All posts by Palmer Maxwell

Holy Saturday Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: An unfailing light

Frescos in St. George Church in Macedonia show Jesus and the harrowing of hell

From a sermon by St. Maximus of Turin, Bishop, 5th Century AD:

“I have caused an unfailing light to rise in heaven.”

And as in heaven no night can follow day, so no sin can overshadow the justice of Christ. The celestial day is perpetually bright and shining with brilliant light; clouds can never darken its skies. In the same way, the light of Christ is eternally glowing with luminous radiance and can never be extinguished by the darkness of sin. This is why John the evangelist says: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to overpower it.’
Continue reading Holy Saturday Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: An unfailing light

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Good Friday Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: A bridge from death to life

Icon of Christ’s Descent into Hell from an unknown Russian artist, c. 1500

The cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified is, and always will be, a sign that is ambiguous because it represents at one and the same time two seemingly contradictory realities: suffering and salvation.

Continue reading Good Friday Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: A bridge from death to life

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Lenten Reflection from Martha Graham: Vitality

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10


“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action.

“And because there is only one you in all of time, this expression is unique.

“And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium…the world will not have it.

“It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions.

“It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

Martha Graham (1894-1991) was an American choreographer and dancer. Above: Martha Graham with her partner and husband Erick Hawkins in rehearsal in New York City in May, 1950. Other images show members of the Martha Graham Dance Co.

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Lenten Reflection from Black Elk: Prayer to the Great Spirit


“You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer.

All things belong to You—the two leggeds, the four leggeds, the wings of the air and all green things that live.

Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Black Elk: Prayer to the Great Spirit

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Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Reconciliation with Myself

This Lent, without actually planning to, I have been in a process of reconciliation with myself.

After years of neglect I began going through a stack of journals I’ve kept since 1970. It’s been a humbling and revelatory experience.  When I began I thought it would be a simple exercise in ripping and shredding. But then I would start to read something I wrote many years ago and it was like I was catching the light from an ancient star just now arriving and catching my attention for the first time.

Humbling because I recognize the same person addressing and struggling with the same issues decade by decade. It seems my life has been progressing in spirals rather than in straight lines. Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Reconciliation with Myself

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Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Hands of Women

Listen to Marta Gómez singing Manos de Mujeres (translation below).

Hands of Women Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Hands of Women

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Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Wholeness

“Of course, pain or disappointment threatens whatever sense of wholeness we may have reached. This is a fragile balance. Life is a fragile and unpredictable journey; anything can happen. But the wisdom traditions tell us that these trials and tribulations can also be integrated. The suffering can be integrated as a way of deepening and intensifying our experience of wholeness.”
-from Health & Wholeness by Laurence Freeman, OSB

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Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Remember you are dust

I was watching a science documentary from NOVA on PBS recently. The topic was the origins of life on the earth. Charles Darwin thought that life would have originated in a warm, shallow pond where all the conditions were right for the first microorganisms to appear.  Sunlight was always considered a necessary factor for life to originate so scientists were very surprised when they discovered micro-organisms living in the deepest and darkest areas of the ocean floor near thermal vents that generate temperatures they never thought could sustain life.

Continue reading Lenten Reflection from Palmer Maxwell: Remember you are dust

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Lent at Beloved

 


Dear Beloved:

Will you submit a Lenten Reflection?
We send out a daily writing by our Beloveds during Lent, and they are as varied as are our Beloveds. There are no rules or boundaries on the kind of thing you can write – just something that you’ve been pondering, wondering about, something that inspires you, gives you hope or keeps you going.

Some people write poems, letters, songs, reflections on the daily scripture or a favorite scripture, or share a story of how they have experienced the presence of God in the heights or depths or ordinariness of their days. Click here for the daily lectionary.

We would love to hear from each of you during the 40 days of Lent (Feb. 10th-March 24th).

Please let Palmer Maxwell know what day (or days) you would like to write, and send what you have written, created or found. He will take it from there. It will be such a blessing to hear your voice among the choir of Lenten Reflections!

Please sign up here to receive the Lenten Reflection daily via email.

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Movie night Tuesday, August 18th

concerning violence poster

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