Search

Being Benedictine

Living SoulFully as an Oblate of St. Benedict

Open Search
Category

Art and Images

Homecoming: A SoulFully You Retreat

We long for the acceptance of home, a place of peace where we can be truly ourselves–seen and heard, loved and believed, held and yet free. Our longing is the existential homesickness that THIS isn’t all there is and that when we get a taste of unconditional acceptance and love, we want more. Our longings are good and holy—it is our Divine inheritance to experience all that it means to feel at home.

Inspired by the lyrics of Homesick, a song by friend Jana West, my annual Advent retreat was titled Homecoming: A SoulFully You Retreat. We explored how the Divine accompanies us, making a home within, and what it means to feel homesick or “at home” with ourselves and others. I offer some of our reflections so you, too, can take part:

“Love is home. Home is both an external dwelling and an internal abode. Home is the place where we belong, our place of acceptance and welcome. There, in this shame and judgment-free embryonic cocoon of love, we practice unconditional acceptance; we learn to relate to ourselves and the world around us.

And home is a soft place for the body to land, a safe place for the soul to fully disrobe. Home is the place where our failures don’t kill, our sins can’t crush, and even when we are at our worst, we’re safe. Home is a place where we are free to take our deepest, fullest, least encumbered breath.

At home, there’s no need to guess whether we’re in or out, welcomed or not. Home always prepares a place with us in mind.” (Center for Action and Contemplation, Home, 5/10/2024, Felicia Murrel)


What words or phrases resonate with you? Indeed, our personal experiences of home can bring a spectrum of feelings, from warm and fuzzy to sadness or terror, when we consider what being “at home” means. The ideal is what we seek and long for, both within ourselves and with others.

Continue reading “Homecoming: A SoulFully You Retreat” →
0

Homecoming: A Window to the Soul

Last fall, at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, teachers were asked to consider the question: Why are we here?  I shared my “WHY” for teaching in The Wonder of Work: A Labor Day Reflection. My motivation during my last year of full-time teaching and, now, as a retreat leader and blog writer is the same—to foster curiosity, wonder, and the love of learning. It is what makes me come alive!

Learning IS the greatest gift of being human. I am encouraged when others are enriched by a retreat experience as we learn about spiritual practices and living soulfully with joy, creativity, curiosity, and wonder. Recently I was affirmed that my WHY makes a difference. Jana, a kindred spirit who I met through Deb, another SoulCollage® facilitator, sent this message to both Deb and me:

“It has been my experience that sometimes a passion or interest I have invested in sharing with others becomes work and can become tiresome. I wonder, is all this effort worth my time? Are people benefiting as I hoped they would? Please save this message for future use — just in case you ever bump into such a pondering with your SoulCollage efforts.

When Deb first introduced this process to me, I was a bit intimidated, but very quickly saw its power and potential to unearth my subconscious and offer my body a voice. This past summer I attended an in-person gathering Deb hosted and created this card. I had an initial reading that day, but it wasn’t until this past December when Jodi encouraged her retreat group to spend time listening to existing cards that I realized this one had much more to offer me. It has been so powerful that I adopted the card as my guiding mantra for 2024.

Remain open like a child.
Your inner Sage knows.
Return to your roots for support in times of stress.
Slow down and go easy so you don’t miss the most important things.
OPEN, INTUIT, ROOTED, SLOW.

The day after Christmas, I received a breast cancer diagnosis. I cannot emphasize enough how this card has repeatedly guided and comforted me through the days that followed. 

Continue reading “Homecoming: A Window to the Soul” →
4

SoulFully You Summer 2024 Recap

The end of summer typically means it’s back-to-school time, but this SoulFully You summer recap is just the beginning! This is what I do now–I am officially open for business! I have crossed the threshold from being a full-time teacher to a full-time creative–planning and leading retreats, writing more, pursuing creative ventures, and sharing the joy of living fully! I have dreamed of this since becoming a SoulCollage® facilitator in 2012. I was honored to be a part of the following SoulFully You activities this summer:

Echo Collective–The Power of Story

The ECHO Collective project (I wrote about it in April) celebrated its conclusion, with participants putting the final touches on their weaved tapestries. After creating a SoulCollage® card expressing an aspect of their personal story, a pattern was sketched to create their tapestry design. Then the weaving began! It was a sense of accomplishment for participants to go through this reflective and creative process.

Sisters of Mercy—Self and Spirit: The Power of Images

I spent a special Saturday morning in June with retired Sisters of Mercy in Omaha leading a SoulCollage retreat called Self and Spirit: The Power of Images. Several years ago, I met Cheryl Poulin, Pastoral Care Coordinator with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, when her cousin Macrina Wiederkehr (one of my favorite Benedictine authors and sheroes) introduced us at St. Benedict Center. Each month, Poulin plans creative activities for the sisters, who have had long careers in teaching and nursing. I was touched to witness their joy when they connected with special images and when their collages came together so beautifully.

Exploring Your Wild Woman: A Full Moon SoulFully You Retreat

In July, several whimsical, wonderful, and wise women attended Exploring Your Wild Woman: A Full Moon SoulFully You Retreat at St. Benedict Center Schuyler, NE. Inspiring songs, poetry, soul talk, plus SoulCollage and an awesome full moon was a good reminder that wild woman is one who listens deeply and who “carries the medicine for all things. She carries stories and dreams and words and songs and signs and symbols.”

Abbey of the Arts, Monk in the World Guest Post

Finally, I am delighted to share that my Monk in the World reflection was shared as an Abbey of the Arts guest post.

“Choosing a word to focus on each year has become a nourishing, soulful ritual. I love participating in an ancient practice of contemplation recommended by Christine Valters Painter: “This tradition (for desert mothers and fathers) of asking for a word was a way of seeking something on which to ponder for many days, weeks, months, sometimes a whole lifetime…A word was meant to be wrestled with and slowly grown into.

I savor the word, that more so chooses me, throughout the year—it brings great joy when in perfect synchronicity, it appears over and again in what I read, hear, and see. I trust that the word, as it settles in my heart, will be a guiding light for months to come—challenging, inspiring, and transforming me.

My 2024 word of the year, FULLY, is a throwback to ten years ago when I birthed and named my first website and creative venture, SoulFully You.” Read more here.

For more information about SoulFully You retreats, see upcoming retreats held at St. Benedict Center. If you are interested in having a retreat or workshop created for your organization, church, or special interest group, contact me here. Possible retreat themes listed here.

© Jodi Blazek Gehr, Being Benedictine Blogger

2

PlayFULLY You: Pixie Dust and the Pink Motel

I am one who is playful, spirited, and connected in good company with wise women. The “pink motel” is a place of pixie dust and playfulness, joy, humor, carefree delights, childhood innocence, and magical moments.

One of the sweet surprises of SoulCollage® is when images come together to capture the essence of a memory, message, feeling, or archetype so effortlessly. This card reminds me of a recent playful, weekend gathering of friends. The women standing on the hayrack spoke to me of comradery, comfort, and community. It was later that I noticed the small child beside his mother. From a child’s vantage point, the energy in a room can easily shift from adult-ing to playfulness. Tinkerbell, the spirited fairy, spreads pixie dust and playfulness over adults and children alike—one can be both grown-up, wise, sober, AND playful, friendly, and funny. We can live more fully by embracing the playful child within.

My intention for 2024 is to live FULLY— “To be SoulFully You is to live prayerfully, joyfully, playfully, gratefully, mindfully, soulfully.” (2024 Word of the Year)

The spirit of Tinkerbell was alive and well on our farm weekend. Soom playful memories:

Continue reading “PlayFULLY You: Pixie Dust and the Pink Motel” →
0

Apollo 8: Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968

Since the beginning of time, peoples of all cultures and religions have beheld the beauty of the earth, endeavoring to understand the universe and their place in it. We long for this sacred knowing. Just a century ago, we could not have conceived of the technology and space exploration that would produce photographs and telescopic images, inspiring such awe and wonder, my word for 2023. We are imbued with the grandeur of God.

Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th Century Benedictine Abbess and founder of German scientific natural history, captures this wonder:

“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings. Now, think. What delight God gives to humankind with all these things. All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without we cannot survive.” 

Hildegard of Bingen

Since 1990, the Hubbel Telescope has captured the wonder of our universe’s distant past, more than 13.4 billion light-years away, capturing images of black holes, galaxies, and the birth and death of stars, changing how we look at our cosmos.

The James Webb Telescope launched on Christmas Day, 2021, has even greater potential, using infrared capabilities to see through dusty regions of space viewing objects that are too old, faint, or distant for the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Year’s Most Spectacular Photos from the James Webb Telescope

It is astounding to behold the images of what is beyond us, but, perhaps, even more profound are the images captured on Christmas Eve, 1968, of Earth. The three astronauts of Apollo 8 completed the first manned orbit around the moon, becoming the first humans to see, and photograph, the Earth from space.

The first color photograph taken beyond Earth’s orbit was later titled Earthrise. The film “Earthrise” tells the story of this image captured by the Apollo 8 astronauts—Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell—and recounts their experiences, exploring the beauty, awe, and grandeur of the Earth against the blackness of space.

The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back on Earth. The Earth from here is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.”

Astronaut Jim Lovell, Apollo 8

Looking beyond, looking upon, looking around, and within—all are filled with wonder.

“…take a look around you. Ponder how the solid-seeming ground beneath your feet is quietly shaking with the force of billions of years of cosmic collisions. Go outside…watch the wind blow through the trees … The endless comings and goings of galaxies, stars, and planets create a melding of songs that you are part of too. It’s a reminder that the world always has been, and always will be, worthy of wonder.”–Adam Frank, The Constant Fire

In awesome wonder, may your Christmas be filled with reminders of the beautiful mystery that surrounds you. May your prayer begin with “How Great Thou Art.”

How Great Thou Art performed by Chris Rice.

More reflections on awe and wonder.

© Jodi Blazek Gehr, Being Benedictine Blogger

4

Poems Come Out of Wonder

After canceling everything on my calendar this weekend (between a teacher work week and our first week with students….yes, eye twitching and back-to-school dreams are real), I revisited a poem and a SoulCollage® card I created on The Grandeur of God: Living Life with Wonder and Awe retreat. I gave myself permission to hunker down, pull back from social activities, and center myself in silence and solitude for my 27th year of teaching.

I love this poem from a book called Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets.

“Majestic” (Celebrating Maya Angelou)

Rise
into the wonder
of daybreak.

Be a rainbow in the cloud.
Be a free bird on the back of the night wind.
Shine on, honey!

Walk with joy in your golden feet
over crystal seas
and purpled mountains.

Know your beauty
is a thunder
your precious heart unsalable.

Be brave,
Like a new seed bursting
with extraordinary promise.

Shine on, honey!
Know you
are phenomenal.

            --Kwame Alexander
Poem of the Week: Majestic, Tewksbury Public Library

“I am one who” reflection: 

I am one who is surrounded by beauty and love. 
I am one who finds beauty in nature and all that glitters. 
I am on a journey of peace, serenity, and wholeness. 
On this journey, I can offer what is special about me to others; but when needed, I can hold my gifts close and tight.
I am one who must never forget to take time to pause; I can take moments for peace, serenity, and beauty that ultimately, is the guide to the Christ-center, the sole/soul purpose of my life.

It is only after taking time to pause, that I am able to celebrate “the wonder of daybreak.”

I will be phenomenal after a weekend of rest.

© Jodi Blazek Gehr, Being Benedictine Blogger

0

The Grandeur of God: Care for Creation and for the Vulnerable

I have been enchanted by the poem The Grandeur of God, by Gerard Manley Hopkins, for years. I practiced Lectio Divina, a sacred reading practice, with this poem and wrote about it in God’s Grandeur: Praying with Poetry.

I cannot confess to understanding every word of this Victorian-era sonnet, published nearly 30 years after Hopkins’ death in 1889, but I feel the same passion for the beauty and sacredness of creation “that gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil / Crushed” with which he writes. Hopkins writes with celebratory confidence,

“And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things”

But we know as global temperatures rise, more droughts, storms, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans are impacting both human and animal life. Nature has been used and abused in so many ways. Is it true that “nature is never spent?” Can this earth withstand the heavy burden of “man’s smudge…and smell?” Indeed, we seek comfort in the notion that the sun will always rise as “the brown brink eastward, springs” and always sets as “last lights off the black West went.”

We hope for the future of our planet, but we must be caretakers, not just takers. We must be co-creators with the Divine to ensure the “grandeur of God,” our planet, is full of wonder and awe for future generations.

“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings. Now, think. What delight God gives to humankind with all these things. All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without we cannot survive.”

-Hildegard of Bingen
Continue reading “The Grandeur of God: Care for Creation and for the Vulnerable” →
0

Lectio and Visio Divina during Lent

I am always amazed at new understanding and insight that come through meditative reading and discussion. St. Benedict Center is hosting a five-week Zoom retreat called Lent: Lectio and Visio Divina led by Steven Blum, PhD. to provide an opportunity to gain new understanding of often-heard Scripture.

During the first week’s session, we connect with over 140 participants to learn about the ancient practices of Lectio Divina (sacred reading) and Visio Divina (sacred seeing) using the Gospel reading, Mark 4: 13–20 and the Sower illumination from The Saint John’s Bible.

There are four phases of Lectio Divina. The movement through the steps of these practices engages the heart, mind, and spirit, as we sit together in periods of silence, reading, gazing, reflecting, prayer, and contemplation. We seek to have the Lord awaken “the ears and eyes of our hearts.”

In practicing Lectio Divina, after reading the Scripture out loud, we contemplate, consider and reflect on what we have heard. The Scripture is read again, and perhaps again for a third time. After some time of silence, we are welcomed to share or journal a word or phrase that speaks to us.

Continue reading “Lectio and Visio Divina during Lent” →
0

2023 Word of the Year: Wonder

I love the practice of asking for a word, allowing a word or phrase to bubble up to ponder for the new year. Words that have chosen me in the last few years include Mercy (2017), Cushion (2018), You Are Free (I needed more words that year) (2019), Carry On (2020), Truth (2021), and Consent (2022).

My 2023 Word of the Year is WONDER.

This tradition (for desert mothers and fathers) of asking for a word was a way of seeking something on which to ponder for many days, weeks, months, sometimes a whole lifetime.  The “word” was often a short phrase to nourish and challenge the receiver.  A word was meant to be wrestled with and slowly grown into.

Christine Valters Painter

WONDER opens our eyes to synchronicity.

The images in a recent SoulCollage card brought forth the word WONDER, and it settled comfortably in my soul.  The title of my card, Sit A Spell, is an encouragement to be open and receptive to the wonders of the universe revealing themselves right where we are—comfortable on our perch, walking through the seasons of life, or, even, in our thoughts and imagination.

It is only with eyes open to wonder, holy surprises, and synchronicity that we experience the humbling and awesome fall to our knees. There we are uplifted by invisible forces and surrounded by angels seen and unseen. (Synchronicity and Holy Surprise)

A card I created using images gathered on retreat and from a greeting card that screamed synchronicity!

WONDER makes us fall to our knees.

After the word WONDER rested in my awareness, it was providential how many words of wisdom, poems, and quotes I came across in my reading. The wisdom begins in wonder decoration (pictured above) hangs around an olive oil bottle in my kitchen. I pass by it many times every day, but I realize I wasn’t really SEEING it. Waking up to meaningful coincidences, C.J. Jung said, “could shift our thinking so we recognize a greater wholeness in all of creation…It could precipitate a spiritual awakening.”

“Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.”

Gregory of Nyssa
Continue reading “2023 Word of the Year: Wonder” →
5

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑