Learning Academy of the Presbytery of Utica

04/16/2022

EASTER BLESSINGS

"On this Easter morning, let us look again at the lives we have been so generously given and let us let fall away the useless baggage that we carry -- old pains, old habits, old ways of seeing and feeling -- and let us have the courage to begin again. Life is very short, and we are no sooner here than it is time to depart again, and we should use to the full the time that we still have.

We don't realize all the good we can do. A kind, encouraging word or helping hand can bring many a person through dark valleys in their lives. We weren't put here to make money or to acquire status or reputation. We were sent here to search for the light of Easter in our hearts, and when we find it we are meant to give it away generously.

May the spirit and light of this Easter morning and the special spirit and light of this abbey at Corcomroe bless us all, watch over us and protect us on our journey, open us from the darkness into the light of peace and hope and transfiguration."

JOHN O'DONOHUE
Dawn Mass Reflections at Corcomroe Abbey

Excerpts from his books: Walking in Wonder (US/UK) / Walking on the Pastures of Wonder (Ireland)

Corcomroe Abbey, Co. Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

02/27/2022

IRELAND TOUR 2022 - The Wellspring of Presence: John O'Donohue's West of Ireland Tour: Dates to be announced soon More info here.

12/21/2021

Some great information: The Wurffel-Sills Scholarship & Interest-Free Student Loan Program will begin accepting applications for the 2022-2023 school year in mid-January 2022. All full-time undergraduate students and full-time or part-time (at least half-time) seminary students (MDiv and MRE) who are members of a church within the Synod of the Northeast are eligible to apply. In addition to these, we will also begin to accept applications for those enrolled in coursework to obtain their CRE. The deadline to apply is April 1, 2022 for funding to begin in the Fall of 2022.

10/22/2021

If anyone is interested in Church Administrator training, here is a link, and the Learning Academy will be happy to help with scholarship. https://thechurchnetwork.com/Online/Education/Virtual_Center.aspx

10/16/2021

This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

From his books, Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Co. Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

10/09/2021

May this be a morning of innocent beginning,
When the gift within you slips clear
Of the sticky web of the personal
With its hurt and hauntings,
And fixed fortress corners,

A morning when you become a pure vessel
For what wants to ascend from silence,

May your imagination know
The grace of perfect danger,

To reach beyond imitation,
And the wheel of repetition,

Deep into the call of all
The unfinished and unsolved

Until the veil of the unknown yields
And something original begins
To stir toward your senses
And grow stronger in your heart...

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the blessing, 'For the Artist at the Start of Day' in the books, Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Sunrise at Liscannor
Co. Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

10/05/2021

Harry Young is teaching a polity class for elders on Saturday, October 16th from 1-4 at New Hartford Presbyterian Church. Let us know if you're interested.

10/04/2021

There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desire to seek possibility and our hearts to love life. Without this subtle quickening our days would be empty and wearisome, and no horizon would ever awaken our longing. Our passion for life is quietly sustained from somewhere in us that is wedded to the energy and excitement of life. This shy inner light is what enables us to recognize and receive our very presence here as blessing. We enter the world as strangers who all at once become heirs to a harvest of memory, spirit, and dream that has long preceded us and will now enfold, nourish, and sustain us.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his books, Benedictus (Europe) /
To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Galway Bay from the Ballyvaughan Pier
Co Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

09/24/2021

10:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM MDT | 12:00 PM CDT | 1:00 PM EDT Join John Phillip Newell as he discusses his new book, “Sacred Earth Sacred Soul,” focusing especially on the three graces of Celtic wisdom for today.

09/16/2021

If anyone is interested in taking a polity class, please contact Naomi.

09/11/2021

When the heart is ready for a fresh beginning, unforeseen things can emerge. And in a sense, this is exactly what a beginning does. It is an opening for surprises. Surrounding the intention and the act of beginning, there are always exciting possibilities. Such beginnings have their own mind, and they invite and unveil new gifts and arrivals in one's life. Beginnings are new horizons that want to be seen; they are not regressions or repetitions. Somehow they win clearance and become fiercely free of the grip of the past. What is the new horizon in you that wants to be seen?

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his books, Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk - Co. Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

09/08/2021

This is such a good book. Hope you have a chance to read it.

A leading spiritual teacher reveals how Celtic spirituality—listening to the sacred around us and inside of us—can help us heal the earth, overcome our conflicts, and reconnect with ourselves.