We don't need scientific studies to tell us today's culture is out of touch with nature... In fact, we tend to ignore the , whether consciously or not. We can make daytime seem like nighttime and nighttime seem like daytime. We can make winter feel like summer and summer feel like winter. we can travel from the tropics to the tundra in less than a day, from the mountains to the sea in an afternoon. We can find whatever fruits or vegetables we want in our local grocery store, regardless of whether they are supposed to be in season or not. + Our natural environment has become a kind of add-on to our lives. We feel the pangs of weather changes and the panic of natural disasters. As of yet we haven't been able to control such things with technology, but our day to day, month to month, and year to year lives have, in general, gotten out of synch with the natural rhythms of the earth we were created to live in. + As human beings, our lives are meant to unfold in harmony with the natural world. The seasons, the processes of nature, the rhythms of this world - our world - were created out of love and given to us as a home. They have something to tell us about our deeper identities, the purpose of our lives, the way to live our lives to the full. When we cut ourselves off from direct, regular, and necessary contact with and dependence on this natural environment, we threaten to sever an ancient and irreplaceable link to authentic wisdom. + will provide you with some space to remember and reconnect with essential dimension of your humanity. That is what meditation means: giving yourself the time and space, both physically and psychologically, to reflect calmly but deeply on some of our more important spiritual values. It is my sincere hope that by doing so you will experience a spiritual and emotional revitalization. You will be able to escape from the ceaseless, inhuman, digitalized grind of postmodern life and regain balance. + Not that I'm accusing you of being unspiritual. I'm banking on the fact that even though you have faith, hope, courage and love, you still feel a hunger to have more of them - deeper faith, more vibrant hope, more dynamic courage, stronger love. That’s one of the great things about spiritual values. Because they are spiritual, they can always keep growing. + Fr. John Bartunek, LC Winter Meditations, RC Spiritualty
