|
New Items
*** Weekly Reflections - Joyce Rupp ***
Beginning the week of Ash Wednesday Feb 17th
the National Catholic Reporter will be posting reflections
from Joyce's published resources. Sign up to receive an e-mail alert. Go to NCRonline.org/email-alert-signup .
A new reflection is posted every Friday.
*** For Readers of The Cup of Our Life ***
A new edition of The Cup of Our Life is scheduled for 2011.
My editor would like to include some testimonials from those who have read and found this book to be of value. If you are one of these readers, please consider sending a few lines to me via this website. If you submit a comment, you would be
consenting to allow Ave Maria Press to use it in some way within the book. I do not need your last name but definitely your first name and where you are from. Thanks so much for helping me with this project! - Joyce
-
Article Go In peace, Rituals for the dying
In this article, published in U.S. Catholic, June, 2006, Joyce wrote about a meaningful and helpful blessing for the dying that she created and has shared with a number of persons who were near death.
|
|
From the author... |
Welcome! I’m happy that you have chosen to stop by and visit my website. Thanks to Faye Williamsen who creates and manages this site you’ll be able to check my speaking schedule, learn about my published resources, read my monthly reflection (“Spiritual Zest”) and have access to some of my writing. I hope that what you find here is enriching for your spiritual path.
Joyce Hutchison and I continue to receive touching notes and affirming comments from those who have read our latest co-authored book, Now That You’ve Gone Home. We realize how deeply grief can enter the crevices of the deep self, and are grateful if the stories and meditations in our book help to ease an aching heart.
I have almost completed work on my latest manuscript. It contains a wide variety of metaphors and images used to name the divine, 365 of them - one for each day of the year. I’ve written a short reflection on each name. When I first began this project it seemed a bit daunting but once I proceeded to write the process took on a tone of both excitement and wonder. I have been continually amazed at what came forth as I reflected on each name. You can look for this book to come out sometime next Spring. The Muse of Writing hasn’t produced a title for it yet so check back here from time to time. Information on the book will be on this website’s home page this coming autumn.
My most exciting venture continues to be that of serving as co-director of The Institute of Compassionate Presence. I travel to Omaha Nebraska once a month to help facilitate the reflections & rituals, and also to be a presenter at some of the sessions. We had another wonderful group of women and men this year. They met with us all day every second Friday of the month. The other equally rewarding aspect of the ICP is that, for the first time, I taught a four day intensive of the Institute at the beautiful Bon Secours Spiritual Center in Mariottsville, Maryland. I absolutely loved how the week unfolded as those present responded to the many-faceted aspects of compassion. I’ll facilitate a reunion with those participants in 2011, and then offer another four day Institute there. I will also offer the Institute at Maryknoll NY where compassionate aspects related to the Christian Gospels will thread through the days. (see the 2011 schedule for more information on both events)
I leave you with what I penned here earlier this year. This message remains the central focus of my meditation and my life:
I guard my meditation and reflection time like gold. I believe in keeping strong boundaries around this and rarely depart from it. This is the best foundation I could have for writing. I gain so much clearness of mind/heart from meditation. That, and my daily walks, prepare me well for going deeper. Because of this, quality rather than quantity of time, most aids my work.
I am fortunate to live in a beautifully wooded, quiet spot in the heart of the city of Des Moines, Iowa. Here I have the stillness I long for and need. I also have deer, raccoons, possums, foxes, woodchucks, feral cats, squirrels(too many), a myriad of beautiful birds, and who knows what other little creatures, to keep me company. This lovely spot also allows for easy access into and out of the city’s humming heart.
I am going to keep posting the following reflection for you because it continues to be strong in my heart and mind. It is what I most believe for us right now:
A big chunk of my ongoing gratitude is for you, my readers, and those I meet at various gatherings for conferences and retreats. The more I travel, the more assured I am that we are “all one.” Much more unites than divides us. It’s a matter of looking a bit deeper and finding the wealth of goodness inherent in each of us. I’m no Pollyanna about current global pain but I am also no pessimist about the potential in humankind to breathe forth love rather than warring antipathy.
I leave you with a quote from The Wise Heart, Jack Kornfield’s latest book, which I highly recommend:
There is no separation between inner and outer, self and other. Tending ourselves, we tend the world. Tending the world, we tend ourselves.
All the best to you as we travel the road of life together in kinship of spirit.
-Joyce |
Articles of Interest...
Book shares peace found on journey - Review by Shirley Ragsdale, Des Moines Register, July 15, 2006, of Walk in a Relaxed Manner
Go in peace, Rituals for the dying - US Catholic Magazine, Jun 2006
Sneak Preview - Read preview chapter of Joyce's new book Walk in a Relaxed Manner online at The Healing Garden Journal.
"Desperately Seeking Sophia," US Catholic Magazine, October 2002
"Open Some Doors this Advent," US Catholic Magazine, November 24, 2008.
"Five Spiritual Lessons of Loss," Family Perspectives Journal, Summer 2002
"Celtic Crossovers: May the Lent of the Irish Be With You," U.S. Catholic, March 2001
"The art of cultivating spiritual growth," The editors interview Joyce Rupp. US Catholic, April 2000. pp 26-31.
"Let the Land Teach Us" About Healing and Creativity. Joyce Rupp. Catholic Rural Life, Spring 2000, pp. 12-16. Catholic Rural Life is a publication of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. http://www.ncrlc.com
|
Book Awards Announced
Catholic Press Association:
Walk in a Relaxed Manner - placed first in the area of spirituality, softcover book.
The Circle of Life placed second in this same category!
Independent Book Publishers Association:
The Circle of Life received a second place award in the Religion category.
|
Devotional
Booklet
| |
For Lent |
|
For Advent |
|
| |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
About Joyce Rupp...
Joyce Rupp is well known for her work as a writer, a spiritual "midwife," and retreat and conference speaker. She has led retreats throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Joyce has a B.A. in English, a M.R.E. in Religious Education, and a M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology. She is a member of the Servites (Servants of Mary) community and a volunteer for Hospice. She currently resides in Des Moines, Iowa. A list of Joyce's works can be found in the left column of this page. Click on the book title to find out more information about that title.
|
|
|
Spiritual Zest
September 2010
This past July I spent ten days on beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia. What a splendid experience I had at Bethlehem Centre which is situated on a lovely lake in the city of Nanaimo. Besides the joy of giving a weekend retreat to a wonderfully responsive group of participants and enjoying superb Benedictine hospitality, I was nearly ecstatic to have a whole week in which to plunk myself down in all that beauty and have nothing to do but write. It was one of those times and places that I never wanted to leave.
Part of what contributed to my immense enjoyment was the 5.7 kilometer walking path that circled Westwood Lake. Tall, graceful Douglas firs surround the lake and all sorts of wild flowers grow happily alongside it. Occasionally I glimpsed bald eagles in their swift flight to snatch a fish out of the water or patient herons standing at full attention. In that environment, nature once again refreshed me. The layers of travel and months of meeting deadlines that I brought with me to Nanaimo sloughed off my spirit like useless dead skin.
But what most called me home to my deeper self and to a refreshing connection with the larger world was the walking path itself. From my room up on the hill, I could look directly out onto the trail down below. Each day hundreds of people walked, ran, and strolled the path from early dawn well into dusk. Some were quite intent on exercise. Others meandered along at a slow pace. Some were alone. Many walked with a companion. Lots of them had their faithful dogs following alongside or behind them. There were children, babies in strollers and on parents’ backs, teenagers, men and women, young and old, dressed in every sort of garb from running shorts to long dresses. I even saw a turbaned sheik in black garb one afternoon. As I observed this continuous retinue of humanity day after day, I thought of the countless number of feet that had trod the path since its beginnings. Feet belonging to an immense diversity of humankind.
When I joined these folks on the path for my own daily walk I would hear snatches of chatting as I passed by them: “Just before surgery the doctor told me he wasn’t sure he’d find…. Every time she calls me it’s the same old thing… We were planning to go to Aunt Lil’s Sunday when… I had to take my grandma shopping to get her underwear yesterday. It was awful… Where did their money go? They probably partied it away… I’m wearing the same clothes to this wedding as I did to the last one…” These brief bits of conversation sometimes brought a smile to my face and they always left me feeling a sense of connection with the speakers.
I became acutely aware, as I did when I walked the Spanish Camino six years ago, that every person not only has a story, each one is a story. And deep down inside of us our stories are not all that different. We each have our hopes and dreams, our struggles and sorrows, our likes and dislikes, our hurts and our healings. In this present American society of rant and rage, blame and bad-mouthing, and constant attacking of those whose views and way of life go counter to their own, I want to remember how I felt about humankind when I was at Nanaimo. There I felt I had re-entered the Body of Christ, the spiritual union that goes far beyond the externals. I was one with the Vine and the branches, one with the great story of Love that unites us all. Oh, that this awareness would sweep all disgruntled ones off their feet and settle them into a more caring and compassionate focus once again.
© Joyce Rupp
Check out previous Spiritual Zest Articles.
|
|
|
|
Reviews...
"The Dance of Oneness," A review of The Cosmic Dance by Loretta Peters, EarthLight, Summer 2002.
"A Nurturing God," A review by Sally Cunneen of Prayers to Sophia and The Star in My Heart. The American Catholic, March 2000, pp. 7, 19. http://www.vfr.com/tac
Reviews by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat,Values and Visions Review Service
Open the Door
Walk in a Relaxed Manner
Out of the Ordinary: Prayers, Poems, and Reflections for Every Season
The Star in My Heart: Experiencing Sophia, Inner Wisdom
Reviewed by Sharon Flesher Prayers to Sophia: A Companion to "A Star in My Heart"
Reviewed by Austin Repath Walk in a Relaxed Manner |
|
