Becky Eldredge's Blog, page 24

Going to My Inner Chapel: Holy Noticing

During our next series, Going to My Inner Chapel, members from my launch team will share how they have used wisdom gained from reading my newest book, “The Inner Chapel”, in their daily lives. This week Sarah Kotlinski shares with us how she notices and spends time with God in nature.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

The rubber soles of my sneakers beat out a cadence on the pavement as I trudge along my daily walk. Head north, cross the bridge, right on Old Mill, behind the airport, return. It’s all familiar: the leap and burble of the creek, the indignant bleating of the neighbor’s sheep, the heavy herbal scent of early summer meadows. Here the redwing blackbird scolds. There the oxeye daisies wave. Everywhere the poison ivy crouches and I keep the childhood mantra ‘leaves of three, let them be’ called to mind.

As my muscles loosen and my mind relaxes, I settle into a comfortable rhythm of conversation with God. This is how my day went. Thank You for Your help with that difficult conversation. What do You think I should focus on tomorrow? Gosh You knew what You were doing when You made the spiderwort.

Suddenly, I see a small object at the side of the road. A cartoonish teal, I think it must be a piece of plastic from a child’s discarded toy. I feel a stab of annoyance. I hate litterers. I bend down to pick it up and realize it is a piece of a robin’s egg, brighter and more vibrant than I have ever seen. It glows in the late afternoon sun. I pull out my phone to snap a picture. Out of the blue:

“Even broken things are beautiful.”

Over the years, I have learned to recognize Jesus’ voice in our conversations. He doesn’t wait politely for me to finish talking. When He has something to say, He says it. My curiosity piqued, I ask Him about that egg. “Why, Jesus, did You choose to show this to me today?”

“You love beauty, but you miss so many ways I present it to you.”

“Like what, Jesus?”

As I walk, the conversation continues. We discuss broken things in my life and my tendency to dismiss them as ugly. I learn to look at situations from a new perspective. My heart expands.

One of the gifts of Becky’s Inner Chapel is the affirmation of our current ways of prayer. For years I have practiced this technique of conversing with God inspired by what I see on my walks. I call it Holy Noticing. When I got to Chapter Five of The Inner Chapel book where Becky introduces Lectio Divina, I felt a shock of recognition. I realized this is the same process I apply to my surroundings. Perhaps I should call it Apperceptio Divina!

God speaks to all of us where we are, amongst the minutiae of our daily lives. He will speak to you, too. If you would like to try this walking meditation yourself, here are some steps.

 Prepare. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your awareness. Each day as I lace up my sneakers and strap on my knee brace, I pray “Holy Spirit, please quiet my mind and open my heart to see what You have to show me in this walk. Make me a grateful and reflective observer.”
 Notice. Pay attention to your senses. What are you hearing, seeing, smelling? What draws you in? Maybe it is the interchange of light and shadow on the sidewalk. Maybe it is the shouts of children at play. Perhaps it is the smell of someone cooking dinner. Whatever it is, savor it. Ask yourself what God could be offering to you as you attune to what you notice.
 Reflect. What memories does this stir up? What is God saying to you here? Is it peaceful or unsettling? Why? Is God asking something of you by drawing your attention in this way?
 Respond. Talk to God about what you have experienced. Share with Him your emotions. Are you joyful? Angry? Frightened? Excited? Tell God about any ideas you have as you ponder what you have noticed. See if you hear God asking you to go deeper.
Rest. Thank God for the time you have shared together. Try to close out your walk in gratitude.

 

 

Go Deeper?

#mymesamoment: Where did you see God this week? Come share with me! Every Saturday there is a post on my Facebook page asking this question, I would love to hear where you find God.
Read my article on The Prayer of Consideration. You can also find The Prayer of Consideration prayer card here.
Looking for scriputre passages to pray with? Check out this handout: Scriptures for Support 
Visit my Spiritual Support for Right Now webpage with spiritual resources for racial justice and COVID-19.

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders through August 13. Simply go here and use promo code 5207. You can also order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon.

Online Busy Person’s Retreat Registration OPEN!! Wanting one-on-one prayer support during this time? Looking to dive deeper? Register for the Online Busy Person’s Retreat on June 22-25. You’ll be paired with an Ignatian-trained spiritual director to meet online for about an hour a day for four days and given material and suggestions to support your daily prayer time. Register today!

**Get Busy Lives & Restless Souls e-book for ONLY .99!**
Becky’s first book, Busy Lives & Restless Souls, is available on ALL major e-book platforms from June 14-18 for only 99 cents! Hop over to Amazon, Apple, Nook, or Kobo – wherever you get your e-books – and get it today! Also, please help us spread the word and get this great book on prayer into more hands! Visit our Facebook & Instagram to like & share posts about this awesome opportunity.

Gather with Stephanie Clouatre-Davis & me for Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom- to learn a new prayer tool and join us in prayer. Follow my Facebook page for details.

Going to My Inner Chapel: Sharing the Promises of God with Others

During our next series, Going to My Inner Chapel, members from my book launch team will share how they have used wisdom gained from reading my newest book, “The Inner Chapel”, in their daily life. This week Liz Aceves tells us how she is sharing the wisdom she gained with others by starting a study group with a group of friends.

When I was asked to write about my experience reading The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God, I was hesitant at first and then realized I could not say no. This beautiful book has been an inspiration to me on my spiritual journey. I felt for some time a longing to have a deeper relationship with Jesus. As a little girl, I always prayed to God but not to Jesus. I had no idea how impactful reading The Inner Chapel would be to my prayer life.

After reading chapter 9, We Can Find Shelter and Intimacy, I felt a strong need to share what I was reading with others. I woke up in the middle of the night with the idea to start an Inner Chapel study group. I knew exactly who I wanted to reach out to. The next morning, the first thing that came to mind was that thought about starting the study group. I reached out to Becky and asked her for guidance. She immediately sent me the discussion questions for the book. Well, at that point, there was no turning back. I emailed five girlfriends and they ALL said yes. We are now in our seventh week of our Inner Chapel study group. This has been such an amazing and rewarding experience! We have come together via zoom and been incredibly open about what we are learning as we read the book.

The Inner Chapel is an answered prayer. I prayed for months for God to show me how I could have a deeper relationship with Jesus and here it was. I enjoy the “Let’s Go to the Inner Chapel” section at the end of each chapter . They are each a mini spiritual retreat for me.

In those moments of stillness, I found Jesus. I have been able to face things that I thought I had or was dealing with – fears and doubts – I realized I was only masking them. During my prayer time I was questioning who am I? A mother, wife, teacher, daughter, friend… But who am I REALLY? Then I read the words in Chapter 9, “Who I am in God is who I am.” It stopped me in my tracks. I want to serve and help others. This realization and along with our Inner Chapel study group, I have this longing to do more for others. I do not know exactly what this looks like completely, yet, but I trust in God that he will show me.

In the middle of all the turmoil our country is going through – hurt, anger, suffering, illness – we are not alone. Jesus is there with each one of us. He is holding us, lifting us up. He is putting people or situations in our lives to guide us. We must be willing to be open. The Inner Chapel is a book I did not want to end. It is a book I will go back to throughout my spiritual journey.

 

 

 

Go Deeper?

Check out my Inner Chapel resource page from Loyola Press for the discussion guide, guided prayers, and handouts to supplement the book.
My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/the-inner-chapel and use promo code 5207. You can also order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon for Kindle, paperback, and audiobok.
Online Busy Person’s Retreat Registration OPEN!! Wanting one-on-one prayer support during this time? Looking to dive deeper? Register for the Online Busy Person’s Retreat on June 22-25. You’ll be paired with an Ignatian-trained spiritual director to meet online for about an hour a day for four-days and given material and suggestions to support your daily prayer time. Register today!
Gather with Stephanie Clouatre-Davis & me for Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom- to learn a new prayer tool and join us in prayer. Follow my Facebook page for details.
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

 

Going to My Inner Chapel: Placing Myself in the Presence of God

During our next series, Going to My Inner Chapel, members from my book launch team will share how they have used wisdom gained from reading my newest book, “The Inner Chapel”, in their daily life. This week Heather Landry shares how she still makes time to go to her inner chapel even during the busyness of virtual learning and working from home.

On March 9, 2020, I received a blast email from Becky, seeking individuals to join her book launch team for The Inner Chapel. I remember hesitating but decided to go ahead and join even though I already preordered a copy of the book. Why not get it earlier and help? Little did I know how important that decision would be or how wildly things would change for me in a matter of hours.

Later that day, I received a call from my HR department and was notified that I would need to gather my things and leave my office to work from home. My husband and I had returned from an amazing vacation in Paris and London less than two weeks before, and my employer was taking all precautions possible as a result of the growing spread of the current iteration of the coronavirus.

I worked from home *alone* for a glorious week, before the children were sent home, and then we all had to work and do school from home. Together. Things did not go according to plan-well my plan at least.

When my book launch copy of The Inner Chapel arrived, I delved into it the next day and was led down a spiritual path that I desperately needed to embark upon. For years now, I strived for a deeper relationship with Christ and my faith. I had plenty of missteps along the way, but I was always called back to my faith and our God. Even though I knew I needed to go deeper, I didn’t quite know how to get there.

Enter The Inner Chapel, a book and a beautiful concept that took me on a journey which was familiar and new all at the same time. In the book, Becky introduces us to our own inner chapel and provides the recipe for prayer: time, place, and space. When do you pray; where can you pray; and how can you make your space sacred?

The nugget that stuck with me the most was to intentionally place myself in the presence of God and to name the grace I seek. You see, while I had been waking up before my household to start my day in prayer, I often would turn it into a task on a checklist that I simply needed to complete. In humbly placing myself in the presence of God and waiting for the Holy Spirit to arouse in me the grace that I might be seeking, I have been able to begin to really start to walk that path to a rich and deep relationship with Him.

Name the grace you seek. What word or thought comes to mind? Love, peace, trust, mercy, guidance, thankfulness, stillness, joy, generosity of spirit, calm…these are some of the graces I have sought over the last few weeks. Have there been missteps? YES! Sometimes I skip right to my devotional or scripture without centering myself. When you consider that I began my intentional prayer life in November 2017 over the bathroom sink while brushing my teeth in the morning with a very short daily devotional my mother gave me nearly ten years prior to the time I started to really read it, it seems totally reasonable.

My intentional prayer life looks different now. Today, I find it helpful to keep a prayer box – a grab-and-go toolkit – containing my Bible, daily devotional, prayer candle, journal, pen/pencil, tissues, various prayer cards, and some note cards (as I often am called to write to someone who came to mind in prayer). I learned I don’t have to have a beautifully curated space in my home in order to pray. I just have to intentionally visit my inner chapel each day and begin prayer by naming the grace I seek. God will be there waiting for me. Just like God will be there waiting for you!

 

P.S. For the record, I still read the devotional (Joyfully Living the Gospel Day by Day) my mother gave me over my bathroom sink while brushing my teeth.

 

 

Go Deeper?
Read my past blog series: No Time for God? Making Space for Prayer in a Busy Calendar
Check out Psalm 62: “My soul rests in God alone.”
Gather with Stephanie Clouatre-Davis & me for Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom- to learn a new prayer tool and join us in prayer. Follow my Facebook page for details.

 

• Online Busy Person’s Retreat Registration OPEN!! Wanting one-on-one prayer support during this time? Looking to dive deeper? Register for the Online Busy Person’s Retreat on June 22-25. You’ll be paired with an Ignatian-trained spiritual director to meet online for about an hour a day for four-days and given material and suggestions to support your daily prayer time. Register today!

• Join me for an online retreat and workshop on the Sacred Art of Listening with the Loyola Summer Institue for Catholic Educational Leadership. June 1: 9am-12pm CDT for a retreat on the sacred art of lisetneing in our own lives. June 2: 9am-12pm CDT for a workshop on how to apply the sacred art of listening. Registration is required.

• Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!
• My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon for Kindle and paperback.

• SHARE WITH US: We would LOVE to see a picture of your reading The Inner Chapel. Please post a picture of you enjoying the book on your social media and tag my Becky Eldredge page on facebook or @beldredge98 on Instagram or Twitter.

• Did you know that The Inner Chapel is now available in audiobook, ebook, and paperback?!

Inviting You Deeper: Cultivating Space for God in the Pandemic

During this time of pandemic, our patterns and rhythms of life have changed. Some of us find ourselves with more open time and space filled with silence that we have not practiced. You may hear words from your older children and teens in your house like, “I am bored!” This movement is counter to our normal pace that is full of words, movement, and busyness.

Cultivating more contemplative space is a powerful tool for ourselves and for young people in our lives. How can you use the spaces and silence of this time as a tool during this pandemic?

If you are anything like our family, we sometimes only know how to move at mach speed with a million things to do! We have practiced quick movement through checklists and errands, doing homework between sporting events, and “all hands on deck” chaos. Silence and stillness, though, is an unpracticed mode of living.

Just like the many other things that we teach our  young people, we can make sure that we provide  a good example of contemplation and rest. We can provide  ourselves  with some contemplative practices that allow our bodies to shift down into a slower speed: engage in a daily prayer time, enjoy our  coffee or tea, grow flowers or plants, engage in deep and unhurried conversations that are not rushed, play board games, open up a puzzle. We  are teaching our bodies how to live in this space and at this pace.

We can also teach our young people to cultivate space for silence, for pausing, and for prayer during the pandemic.  We can accompany our  young people in our homes  as she or he learns to do the same. We can encourage our young people to fight the urge to fill every space with digital interfaces. Instead, we can invite them into deep conversations about their dreams, friends, and feelings. When we engage in these conversations, use the feelings wheel that I wrote about two weeks ago.  From my experience, it helps print it out and have it  ready for that moment when your young person approaches you confused about “everything” or anything. Ask them to explain and talk about what feelings this pandemic is stirring in them.

Sometimes we end real conversations too early saying nothing about our real feelings. Try these prompts:

Why do you think that you felt that way?
What do you think, in this situation, is important for you to do or change?
What could happen if anything was possible?
What’s the dream you are afraid to say aloud?

In speaking to young people, it is important that we encourage their own thoughts and processing without taking their ideas personally. I try to take my own plans, aspirations, dreams, and even self-concern and move it to the side to allow the young person room to explore his thoughts or ideas.

Young people can also participate in contemplative thought and prayer. Guide them to reflect, journal, and sit with these open spaces with God and their feelings and dreams in dialogue.  One tool I  love to use with young people is the Examen. The Examen gives a framework for reflection, giving young people (and us) a space to see what life is bringing and where God is calling us. I created this extended Examen tool that has proved very effective for young people. As one young person expressed to me when doing the Examen, God is not somewhere else; “God is here.”

May we each invite God into this pandemic space. May we also invite our young people to create space for God in this time as well.  God is here.

Go Deeper? 

LEARN MORE: To learn more about Stephanie’s ministry and resources, check out her website!  You can download prayer tools for young people such as the Examen, the Colloquy, and a feelings review.  Sign up also for her blog to expand your tool box for prayer.
Try the app “Reimagining the Examen” by Fr. Mark Thibodeaux, SJ
Gather with Stephanie & I for Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom- to learn a new prayer tool and join us in prayer. Follow my Facebook page for details.
I am happy to be a part of Waiting for the Spirit, a retreat from Ascension to Pentecost with Ignatianspirituality.com, starting May 22. To get the daily content sent to your email, join the Year in our Church email list here.   
Online Busy Person’s Retreat Registration OPEN!! Wanting one-on-one prayer support during this time? Register for the Online Busy Person’s Retreat on June 22-25. You’ll be paired with an Ignatian-trained spiritual director to meet online for about an hour a day for four-days and given material and suggestions to support your daily prayer time. Register today!
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon for Kindle and paperback.
SHARE WITH US: We would LOVE to see a picture of your reading The Inner Chapel. Please post a picture of you enjoying the book on your social media and tag my Becky Eldredge page on facebook or @beldredge98 on Instagram or Twitter.
Did you know that The Inner Chapel is now available in audiobook, ebook, and paperback?!

Inviting You Deeper: Small Bursts of Light

A few years ago, my family and I were at a family campout.  My youngest son was in scouting, and they hosted campouts that dozens of families participated in a couple times of year.  When we all set-up our tents, we created an obstacle course of tents, tent wires, and stakes that were hard to maneuver even during the day.  At night, it felt like a treacherous obstacle course to make your way through because it was pitch-black outside. It was so dark when the sunset, you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.

Well, one night while we were sleeping, our youngest daughter, Mary, who was almost three at the time, came over to me in my sleeping bag and gently woke me up.  “Mom! Mom! I need to go to the bathroom!”  Feeling a bit groggy, I opened my eyes and immediately said, “Mary, go wake your dad.”  She replied, “I already tried, but he’s snoring!”  

Sluggishly I sat up trying to take in what was happening and where I was.  It was so dark I couldn’t see anything, not even my daughter’s face.  This odd fear rose in me as I realized we were going to have to make our way out of the tent, through the obstacle course, in pitch black darkness.  I began scrounging around for my flashlight in hopes to help us see.  The tiredness I felt along with the dark kept me from finding it.  

As I stood up, Mary tugged on my pajama pants and said, “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ve got mine!”  She held in her hand the tiny Olaf flashlight we had given her for her birthday.  My immediate thought as I saw it was it will never be bright enough to help us.  Mary flipped the light on, and I was shocked to see that even her dim, light coming through her Olaf kids flashlight shattered the darkness.  We walked to the edge of the tent and unzipped the door and stepped out.  Mary’s flashlight gave us about a two foot beam of light.  

While every part of me wanted the entire path lit from our tent to the bathroom pavilion, all we had was two feet of light ahead of us.  It was not what I wanted, but it was enough to help us find our way.  We took one step, then another step, and then another with her small flashlight illuminating two feet ahead of us each time.  We made our way over tent wires and around tent stakes one flashlight beam at a time.  We not only arrived safely to the bathroom pavilion, but we also made it back to our tent to zip back up and snuggle into our sleeping bags to fall asleep again. 

I keep thinking about this story a lot these days.  I don’t know about you, but I want to see the whole path illuminated out in front of me right now more than ever.  I want to know what life will look like this summer.  I want to know what the fall will look like.  It is hard to make plans because of all the information I feel we are missing.   

The uncertainty we are facing, though, about when life will reopen and return to normal feels like we can only see as far as Mary’s flashlight allowed- two feet ahead.  God is inviting me to be thankful for the two feet being illuminated in front of me, though.  I know what I am doing today.  I know what I am doing next week.  While we have yet to figure out what summer looks like as our children’s school ends on May 22nd, I do know what the next two weeks will look like.   

This Sunday’s Gospel (John 14: 1-6) further reminds us of this message of knowing our way forward.  We hear Jesus tell his disciples:  Where we are going, you know the way.  Thomas tells him, “Master, we do not know where we are going.  How can we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”   

That brings me great comfort.  Jesus is the way and knows the way.  My job is to be trust the two feet of path illuminated by him in front of me and step forward in faith, knowing as I take the step, he is going to illuminate the next two feet in front of me.  That’s our journey of faith.  One step forward with Jesus at a time.   

This week, as we still long for the full path to be lit ahead of us, may we each thank Jesus for the two feet ahead of us and may we step boldly in faith.   

Go Deeper?  

Read Prayer Leads Us Forward in Hope.
Read an excerpt from my book, The Inner Chapel , on the promise of God that we have a companion in our suffering.
For visual hope, follow:

Cobbleworks on Instagram
Brick House in the City on Instagram


Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom – Gather with Stephanie Clouatre Davis and I this week, May 12, in learning a new prayer tool. Follow my Facebook page for details.
Wanting a directed retreat? Wanting more prayer support during this time? The retreat directors from the Online Busy Person’s Retreat are happy to extend the invitation of an online busy person’s retreat on your schedule – meeting online with a spiritual director for one hour a day for four-days. If interested, email info@beckyeldredge.com with the four days and timeframe you have available and we will work to match you with a director.
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon for Kindle and paperback.
SHARE WITH US: We would LOVE to see a picture of your reading The Inner Chapel. Please post a picture of you enjoying the book on your social media and tag my Becky Eldredge page on facebook or @beldredge98 on Instagram or Twitter.
Did you know that The Inner Chapel is now available in audiobook, ebook, and paperback?!

Inviting You Deeper: Be Real

This week’s post comes from my dear friend and ministry colleague, Stephanie Clouatre Davis.  Follow Stephanie on Facebook, Instagram, and on her website, speakingstephanie.com. 

I feel I have a stony heart. You would not believe this  if you met me, though. Many people think I am optimistic and driven; but, like many, the image I project is a well-developed optimistic stone wall painted with flowers and sunshine that hides my true feelings. True hope as my friend Becky often reminds me, “starts with the real.” But I am not great at being real. I often encourage everyone around me, including my two teenage girls, to always “look on the bright side.” Too much time on the bright side, though, often leads us plummeting to the dark side. When we give our hopeless emotions permission for natural release they do not build up. The real always finds a way out. 

Sometimes, it is not alright. We are in a dimly lit space right now. The long shadows of darkness seem to be everywhere by the questions we keep asking: 

When will we return to work? 

When will my kids see their friends again? 

What will I do now that I have lost my job?

How will I deal with my sickness?

In this time of pandemic, I believe we must be honest with our feelings. In choosing to be honest with our own feelings, we give our children, friends, colleagues, and family the freedom and permission to choose the same. 

I invite you to use the feeling chart, adapted from Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions, to name the honest feelings you feel today. Click here to download a .pdf handout of the image and prayer. 

Name what you are actually feeling: 

Start with the inside of the circle chart from the basic feeling.  Work your way out to gain clarity about what you are feeling. Move further and further out to describe more specifically what you are feeling.  We may need to name more than one feeling.  We are complex beings and sometimes more than one feeling can rise in us. 

Bring this feeling to God:  

Once you have named that feeling, go underneath the feeling, lift it in prayer to God naming why this feeling has risen in you. Do not assume that you understand why. Ask God to reveal to you why this feeling has come. Spend time with God journaling or in quiet contemplative prayer. 

Hope has a rising action. Hope is not plucked and consumed, it rises out of something dark and shadowed.  Hope starts with the real. Hope is a rising action that often comes out of naming where we actually are and bringing that honest feeling to God.

Go Deeper?  

Today is THE LAST DAY to join my team and me — and 100+ others!!! — in our community journey of peace that kicks off this week. Don’t miss your chance to register for the Overwhelmed No More Online Retreat here. 


Here’s a great Easter Spotify playlist from Sacred Ordinary Days.
For visual hope follow:

Cobbleworks on Instagram


Brick House in the City on Instagram


Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom – Gather with Stephanie Clouatre Davis and I this week, May 5, in learning a new prayer tool. Follow my Facebook page for details.
Wanting a directed retreat? Wanting more prayer support during this time? The retreat directors from the Online Busy Person’s Retreat are happy to extend the invitation of an online busy person’s retreat on your schedule – meeting online with a spiritual director for one hour a day for four-days. If interested, email info@beckyeldredge.com with the four days and timeframe you have available and we will work to match you with a director.
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon for Kindle and paperback.
SHARE WITH US: We would LOVE to see a picture of your reading The Inner Chapel. Please post a picture of you enjoying the book on your social media and tag my Becky Eldredge page on facebook or @beldredge98 on Instagram or Twitter.
Read an excerpt from The Inner Chapel: My chapter called Suffering Makes us Compassionate is perfect for all that is going on in the world currently.

Inviting You Deeper: Trusting in the Slow Work of the Resurrection

This time of quarantine brings with it a laundry list of emotions. Some days are filled with joy-the kids play nicely together, my husband and I get our work done with little interruption, and no one complains about dinner. Other days do not go as smoothly-the kids are all craving attention at the exact moment my husband and I are on work calls, mean words are said, and tempers are lost. Most days fall somewhere in the middle, just as pre-quarantine days did. While I am saddened by the reason we are forced to stay in our homes, good has come from our time spent together as a family. We are no longer rushing from one event to the next. While we are still dividing our time between work obligations and schoolwork, most afternoons allow for leisurely family walks or bike rides, and bedtime is less rushed with additional stories and new prayers. But, even during these moments of joy, and with the gift of extra time due to COVID-19, I cannot help but feel a sadness- people all over the world are becoming ill from this extremely contagious virus. Our overly busy lives came to a screeching halt because of a worldwide virus that we have no control over.

It seems only natural to compare these feelings to Lent since we are only in the third week of Easter. As Becky mentioned last week, it feels as though we are spending a little more time in Holy Saturday. The state of our world makes it not quite feel like Easter. I invite us to not take this Holy Saturday time for granted. It is a time of sorrowful joy. I am deeply grateful for so many things right now-my immediate family is healthy, our parents and grandparents are healthy, my husband and I both still have our jobs and have the luxury of working from home, and we get to spend our days safely in our home with our four amazing children. And while all of this brings me great joy, I cannot help but feel a sadness. My heart aches for all those who have died, for those who are suffering alone, and for their loved ones. I am sad for those who have lost their jobs and for businesses that are closed. I am sad my brother wasn’t able to visit for Easter and that we haven’t been able to see my in-laws. I miss going to Mass. I miss being able to work without kids underfoot. I am sad my kids are missing the end of their school year, their friends, and their activities. I find myself simultaneously feeling joy and gratitude for the good in my life, and heartache and sadness for the suffering our world is facing. Maybe you, too, are experiencing this sorrowful joy?

We have become so accustomed to a fast paced, instant gratification life, we want-and expect-to feel the Easter Sunday joy immediately. I will be the first to admit that patience is not one of my strongest points. I remember when I was younger my Dad telling me, “Patience is a virtue.” Without a thought, I would respond, “Yes, a virtue I do not have!” Easter is here, and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to leave Holy Saturday and feel the Easter joy now!

When I find myself feeling impatient for Easter joy to be here sooner than it seems to be arriving, I turn to the prayer Patient Trust by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ:

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

 

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.

 

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

 

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete. 

I hope this prayer helps you in the moments you are wanting Easter joy to be here already. It is okay if we are still lingering in Holy Saturday. These Holy Saturday moments invite us to be patient, and as de Chardian says, “trust in the slow work of God.” While we may be experiencing these moments of sorrowful joy, let us not forget the ways God has made God’s self known during this pandemic-communities have joined together to feed the less fortunate, to make masks for our front line workers, and to support small businesses in ways we have not before. When the state of our world causes us to feel sorrow, let us thank God for empathy and ask God to give us the graces of peace, strength, and endurance to get through this trying time.

As we lean on the slow work of the Resurrection entering our lives, let us remember to cling to what we do know. We know Jesus rose. We know that Easter joy is available to us. We know we can be filled with joy once again. As we patiently wait for Easter joy, let us embrace the moments of sorrowful joy and remember to trust in the slow work of God. 

Go Deeper?  

Pray with Week 7 of the Ignatian Prayer Adventure: The Suffering Jesus

Scriptures to pray with: Resurrection gospels 

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John 


Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom – Gather with my dear friend Stephanie Clouatre Davis and I this week, April 28, in learning a new prayer tool. Follow my Facebook page for details.
Wanting a directed retreat? Wanting more prayer support during this time? The retreat directors from the Online Busy Person’s Retreat are happy to extend the invitation of an online busy person’s retreat on your schedule – meeting online with a spiritual director for one hour a day for four-days. If interested, email info@beckyeldredge.com with the four days and timeframe you have available and we will work to match you with a director.
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

REGISTER NOW! Overwhelmed No More Online Retreat: A Community Journey Towards Peace

There are only 6 days left to register!!  Join me on a six-week online retreat to help us create space to intentionally pause, pray, discern, and embrace a path of abundant hope, peace, and purpose.  Registration is open to journey through this retreat as a community – starting May 4. Join us here! 
What people are saying: This retreat has helped me allow God to be in control of what I do next, to be happy where I am, and not try and pre-empt God’s plans for me. In other words, to live in the moment. – Barbara Delafield, Westhoughton, UK

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon for Kindle and paperback.
SHARE WITH US: We would LOVE to see a picture of your reading The Inner Chapel. Please post a picture of you enjoying the book on your social media and tag my Becky Eldredge page on facebook or @beldredge98 on Instagram or Twitter.
Becky talks suffering and The Inner Chapel on  The God Show with Pat McMahon
Read an excerpt from The Inner Chapel: My chapter called Suffering Makes us Compassionate is perfect for all that is going on in the world currently.

Inviting You Deeper: Rising with Christ

I don’t know about you, but this moment we are living in doesn’t always feel like the Easter season.  There are moments where the joy and hope of the Resurrection pop in and appear.  There are moments I feel like this is one long Holy Saturday, where I am aware life as we once knew it ended, but I am not quite sure what new life looks like.

It reminds me of the moment where the disciples were huddled in the locked room as we read in the Gospel of John.  They knew life as they understood it was over, but they did not quite sure what was coming.  They had no idea to expect the Resurrection (even though Jesus had told them otherwise).  Here are the words from John’s Gospel (Jn 20: 19-23):

On the evening of that first day of the week,  when the doors were locked, where the disciples  were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.   The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.     [Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. 

Friday afternoon, members of the launch team gathered for our weekly virtual prayer meet-up, and we read and prayed with this Gospel.  Then we shared on two questions:  

Where do we feel like we are in the locked room?

Where did we experience a moment of the Risen Christ entering our lives this week?  

I found deep comfort in knowing I am not alone in what I am feeling right now; that others also feel the both/and of this moment.  Parts of our lives feeling like Holy Saturday still, and yet we continue to get glimpses of what the Resurrection might look like.   

I know, too, from leading people through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola that moving from the sorrow of the third week of the Exercises (which is focused on Jesus’ passion)  into the joy of the fourth week (which focuses on the Resurrection) does not happen in one fell swoop. It takes time for the Easter joy to seep into the person moving into the fourth week.

It takes time for us to move out of a Good Friday “loss” into the waiting of Holy Saturday. It takes time to enter into Easter.  The joy of the Easter season can build in us though. I invite us to be gentle with ourselves right now; to let the ebb and flow of our emotions and feelings during the pandemic to be what they are, and to know no matter what we are feeling, the Risen Christ is with us.

May we remember, we are not alone.  

Go Deeper?  

Scriptures to pray with: Resurrection gospels 

Matthew


Mark


Luke


John 


Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom – Gather with my dear friend Stephanie Clouatre Davis and I this week, April 21, in learning a new prayer tool. Follow my Facebook page for details.
Wanting a directed retreat? Wanting more prayer support during this time? The retreat directors from the Online Busy Person’s Retreat are happy to extend the invitation of an online busy person’s retreat on your schedule – meeting online with a spiritual director for one hour a day for four-days. If interested, email info@beckyeldredge.com with the four days and timeframe you have available and we will work to match you with a director.
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is now available! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon for Kindle and paperback.
SHARE WITH US: We would LOVE to see a picture of your reading The Inner Chapel. Please post a picture of you enjoying the book on your social media and tag my Becky Eldredge page on facebook or @beldredge98 on Instagram or Twitter.
Read this great Q&A from Stacy at My Little Catholic Home.
Read an excerpt from The Inner Chapel: My chapter called Suffering Makes us Compassionate is perfect for all that is going on in the world currently.

Inviting You Deeper: Rise Up

Easter was different yesterday.  We gathered for mass in our family room as opposed to our church.  I sat on the couch next to my husband and thirteen-year-old son.  We faced my two daughters who sat together on the other couch.  We created our own little domestic church gathered together to participate in mass virtually with my children’s godfather, “Hooch”, (A.K.A. Fr. Michael Alello), as the presider.   I was thankful for the familiar face on the screen as we began as Chris and I have known Michael since we were fourteen years old, and he remains one of our best friends.  We have all lived through many ups and downs together.

Even with Michael’s face providing some familiarity, as mass began, I felt a bit frustrated.  Not only were we not gathered in our parish community, but technology was also giving us issues.  Finally, the image on the screen became clear, and we were able to engage in Easter mass unlike any other year before.  As the words of the liturgy began to pour over me, I could feel something begin shift in me.  There was a spirit of solidarity that became apparent in me as I realized that most people across the country and world were engaging in Easter in a different way this year. I felt a strange solidarity, also, with the early disciples who at one time sat huddled in a locked room facing the unknown and feeling afraid.  Life as they knew it was over.  The path before them was unclear.  It struck me that we, too sat huddled together in our home facing the unknown future, trying to accept that life as we once knew it is currently over.

As mass continued, I continued to mull this over in my mind.  And then Michael stood up to give his homily.  Listening to him preach even after his thirteen years of priesthood, remains a treat.  His words today came into my heart in the way St. Ignatius describes the movement of the Holy Spirit in us- like water easily received on a sponge.  They filled me with great hope. 

He compared the Resurrection to the transformation that happens with the yeast, the water, the flour, and the work of our hands it takes to make cinnamon rolls.   He said those things come together to become something new that “rises up”.  He reminded us that the stone is rolled away, that Jesus is risen, and that we are transformed.   He invited us to remember that this time of quarantine is a holy pause and that the stone has been rolled away in our lives.  He challenged us to not return to the way life was before quarantine, but to let this time of holy pause transform us.  He invited us to let the Risen Christ into this experience and our lives and “Rise Up!”  and never be the same.  He went on to encourage us to not put the stone back onto the tomb when life returns to “normal”, but to let this time we are in, transform us and that we may live anew.  That we may be transformed and as we are that we “Rise Up!”

He invited us to physically stand up in our homes and to “Rise Up!” so that our physically standing up symbolizes the Easter hope that is here for each one of us.  So, we stood!  All five of us, gathered in our domestic church in our family room, physically rose up.   As we did, I could feel my spirit “rise up!” as well.  I stood with a commitment to embrace Easter hope like never before.  Michael’s message of hope and Easter joy filled my heart and welled tears in my eyes. 

As I stood up, I thought back to people all over the world who are celebrating this unbelievable moment in our salvation history.  The moment that evil did not win.  Darkness did not get the final word.  The moment of complete shock to Jesus’ mother Mary, to the disciples, to the entire community, that Jesus rose from the dead.  The moment that changed everything.  The moment that secured our hope.  The very moment that connects me and you as you read this reflection today.  Jesus rose up. 

Today is launch day for my new book, The Inner Chapel.  To say I have questioned it coming out into the world right now, is a vast understatement.  I have agonized over it and doubted it.  Here’s the deal, though.  If I believe in the Resurrection, which I do, then I must also believe that Jesus can help bring this book out into the world in the most unexpected ways.  I am committing to each of you that I will “Rise up!” and accept the words given to me to share.  I will “Rise up!” and proclaim the Good News given to each one of us through the words in the book.  I will “Rise up!” out of my own locked room filled with worry and fear just as the disciples did out of their locked room full of doubt and disbelief.  I will believe in the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit given to me and to each one of us.  I will “Rise up!” and commit to being a herald of hope, a witness to joy, and to proudly share the source of both as the Risen Christ who has transformed my life. 

I invite you to join me.  Let us “Rise up!” together and be witnesses of hope in this time of darkness.  Let our Easter song be one that proclaims from the roof-tops that we know this is not the end of the story.  That God can and will transform this time of darkness.  Let us “Rise up” and stand in our anchor of hope, that is firm and secure, and given to us by Jesus’ Resurrection.  Every time we stand this week, let our physical rising be a reminder of the Easter song of hope in each one of us. 

“Rise up!”  “Rise up!”  “Rise up!”  

What is ONE thing you can do this week to “Rise up!” and proclaim the Good News of hope? 

Go Deeper?  

Go listen to Fr. Michael’s homily and follow him on FB here. 
Scriptures to pray with: Resurrection gospels 

Matthew


Mark


Luke


John 


Prayer Tool Tuesday – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom – Gather with my dear friend Stephanie Clouatre Davis and I this week, April 20, in learning a new prayer tool. Follow my Facebook page for details.
Wanting a directed retreat? Wanting more prayer support during this time? The retreat directors from the Online Busy Person’s Retreat are happy to extend the invitation of an online busy person’s retreat on your schedule – meeting online with a spiritual director for one hour a day for four-days. If interested, email info@beckyeldredge.com with the four days and timeframe you have available and we will work to match you with a director.
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is coming out April 13, as in TODAY. As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and on your Kindle from Amazon.
GIVEAWAY: Share in Launch Day with us! Share this launch day graphic today on your social media and tag #theinnerchapel and Becky’s public page on Facebook or @beldredge98 on Instagram to be entered in the launch day giveaway! The winner gets a signed copy of The Inner Chapel and an awesome new “Going to my inner chapel” mug!
Read an excerpt from The Inner Chapel: My chapter called Suffering Makes us Compassionate is perfect for all that is going on in the world currently.

Inviting You Deeper: Suffering with Jesus

Pope Francis began his meditation during his special Urbi et orbi blessing on March 27, 2020 with these words:   

For weeks now it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air, we notice in people’s gestures, their glances give them away. We find ourselves afraid and lost. 

Holy week is not the same this year.  There is a thick darkness that is covering the world.  We enter holy week lost and afraid.  We walk the last week of Jesus’ life not only facing a global moment of suffering but also not able to gather in person with our faith communities. 

Palm Sunday felt different yesterday. I missed tangibly holding the palms.  I missed collectively hearing the words of the passion and pausing as a community to kneel when Jesus took his last breath.  The rituals, sights, and smells of Holy Week, especially our Triduum, are missing. I have no idea what it will be like celebrating Holy Thursday without the ritual of feet washing and then later the darkening of the church (Tenebrae service) to mark the beginning of watching and praying with Jesus in his final hours.  What will Good Friday be without the communal reading of the passion and the veneration of the cross?  My body aches at the loss of the familiar.  I long to move through the rhythms and routines of Holy Week that prepare not only my spirit and mind for what Jesus did for us, but also my body.   

It is not only our communal celebrations of Holy Week that is different.  I am struck by the stripping away we are facing right now globally.  One by one we are losing many of the things that often give us a sense of security…. our control, our independence, our health, our finances, and our freedom.  These things I feel we often cling to as false securities.  We are faced this Holy Week with a deeper understanding of our spiritual poverty.  It is a moment where we realize no amount of our own power, influence, money, or medicine can change the reality of our circumstances.  Times like these force us to confront our thoughts:  we are not quite as invincible as we sometimes feel we are. We cannot control all situations.

Experiences like the moment we are in can help us realize our utter dependence on God.  It is in such moments, when we might feel helpless to change our situation, that we sense ourselves crying out. We are desperate for someone to bring hope and light into a dark situation, begging for someone to let what we are facing pass.

It is hard not to think of Jesus’ experience of Holy Week right now.  How his passion and way to his cross included a stripping away of all worldly securities.  How some of his closest relationships denied him, betrayed him, and abandoned him.  How he encountered his own spiritual poverty in the garden of Gethsemane, begging God to let this moment pass from him.  How his power was questioned.  How his own body was physically stripped of clothing.  How his dignity was taken away as he was exposed on the cross.

Jesus understands what it is like to encounter a stripping away moment.  A moment of losing what is familiar and comfortable.  A moment that challenges false securities in our lives.

Our Holy Week is different this year.  As we face the stripping away of our familiarity of rituals, of sights, of smells and sounds, let us fix our eyes on Jesus.  As we encounter suffering in our own lives, in our loved ones, and in our global community, may we bring this suffering to Jesus.  May we, as Jesus did, bring our spiritual poverty we are facing to God.

Bringing our suffering and spiritual poverty to God can create the grace of compassion in us.  We encounter Jesus’ compassion for us in our suffering, which can soften our heart and make it more compassionate for others.

I invite you to turn with me to the prayer tool given to us by St. Ignatius’ during the Third Week of the Exercises, the colloquy with Christ crucified.  Here is a reflection that might help guide you:  

Imagine Jesus on the cross.  As you see him there, reflect on the fact that God became human, and went through death on behalf of us.

Lay your spiritual poverty at his feet.

As you talk to Jesus on the cross, reflect on these three questions:  
What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What ought I do for Christ?

Turn your sorrow towards Jesus.  Turn your grief to the One who gets your mourning.  Bring your burdens and worries and lay them at the foot of Jesus.

What might Jesus be calling you to in this moment?  How might Jesus be inviting you to act?  

Celebrating Holy Week at Home:

Consider reading parts of Jesus’ passion each day this week.  Let Jesus’ experience of suffering meet you in your own.  
On Holy Thursday, perform a foot washing in your home with your loved one or simply by yourself.  Call to mind that this act that Jesus did for his disciples gives us our model to do for others.  Ponder how might we be invited to wash other’s feet right now?
Venerate the cross in your house on Good Friday.  Pray the stations of the cross.  Read the passion at 3pm. 
For Holy Saturday, perhaps this day might be a quiet day of reflection.  Pondering what it means for Jesus to die for each one of us.  Allowing our grief at Jesus’ death to echo in our grief of the current reality of our world.  Where are we longing for the Resurrection to enter our lives?   

Go Deeper?

Prayer Tool Tuesday: The Colloquy – Each Tuesday at 4:30 pm Central via Zoom – Gather with my dear friend Stephanie Clouatre Davis and I this week, April 7, in learning the prayer tool I referenced above called the Colloquy. Follow my Facebook page for details.
Wanting a directed retreat? Wanting more prayer support during this time? The retreat directors from the Online Busy Person’s Retreat are happy to extend the invitation of an online busy person’s retreat on your schedule – meeting online with a spiritual director for one hour a day for four-days. If interested, email info@beckyeldredge.com with the four days and timeframe you have available and we will work to match you with a director.
Visit my Spiritual Support webpage with more resources during this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and follow me on Facebook & Instagram for daily scripture inspiration and for the latest resources.

The Inner Chapel: My New Book!

My new book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God is coming out April 13, as in NEXT MONDAY. Y’all, what a time to release a book! As a sincere “Thank You!” to all of you for your support, my publisher has extended a 30% off code for orders and preorders through August 13. Simply go to Loyolapress.com/innerchapel and use promo code 5207. You can also pre-order from Barnes and Noble and on your Kindle from Amazon.
Read an excerpt from The Inner Chapel: My chapter called Suffering Makes us Compassionate is perfect for Holy Week and all that is going on in the world currently.