Occasional Notes From Suzanne - A weekly audio-essay on faith, a book recommendation, and a recipe

“There is no contradiction for a priest to marry. Celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription: I do not know if it is settled in one way or another, but it is temporary in this sense,” Pope Francis said in an interview published on March 10, 2023.

Dear Pope Francis,

Our beloved Catholic Church faces existential issues when it comes to women and children.

As a male-only hierarchy, the Church has regulated women’s bodies and sexually abused thousands of children over the course of decades. And in the case of the sexual abuse, even when the crime was exposed, the Church chose to protect its priests, not the children.

It’s time again for priests to marry, if we are to save the Church.

I love my Catholic faith. It is the Eucharist, the real presence of Christ, that brought me into the Catholic Church nearly 40 years ago.

It is Jesus Christ that keeps me in the Catholic church, even when I am angry and hurt by the evil done by some of its priests, bishops, cardinals, and popes for decades.

As recently as 2021, even after the sex abuse scandals had been exposed, and the Vatican promised reform, sexual abuser priests continued to be transfered from wealthy first world countries to the poorest countries, in Africa and South America. There these monsters abused again and again. That blood is on the hands of the Vatican.

In all the interviews with bishops and Vatican officials, amid all the apologies, I never heard one explanation of why the Church kept this evil of abusing children, hidden for so many decades. Why you never acted to stop it until your sins were exposed by secular press.

This moral failure leads me to conclude that the leadership of the Catholic Church no longer serves its flock, it serves itself.

Our Church is composed of priests, bishops, cardinals, and you, our beloved “People’s Pope”, who have spent your entire adult lives in the equivalent of an all-male dormitory.

After your ordination, you are forbidden romantic, sexual, emotional committed relationships with women. You are not allowed to be married or to become biological fathers.

Needless to say, this lifestyle would attract men who feel they do not need or want the emotional companionship of a woman.

As a result our priests lives are divorced from the realities experienced by one half of our parishioners, women.

A priest’s housing is provided for them their entire adult lives. They will never worry about affording groceries, deciding whether they can pay both the electric bill and gas bill from this month’s paycheck.

Or how they can go to work when their child is sick and needs to stay home from school.

You will never hear a doctor tell you that the only way your wife can have the cherished child you’ve both longed for, is through surrogacy or intro-vitro fertilization. But then have your heart broken because the Pope says,

“I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.  A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.  Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally.  At every moment of its existence, human life must be preserved and defended; yet I note with regret, especially in the West, the continued spread of a culture of death, which in the name of a false compassion discards children, the elderly and the sick.”

Broad pronouncements. No discussion of this very complex issue, where the surrogate may be a sister or mother who has volunteered to carry the child. Just a blanket “no” that is meant to stop any Catholic family from pursuing surrogacy.

The same goes for IVF. Did you know that since 1978 over 8 million children have been born through IVF? Which of these precious souls do you want to tell they shouldn’t exist? Which is not a child of God?

Our priests would better understand the emotional longings of a mother and father, if they were more than “Father” in name only.

Maybe the pedophile crisis, that crushed thousands of young lives, not only because it happened but because it was hidden for decades, wouldn’t have happened if priests didn’t live in a men-only bell-towers that valued secrecy over justice. You allowed so many sexual abusers to go unpunished.

Even the highest levels of the Vatican, your home, condoned this practice of protecting priests over children. How could you do that?

What moral authority does the Church have to tell women how to live in their own bodies when you refuse, dear Pope Francis, even to this day, to protect their children from your priests?

Even an atheist knows that abusing children is evil. So what possible excuse could you have used to hide the sins of hundreds of your brother priests?

What does it say about our Church when our Vatican facilitated this evil upon children around the world by continuing to transfer priests to unsuspecting parishes, without sharing the abusive priest’s past abuse?

When it comes to matters of sexuality, the all-male Church heirarchy operates on a moral code of “do as I say, not as I do”.

While 80% of the children abused by priests were young boys, when it comes to mandating sexual matters for their parishioners, it is women who bear the ire of the male priesthood.

Women are told when they can have sex, how to regulate when they become pregnant, and what they can do after they become pregnant.

Masturbation, pre-marital sex, modern birth control, are all forbidden by the Church. There is no subtlety, no understanding of human sexuality. Just pronouncements that demonstrate no consideration of women or their bodies.

The Church insists on the sanctity of life until the moment of birth. But loses interest in the physical or emotional needs of a child, or its mother, after birth.

The financial and emotional strains that an extra mouth to feed puts on a family. The thin resources for childcare, healthcare, education, all critical to raising healthy and happy children. The Church appears to be pro-birth, not pro-life.

By so rigidly protecting a male-dominated hierarchy, the Church has lost the mandate it received from Jesus Christ, to go out and evangelize the world.

Instead of sharing Jesus’ message of love, our Catholic priests, bishops, cardinals, and pope, are more interested in protecting their absolute power.

I am certain that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would not be happy with the way you have abused his precious children, and driven away his flock.

I love my Catholic faith and all it beautiful traditions. I love the Eurcharist. But I don’t know how to find a home in our current Catholic Church.

Praying every night beside my bed before I get under the covers has become automatic. My where is the side of my bed, whether sitting on the edge of my bed or kneeling next to it. When I approach my bed at night to go to sleep, I know that before I get under the covers, I need to have a conversation with God. That Where has become so ingrained that I look forward to it. Speaking with God, has become my perfect end of the day.

Likewise, beginning my morning heading upstairs with a cup of coffee to write my Morning Pages has now become my favorite start of the day.

These two habits now have specific anchors of When and Where. But I believe what makes both of them “sticky” is their Why.

If you have a desire to expand the place your spiritual practice has in your daily life, think first about your Why.

Why do you want to make time in your daily life for prayer or reading your Bible or reading a spiritual book? What’s your goal?

Is it a closer relationship with God?

Is it increasing your knowledge of your faith?

Is it finding meaning in your life?

A clear understanding of what is driving your desire for a daily spiritual practice will fuel your when and where.

Once you’ve established your Why…it’s time to think about what spiritual practices would move you in that direction and how to incorporate them into your day.

I believe that prayer, let’s call it a conversation with God, must be the cornerstone of any spiritual life. After all, how can we grow in our relationship with God, without speaking with God daily?

Next are the tools you will use to deepen your knowledge of your faith. Whether it is a daily devotional, reading your Bible, praying your rosary, or becoming part of a group doing any of these things, your tools will be what you carry on your journey.

How to establish the when of your spiritual practice?

Sometimes our best intentions, like reading the Bible in a year, fall by the wayside because they don’t find their place in the rhythm of our day.

I read that Pope Benedict said that sometimes, instead of saying an entire five decades of the rosary at once, he might say one decade as he was walking from one place to another, and then another decade later at another pause in his day.

Rather than being daunted by the commitment of praying an entire five decades of the rosary in one sitting, which can take up to 20 minutes, begin with one decade, which might take three minutes and be easily accomplished while you’re folding laundry or driving to the grocery store. Of course it should be said prayerfully and intentionally.

Don’t be discouraged if you try one spiritual practice and find it’s not for you. Try something else. And keep trying. And make it a matter of prayer. Always keep praying.

The point is that as you add spiritual practices into the rhythm of your day, your When and Where can be situational and spontaneous until you find specific anchors, they may evolve over time.

For example, I sometimes pray when I am on my walks with Bear. It's probably one of my favorite places to pray because how could I not feel reverential bathed in the beauty of God’s creation.

The key is consistency. A few moments of prayer with God every day, is a good place to begin. And build from there. But make those daily prayer moments your bedrock.

I encourage you to think about your spiritual life and come up with your own Why, When and Where. In the universe of life habits, I can’t imagine anything more important.

And please remember, there are no right or wrong reasons, this is not a contest or a class. Only your open heart and mind and a sincere desire for God’s love.

Please let me know in the comment section what your Why, When, and Where are, because maybe they’ll be helpful to others!

What I’m reading now

Holy Women by Pope Benedict XVI

As part of my year-long reading project of reading by or about women in the Church, I was recommended this book. I’ve enjoyed other books by Pope Benedict, he’s a scholar and also a great writer.

From the publisher:

"Dear brothers and sisters, history records almost exclusively the accomplishments of men, when in fact much of it is due to the determined, unrelenting, and charitable action of women." -- Pope Benedict XVI

From Scripture through today, women have always played a unique and critical role in Church history. In his weekly addresses, Pope Benedict XVI expertly and thoughtfully explores the life stories of seventeen such holy women.

From St. Hildegard of Bingen to St. Catherine of Siena to St. Therese of Lisieux, and many more in between, each one brings a fresh experience and example of faith that is still relevant today. These models of prayer, faith, and action will help you gain a fuller understanding of Church history as well as personal faith.

Bring your faith to life with the spark of history as told by the pope himself.

It’s a familiar trope that gyms are filled for the month of January and empty by the end of February. Which got me thinking about my resolutions and whether I will pursue for the rest of the year.

I set two goals for 2024:

* Write for 24 minutes each day.

* Walk for 24 minutes each day.

The number 24 is an idea sparked by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, where the calendar year’s number becomes the time commitment you pledge to an activity or habit that you want to create.

When I checked on my commitments earlier this week, I found that my execution has been terribly inconsistent.

So, on Monday I spent 24 minutes writing about why these two goals were important to me. Through that writing exercise, I discovered two things that would make the accomplishment of my goals sticky enough to keep doing them through the coming year.

 The goal must have a Why

Over the last few weeks I’ve contemplated whether I want to continue writing.

Not because I don’t love writing, I do. However, I haven’t written a new book in ten years, when I published A Map of Heaven. Yes, I’ve written this newsletter/newspaper column faithfully every week since 2015. And I’ve packaged some of these essays into seasonal books. However, I began my writing career as a novelist.  

December 24th, was the 10-year anniversary of the publication of Map. Which reminded me of how disappointed I felt after Map didn’t perform as well as I’d hoped. Which sounds like a lot of emotional baggage to place on one book when I’ve written ten others, but Map was the first novel, which I began after my father died. Whether intentionally or not, I never finished another novel after Map was published.

Over the past month, I wondered whether I wanted to continue writing at all, or if I would just write for myself, and not publish anything.

So, I decided to write 24 minutes every morning, doing Morning Pages, a journaling technique popularized by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way, as the means to explore whether I wanted to continue writing.

I want to get myself back in the habit of writing every single day, because I’ve decided I want to write a book this year. Whether I’m successful or not, I want to do it for myself. Writing these Morning Pages is my way of making writing a habit.

If all goes well, I will move from writing Morning Pages to working on a manuscript.  That’s a ‘why’ that’s strong for me.

As for the walking 24 minutes every day, that’s simple. Both of my parents had heart conditions that would ultimately be their cause of death. Type Two diabetes runs in my family, as well.

God willing, I have many years ahead of me. I’d like them to be healthy years, so I can enjoy them to their fullest.

The goal must have a When

Knowing your ‘why’ is only half the equation. Understanding your energy rhythm through the day will help you to establish the best time to complete your daily goal.

I write my Morning Pages as soon as I grab my first cup of coffee. When I’ve finished, I put on my sneakers, and Bear and I go for our walk.

Both activities have to be accomplished first thing in the morning because through trial and error, I’ve found they don’t get done if I put them off for later in the day.

Since establishing my why and when, keeping my commitment to these daily goals has become almost effortless. It’s no longer a chore. Instead, it’s become something I look forward to completing because I understand my why, and I have a concrete vision of what I want to accomplish.

Do you have new habits you’d like to form this year?

I encourage you to spend time considering your why and when.

And remember, it doesn’t matter when you start, there’s no magic about the first of the year, the first of the month, or even the first of the week. The only magic is understanding that you hold the power to accomplishing your goal.

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

T.S. Eliot wrote in, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,

For I have known them all already, known them all:

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

I know the voices dying with a dying fall

Beneath the music from a farther room.

               So how should I presume?

…to express the accumulation of mundane moments that fill our lives and the gnawing fear that our best days are behind us.

My experience, standing at the entrance of this season of life, is more optimistic.

I took this picture to capture the morning sunlight illuminating the these simple, sacred objects in my kitchen window. Nowadays, I find myself looking for these moments.

I may begin measuring out my life in coffee spoons, but it because they are precious to me and I finally have time to savor them.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock was a favorite poem when I lived in New York City in my early thirties. When I re-read the poem this morning, Eliot’s descriptions were places I knew from visits to all-night diners after a late night with friends. While there is nostalgia in my recollection, there is no longing for those days.

I am not equating age with diminished activity or as Eliot suggests, diminished dreams. Quite the contrary.

I believe this is the age when dreams are finally pursued with renewed vigor because they are seen with eyes of wizened by decades of experience.

My parents retired from traditional jobs and immediately left to live in the former Soviet Union in the early 1990’s when it was still rebuilding.

My parents dreamed of traveling the world, and in retirement they finally had the time. My father to see places he only knew from his lifelong subscription to the National Geographic magazine, my mother to teach children and renew her childhood dream of being a missionary in a foreign country.

I feel the same enthusiasm for this season and what it will hold. But my energies are not driven by geographic adventures, but by an internal journey, which I hope will produce more books.

But like my parents, I live every day each day with an understanding that my choices represent time withdrawn from a bank that accepts no deposits.

For myself, this realization is found in making time for an appreciation of the beauty in common things. And an acceptance of myself, finally, as I am rather than as I hope to be.

The other day I watched a short video of Mary Oliver reading her poem, Wild Geese, (that link will take you to the 2 minute video, it’s worth watching).

Here are the opening lines,

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.

I like to imagine that in Wild Geese, Mary Oliver is providing us an invitation: If we did not feel this way before, perhaps now we can finally say, I am strong and beautiful and smart and kind and worthy of love and dreams I will pursue, just as I am. I believe that is a very good way to live this season of life.

Thank you for reading Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it.

What I’m reading now…

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander When I first began reading this book, a few years ago, I tried to read it starting on page one and going forward, as I would with any other book.

What I discovered recently, is that I appreciate and learn more when I read this book in smaller bites, as if it was a devotional. Where I read a page or two at a time and meditate on what I’ve read.

Here’s a description from the publisher:

The Reed of God contains meditations on the humanity of Mary, Mother of God. British Catholic writer and artist Caryll Houselander lovingly explores Mary’s intimately human side.

Confronting the static, surreal “Madonna of the Christmas card,” Houselander provides instead an intuitive, warmly human, and approachable image of the Mother of God.

In the book’s four parts, Houselander explores key events of Mary’s life, including her fiat, finding Jesus in the Temple, and the Assumption, as well as the themes of fruitful emptiness and the eternal search for union with God.

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In 2015, one of the last things I did before I packed my final boxes and moved from my house in Evergreen to a new home in Breckenridge, Colorado, was to burn thirty years worth of journals in the wood stove of my home. This is the picture I took to remember the event.

Friends, especially writing friends, were aghast. How could I burn so many years of memories?

But that’s exactly what I wanted to do. To me, those journals were reminders of how little I felt things had changed. How many dreams that I’d shared in those pages remained the same, how little I’d changed.

When an archaeologist excavates the ruins of an ancient city they must first dig through layers of cities that were built over the same site.

This could be an analogy for the accumulation of human knowledge. One generation building upon the intellectual heritage of the generation before.

Nonbelievers believe our scientific advances lead us further from a need for God, disprove God’s existence.

I believe it’s quite the contrary. That images beamed from a telescope in space reveal a universe more magnificent than our minds can conceive. Yet, are only the smallest glimpse of the magnificence of God’s mind.

I want to understand why we have evolved intellectually, yet our moral evolution is comparably childlike and primitive?

Why have we not found a better way to solve our disputes than the methods used by Cain upon Abel?

Why have theologians not surpassed the proofs of Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica?

Why does Saint Augustin’s Confessions, his journey from hedonistic debauchery to passionate pursuit of God, still resonate with us today? Why does his third century assertion that our hearts are restless until they rest in God, still ring true?

Our churches have emptied but certainly not because we have lost our need for God.

The premise for salvation is Original Sin. The concept that we were created in God’s image, but through our actions became tainted by sin, which has been passed down through each generation.

But the question is, why?

Why haven’t we evolved beyond our original moral limitations?

Why do humans evolve intellectually but not morally? That’s one of the questions I want to explore this year.

What I know for sure, our inability to morally develop is why we need God. And is in fact, our only hope for survival. God help us. 

~

For love of my brethren and friends

I say: “Peace upon you!”

For love of the house of the Lord

I will ask for your good.

~ Psalm 122

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

When I was a young swimmer, like most kids passionate about their sport, I read books about my Olympic heroes. Now, of course the world records they set fifty years ago might be age group records because the sport has advanced in so many ways.

As a junior in high school, I ran through the house to answer our only phone, in the kitchen, and then sat on the floor twirling its cord in my fingers as I spoke for hours with Trei, my first boyfriend. Thankfully, telephone technology has also changed  a lot.

The other day I was thinking about how we have evolved so quickly in the way we live our lives thanks to a myriad technological advances.

Sadly, we have not evolved morally. Certainly we are better than we were in the way we treat one one another based on race or sexual orientation, unless, of course, you are a black person or a gay person who still experiences subtle, or not so subtle, discrimination based on the color of your skin, or who you love.

Our twin capacities for love and hate seem to be as primitive and visceral today as they were for our ancestors thousands of years ago.

Why has our moral development lagged so far behind our intellectual evolution?

That question is why Christ is a needed today as he was the day of his birth.

I’ve always thought of Advent as a month long celebration preceding the birth of Christ. A joyous time.

But as I read through the daily Bible readings this year, I paid attention to the deeper message, our need to be saved from ourselves.

Our need for Christ’s salvation is as real today as it was over two thousand years ago when our Savior was born.

Our intellectual evolution enables us to discover cures for diseases that killed out ancestors. Yet, that same intellect provides us more efficient ways to steal life and treasure. Soon we’ll colonize the moon and then fight over how to divide it between nations.

Only the love of Jesus Christ can save us. Not only on the day we accept him into our heart, but through our willingness to live in such a way that reflects his life in ours.

God‘s grace saved us, continues to save us every day. Our hearts are transformed when we share that grace with our neighbors. Demand honesty from our leaders. And work to create communities that reflect the compassion that Christ showed the least of us.

I began my Advent journey with words from that famous song. I will begin my Christmas with the same words.

Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel.

Come my Savior, save the world, and remind me of how much I need you, still. 

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

How many times, have I recited these words. In joy, in anxiety, in doubt, in confidence. Thousands? Tens of times in one day, certainly. So many times that I find myself softly reciting the words before I know I’ve begun.

This is a paraphrase or personalization of a line from this verse: Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”( Nehemiah 8:10)

Somehow, over the course of thousands of years, those words still carry the weight of assurance in every circumstance.

In the Advent calendar, we have reached Gaudete Sunday, and the word you will hear a lot today is “rejoice”.

In Isaiah 61:10 we hear: “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice;”

In Luke 1:46-48, we hear Mary, Jesus’ mother, bold exclamation, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”

Saint Paul encourages us through his Letter to the Thessalonians, “Brothers and Sister, Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks…”

Each of these passages were professed by people who would know great sorrow along with their joy. And yet, they still rejoiced. But how?

How do we rejoice, pray without ceasing, and give thanks always?

When we are sick, our body full of pain, our heart broken with the loss of a loved one, our finances a wreck, a job lost, a child far from home. Where do we find joy in these circumstances?

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 BRG)

Which brings us back to our opening verse, “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” That’s the only way we can rejoice in the face of sorrow or hardship or aging or even death.

Christ must be our constant companion. “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” becomes our unceasing prayer.

Let’s pray,

Dear Jesus,

You know where I am today and what I am facing.

Please, let your joy be my strength.

When I am tempted to worry about the future, plant my feet in this moment and remind me that You are here with me, and your presence is my strength.

Remind me of all you have done for me and those I love. So that I may give thanks to you always.

And I will rejoice, because Your joy is my strength.

Amen.

Thank you for reading Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;he will prepare your way.A voice of one crying out in the desert:“Prepare the way of the Lord,make straight his paths.”John the Baptist appeared in the desertproclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.People of the whole Judean countrysideand all the inhabitants of Jerusalemwere going out to himand were being baptized by him in the Jordan Riveras they acknowledged their sins.John was clothed in camel’s hair,with a leather belt around his waist.He fed on locusts and wild honey.And this is what he proclaimed:“One mightier than I is coming after me.I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.I have baptized you with water;he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

~ Mark 1:1-8

When the hospice director came to our house to speak with Mom during her last days, she offered to pray for Mom.

Instead, Mom prayed for her.

Mom prayed for everyone she met, until finally speech was taken from her in her final days.

I’m not bold enough to offer to pray for strangers. But I hope that writing this weekly newsletter is my contribution.

This passage from the Gospel of St. Mark is our touchstone for the Second week of Advent.

It is a reminder that the job of proclaiming the coming of Christ Jesus continues every day of every year, from one generation to the next until the world ends. It is each of our responsibility to continue what St. John the Baptist began.

You know, every generation proclaims themselves to be lost. And I imagine it’s true. If only to remind us that every generation must have their own messenger, someone who can speak in the words of their generation, their neighbors.

But let’s also remember the message of St. Paul, that we each are members of this great body of Christ, each having our unique talent and contribution as bearers of God’s love to our community.

Some of us will pray, some will write, some will paint or weave or knit God’s love into objects that warm a body or a heart. Others will feed and clothe and build homes for those who don’t feel loved by this world, but who will feel God’s love for them by these efforts.

As I write these descriptions I am thinking of specific people who I know who specialize in each of these gifts. And I know in this Christmas season, they are already at work.

The mad rush of Christmas shopping has died down. So now, as we take a breath, let’s consider how we can share the real reason for this season.

Let’s each find a way to be bringers of the light of Jesus Christ this season.

Thank you for joining me in this most holy of responsibilities, helping our neighbors experience Christ’s love for them, through us.

What I’m reading this week…

Please excuse a little self-promotion as I mention one of my own books, an Advent devotional I wrote a few years ago. The Best Christmas: An Advent Devotional: Unwrapping the Advent Gift that Will Make this Your Best Christmas Ever

It’s free on Kindle Unlimited and on sale for $8.63 in paperback. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

God bless you, I’ll speak with you again next week.

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

My house sits atop a hill on the edge of a wooded ravine. When I stand at the window, as I do every night before bed, and look down, all I see is darkness as all light is swallowed in the dense underbrush. But as I look across to other hilltops, I see little points of light from distant homes.

When I think of this year’s Advent journey, the four weeks that will lead us to the birth of our Savior, the image that comes to mind this year is similar to this view from my bedroom window at night.

Darkness with a far off single light. That light, being Christ.

Our journey culminates with the birth that began the redemption of the world, a world-changing event of God truly with us. God no longer hidden behind a curtain in the temple, but God walking with us.

God so fully human, and fully divine because he still was God, allowed himself to share our fragile human form to experience the vulnerability of being an infant, to feel our pain when a youthful arm was broken in the fall from a tree, the knowledge of hunger when a meal was missed, to experience the gift of love from a mother and father, who cherished watching their child become a man.

This Christ is that distant light guiding us through the darkness.

These four weeks are our journey through the night, with that light always in view, to spend the extra hours of early winter darkness thinking about, reading about, contemplating, and praying about, our Lord Jesus Christ.

As the Light of the world, he came to save us from our darkness, a darkness we still live within.

Our need for this Advent is renewed each year not as an old tradition, but a journey to be experienced anew. With lessons because we are not the same as we were last year. Our relationship with God is always new, always building upon the past.

We are sojourners for the next four weeks, watching for Christ’s leading.

As we venture through the darkness, let us sing for Him,

O come, O come, Emmanuel.

Thank you for reading Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it.

What I’m reading now…

Advent: The Season of Hope (Fullness of Time series) by Tish Harrison Warren

This year, I want to immerse myself in the meaning of Advent. I downloaded this audiobook this morning, it’s short, only a few hours long, but I’m enjoying it.

If you have any other Advent book recommendations, please pass them along.

P.S. You’ll enjoy this classic rendition of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

The next time you go for a walk, take your phone. But don’t use it for anything other than taking pictures. That means no phone calls, no audiobooks, no music, just enjoy the sounds of your surroundings.

I hope this includes sounds of nature. Or at the very least the white noise of traffic. At first, you may feel anxious. Especially if you are used to filling your ears with the familiar voices from a book or podcast. Their absence may leave you feeling off-balance with boredom.

I used to turn on a podcast as soon as I stepped out the door. I would listen for the entirety of my walk, even switching between apps if one program finished before I completed my walk.

But then I read an article about the link between boredom and creativity and the suggestion of using our walks to facilitate this experience.

So I left my earbuds at home and discovered a couple interesting results that have been lasting.

First, it’s amazing how your mind and body will relax if you allow yourself to not focus on anything while you walk. You might begin the walk worrying about bills, or a conversation you had with a friend, or what you’re going to cook for dinner, but soon your mind begins to wander and you feel your mind and body relax.

You being to notice the temperature of the air, the scent of incoming rain, or the warmth of the sun on your face. Leaves that have fallen and lay scattered along the road reveal a nuance of color you hadn’t seen before.

And then there are the sounds. Not just traffic, but beneath that, you may notice as I did on a recent walk, a woodpecker tapping on a branch high above your head. Or if your walk takes you through a busy city neighborhood, snippets of conversations, the seasonal window displays on your town’s Main Street.

From my own experience, I can say that’s when creative ideas begin to percolate and rise from our subconscious into our conscious mind. The beginnings of solutions to the real problems you are facing begin to take root. And answers begin, not perhaps, as a burst of epiphany, but an inkling. A thread that you can begin to pursue.

This is also a great time for prayer. These walks are where I have conversations with God. Yes, talking out loud is not frowned upon when you’re alone on a walk. At least, not by me. But most of the time, my conversations occur in my head as I ask God for advice and believe that the answer will come eventually.

Giving our minds time and space to talk to, and listen for God, is a very effective way to explore the deeper questions we have.

Which leads to me to the provocative title of today’s newsletter.

Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday, we being Advent, our liturgical new year, which I didn’t really make the connection with as I always associate Advent as the weeks leading up to Christmas. But it was mentioned by Father Mike Schmitz in a homily this morning.

Father Mike said, what better way to prepare ourselves for Advent and our liturgical new year, than to use the coming week to review the last twelve months?

What if we used one of our walks, or quiet time during our day, to review our year? Where has God blessed us, where have we felt God’s real presence making a difference in how we lived, what area of our life needs change in the coming year?

What better way to prepare ourselves for Christmas and the celebration of our Savior’s birth, than to open our minds to consider our relationship with God over the past twelve months and where we want to meet God in the coming year?

The salad that’s the perfect holiday season dinner…

This simple kale salad was such a hit last week that my brother asked me to make it for dinner twice.

It’s easy to assemble, delicious, and hearty. Which makes it a perfect dinner during our busy holiday season.

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.

Cut a Delicata squash in half and into rings (scooping out the seeds). Then drizzle with EVOO (aka Extra Virgin Olive Oil), salt and pepper, and roast 15-20 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, take the stems off of the leaves of a bunch of kale. Cut or tear the kale into small pieces or ribbons, depending on your preference. Sprinkle with EVOO and a pinch of salt, then use your clean hands to briefly “massage” the kale leaves. This softens the texture of the kale leaves, making them more palatable for none kale enthusiasts.

To the kale add whatever you like! Because kale is a hearty green, I favor bold flavors. So I added, pomegranate seeds, chopped walnuts, feta or goat cheese, chopped red onions, the roasted Delicata squash, and finished with a raspberry vinaigrette.

This salad is so warm and comforting, it easily stands in for dinner on a winter night.

Final thoughts…

The more I think about Father Mike’s call, not to action, but reflection, on the past twelve months and the coming new year, the more I believe this week can be a pivotal time to consider every area of our lives before we rush headlong into the holidays.

I know many of my friends have either begun or are preparing for retirement, entailing big moves either physically or mentally. There may have been set backs, changes of plans, or leaving a familiar community to find our footing and friends within a new one.

I hope you will set aside time this week, as I will, to begin a conversation with God about these transformative changes in your life and where they may lead you in the coming year.

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Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. ~Psalm 143:8

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