Category: Life in the Spirit

The gift of friendship

On By dpavinatoIn Every day Catholic, Life in the Spirit, Spiritual JourneyLeave a comment

I am writing this on Saturday night, in anticipation of a Sunday afternoon gathering with friends. We are a group of friends that have grown up together. We fondly call our group “The Oglesby Girls”. Most of us grew up in Oglesby and started kindergarten together at Holy Family School, another joined us later in grade school then two others joined in high school.

Sadly, we lost one of our “girls” to cancer. We have shared weddings, the birth of children, the loss of parents, and divorce. We have donated together on large projects for Holy Family Church, even though only three of us remain parishioners because the rest of the group lives out of town. We still manage to get together and celebrate our friendship. The bond of our affection is strong. Many have commented on the steadfastness of our little group when I talk about our gatherings and escapades. Our friendships, and I would also include friendships from high school and those formed in our small rural area, are rare, enduring and admired by others I have encountered in life. Our lives have changed in so many ways but despite 50 years, we still have fun like the girls who headed to Friday night football and basketball games.

I have mentioned recently that I work part time for an online ministry. In the role of Director of Programming for Ignatian Ministries, I work on our community retreats, customer support and the coordination of our weekly blog, which is published on Sunday nights and is shared in an email on Monday morning. Over the past few weeks our core team and supporting “team” members have been writing the blog related to our ministry founding and purpose. I wrote the post, last week, on Community. I shared three examples of scripture quotes and personal experiences that I felt the support of community. As we discerned moving to a non-profit, and ways we want to serve others, one of the founding principles is community, accompanying and supporting others who are seeking the deeper waters of faith.

As I reflect on my small group of friends, I believe that we have embodied all of the aspects of community that I wrote about last week. We have created a space that we know we belong and are always welcomed. We are there to support each other, especially when we experience the difficult losses of family and friends. We encourage each other as we each use our individual gifts in life, regardless of the various paths our lives have taken.

If you are lucky enough to have friendships like this, treasure them! If you didn’t come upon them from childhood or young adult years, perhaps there are friendships that you developed in work or church communities. How can you nurture those friendships? Is there someone you would like to get to know better; someone you feel could be soul friend, someone you could support and you would welcome support from? What step can you take to get to know that person better?

I close with a quote from Thomas Aquinas, “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” Amen!

Create Joy! Deena

The art of the soul

On By dpavinatoIn Daily Prayer, Doing what we love, Life in the Spirit, Spiritual Journey, UncategorizedLeave a comment

This morning I posted an excerpt from a book, Beauty, The Invisible Embrace by John O’Donohue on my Facebook page. I read it yesterday and it has continued to capture my thoughts and imagination since reading it. In the quote, John states: “All through your life, the most precious experiences seem to vanish. Transience turns everything to air. You look behind and see no sign even of a yesterday that was so intense. Yet in truth, nothing ever disappears, nothing is lost. Everything that happens to us in the world passes into us. It all becomes part of the inner temple of the soul and it can never be lost. This is the art of the soul: to harvest your deeper life from all the seasons of your experience.”

I have found that one of the richest ways of “harvesting” the deeper life is through the use of ritual.

Rituals are those practices, ceremonies or actions done in a customary way (Vocabulary.com). They are ways of behaving or a series of actions carried out in a particular situation (Collins Dictionary). They can be prescribed or established rites (Dictionary.com). They can be personal, such as pizza dinners on Friday nights or rites of passage such as a quinceanara for a Latino girl turning 15 or a bar mitzvah for a Jewish boy at the age of 13. Funeral rites for the dead or incensing the altar at a feast day Mass or High Mass are examples of religious rituals or sacramentals. There are endless examples of prayer rituals and practices in religions or religious communities, whether Jewish, monastic or buddhist. They are ways of setting our intention and bringing the invisible in a more tangible way in to our visible world. Setting a rose on the tombstone of my parents on their birthdays or anniversary dates is a special way that I ritualize my love and remembrance of them.

Part of the reason that the quote has captivated my soul for the past 24 hours is that I have been contemplating offering a workshop/retreat on ritual for the past few months. I know the value that ritual has had in my life, personally and spiritually, but I have allowed many of the daily practices I use to give my time and attention to go dormant. So, of course, the natural reaction is to question and chastise myself saying “who are you to offer meaningful advice on ritual when you aren’t committed to it yourself!” I try to remind myself of the advice I received from one of my spiritual teachers, Gurudarshan Singh Khalsa, when I moved back “home” from Michigan. He wanted me to teach yoga so that I would maintain my own practice, he advised we teach what we want to learn and what we want to practice. I did that for awhile when I taught personal development classes, as part of the continuing education program, at the local community college. As I returned to corporate work, I stopped teaching and my time was more personal, such as daily morning prayer and scripture reading, journaling, and time spent in creative activities, such as art journaling.

So today, I am reflecting on the reasons that some of the little daily rituals or practices, that were important to me in the past, have taken a back seat each day. I have allowed work, daily responsibilities and worry to take their place. I “fit in” things like morning prayer and daily Mass or evening prayer, applying my essential oils, instead of setting aside the time to be still and connect, to linger a bit in those moments, allowing peace to enter in. That is not to say that the tasks we have to complete each day aren’t important, but the things that nurture us and sustain us need their place too. I believe we need to create space for the “more subtle brightness that sustains us” (John O’Donohue, Beauty, The Invisible Embrace). In the sacrament of Reconciliation Friday evening, I was reminded that worry, even the despair I recently experienced, are attempts to block my connection to, and relationship with, God. A return to some of the daily prayer practices will be a healing balm and will help build up the “sureness” of that relationship.

Simple actions such as lighting a candle, setting a special place or time or journaling are ways of creating a daily ritual around silence, meditation or prayer time. Going for a walk each morning, or evening, or writing a daily poem, might be a good time for daily reflection. Selecting dates and times that are meaningful when engaging in a new activity can be part of naming and setting a clear intention for the pursuit.

So this week, I invite you to look at the rituals that are part of your life, acknowledge the good they bring, and consider ways you might be interested in creating new rituals. What would be your goal or intention in creating the ritual? I will join you in doing the same and devote some time and attention to what I might offer in November, in the form of a short workshop or retreat, as a way to invite more ritual in to our lives. I leave for Italy in a month, so I will have my eyes and heart open to the many ways that our pilgrimage is a renewal experience of many of the rituals and sacred sites of my Catholic faith.

Until then, I wish you peace.

Create Joy, Deena

Creating Joy

On By dpavinatoIn Doing what we love, Life in the Spirit, Spiritual Journey6 Comments

Two Saturdays ago I participated in a Mixed Media Creativity workshop offered by Hero Arts , the sessions were taught by various artists and crafters. I enjoyed every minute of it, but admittedly watched more than I created that day. It’s on my to do list to finish the art panels and add them to my mixed media journal. I can become paralyzed by the idea that I have to “do it right”. Over and over again the creative facilitators reminded us that there is no “right” way to do mixed media. Just express yourself using whatever supplies, paper, markers and ink, that you have. One of the biggest take-aways for me was a session facilitated by Mansi Bhatia Tripathi (@mansimakes on Instagram and MansiMakes with You on Facebook). She told a story that, while in school, she was told she would never be a watercolor artist, and the impact that had on her life and creativity. Fortunately she didn’t listen! But more about Mansi in a minute.

The image I choose for today is a gift made by a dear friend. Something she said when she gave it to me has been on my mind for the two weeks since she visited! First of all, isn’t it beautiful?! I am so inspired by her garden art! She, upon handing it to me, said some things about my creativity and cards (I am a paper crafter as a side gig) and then said she is not creative. Someone that chose these colors and artfully put them together does not consider herself creative! Why do we do that? Not just downplay our gifts and talents but think creativity is something beyond us? I hope today’s blog post inspires you to think about creativity a little differently. Author Julia Cameron, wrote in her post today “We are all creative, whether we are “declared” artists or not.”

I think if we view creativity with an open mind we will see how we express our creativity each and every day. Then if we allow ourselves to express our inner creative souls even more, we will see the fruits of it in many other areas of our lives. We decorate our homes, buy and display lovely flowers in our pots and flower beds, and try to make meals that are pleasing to the eye as well as the palate. We buy clothes that will be flattering as well as comfortable. Maybe some of us let our fashion be an expression of our inner being. I select jewelry with that in mind but I want to be braver in letting my creative spirit be expressed in the clothes I buy and wear. I would like to be more conscious about this going forward. I am sure, we display children’s art with the utmost pride in their creativity. I have a beautiful abstract color painting framed and displayed that was created and given to me by my niece’s daughter, Genevieve, it’s amazing! It is a precious expression of her free and creative spirit! All of these examples are reflections of creativity.

Creative author and illustrator, Jill Badonsky, in her book The Nine Modern Muses (and a Bodyguard) encourages us that by saying “yes” to the creative process and finding ways to express it more we learn skills that we use in all areas of our lives. Skills like intuition, confidence, playfulness, flexibility, risk-taking, open-mindedness, and many more, become better honed and available to us as we move through life. I love that and certainly would welcome more of each of those in my life.

Back to Mansi and the things I have been learning from her these past couple of weeks. What a gift she has been. As she told the story from college and her art teacher, my heart broke for all of us that have been told something similar – you can’t draw, sing, or write. She has reminded us not to let external voices keep us from living our dreams and expressing ourselves. I don’t know if she had the right technique or talent, according to her teacher, for watercolor. I do know that she is a very talented and expressive artist, who by the way, was invited to be one of the founding makers on a new subscription DIY network called MadeTV. Mansi believes we all have (creative) magic within us, we simply have to open the door and let it out.

Mansi has reminded us that the end product is irrelevant, that we can just immerse ourselves in the joy of creating and expressing ourselves. It reminded me of a comment that my friend Judith wrote to me before I began this blog; “Just begin. Just write.” and not to worry if what I am writing will be read by anyone else, write for me, write what is in my heart. I begin with that each and every week but am grateful for those of you who write, text or stop me to mention that what I wrote touched you in some way.

Albert Einstein has been quoted saying “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Poet Maya Angelou said “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” This week, let’s find moments to tell our inner critic to sit down and take a break and express our creativity in more ways, little ways. Don’t judge or compare, just express yourself. See how you feel at the end of the week.

I will end this week with the signature I use in my stamping emails.

Create Joy! Deena

Image: Garden art by my friend in one of my potted flowers.

What seeds take root?

On By dpavinatoIn Daily Prayer, Every day Catholic, Life in the Spirit, Spiritual JourneyLeave a comment

Gardening is such a great analogy for life. There are so many parallels in writing or motivational thinking. You reap what you sow. If you have a dream, you have to nurture and care for it to see it come to fruition. From the Gospel for today, the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the seed that falls on rich soil produces fruit.

In the Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale, one of my favorite motivational talks, Mr. Nightingale reminds us that what we do in life, and how we think, determines what we accomplish. We all begin with the belief in the possibility of our dreams and our intentions. Why don’t we achieve what we set out to accomplish? Mr. Nightingale suggests most people conform to life, and the belief of others, around us. The successful person is not a specific job or title, but rather someone who progressively works toward their desired goal or outcome. Without specific intention, direction, and guidance, we don’t end up where we want. His secret – “we become what we think about” or what we give our attention to.

When I go to my favorite garden centers and buy plants for the year, I don’t come home and plop them on the ground or in a pot, as is, and expect it to grow. Annuals need some nourishing potting soil, occasional fertilizer and even more water than plants in the flower beds. The perennials need the right spot of sun or shade, soil that is amended, proper pruning for the plant and of course, water. I care for the plants and then watch them take root and grow.

Today’s photo is of Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) in my flower beds. I didn’t plant them in that spot. They are now growing along side a day lily plant and some echinacea (which looks like I have to give more space this year because of the Black-eyed Susan). The Black-eyed Susan are around the corner on the other side of the burning bush. The seed scattered, the soil was rich and it’s a sunny spot, which they prefer, so the plant has grown beautifully there. Perhaps too abundantly!

As we listen to scripture each day, or at least weekly, we are hearing and giving the Word of God a place to take root and plant seeds. Our faith grows as we mature spiritually. I don’t hear the Word proclaimed as a sixth grader and expect that level of faith to carry me the rest of my life, giving me counsel in every difficult or trying situation. I have to keep tending it, listening and growing, at the various phases of life. A deeply rooted and established plant in my garden isn’t going to topple in a storm. When the challenging situations come, the faith life that has been attended to over the years, is going to provide the firm foundation to help me navigate the difficult times. In his sermon on YouTube for this week, Bishop Barron suggests that the Word of God is creative (vs. descriptive or performative) and changes things. I would agree.

As a Benedictine Oblate and someone desiring a deeper faith life and closeness to God, I was reading daily scripture and reflections. But from the time, four or five years ago, on retreat when I heard (internal) the invitation to attend daily Mass things have changed. Oh believe me, I argued with God about that invitation – I was working and traveling, busy, etc. But the invitation persisted. I negotiated and said I would do the best I could. Do I still need to let that Word take better root, absolutely! There are days that it definitely falls among the weeds and is choked out by worry or lack of faith. But I keep listening. Over time, that Word we hear changes us, changes our perception of things and reaction to things. There are a ton of options, rather than being physically present at Mass if you find that challenging or you aren’t Catholic, YouTube or Facebook live streams, sites and apps like Hallow that you can simply listen to the scripture readings, etc. If you can become easily distracted, I would recommend listening to vs. reading scripture each day.

Whether success in work, family or faith, we become what we listen to and think about. Are you giving your attention to the things you want in life?

Peace, Deena

Both talks mentioned today can be found on YouTube

Photo is from my photo album of the Black-eyed Susan in my garden that is mentioned in the post.

A Procession of Faith

On By dpavinatoIn Catholic faith, Every day Catholic, Life in the Spirit, Spiritual JourneyLeave a comment

After graduating from college, my friend Jane and I took a trip to Europe. Our first stop was London. The gentleman we sat next to on the flight from Chicago to London was quite kind and gave us lots of tips on what to do and see during our time in Europe. I am sure he saw these two naive young women and thought – they will either be afraid to explore or they will get in trouble. It was a different time then but his best advice, be adventuresome. He helped us mark our travel book with “must see” destinations. We arrived in London on a beautiful sunny day, I don’t think we saw one typical foggy English day during the several days we were there, so we dropped our bags off at the hotel and found “the Tube” and headed to Hyde Park. Hyde Park is the largest of the Royal Parks and has beautiful large gardens and a network of paths and sidewalks linking the gardens, fountains and places of interest in the Park. I remember all the sidewalks because as we arrived and looked around, I saw several religious processions around the Park with gold vestments and canopies. I remembered it was the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus. It’s a memory that comes back to me each and every year on this beautiful feast day we celebrate today.

I don’t recall processions growing up. Growing up in the 60’s and spending several years in upstate New York, perhaps the age-old tradition had waned here in the Illinois Valley and in New York State but in more recent years I have seen a revival. My local parish began having processions around the church, or one year even inside the church because of rain, when Fr. Gary Blake was our pastor. The picture I used for today’s blog is an annual procession, that seems to get bigger each year, hosted by the LaSalle Catholic Parishes. It travels from St. Hyacinth’s church to Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, just under one mile, through the streets of LaSalle. It includes the Eucharistic procession, music, horses, school children dressed in their First Communion outfits, parishioners with special t-shirts and concludes with Eucharistic adoration stops. It is amazing! I am moved each year but the devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It is a public statement, a profession and a procession, of faith to community members.

Today also marks the beginning of The Year of Parish Revival, the second phase of three, as part of the Eucharistic Revival movement. I am honored to be one of the two parish representatives for Holy Family Parish. The revival, grew from concern over the results of “pew studies”, and declining Catholic belief, that Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Two-thirds of Catholics reported that the Eucharist was merely a symbolic representation of Jesus’ presence. Bishop Robert Barron, Chair of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis at that time, shared with fellow bishops that there was a serious problem that needed to be addressed. Committees and meetings took place and the Revival was launched. Bishop Andrew Cozzens, now Chair of the Committee on Evangelization, has brought the fruit of those discussions to fulfillment. If your parish is involved, find out more. If not, ask your priest how to part of the parish-level revival. There are beautiful documents, parish kits and trainings to aid us during this special year of grace.

During graduate school, I attended a Newman Center for Mass and special liturgies. It was a wonderful Center, a peaceful place to study and a place of fellowship. At one point I found myself questioning my beliefs, particularly in the Eucharist, and asked to speak to one of the priests serving at the Center. I shared my concerns and questions. He asked me “Would you throw the Eucharist on the floor?” I said, “No! Of course not!” He replied then that I had a reverence for the Eucharist and that my questions were normal. I appreciated his help but now looking back I see it was misguided and perhaps the reason that many Catholics began to see the Eucharist as representing something holy, as reflected in the 2019 Pew Forum, but not actually the Body and Blood of Jesus. Our catechesis was lacking!

There are a couple of ways to look inward at your own belief, if you are Catholic, in the Eucharist. First, and most importantly, is to revisit the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist as the “source and summit of the Christian life”. Each week, or perhaps daily, at Mass, we witness the transubstantiation, bread and wine used for Communion, becoming the body and blood of Jesus. It is a miracle repeated each and every day. Another way is to spend some time researching the documented Eucharistic Miracles throughout the world. I had the great privilege of visiting the Church of St. Stephen in Santarem, Portugal and seeing the Sacred Host that has been enclosed in a reliquary since the miracle in (or around) 1247. It continues to liquify the Holy Blood over the centuries.

Blessed Carlo Acutis, an English-born Italian tech savvy teen, who died at the age of 15 in 2006, documented over 136 Eucharistic Miracles onto a website before he died. He was extremely devoted to the Eucharist, attending daily Mass and offering his sufferings from leukemia for the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI, who was the sitting pope during Blessed Carlo’s final years. He was like any other child in family videos singing at school plays or a typical teenager enjoying films, soccer, and video games. But Carlos also spent time after school volunteering to help the homeless of his city. He asked his parents to take him to many of the sites of Eucharistic Miracles in Europe. The website he created can be viewed or pdf’s downloaded to use in parishes. A traveling Eucharistic Miracle exhibition visited our area last year and exhibits continue to travel around country. He is one of the patron saints of the Eucharistic Revival movement.

St. Thomas Acquinas, Doctor of the Church and one of the greatest scholastic philosophers, said that “the Eucharist is the sacrament of love. It signifies love. It produces love.” To that I say, Amen.

Peace, Deena

Image used is from the Corpus Christi Procession in LaSalle, IL 2021

Why we do what we do

On By dpavinatoIn Catholic faith, Doing what we love, Life in the Spirit, Spiritual Journey, UncategorizedLeave a comment

This morning, reading Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, I reflected on the question she and her team were asked by a facilitator brought in to conduct an offsite session to assess where they are and where they want to be, as writers for the Sunday Paper. They were asked “Why do you do this?” “To what end?”. Great questions for all of us. Why do we do what we do?

Many of you have shared in response to my posts from Maria that you started following her after I have shared her articles or that you admire her too. We post sunsets and flowers and graduation pictures. I have friends on “vacations”- one on a long trip to Israel visiting many of the holy sites I long to visit, others now returning from an incentive cruise to Norway as a result of great success with their stamp & paper crafting businesses and recently a group that traveled to Italy with my friend and author, Judith Valente, visiting lesser known Benedictine spiritual sites. I have enjoyed each and every picture they have shared from their journeys. I think we share those moments with each other to make a connection, to have companions for those special moments or to impart some information that we found helpful.

We recommend recipes and great restaurants because we want others to have the wonderful experience we had. We share the ordinary moments that make us smile, like my cats in their new cardboard box, which they won’t let me breakdown yet, or a friend who takes his dogs to establishments in Florida for lunch or refreshment and afternoon music. Are these things going to change the world? No, but they bring moments of happiness as we share them and as our friends participate, albeit virtually, in those moments with us. My morning posts of a coffee cup or an inspirational quote are not going to change your life, that’s for sure, but I hope it gives each of us a minute to pause and think about something pleasant in the world.

I share my love for essential oils, or a new system I have found to reduce pain and promote healing and restoration, because I want others to experience the same benefits I have found. Whether it’s health and well-being, kitchen items or jewelry, I believe that my friends are sharing these items because it brings them some delight or comfort. Maybe that’s what small communities used to be like. People set up their small businesses because they knew it was a trade they were good at and wanted to help others.

I am looking forward to reading a new book I found out about this week from author Kate Bowler, written by her former Yale professor Miroslav Volf, Life Worth Living; A Guide to What Matters Most. To be a complete fan girl of Maria Shriver today, she wrote opening comments to the book regarding her new venture, Open Field, and she said “We are all seeking the same things. We’re all seeking dignity. We’re all seeking joy….seeking to be seen, to be safe….We can all give each other these (spiritual) gifts if we share what we know-what has lifted us up and moved us forward.” Her new venture, Open Field, with Penguin Books is the publisher of this book. My initial sense of the book so far is that it asks all the Questions – questions that challenge us, inspire us to define what’s really important, face the limiting beliefs that prevent us from pursuing it and then start making the changes to get there.

Hopefully we do the work we do, paid or volunteer, because it brings us joy and fulfillment. At some point we must have reflected that it would be work we would enjoy or it is a gift or talent that we have. If it no longer does that, perhaps it’s a good time to ask why not and how we could change that activity to become more meaningful again. Or maybe it’s an opportunity to consider doing something new. It may be a stretch to think about a new venture. My transition from corporate life to ministry work has invited me to use a prayerful, discerning heart and mind over a rational, pragmatic one. It isn’t always easy to change but it may make a difference in each and every day of your life and potentially to the lives of those you impact on a daily basis.

Today is the Solemnity of Pentecost. We celebrate the birth of the Church with Mary and the Apostles but that continues to come alive each day in us. Ronald Rolheiser’s reflection in Give Us This Day for today, May 28, was poignant. He said “We are always dying in some ways, though never dead. We are always alive with new life. But we need to grieve what’s dead, adjust to the new, and let the old ascend. If we do this, Pentecost will happen in our lives. We will receive a new spirit for the life that we are, in fact, living.” Then he made a statement that perhaps is the answer I have been seeking for many years. He said that the Holy Spirit brings about the “dissatisfaction and restlessness” that we feel until our lives, and the spirit by which we are living them, is integrated and aligned. To that I say, Come Holy Spirit! Let us continue to pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear or Respect of the Lord.

Peace be with you, Deena

Image created with PicMonkey