Posts by Ralph Patrick

“With exquisite kindness, God awakened desire within you, and binding it fast with the leash of love’s longing, drew you closer to Himself.” The Cloud of Unknowing “The awakening call to contemplative intimacy with God is then the awakening of a graced awareness of a secret communion with God which secretly and gratuitously begins to…

“ . . . To open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” Isaiah 42:7 “God comes to us disguised as our life, and if we fail to be open to the flow of our life and the gifts it brings us,…

“The human journey is one of becoming.”[1] “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead.  And Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14 “In God we live, and move, and have our being.” Acts 17:28 “The Great Awakening.”  It may sound familiar.  It is the term given to numerous religious movements that swept through the United States…

“Who do you say that I AM?” Jesus of Nazareth “I know there’s a place where you walked where love falls from the trees, my heart is like a broken cup, I only feel right on my knees.”[1]   “There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, and my happiness depend:…

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, His mercies never fail, they are new every morning.” Lamentations 3 “As soon as you wake up, before you get out of bed, let your first thought be one of gratitude.” Amit Sood I’m writing this from a cabin outside of Howard, Colorado.  It’s located…

“No longer do I call you servants . . . but I have called you friends.” Jesus in John 15 “A friend is a loved one who awakens your life in order to set free the wild possibilities within you.” John O’Donahue Anne of Green Gables was one of my daughter’s favorite shows.  Anne, with…

“All the trees of the forest will sing for joy.” Psalm 96:12 “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” Emily Bronte The aspen trees are turning in Colorado.  It’s a glorious site.  No, more than that, it’s a spiritual experience!  Though not as diverse in their colors as those of the…

“I have carried you from birth, and from the womb . . . Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will carry you.”  Isaiah 46 My friend Ernie is an avid mountain climber and hiker.  He introduced me to the love of hiking and mountains.…

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .” Psalm 23 “To know something, then, we must be scrubbed raw, the fasting heart exposed.” Gretel Ehrlich 9/11. Where were you twenty-one years ago today?  For many, it marked the entrance into the passage through the valley of the shadow…

“Pilgrimage is often regarded as the universal quest for the self.” Phil Cousineau “It’s here, in all the pieces of my shame, that now I find myself again.” Rilke “Tell me about yourself.”  If someone were to say that to you, how would you respond?  Perhaps it depends on the person or the context.  It’s…