September
1. Practice of community
Interdependence as a spiritual practice and collectivism as a value
October
2. Practice of silence and solitude
Meditation, reading, prayer walks, pilgrimage etc. as spiritual practices and disciplines
November
3. Practice of reconciliation, forgiveness and peace making
"Forgive, and you will be forgiven." -Jesus, the way to peace and freedom. Enneagram as a tool to greater self-awareness and of the other.
December
4. Practice of gratitude, celebrations and rituals
Collective and personal rituals to remember who we are and what is valuable for us, past victories and future hope.
January
5. Practice of rhythm, seasonal living and rest
Retreat: establishing yearly rhythm for nurturing faith and a personal rule of life
February
6. Practice of curiosity, asking questions and having honest conversations
Christianity is a relationship they say; how good conversations with yourself, God and the people in your life shape your life
March
7. Practice of praying hands, arts and crafts, play
Becoming like children, creativity as central point of our spirituality
April
8. Practice of gardening
Monastic life style. Why food production and nutrition matters
May
9. Practice of simplicity, contentment, minimalism and low-waste
Finances, abuse vs. using the right resources, and other God-given mandates
June
10. Practice of charity
Who is my neighbor? ethical consumption, community projects, displacement, taking responsibility for natural crises...
We feel strongly called to a life of essentialists. It's kind of fashionable right now to practice essentialism, but I think it's more needed than ever. As we load our lives with more and more it restores our sanity to come back to the question "is it necessary?" "is this essential?" constantly.
I think this is theme has been one of the biggest areas of my spirituality this year. When we were looking for a new home outside of our tiny city appartment in Milan, we wanted more than anything else two things: big table to sit around with many people and a community garden project. Just like that we have...
I guess the biggest inspiration for our move to Biella was live closer to the nature in order to be able to have more space and time to make, play and create. We could have started a community house in a bigger city too but we felt the neccessity to be closer to the nature in order to create,...
Some of the dearest books to me tackle the great questions of life around faith, society and relationships. Mere Chrsitianity by C.S. Lewis, How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer and Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott to mention the first three that comes to mind.
We have been thinking a lot about the rhythm of life, and how for us, it is important to follow the natural rhythm of seasonal changes of the nature around where we live.
There is always (always) so much to be grateful for. And I'm so aware of it right now, yet I feel like a massive hypocrite to write this post at the moment. The reason is that I find myself complaining constantly. It's been an autumn like no other and I guess I have burnt down my battery in processing, adjusting, handling all the emotions etc. ...
As Christian we believe we can have a life-style of constant forgiveness - that is making peace with others and ourselves.
The spiritual practice of October was solitude. Solitude turns out to be so incredibly difficult for me that I could not get myself to write an entry on it. I read some excellent chapters by wonderful authors on solitude and its fundamental nature for our spiritual formation. So I could attempt to put together an informative reflection on the...
When we dreamt about starting a community house we felt strong about certain values or life themes that have become a golden line to us over the years. Rather than guidelines of our community or similar to monastic "rule of life" they are practices that make our spirituality, living our Christian faith sustainable for us.
