Our latest Fire and Light podcast is now available: "Breathing Room for the Spirit." We explore ways to create breathing room in a world of speed and utility. We describe a recent desert camping trip and I recite “Superbloom Toast,” the poem that appears below. Since April is National Poetry Month, we ponder the value of poetry and its...
March arrived bringing snowfall in the Sonoran Desert and the arrival of our third Fire and Light podcast: "Alchemy of Earth and Soul." Tessa rhapsodizes on the beauty of compost. She celebrates the season of Lent as alchemy: allowing the cast-off peelings, the inedible “garbage” of our lives to be transformed into fertile soil for future...
In our second Fire and Light podcast, we explore the beauty of candlelight and the Feast of Candlemas. In honor of Black History Month we reflect on the spirituality of the late civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis. We celebrate the universal appreciation of candlelight and blessing candles in spiritual ceremonies. We suggest a...
We are very excited to announce our first Fire and Light podcast. Head over to tessabielecki.com to listen. Just click on the host of your choice and you’ll be directed to our list of episodes. Here’s what to expect in our...
Contemplify.com recently did an interview with Fr. Dave Denny and titled it “Vitality out of Emptiness.” I’ve heard Dave’s story many times and can almost tell it myself. But in this interview, I heard it as though for the first time. I was fascinated as Dave described moving contemplation out of the monastery into...
A Podcast from Tessa Bielecki and David Denny What sets you on fire and brings you light? How do you keep love alive and celebrate everyone in the great Circle of Life? How can you be deeply engaged in the suffering world and live sanely and contemplatively? What stories bring...