Author Archives: gsmurphy1

About gsmurphy1

Husband, father, son, brother, listener, seeker, encourager, pilgrim, stained glass artist

Seeking His Mind

This is the title from M. Basil Pennington’s 2002 book where he shares the fruit of his own lectio divina – the ancient practise of sacred reading, of which he writes – “If each day a word of the Lord … Continue reading

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Advent 2020 – In the midst of a pandemic

God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas, edited by Greg Pennoyer, Paraclete Press, 2007, is one of our favorite Advent resources. Eugene Peterson concludes his introduction – “Christmas forces us to deal with all the mess or our humanity … Continue reading

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Wisdom from St. Benedict and Joan Chittister and Steve Bell and….

Seeing as I borrowed the name of my blog from St. Ben; I had to put a link to his wisdom, in Joan’s words, here. https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/where-i-stand/principles-pandemic  And some humour for the on going journey from NCR… And finally some comfort … Continue reading

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On-call with Jesus – Lent 2020

As I contemplated how I would be / what I will do, for Lent 2020 I’ve decided to commit to regular times in my glass studio, giving at least a dollar to everyone who asks – on street at stop … Continue reading

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Liminal Saturday

I’ve copied this from CAC – Richard Rohr’s daily email meditations Each week they send a summary of the week’s meditations and a contemplative practice. I’ve found the practices very meaningful and this week’s was especially so considering we’re in … Continue reading

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Love Listen Create – 3

The third main way of being and doing in my retirement is being a stained glass artist, primarily creating “Windows of Grace” for anyone who wants one…my gift to you and the world. After all grace is a gift, according … Continue reading

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Love, Listen, Create – Part 2

The second main thing I “do” now I’m retired is “listen, so those I’m listening to have a healing experience of God’s love.”  I put that in italics because that sentence has become the latest written expression of my vocational statement … Continue reading

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Loving, Listening, Creating – Part One

It’s almost been a year since I retired from permanent employment which I announced in my February 2018 blog. In that blog I mentioned looking forward to more time to love, listen and “creating beauty through stained glass”. Over the … Continue reading

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Fathering & Flying (a kite)

Last Father’s Day I went for a walk along the Red River, a few blocks from our home, to meditate on being a father. As I left the house I felt the wind on my face, saw the leaves moving … Continue reading

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“Know thyself”

Recently our eldest son asked if I had “The Sacred Enneagram” by Christopher L. Heuertz. I didn’t and thought that Joel wanted it so I researched it and discovered a wonderful enneagram jewel; so I bought it for him, Thomas … Continue reading

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