I want to see you.

Know your voice.

Recognize you when you

first come ’round the corner.

Sense your scent when I come

into a room you’ve just left.

Know the lift of your heel,

the glide of your foot.

Become familiar with the way

you purse your lips

then let them part,

just the slightest bit,

when I lean in to your space

and kiss you.

I want to know the joy

of how you whisper

“more”

~~ Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi

If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless it is permeated, or informed, by love.

~~Richard Rohr, OFM

Good Samaritan Contemporary Icon (framed reverse oil painting on glass)

Each of us spins repeatedly from blindness to radiance,

from dividedness to wholeness,

and it is our impulse to stay in touch with all that is alive

that keeps us from staying lost.

It is the impulse to be intimate.

To live with things

and not in front of them,

to no longer watch,

but to realize that we are part of everything we see –

this is the love

that keeps moving us back into wholeness

when we are divided.

To love by admitting our connection to everything

is how we stay well.

Allowing the current of another’s inwardness

to connect with our own

is the beginning of both

intimacy and enlightenment.
                                                ~~Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening (adapted excerpts)

• Close your eyes and be still until you sense the presence of the things about you.

• Breathe softly and feel the current of their silence.

• Breathe evenly and open your heart to all that you sense.

With All My Love Figurine

WILD GEESE

by MARY OLIVER (1935-2019)

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

Tree of Life Plaque

We Join Our Hands Together Cross

Love [people] even in [their] sin,

for that is the semblance of Divine Love

and is the highest love on earth.

Love all God’s creation,

the whole and every grain of sand in it.

Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light.

Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.

If you love everything,

you will perceive the divine mystery in things.

Once you have perceived it,

you will begin to comprehend it better every day.

And you will come at last to love the whole world

with an all-embracing love.
                —Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Love Speaks. Speak Love. Glass Plaque

The Heart Space

Love lives and thrives in the heart space. It has kept me from wanting to hurt people who have hurt me. It keeps me every day from obsessive, repetitive, or compulsive head games. It can make the difference between being happy and being miserable and negative. Could this be what we are really doing when we say we are praying for someone? Yes, we are holding them in our heart space. Do this in an almost physical sense, and you will see how calmly and quickly it works.

Next time a resentment, negativity, or irritation comes into your mind, and you want to play it out or attach to it, move that thought or person literally into your heart space. Dualistic commentaries are lodged in your head; but in your heart, you can surround this negative thought with silence. There it is surrounded with blood, which will often feel warm like coals. In this place, it is almost impossible to comment, judge, create story lines, or remain antagonistic. You are in a place that does not create or feed on contraries but is the natural organ of life, embodiment, and love. Now the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart have been transferred to you. They are pointing for you to join them there. The “sacred heart” is then your heart too.

Richard Rohr, OFM, Daily Meditations, September 8, 2018

Sacré Coeur de Jesus Pendant

Each Day …

[… of this new year]

At the beginning of each day,

after we open our eyes

to receive the light

of that day,

As we listen to the voices

and sounds

that surround us,

We must resolve to treat each hour

as the rarest of gifts,

and be grateful

for the consciousness

that allows us to experience it,

recalling in thanks

that our awareness is a present

from we know not where,

or how, or why.

When we rise from sleep let us rise for the joy

of the true Work that we will be about

this day,

and considerately cheer one another on.

Life will always provide matters for concern.

Yet each day brings with it reasons for

joy.

Each day carries the potential

to bring the experience of heaven:

have the courage to expect good from it.

Be gentle with this life,

and use the light of life

to live fully in your time.

Always We Begin Again, The Rule of Saint Benedict,

A Contemporary Interpretation, John McQuiston II.

Benedict of Nursia wrote The Rule in the sixth century.

I hope for you in this new year …

That the single, most significant dimension of life is your relationship with the Source of Goodness who never ceases to sing love songs to your soul

That you find meaning, purpose, and vitality in what you do daily

That you treasure your loved ones and let them know how dear they are to you

That you make choices and decisions that reflect your truest self

That you look in the mirror at least once a day and smile in happy amazement

That you remember relationships are what count above all else – more than work or money, or all the material things we spend so much time tending

That you live in an uncluttered manner, enjoying the freedom to be content

That you keep your sense of humor when things don’t go the way you want

That you find adventure in each new day and marvel at the wonders of creation
which constantly present themselves to you

That you never give up on yourself when others turn away or do not understand

That you are attentive to the health of your body, mind and spirit

That you take risks and accept the growth-full challenges that come to you

That you draw on your inner strength and resiliency when you are in need

That you carry peace within yourself, allowing it to slip into the hearts of others
so our planet becomes a place where violence, division, and war are no more

~~Joyce Rupp

https://www.creatormundi.com/…/abundance-tree-of-life-wall…/

As our year comes to an end, we return this time of our life to God.
It is filled with our own diaries, thoughts, questions, successes and failures.
We are grateful for God’s providence, blessings and comfort.
With open hands, we stand to receive a New Year.
Let us ask God: “Bless us, oh Lord, and all Your gifts that we are about to receive.”

https://www.creatormundi.com/?s=m802020

May Joy and Hope sustain you in your miracle of Christmas all the days of your life!

Merry Christmas!

Hildegard Letbetter and the Creator Mundi Team

https://www.creatormundi.com/…/modern-nativity-scene-frees…/

Guardian of the seasons,
keeper of every time,
tune us so to your rhythms
that we may know
the occasion for stillness
and the moment for action.

May we be so prepared
so aware
so awakened
in our waiting
that when you prompt us
into motion,
our hands may be your hands
and our purposes
your own.

~~ Jan Richardson,
Walking the Way of Hope, A Retreat for Women’s Christmas

https://www.creatormundi.com/…/our-lady-of-advent-statue-w…/

…A woman on a bus, passing a church displaying a nativity set outside, exclaiming: “Oh Lord, they bring religion into everything. Look, they are dragging it even into Christmas now.”  ~~ CS Lewis
What else regarding Christmas have we forgotten, dismissed, overlooked, discounted, disregarded…perhaps never been taught…?

Do we have the courage to choose CHRISTMAS Gifts?

At Christmas – more than at any other time during the year –  the human heart longs for images that draw us near to the mystery of our life, of having been invited and chosen to participate in the journey to the celestial miracles.

Italian Holy Family

May his spiritual legacy continue to inspire us and challenge us to climb The Seven Storey Mountain!

Let’s remember him with his famous prayer:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Monique of Reno/Nevada is the winner of our 30th Anniversary Drawing ! She won our limited-edition bronze wall plaque “Angel of Contemplation – a $350 value. Our founder and owner, Hildegard Letbetter, is showing the plaque below. Congratulations, Monique!

Many thanks to all who participated in the drawing! We are so grateful that you value our distinctive symbols which radiate spiritual beauty, Old World craftsmanship and heirloom quality.

Come January, watch out for an announcement of our 2019 drawing!

The Art of Gift Giving

The tradition of gift giving has woven itself into the fabric of most cultures and civilizations throughout time. In ancient Rome, the Latin word ‘donare’ was coined to designate this custom of giving a gift. The English language has welcomed this foreign word into the bosom of its vocabulary as ‘to donate.’

To donate incognito is the giving of a gift in its purest form. It means to give freely without expectation of benefit or reward or public acknowledgement.

Today it seems that we have lost this integrity of truly giving a gift as a one-way kindness, a pure gesture of the heart. And so we have settled for exchanging gifts. We draw names, in order to be more efficient about this business of kindness and generosity. It is still a friendly way to be, if we do not count and calculate, and set limits up or down.

But often it is just making a deal. We become traders. Exchanging a gift limits the spirit of the feast. Expectations and disappointments sneak in and pollute the noble custom of gift giving.

As I search for the gift that will complement your life, please do not measure my generosity. I promise I will not measure your gift should you give me one.

My joy of having the privilege of choosing a gift for you is your gift to me. The value of your gift to me is not how much it cost, but the precious fabric of the resolve in your heart to complement my life.

Let us recapture the true essence of ‘donare.’ If we learn this well, then perhaps some day soon we, as a nation, will give to others without expectation of return, no strings attached, since the joy of giving has its own reward, such as PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TOWARD ALL.

~ Hildegard Letbetter

Nativity, Kastlunger 3″ Series, Angel with Banner – Gloria in Excelsis

The Way It is

There is a thread you follow. It goes among
Things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
 ~ William Stafford

My words for the thread that Stafford speaks of are the True Self. Your True Self is who you are, and always have been, created in the image and likeness of God who is love (1 John 4:8, 16). Love is both who you are and who you are still becoming, like a sunflower seed that becomes its own sunflower. Most of human history has called the True Self your “soul” or your participation in the eternal life of God.        ~ Richard Rohr (Daily Meditation, November 18, 2018; excerpt)

Saying Grace

Many cultures have a beautiful tradition of saying a prayer before or after a meal, expressing gratitude and asking for blessing. If we are accustomed to praying over our food, it may become a rote, almost thoughtless gesture. Yet it is another opportunity to intentionally open ourselves to receive and participate in grace. The food is already blessed simply by its existence. God doesn’t require our words of thanks. But it does us good to “say grace,” to verbally acknowledge the grace that is everywhere, even and especially in the giving of lives—plant and animal—for our sustenance.

If you have a practice of saying grace, bring greater awareness and presence to it. Find or create a prayer that names your experience of grace. This Hindu blessing, from the Bhagavad Gita, is said before meals:

This ritual is One. The food is One. We who offer the food are One. The fire of hunger is also One. All action is One. We who understand this are One.

Indeed, it is all One in the immense and undiscriminating Grace that is God.

                                        ~~ Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM,  Daily Meditations, February 6, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

NAMASTE: Practicing Awareness of our Friends in God

     by Ken Phillips, Regis University

You are God’s work of art.

You are the work of God’s hands.

Your face, hands, body,

are lovely and strong.

Your eyes mirror

God’s life within you.

Your smile is a reflection

of the smile of God.

Your mind, heart and spirit

bear the imprint of your Maker.

You breathe in the Spirit of God.

You breathe out the Spirit of God.

God is waiting to speak in your words.

God is waiting to sing in your voice.

You are the image of God.

God is beautiful in you.

You are beautiful in God.

The world is beautiful

Because you are in it.

Namaste …

Namaste …

Namaste …