“Maintaining a Contemplative Calm In A Chaotic World” presented by Judith Valente

In our intensely active,  mobile and socially-connected society, we seem to have lost the ability to pause or maintain a sense of peace.  Yet our lives today plead for a greater contemplative calm.  For all who feel overworked or overwhelmed, there are ways to pause periodically and still be productive.  Drawing from our ancient Catholic contemplative tradition and practices from other faiths as well as modern means of slowing down, we will explore ways to refresh the spirit and find inner peace amid the fear, frustration, rage, grief, and conflict afflicting our world.  This will be a time to take a breather and clear out the dust that’s accumulated within our inner lives, so that we can move through Lent in a more meaningful way toward the promise of Easter.  Whether you’re interested due to a growing desire for inner peace or whether you are weary of the atrocities of war, our political divisions and the lingering pandemic, or perhaps are experiencing a period of personal grief an are in need of a spiritual lift, you are most welcome to join us.

Judith Valente spent many years as a journalist working for the The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal and was an on-air correspondent covering religion for national PBS-TV.  She was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism.  She is the author of five spirituality titles, including The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed and How to Live: what the Rule of St. Benedict Teaches us About Happiness, Meaning and Community.  Her most recent book is How to Be: A Monk & A Journalist Reflect on Living & Dying, Purpose & Prayer, Friendship & Forgiveness, co-authored with Brother Paul Quenon of the Abbey of Gethsemane.  Since 2013, Judith has been a Oblate (lay associate) of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison, KS.  She is also the author of two collections of poetry.  She lives with her husband Charles Reynard, a former Circuit Court Judge in Illinois.  She is the current vice president of the International Thomas Merton Society and guides frequent retreats on Thomas Merton and how to live a more contemplative life in the secular world.