Ben (Contemplative in the Mud)
@contemplativeinthemud.com
Benjamin Embley | MTS student, MA philosophy, PhD engineering | Las Casas, les Maritain, Văn | English, français, español, ไทย | Living on Wabanaki land | contemplativeinthemud.com
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Encountering the Lord of History
Yesterday, on the memorial of St. John Henry Newman, Pope Leo’s apostolic exhortation to all Christians on love for the poor, Dilexi Te, was published online. I’d been eagerly waiting for this docu…
contemplativeinthemud.com
A reflection on the face—or flesh—of contemplation in Pope Leo’s first apostolic exhortation, 𝘋𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪 𝘛𝘦.
Woliwon / wela'lin / merci / thank you:
November 8, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Woliwon / wela'lin / merci / thank you:
“An Eastern Christian saw a photo of Father de Foucauld sitting on my desk and said, ‘This face is an icon.’ It’s true. We too must become icons of God’s mystery, more transparent, showing forth eschatology by placing ourselves at the heart of the cross and resurrection.” — Marie-Joseph Le Guillou
November 3, 2025 at 1:46 PM
“An Eastern Christian saw a photo of Father de Foucauld sitting on my desk and said, ‘This face is an icon.’ It’s true. We too must become icons of God’s mystery, more transparent, showing forth eschatology by placing ourselves at the heart of the cross and resurrection.” — Marie-Joseph Le Guillou
“Your goodness and love, which remain strong and true, will chase after me on the path of life all of my days. Grandfather’s longhouse will always be my home.”
Psalm 23:5 FNV
(All Souls)
Psalm 23:5 FNV
(All Souls)
November 2, 2025 at 2:07 PM
“Your goodness and love, which remain strong and true, will chase after me on the path of life all of my days. Grandfather’s longhouse will always be my home.”
Psalm 23:5 FNV
(All Souls)
Psalm 23:5 FNV
(All Souls)
“I consider Creator to be the most vulnerable being who exists, and it is in my vulnerability that I exhibit my spirituality, my humanity... The opposite of vulnerability is control, including the illegitimate use of power.” — Randy S. Woodley
“The desire to control is often the sign of inner insecurity, not of real power or love.”
— The Inner Voice of Love
— The Inner Voice of Love
November 1, 2025 at 1:39 PM
“I consider Creator to be the most vulnerable being who exists, and it is in my vulnerability that I exhibit my spirituality, my humanity... The opposite of vulnerability is control, including the illegitimate use of power.” — Randy S. Woodley
A poem for the readings for All Saints.
November 1, 2025 at 11:16 AM
A poem for the readings for All Saints.
This is (still) due today. If you have a little prayer, much appreciated!
And in between the two, I was asked to lightly adapt one of my (not-online) writings about "God the Most Vulnerable" for a peer-reviewed journal. Still working on this—but feeling encouraged today!
(The not-online piece is in a similar vein to this: contemplativeinthemud.com/2024/02/01/g... )
(The not-online piece is in a similar vein to this: contemplativeinthemud.com/2024/02/01/g... )
October 31, 2025 at 1:23 PM
This is (still) due today. If you have a little prayer, much appreciated!
Reposted by Ben (Contemplative in the Mud)
Pope Leo XIV: “The supreme rule in the Church is love….No one is excluded; we are all called to participate. No one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it and seek it together.”
October 26, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Pope Leo XIV: “The supreme rule in the Church is love….No one is excluded; we are all called to participate. No one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it and seek it together.”
“To pray is to be like a child who needs his father and shows to him his confidence and love.” — René Voillaume
October 26, 2025 at 11:58 PM
“To pray is to be like a child who needs his father and shows to him his confidence and love.” — René Voillaume
“I continue to be convinced... that a fertile, imaginative challenge lies in ‘contemplation in action,’ in action which transforms history. I am referring to finding God in the poor...” — Gustavo Gutiérrez
October 24, 2025 at 11:57 PM
“I continue to be convinced... that a fertile, imaginative challenge lies in ‘contemplation in action,’ in action which transforms history. I am referring to finding God in the poor...” — Gustavo Gutiérrez
Gustavo Gutiérrez passed into eternal life one year ago today (8 Jun 1928 – 22 Oct 2024)
October 22, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Gustavo Gutiérrez passed into eternal life one year ago today (8 Jun 1928 – 22 Oct 2024)
Local guy sent me an invitation to a screening of some Mass of the Ages movie... at the official diocesan retreat centre.
No, I'm not interested in your aestheticism (“bastard child of capitalism”). I’m here for the contemplation of beauty. They’re not the same. See:
No, I'm not interested in your aestheticism (“bastard child of capitalism”). I’m here for the contemplation of beauty. They’re not the same. See:
Aestheticism vs. Contemplation of Beauty: Arturo Paoli and Pope Francis
Introduction To close Earth Month, there is a 50-year-old essay that I want to reproduce in its entirety. The reason for this is that I think the text is a precursor to many of the contemplative an…
contemplativeinthemud.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Local guy sent me an invitation to a screening of some Mass of the Ages movie... at the official diocesan retreat centre.
No, I'm not interested in your aestheticism (“bastard child of capitalism”). I’m here for the contemplation of beauty. They’re not the same. See:
No, I'm not interested in your aestheticism (“bastard child of capitalism”). I’m here for the contemplation of beauty. They’re not the same. See:
One of my favourite hoodies is an Alan Syliboy whale that I got from his shop in Millbrook First Nation:
October 20, 2025 at 10:04 AM
One of my favourite hoodies is an Alan Syliboy whale that I got from his shop in Millbrook First Nation:
Based on the authors' joint article on hermeneutics in last year's New Testament in Color commentary (IVP) and Danny Zacharias' commentary on Matthew in the same, this is gonna be book of the year for me. Can't wait—less than a month now!
Reading the Bible on Turtle Island
Join the dance of North American Indigenous interpretations of Christian Scripture In Reading the Bible on Turtle Island, Indigenous scholars Chris Hoklotubbe and Danny Zacharias explore what it means
www.ivpress.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Based on the authors' joint article on hermeneutics in last year's New Testament in Color commentary (IVP) and Danny Zacharias' commentary on Matthew in the same, this is gonna be book of the year for me. Can't wait—less than a month now!
Ignacio Ellacuría is here to teach us that “contemplation can and must be scrutinized to see whether it is of God or something idolatrous.”
The Historicity of Contemplation according to Ignacio Ellacuría
The central place given to the contemplation of the Lord of history in last week’s apostolic exhortation has inspired me to put the finishing touches on a piece that I’ve had on the go for a bit. T…
contemplativeinthemud.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Ignacio Ellacuría is here to teach us that “contemplation can and must be scrutinized to see whether it is of God or something idolatrous.”
Making my way through this, released a few months ago, and so far it seems really sound, well selected, and well organized/thematized:
October 17, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Making my way through this, released a few months ago, and so far it seems really sound, well selected, and well organized/thematized:
Pope Leo’s message for the Jubilee of Indigenous Peoples:
“In the assembly of nations, indigenous peoples must present their own human, cultural and Christian wealth, courageously and freely.”
“In the assembly of nations, indigenous peoples must present their own human, cultural and Christian wealth, courageously and freely.”
Message from the Holy Father for the Jubileo de los Pueblos Originarios [14-16 October, 2025] (12 October 2025)
MESSAGE OF POPE LEO XIV FOR THE JUBILEO DE LOS PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOS [14-16 October 2025] _______________
www.vatican.va
October 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Pope Leo’s message for the Jubilee of Indigenous Peoples:
“In the assembly of nations, indigenous peoples must present their own human, cultural and Christian wealth, courageously and freely.”
“In the assembly of nations, indigenous peoples must present their own human, cultural and Christian wealth, courageously and freely.”
In weeping be my joy,
My rest in fright,
In sorrowing my serenity,
My wealth in losing all.
— from a poem for the profession of Isabel de los Ángeles by St. Teresa of Ávila
My rest in fright,
In sorrowing my serenity,
My wealth in losing all.
— from a poem for the profession of Isabel de los Ángeles by St. Teresa of Ávila
October 15, 2025 at 1:14 PM
In weeping be my joy,
My rest in fright,
In sorrowing my serenity,
My wealth in losing all.
— from a poem for the profession of Isabel de los Ángeles by St. Teresa of Ávila
My rest in fright,
In sorrowing my serenity,
My wealth in losing all.
— from a poem for the profession of Isabel de los Ángeles by St. Teresa of Ávila
Reposted by Ben (Contemplative in the Mud)
I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight. ~ St. Teresa of Ávila (Office of Readings)
October 15, 2025 at 12:12 PM
I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight. ~ St. Teresa of Ávila (Office of Readings)
“Solidarity is seen as a concrete expression of Christian love today, which seeks roots in the cultural traditions of the indigenous peoples of Latin America.” — Gustavo Gutiérrez
October 13, 2025 at 2:05 PM
“Solidarity is seen as a concrete expression of Christian love today, which seeks roots in the cultural traditions of the indigenous peoples of Latin America.” — Gustavo Gutiérrez
Contemplative life “is not an escape from the world, but a regeneration of the heart, so that it may be capable of listening, a source of the creative and fruitful action of the charity that God inspires in us.”
Contemplation in Pope Leo’s Address to Hermits
On Saturday, Pope Leo gave an address to Italian hermits who were in Rome participating in the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, and I think that the words he offered are particularly appropriate to dra…
contemplativeinthemud.com
October 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Contemplative life “is not an escape from the world, but a regeneration of the heart, so that it may be capable of listening, a source of the creative and fruitful action of the charity that God inspires in us.”
“Sometimes we think that the Lord comes to visit us only in moments of contemplation or spiritual fervour... Instead, the Risen One is close to us precisely in the darkest places... Nothing that we are, no fragment of our existence, is foreign to him.” — Leo XIV, 8 Oct 2025
October 12, 2025 at 2:41 PM
“Sometimes we think that the Lord comes to visit us only in moments of contemplation or spiritual fervour... Instead, the Risen One is close to us precisely in the darkest places... Nothing that we are, no fragment of our existence, is foreign to him.” — Leo XIV, 8 Oct 2025
Reposted by Ben (Contemplative in the Mud)
Los caminos de los santos cambian el contorno de la tierra.
October 11, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Los caminos de los santos cambian el contorno de la tierra.
A reflection on the face—or flesh—of contemplation in Pope Leo’s first apostolic exhortation, 𝘋𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪 𝘛𝘦.
Encountering the Lord of History
Yesterday, on the memorial of St. John Henry Newman, Pope Leo’s apostolic exhortation to all Christians on love for the poor, Dilexi Te, was published online. I’d been eagerly waiting for this docu…
contemplativeinthemud.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:46 PM
A reflection on the face—or flesh—of contemplation in Pope Leo’s first apostolic exhortation, 𝘋𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪 𝘛𝘦.
Reposted by Ben (Contemplative in the Mud)
"C’est à travers [mes voisins roms] que j’ai découvert cette capacité à se centrer sur l’essentiel: la vie, le moment présent, dans l’abandon confiant à la Providence. En cela, ils sont mes maîtres spirituels."
Petite sr Clémence, frat. des Petites Srs de Jésus, Rome
vaticaninfo.com/2025/10/dile...
Petite sr Clémence, frat. des Petites Srs de Jésus, Rome
vaticaninfo.com/2025/10/dile...
« Dilexi te » : « Ensemble », témoignage de petite sœur Clémence (texte complet)
Photo : capture © vaticaninfo.com; sœur Clémence
« Ensemble, avec eux, comme nous y invite le Saint Père, mettons-nous au travail pour faire advenir
vaticaninfo.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:32 PM
"C’est à travers [mes voisins roms] que j’ai découvert cette capacité à se centrer sur l’essentiel: la vie, le moment présent, dans l’abandon confiant à la Providence. En cela, ils sont mes maîtres spirituels."
Petite sr Clémence, frat. des Petites Srs de Jésus, Rome
vaticaninfo.com/2025/10/dile...
Petite sr Clémence, frat. des Petites Srs de Jésus, Rome
vaticaninfo.com/2025/10/dile...
Little Sisters of Jesus (of Charles de Foucauld) report that LS Clemence from Tre Fontane, Italy, shared her experience at the Dilexi te press conference:
“Through Roma women I discovered the ability to focus on essential things in life and the present moment in trusting abandonment in Providence”
“Through Roma women I discovered the ability to focus on essential things in life and the present moment in trusting abandonment in Providence”
October 10, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Little Sisters of Jesus (of Charles de Foucauld) report that LS Clemence from Tre Fontane, Italy, shared her experience at the Dilexi te press conference:
“Through Roma women I discovered the ability to focus on essential things in life and the present moment in trusting abandonment in Providence”
“Through Roma women I discovered the ability to focus on essential things in life and the present moment in trusting abandonment in Providence”