Camaldolese monk, author and musician Fr Cyprian Consiglio visited Australia in November last year. Recently retired Prior of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, he is now based in Rome, having been appointed the International Secretary General of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue. He spoke to me in Melbourne in the wake of the US election, and reflects on what this means for Christians; what the East has to teach Western Christianity; and his practice as a devotee of meditation and yoga.
Vale Michael Leunig – cartoonist, artist, mystic and prophet
When Australian national treasure Michael Leunig died last week aged 79, the sense of loss was profound. I had the great privilege of interviewing this man of extraordinary creative gifts, insight and sensitivity, in 1996 and 2000. The following extracts from the interviews explore his yearning for beauty, enchantment, the transcendent and eternal, and his desire to be a voice for the voiceless.
Mary’s invitation to come closer to Jesus this Christmas
An icon is a window onto the divine, and the word ‘iconic’ has become a favourite word to describe our heroes. One of the most famous icons is the 12th century Byzantine icon, The Virgin of Vladimir, as shown above. It depicts Jesus as a child being held in the arms of his mother Mary, and it still speaks poignantly to us today.
The spark of love that can never be extinguished
One of the greatest privileges of my life was recently to spend time in prayer and meditation with a dying and dear friend, Rosslyn Lam. I last prayed and meditated with her in hospital, accompanied by her sister and three adult children, two days before she died last month, following a long battle with cancer.
We are created from love, of love, for love – St Ignatius
Through the spiritual exercises developed by the founder of the Jesuits, St Ignatius of Loyola, Roland Ashby has experienced Christ’s loving and healing presence as a physical reality. Roland, who is contributing editor of Living Water (www.thelivingwater.com.au), reflects on how Ignatian spirituality has for him been life-transforming, a spring of living water*.
Desmond Tutu remembered
How an atheist poet nourishes faith
Philip Larkin, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, was an atheist. Australian poet John Foulcher*, who has a deep Christian faith, reflects on how Larkin’s poetry has been a source of nourishment for him, how it has helped him to face his darkest fears, and how, with all good poetry, it lays bare our common humanity.
Francis of Assisi - a saint for our time
Into the growing darkness of our world, St Francis of Assisi shines a light of peace, hope and beauty. Anglican priest and third order Franciscan Pirrial Clift reflects on why this joyful revolutionary, who is commemorated on 4 October, has drawn her ‘like a magnet’, and speaks so powerfully to our time of war and ecological crisis.
Drinking living water from the well of poetry
Poetry can open our hearts and minds and provide a source of living water for our lives, says author Sarah Bachelard. Dr Bachelard*, who is the founder of the Benedictus Contemplative Church in Canberra, Australia, reflects on how poetry can illuminate our understanding and nourish our lives and faith. This reflection is based on a talk on 8 September at The Well, a monthly online meditation and talk on a mystic or poet*.
I believe! Let me count the ways ...
I believe in laughter in the rain.
I believe in the first soft footfall and the thud of jellybean legs flailing as a child learns to walk.
I believe in open arms; the entreaties of encouragement that are the refrains of a lifetime; the open arms of acceptance and welcome and refuge.
I believe God is, was and will be.
Meditation and dementia: A personal perspective
Leaving the house of fear
The power of weakness
The ‘gold-standards’ of power, perfection and privilege, which dominated Greco-Roman society, continue to capture us, writes poet and scholar the Rev’d Dr Mark S. Burrows.* But Christianity, he says, is a radical rejection of this ‘false gospel’, believing that true strength and freedom lie not in naked self-interest, but in the ‘weakness’ of compassion and putting others’ interests before our own.
Transfiguration or annihilation? Humanity at the crossroads
The joy of finding God in times of ‘holy uselessness’
Bird watching is akin to praying. Or, more precisely, bird waiting is an act of contemplative prayer. The Welsh poet and Anglican priest R.S. Thomas, who lived by the sea in North Wales, was a passionate bird watcher. His poem ‘Sea-Watching’ (below) explores the relationship between prayer and bird watching while looking out to sea.
How to remain human in a world obsessed with speed
Let the trees tell you their story
Divine messengers of hope
A revolution in wisdom vital for our time
An inspiring and gifted teacher of meditation and spirituality, Dr Chris Morris died suddenly earlier this month. Greatly admired and much loved, Chris was a Senior Lecturer in Spirituality and Head of the Department of Pastoral and Spiritual Studies at Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, Australia. As a tribute to him, the following is a re-posting of an article he wrote for Living Water in June 2021.
In 2020 Chris completed his PhD on Bruno Barnhart, Californian Camaldolese Benedictine Monk, who died in 2015. An extraordinary and life-changing spiritual experience when he was a young man shaped the rest of Bruno Barnhart’s life. It led him to devote his life’s work to recovering and re-conceiving Christian wisdom today, centred on and emanating from the one great revolutionary event of the Cross. Here Chris explains why he found Barnhart’s ideas “compelling and endlessly engaging”.
The precious gift of silence in a world of noise
While bushwalking in Western Australia, Rodney Marsh practised a silence and attention that allowed him to discover the silence and generosity of the natural world, and how nature can heal and restore the soul. This is the first article in a series of three in which he reflects on how walking in nature nurtures spiritual well-being.