Family Engagement Resources

These months between Pentecost and Advent are an invitation to recognize the Creator's hands in our everyday experiences, and to tune our awareness to the sacredness of ordinary life. These weekly activities are meant to support a habitual savoring of the moments of our lives, viewing them as the places where God speaks, and finding a sense of wonder and gratitude for the earth that sustains us. These may be done with children or alone.

Ora Et Labora is the Benedictine tradition of combining work and contemplative prayer. Contemplative work is a long held practice in many monastic orders, and can be a peaceful embodying way of carrying out the tasks of the week. Through a simple change of awareness washing dishes or mending clothing can become thresholds in our awareness of Divine presence. Ora Et Labora is not intellectual or formulaic, but rather it is an expansive opening of the work itself becoming an intentional participation in the Creator’s work.

Birds broadcast all that is happening in the forest; everything from impending predators, available food sources and even shifting weather. Listening with curiosity to the language of birds can also calm your nervous systems and allow you to perceive yourself as an important part of the ecosystem. No previous knowledge of local birds or bird calls is necessary to start.

These months between Pentecost and Advent are an invitation to recognize the Creator's hands in our everyday experiences, and to tune our awareness to the sacredness of ordinary life. These weekly activities are meant to support a habitual savoring of the moments of our lives, viewing them as the places where God speaks, and finding a sense of wonder and gratitude for the earth that sustains us. These may be done with children or alone.

These two at-home activities utilize sacred imagination and common flowers to connect with the divine!