As the first Sunday of April falls on Easter Sunday (4th)
the group decided not to reschedule but to cancel.
The next Merton gathering will be Sunday, 2nd May.
See the flyer below for points of reflection for Easter Sunday

Creativity and Spirituality - March 21st.
Join us at the House of Prayer and explore all the wonder in your life with the use of water colour.

An Invitation to be a part of the Garden Rejuvenation Project and other ways to help...

You are invited to enjoy the view from your window with this contemplative awareness game.

​In 2018,  13 Participants, 12 Team and various Formators from around the globe gathered  together to undertake a momentous journey.
 

Annual Pet Blessing 

We celebrated International Day of Peace here at the House of Prayer

Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton - A participant's view point
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​At a recent Saturday morning liturgy at the House of Prayer we were introduced to JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) with a poem from Michael Leunig.  One line in the poem caught my attention ‘you spurn the treasure on the shelf in favour of your peaceful self;’ which reminded me of my journey over the past years gradually choosing and realizing the pleasure of emptiness and silence and taking time to enjoy a simple, peaceful and (as much as possible) natural life.
Leunig’s poem includes: … ‘And rush towards that shining thing. The latest bit of mental bling….trying to have it, see, it, do it, You simply know you won’t go through it; the anxious clamouring and need, This restless hungry thing to feed.’
Dr William Glasser, in his book Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom refers to this pressure as ‘external control psychology’ and he lists 7 behaviours that contribute to the breakdown in relationships: blame, criticize, complain, threaten, punish, manipulate and nag.   Alternately he suggests 7 behaviours that build relationships which he says is built on ‘internal motivation psychology’; respect, encourage, negotiate, trust, accept, listen, support.  He says that as humans we need connectedness and when we are not feeling connected we feel pain; the way we deal with this pain can be either effective or ineffective depending on our choice of behaviour.  He says that the first relationship we need to build is a relationship with ourselves. 
I use Choice Theory a lot and as a Spiritual Director at the HOP I am constantly reminded that as people of faith we are called upon to behave in effective ways to build our relationship with God - to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as ourselves. This is a constant choice, a motivation from within that is fed for me from people like Michael Leunig offering us JOMO!