been laid upon our sorrowful faces, caressing our wounded hearts, giving relief, at last from the flames of our suffering.

WHEN I'M DEAD & GORN! It matters not when I am dead Where this dull clay shall lie Nor what the dogmas creeds & rites Decree to us who die I only know that I shall tread The paths my dead have trod And where the hearts I love have gone There shall I find my God. Kendell Banning

THE POOR LONG FOR RICHES and the rich for heaven, but the wise long for a state of tranquility. Von Goethe finds his wealth in the deep stillness "in which I strive and grow and win what the world cannot take from me with fire or sword"

TROUBLES & TRIALS lead us to Green Pastures Life has its share of troubles, but in them we find we are not alone, for many of us experience darkness, and many of us find it becomes the path to a new life and a new understanding. Listen... www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO4j...

HERMIT RULE 3: Do not take on too much for this will achieve the best results. Let silence and stillness be your chosen way, and may you achieve quietness. The Lord desires neither your busyness nor your things, but all you are. See, silence is not empty — it’s full of answers.

CHANGE: I do not want to change, I want the same old and loved things, trees, turtle doves, blackbirds and yellow hammers singing so long as there is light to caste a shadow, for such is the measure of his song, and I want them in the same place. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Man4...

LIGHT & DARK When night arrives in the desert, it comes quickly. The stars though, come slowly, increasing in number and brilliance. Let he who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord, and rely on his God... ( Isaiah )

A PRAYER FOR LIGHT: Lord, in our darkness, you kindle a flame that never dies. You set your spirit within our frailty, even when we are not aware of it, and you hold us always, even until the end of time.

DETOX... Let the sounds of Africa sooth your soul... www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qOA...

CANDLEMAS: 2nd Feb. is a Christian festival celebrating the purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, 40 days after Christmas, is often called the "Festival of Lights," (Luke 2:22-38).

Bennacht - A Blessing On the day when the weight deadens on your shoulders And you stumble, May the clay dance to balance you. And when your eyes freeze behind the grey window And the ghost of loss gets into you, May a flock of colours Indigo, red, green & azure blue Awaken you.

JOURNEY: I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people. In the hostile wilderness of today's world our faith & hope need constant encouragement. May God bless you and carry you all... Bod x

PRESENCE: Retreat from this world and follow the Lord. Don't doubt for an instant. Neither gaze at the road stretching behind you nor worry about the future. Here be recollected to God’s constant presence in all things at all times. Ex 3 God appears to Moses in a burning bush

BIRTHDAY: Today is my birthday, I celebrate the day of my choosing but perhaps you were thinking that you could achieve a better life by moving about or escaping time. Relax, here you will find a little path that will take you through both time and space… Then further...

HERMIT RULE 1: When beginning the day, consecrate it, all of it, in a brief act to the Lord. Ask with prayer and invocation for the grace of contemplation and perseverance. Haha!

ON MERTON: What is to be said about silence Except that it is; And you sought it out diligently in your woods, In the company of birds; And there is little you can send us out of your silence Except that it is; And it cries out louder than our clamour.

Risen Christ, today, tomorrow and everyday, your Spirit lives within us. Sometimes we feel we understand so little. But remaining in your presence, wherever we are, is prayer. And perhaps close to you, O Christ, silence is often all there is to prayer.

KINDNESS & COMPASSION: We will never really know God as a compassionate God if we do not understand with our heart and mind that he lives among us. (Henri Nouwen)

PONDER: God's kingdom is creation healed (Hans Küng) 'I will restore you to health and heal your wounds' declares the Lord, "because you are called an outcaste, the city of God for whom no one cares."

HERMIT RULE Para los que vivimos en cualquier parte. En el mundo o fuera de él más allá de todo mundo y en cualquier tiempo For those of us who live anywhere; In the world or outside it or beyond all the world and in whatever time.

PONDER: Let he who walks in the dark who has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God ( Isaiah )

NIGHT PRAYER: Breath of Christ, through you all things are made. You cause fountains to spring up, surging with the unexpected. You breathe upon whatever is fragile and vulnerable, enabling us to rest in you, body and soul.

HERMIT RULE 30: Let go and let God help you to see with His eyes.

NIGHT PRAYER: If tonight the soul finds her peace in sleep and sinks into oblivion, and in the morning we wake like a newly opened flower then we will have been dipped again in God so as to reveal a new blossom in us.

DESERT GOATS. When I hear cowbells I'm reminded of my Desert Days in North Africa and Merton's, 'Thoughts in Solitude.' Merton frequently reflected on the significance of monastic church bells as a call to prayer and holiness and a reminder of God's presence in a busy world.

PONDER: Once a man is united to God, how can he not live forever? ( C.S. Lewis ) Give thanks to him who led his people through the desert, his love endures forever ( Psalm 136 )

HERMIT RULE 29: Keep clean the lens of your perception and experience the entire Cosmos as your lost and found Beloved.

COMPASSION There is no wilderness so terrible, so beautiful, so arid, so fruitful as the wilderness of compassion. It is the only desert that shall truly flourish like a lily... (Thomas Merton)

BAAA What makes man a lonely creature is his Godikeness. It's the fullness of the Good that can't get out or can't find its proper 'other place' (Fynn) Know that the Lord is God, it is He who made us and we are his: we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

ALONE or ALL ONE: It is good to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark, so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought.

Spiritual Directors like St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. John of the Cross suggest that difficult times—desolation (a sense of dryness or absence of God) are not merely random hardships, but purposeful 'hidden' invitations to know Jesus more intimately.

HERMIT RULE 28: Remember that every desolation or trial may teach you of the Mystery of Christ. Trials allow us to share in the suffering of Christ, transforming suffering from meaningless pain to redemptive action. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AJA...

IN A WORLD AT WAR: "May peace and peace and peace be everywhere." (From the Upanishads - c. 900-600 b.c.) Known as Vedanta ("the end of the Vedas"), they shift focus from ritualism to exploring the nature of reality, focusing on the identity of the individual soul. Decoding:

PEOPLE LIVING WITH TENSION is not always destructive, some forms are creative and life giving: I pray they may always be happy, held together by love and God, sure of the Good News. I want them to know God's secret - Jesus himself. (1 Col 2:2)

SURRENDER: ( St Theresa's Prayer ) www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7uQ...

St. IGNATIOUS Take Lord and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will All that I have and possess. You have given all to me, to you Lord I return it All is yours, do with it what you will Give me only your love, and your grace, that is enough for me.

HERMIT RULE 27: Keep pure in heart and united with the Lord. Your journey is from God to God. Meet the mystery of the desert in your own interior solitude and then eventually in what surrounds it. Listen, then sing!... www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcXk...

CHANGES: Not David Bowie! God creates out of nothing - therefore until a man is nothing God can make nothing out of him. (Martin Luther) Unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Jesus Christ)

IN A MOMENT OF TIME: Who knows what is good for a man's life during the few meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone? Ecclesiastes

THE SKY'S STILL BLUE ABOVE THE CLOUDS Do we need to make a special effort to enjoy the beauty of the blue sky? No just enjoy it! Our lives can be like this wherever we are and at whatever time, for we have the capacity to enjoy this sunshine, right now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5sb...

HERMIT RULE 26: Liberate yourself from everything that doesn't concern you. Don't depend on people or on situations. Look for your refuge and your help only in God. ADORATION... www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtH5...

EVENING PRAYER: Lord, may your gentle whisper be the word we follow, your hand the hand we hold, and your footsteps be the marks in which we place our feet… As we seek you tonight, In the silence of the stars. In the calming of our minds, In the stillness of this place… Speak to us Lord.

THE EMPTY DESERT: The central neurosis of our times is emptiness. (Carl Jung) I am going to take her (God's people) into the desert again; there I will win her back with words of love. (Hosea)

DECLUTTER: Simplify, Stop bothering with non-essential. Having devoted my life to my work so far, I should reap the harvest and learn how to live the rest of it properly. It's time now for trees, and grass and growing things. (Auth unknown)

KINDNESS & COMPASSION: Your character will speak for you.