The Importance of Taking a Monday Mindfulness Walk! It's #MindfulnessMonday

Good Evening Dear Family!

Happy You Matter Monday or better yet  it is #MindfulnessMonday! Mondays have a tendency to become gooped up with mindless junk. This is the time of the year where we need to make Mondays Mindful. What do I mean by that? We need to clear our minds of gobbledygook and let God in! How do we do this? By taking a Mindfulness Walk a la centering prayer. If you don't know what centering prayer is please click on Centeringprayer.com  and you will find an amazing assortment of spiritual goodies. Today's prayer walk was a Mindfulness Walk:  Here are the steps:

Mindfulness Prayer Walking Framework 

Introduction to the walk: The Four Directions by Chief Seattle:

Prayer to The Four Directions
Chief Seattle

Great Spirit of Light, come to me out of the East (red) with the power of the rising sun. Let there be light in my words, let there be light on my path that I walk. Let me remember always that you give the gift of a new day. And never let me be burdened with sorrow by not starting over again.

Great Spirit of Love, come to me with the power of the North (white). Make me courageous when the cold wind falls upon me. Give me strength and endurance for everything that is harsh, everything that hurts, everything that makes me squint. Let me move through life ready to take what comes from the north.

Great Life-Giving Spirit, I face the West (black), the direction of sundown. Let me remember every day that the moment will come when my sun will go down. Never let me forget that I must fade into you. Give me a beautiful color, give me a great sky for setting, so that when it is my time to meet you, I can come with glory.

Great Spirit of Creation, send me the warm and soothing winds from the South (yellow). Comfort me and caress me when I am tired and cold. Unfold me like the gentle breezes that unfold the leaves on the trees. As you give to all the earth your warm, moving wind, give to me, so that I may grow close to you in warmth. Man did not create the web of life, he is but a strand in it. Whatever man does to the web, he does to himself.

Step 1: Decide where and when you are going to walk. (Remember no walking at night during the Fall and Winter months)

Step 2: When you walk make sure you are in a safe area. When you do a mindfulness prayer walk you will be in silence and sometimes you can quiet yourself so much that your awareness may be dimmed. 

Step 3: Ask God to help you be in God's loving presence and to help you empty your minds and selves. 

Step 4: The first part of the walk you will walk in complete silence and listen to the sounds of nature and feel your heart beating. Feel the love energy God is infusing into your heart home. 

Step 5: The second part of the walk you will decide on the intention of this part of the walk by finding a special word that will keep you spiritually grounded. Today's word was love for me.

That is the only word you will pray. If your mind wanders bring it back to the word you have chosen.

Step 6  When you complete your walk make a prayer of thanksgiving and center yourselves gently back into the world.  

Here are the Mindfulness Prayer Walking Pictures from Today at Marian Regional Medical Center Healing Garden.

God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul.

Jean Paul

The highest test of the civilization of any race is in its willingness to extend a helping hand to the less fortunate.

Booker T. Washington

Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Without God there is for mankind no purpose, no goal, no hope, only a wavering future, an eternal dread of every darkness.

Jean Paul

In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.

Booker T. Washington

Peace be still

Peace be.

Peace.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Or this form:

Be still and hear the whisper of God in the Wind, in the waves, and in our hearts
Be still and hear the whisper of God in the Wind,in  the waves.
Be still and hear the whisper of God in the Wind.
Be still and hear the whisper of God.
Be still and hear the whisper.
Be still and hear.
Be still.
Be.

God is Spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and

in truth. John 4:24

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!"
I hold holy space for you in love and peace this day and always!

Light of the World Phos hilaron

Light of the world, in grace and beauty,

Mirror of God’s eternal face,

Transparent flame of love’s free duty,

You bring salvation to our race.

Now, as we see the lights of evening,

We raise our voice in hymns of praise;

Worthy are you of endless blessing,

Sun of our night, lamp of our days.

IN LAK’ECH

Tú eres mi otro yo.
You are my other me.
Si te hago daño a ti,
If I do harm to you,
Me hago daño a mi mismo.
I do harm to myself.
Si te amo y respeto,
If I love and respect you,
Me amo y respeto yo.
I love and respect myself.

Luis Valdez

Gracious and loving God as we meet in community this evening to pray and light candles let us remember all of our family members who do not have community, family, where loving shoulders and soft places in which to fall are available. We pray for the lost, lonely, and afraid that they may be found and brought into the family of God and wrapped in a quilt of comfort. We pray for our family members who are refugees, asylum seekers, children in foster care, children who are seeking to be adopted and all who are waiting for their forever homes wherever that may be. We pray that we may practice radical hospitality and welcome all of our family members and especially the strangers who are in our midst. We pray that we may keep our eyes on all of our loved ones and pray that no one, not one will fall through the cracks. We pray that a community of  CALM (Compassion, Acceptance, Love, and Mercy) may spring up around the world and especially where there is hatred, violence, terror, and division.  We pray that peace, justice, and mercy may prevail upon Earth, that we may be peacemakers and called the Children of God. Amen.

139 Domine, probasti

1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4 You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?

7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9 Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.

Wisdom 1:1-7

1Love righteousness, you rulers of the earth,
think of the Lord in goodness
and seek him with sincerity of heart; 
² because he is found by those who do not put him to the test,
and manifests himself to those who do not distrust him. 
³ For perverse thoughts separate people from God,
and when his power is tested, it exposes the foolish; 
⁴ because wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul,
or dwell in a body enslaved to sin. 
⁵ For a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit,
and will leave foolish thoughts behind,
and will be ashamed at the approach of unrighteousness. 

⁶ For wisdom is a kindly spirit,
but will not free blasphemers from the guilt of their words;
because God is witness of their inmost feelings,
and a true observer of their hearts, and a hearer of their tongues. 
⁷ Because the spirit of the Lord has filled the world,
and that which holds all things together knows what is said,

A Song of Wisdom Sapientia liberavit

Wisdom 10:15-19,20b-21

Wisdom freed from a nation of oppressors *

a holy people and a blameless race.

She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord, *

withstood dread rulers with wonders and signs.

To the saints she gave the reward of their labors, *

and led them by a marvelous way;

She was their shelter by day *

and a blaze of stars by night.

She brought them across the Red Sea, *

she led them through mighty waters;

But their enemies she swallowed in the waves *

and spewed them out from the depths of the abyss.

And then, Lord, the righteous sang hymns to your Name, *

and praised with one voice your protecting hand;

For Wisdom opened the mouths of the mute, *

and gave speech to the tongues of a new-born people.

Luke 17:1-6

17Jesus^* said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! ²It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³Be on your guard! If another disciple^* sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. ⁴And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, “I repent”, you must forgive.’

5 The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ ⁶The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a^* mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.

A Song of God’s Love

1 John 4:7-11

Beloved, let us love one another, *

for love is of God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, *

for God is Love.

In this the love of God was revealed among us, *

that God sent his only Son into the world,

so that we might live through Jesus Christ.

In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us *

and sent his Son that sins might be forgiven.

Beloved, since God loved us so much, *

we ought also to love one another.

For if we love one another, God abides in us, *

and God’s love will be perfected in us.

We Join together in prayer

We join our hearts with all of our brothers and sisters all over the world God as your family of love, peace, and mercy to pray for our family members who have become refugees, outcasts, and the persecuted.

We join our hands and hearts in love and pray for peace. God may we with you become peace makers.

We join our hands, feet, eyes, ears, and voices in service to you God.

We join our voices to speak truth to power and to speak out for the least of these.

We join our minds to help become the educated Children of God.

We join our hands and hearts in prayers for those who have come to us asking for prayers on behalf of others.

We join our hearts in prayer with those who mourn and those who are keeping vigil at the bedside of their loved ones who are transitioning into the glorious Heavenly Thin Places.

We join our prayers for those who are dying and those who have died today.

We join our bodies to help become stewards of God's Cathedral of life.

We join our hearts in love and pray for an end to hate and violence.

We join together to pray that there may be an end to war and terror in this Your Fragile and broken world O God.

We join together to add our prayers, thanksgivings, celebrations, and remembrances to you now O God. Accept these our prayers in the Name of your only Son Jesus. Amen.

We pray with special intention this night for all affected by violence and terror remembering those in Iran and Iraq who were killed in the earthquake. We pray for all who are affected by wildfires throughout our country and in the state of California. We continue to wrap our prayer quilt around Las Vegas, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, Mexico, The U.S. Virgin Islands, and Ireland. 

Let us be at prayer

Gracious God we pray for the rest of our bodies, minds, and spirits . Give us courage to take rest any time that we need to.

Gracious God we entrust our worries and anxieties to you this night so that we may rest gentle with a clean mind and spirit.

Gracious God we pray for all of our family members who are struggling with life's challenges.

Gracious God we pray for all who are ill that they may be healed. 

Gracious  God we come before you to ask for forgiveness of any and all the things that we have done.

Gracious God we pray for  peace in our hearts, cities, nation, and the world.

Gracious God we pray this night for all who are traveling and especially those traveling where there have been wildfires.

We pray this night for rain and seasonable weather.

We pray for _________________________

We give thanks for____________________

We lift up these our prayers in name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is

hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where

there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where

there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where

there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to

be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is

in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we

are born to eternal life. Amen.

Christ Has No Body. by Teresa of Avila.

Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks. Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

God is our clothing, that wraps, clasps and encloses us so as to never leave us.

Julian of Norwich

“Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things.

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices.” 

― Teresa of Ávila

The Wisdom of God

the Love of God

and the Grace of God

strengthen you

to be Christ’s hands and heart in this world,

in the name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.

(source: Celtic)

Live without fear: your Creator has made you holy, has always

protected you, and loves you as a mother. Go in peace to follow

the good road and may God’s blessing be with you always. Amen

(source: from Saint Clare)

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to
generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.
Amen. Ephesians 3:20,2

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!" 

I hold holy space for you during this time of prayer, vigil, and meditation

Good Night Dear Ones! I love you! Have a wonderful night. Get in touch with your inner beings this week.  Listen to this as if it is our lullaby Inner Being ! May God wrap us all in God's ever so gentle arms.

God's love, blessings, and peace,

Sara

Resources:
Enriching our worship.
Quote sites for prayers and Booker T. Washington, Nehru, Jean Paul, Julian of Norwich, and Teresa of Avila.
Walk With Me On Our Journey
In Lak ' Ech - Luis Valdez
YouTube

An extra bonus:


You may take a virtual labyrinth walk: