“Have you seen this before?  People of privilege and power can be afraid to embrace the truth or do the right thing because they risk losing their influence. To follow their conscience may mean that they won't be re-elected or that their ratings will drop.  They can't risk it.  So they close their hearts and cling tightly to their power, even when it means embracing lies and practicing deception.” Looking to Herod as an example, Br. David Vryhof urges us to speak the truth, even when it threatens our power or popularity.

“The wonder and beauty of life always connects us with its source, with its Creator. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy the beauty of creation that surrounds us and fills us. But don’t stop there. Always experience beauty as a bridge back to its Source. Beauty is not an end in itself. Our experience of beauty on earth ferries us to God’s presence.” Inspired by the writing and witness of Thomas Traherne, Br. Curtis Almquist invites us to live in wonder, live in love.

“God isn’t fair. But God’s unfairness isn’t arbitrary or abstemious. God’s unfairness is universal and prodigal. It’s the unfairness of a landowner who pays everyone the same out of his boundless generosity. It’s the unfairness of a father who welcomes back with open arms and a spread table the wayward son. It’s the unfairness of a God who, in the psalmist’s words, is “faithful in all his words and merciful in all his deeds” and who “upholds all those who fall,” whether they deserve it or not.” In God's unfairness, Br. Lain Wilson discovers proof of God's prodigal generosity.

“God is here with and for you. As before, God will hold as on eagles’ wings. God will “bear your spirit up and brace your heart and nerve your arm.” Let go, like a leaf falling into the divine wind.”

As autumn arrives, Br. Luke Ditewig invites us to fall into following Jesus.

“Today, as we keep an Ember Day, might be an invitation for us to pray, and even fast, in solidarity with those whose livelihoods, and very life itself, are threatened as climate change alters agricultural cycles around the world. Today, as we pray for the ministry of the church, might be an invitation to pray for the healing of the cycles of nature, and our role in that healing, and ways in which the Church might aid in that healing.” Br. James Koester connects the church's observance of an "Ember day" with the historic – and contemporary – practice of keeping a fast.

“Looking into the face of the Navajo Jesus, whose face was all around me, I learned like never before to listen from a place of crucified helplessness. I learned afresh to stay put at the foot of the cross wherever I found it in people and circumstances, and not to turn away. I was shown by Navajo Christians how this could be, and is, the place of Resurrection. I was shown that, even in the desolation of the abandoned uranium mine, the earth herself turns her face to us and listens.” Br. Keith Nelson reckons with the painful legacies of ecological devastation and colonialization that he encountered first-hand in Navajoland this summer, and urges us to join him in a recognition of our sins and an engagement with deep listening to help heal the wounds of generations.

“Our consolations often come in unexpected ways, breaking in upon the demands of our daily lives. And these consolations often provide us with the unexpected grace and strength to meet those demands. How often, amid your own busy lives, does something break in on your awareness, pull your attention away from the flurry and frenzy of activity? How often does that something prove to be exactly what you need to get you through, to meet the demands of the next day, the next hour, the next moment?” Br. Lain Wilson remembers the Martyrs of Memphis and finds in their witness of nursing during the yellow fever epidemic an example of the ways that God's endless consolation can enable us to do extraordinary things.

“What we rejoice in today is not some pious legend about an elderly couple whose prayer for a child was finally answered. What we rejoice in today is not some biological or historical event that culminated in the birth of someone. What we rejoice in today is that before time, and in time, and after time God, has chosen us, just as he chose Mary, to love forever. Think of it: long, long before you were born, God loved you. Long, long after you die, God will continue to love you.” In the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Br. James Koester finds the truth that it at the center of our being, at the center of God's heart, at the center of the universe.

“The true meaning of faith has to do with living in a life-giving, life-transforming relationship with the One we have come to know as God – a relationship characterized by mutual love, fidelity and trust.  It is not primarily a matter of assenting to certain state-ments or claims about God, but of believing in God, and of being willing to trust in God, even in the most difficult circumstances.” Br. David Vryhof encourages us to believe, with all our hearts, that even when everything seems wrong, it can still be all right.

“We notice, we acquiesce, we participate most fully in life when we live with the terms by which God has created all of life, which is terminal. All of creation is a teacher for our prayer.” Br. Curtis Almquist invites us to pray with, and through, and for Creation, doing out part in the company of fellow creatures.