Making the Ordinary Extraordinary - Episode 12

Join Sister Ruth Lentner who sees the Franciscan way as a joyful and hope-filled path into God. Together we explore the soul’s journey with persons, creation, contemplative prayer, and poetry as companions on the way.

Ruth highlights that “Nature is a place that calls me into God in very deep and profound ways. And from my earliest days on retreat, I needed some way to express myself. Because it's like this bundle, burst of energy is inside of me that wants to say something. Wants to write something down. And so I started trying poetry to see if that would be a way that I could express that inner relationship happening with God through the creative world.”

“What I found from writing is that poetry is a really healthy way of interacting with yourself and the earth. It helps you understand some days when things are difficult, you put it down in a poem. Boy, it sure feels better. You got it out. Or you just need to express what you're seeing, where in your soul is being moved and touched by this beautiful creation.”

References:

Rosary: https://www.catholic.com/tract/the-rosary or https://www.usccb.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary.

Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, MN: A monastic community of women who seek God in their daily lives according to the Gospel and the Rule of Benedict. See: https://sbm.osb.org/.

Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN:  Catholic women religious who follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ and walk in the footsteps of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi. We live a poor, simple and prayerful community life, a ministry of presence and witness. See: www.fslf.org.

The Soul’s Journey into God, by St. Bonaventure: a beautiful descriptive article about this writing: http://franciscanseculars.com/the-souls-journey-into-god/. A readable translation of this work: https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Into-God-St-Bonaventure/dp/1619560119.

Amish: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amish

Little Falls Garden to School Initiative: https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/ship/reports/docs/districtsheets/nine.pdf.  

Contemplative Prayer: see: http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2709-2719: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p4s1c3a1.htm. Also the Show Notes from Episodes 3 and 8.

Hoarfrost: this video describes various types of frost, including hoarfrost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q9GhTDDRjk.

Julian of Norwich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich.

Care of the Earth: a good reference to this is Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home. This text is animated by Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun; see: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/saint-francis-and-his-canticle.