The quieter you become, the more you can hear. - (Donald Hornsby)

Life today is filled with noise—notifications, expectations, and constant motion.

But clarity often arrives in quieter moments.

When we slow down long enough to listen, we begin to notice things we may have missed before: perspective, gratitude, and direction.

Stillness has a way of revealing what hurry hides.

When was the last time you allowed yourself a moment of quiet reflection?

#LeanLiving #Quiet #Sabbath #Leadership

This world and the cosmos are permeated with meaning - all of it proclaiming #God and his desires for us. The only reason we can’t see all of that meaning is because we have forgotten how to “read” it.

If we are to recover our ability to understand the meaning woven into all things one of the first things we need to do is disentangle our lives from #technology and our devices on a regular basis. At minimum we need one day a week to be free from screens and to enjoy getting back out into creation.

We need, what the #Bible calls, #Sabbath

Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus offers the Apostles an opportunity. They had been so busy, they had no opportunity to eat, let alone rest. They had just come from the mission he sent them out on back in Thursday’s Gospel reading. So he invites them on retreat: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” He gives them a chance to recharge, to rest and grow. Meanwhile, Jesus continued the ministry of preaching and teaching.

I think that opportunity for rest is one that we often neglect in our daily lives. Like the apostles, we have so many things that demand our attention: the demands of family, work, and community. We need that sabbath rest in order to recharge, rest, and grow. If we neglect it long enough, we end up burnt out and bitter, not helpful to our salvation, or the good of those we are trying to serve and live with. So today, we come to be fed by the Eucharist and nourished in prayer; we come to receive the gifts that we need to live our lives and serve those we are meant to serve.

None of us is meant to do what we are put on earth to do all by ourselves. Our Lord wants to give us what we need. That’s why he told the apostles on Thursday to “take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts.” If they packed everything they’d ever need, they would be burdened carrying it all, and, they wouldn’t need him. But the only way they really could do what he needed them to do was to rely on him and the gifts he wanted to give them. At the beginning today’s gospel reading, it seems like they are absolutely bubbling with excitement, reporting all they had done and taught. Because they relied on Jesus.

We too are called to rely on Jesus, and his gifts, and to come away by ourselves and rest in him.

Les Lavandieres

Also known as the Midnight Washerwomen.

They are 3 old washerwomen in Celtic mythology. Names in various Celtic languages include the kannerezed noz in Brittney & the Bean nighe in Gaelic. They can also be found in the Celtic folklore of Iberia as Las Lavanderas in Cantabria, As lavandeiras in Galicia or Les Llavanderes in Asturias, & in Portugal are known as Bruxas lavadeiras.

The 3 old women go to the water’s edge at midnight to wash shrouds for those about to die, according to the myth & folklore of Brittany. Or to wash the bloodstained clothing of those who are about to die, according to Celtic mythology. The Midnight Washerwomen may be related to the old Celtic tradition of the triple goddess of death & slaughter.

The washerwomen are small, dressed in green & have webbed feet. Their webbed feet may be the reason they’re also sometimes called the cannard noz (meaning “night ducks”) in Breton folklore.

In Brittany, they can be ominous omen, foretelling death, either one’s own or a death in the family. They’re very agile & strong physically, even when they don’t look so. The Breton washerwomen wash graveclothes, usually at night, under the moonlight.

They’re known to ask passers-by for help in wringing clothes, breaking the arms of those who so so reluctantly drowning those who refuse. The laundry they wash is never just clothing. It’s the shroud of a person soon to die. Or the blood-stained linens of those they’ve already “claimed.”

The legend of the Lavandieres is deeply rooted in the social expectations of 18th & 19th century rural life. In Brittany, the myth was often used as a “cautionary tale” by the Church. Washing laundry was grueling, back-breaking work.

Doing laundry on Sunday was considered a sin of greed or pride. The Lavandieres were said to be women “undone by their own labor,” forced to wash for eternity because they didn’t respect the Sabbath.

In many versions, if a traveler encounters them, the hags will ask for help wringing out the wet linens. If you twist the cloth in the same direction as the washerwoman, you’ll be crushed or have your arms snapped. You must twist in the opposite direction to survive. This mirrors the folk-logic found in many religious exorcism rituals: countering the supernatural by reversing its motion.

In Ireland, they’re an ominous omen, foretelling death, either one’s own or a death in the family. The washerwomen of Ireland wash the bloodied shirts of those about to die.

In Scotland, if one can get between the washerwomen & the water, they’re required to grant 3 wishes in exchange for 3 questions answered truthfully. If you lie, the consequences are fatal. She’s often described as having only 1 nostril, a large protruding front tooth, & webbed feet. She wears green (the color of the fae). There’s also a tradition in Scotland of a single washer at the ford, the goddess Clotha, who gives the River Clyde its name.

In Wales & Cornwell, a passerby must avoid being seen by the washerwomen. If they do get seen however they’re required to help wring out the sheets. If they twist the sheets in the same direction as the washerwomen, the individual’s arms will wretched from their sockets & they’ll get pulled into the wet sheets & killed instantly. If, however, they twist in the opposite direction, the washerwomen are required to grant the person 3 wishes.

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"My 4-year-old brings home a two-page class newsletter each week with highlights tied to the #Torah, holidays, songs, and things that happened in #school. The #teacher also asks each #child a question and prints all their answers.

Last week: “What’s something noisy in your house?” The plague of frogs was noisy.

This week: “What’s a treasure or something special in your home?” Most students said jewelry, toys, or coins.

My daughter Sarah answered, “#Passports.”

Friday night, reading the newsletter at the #Sabbath table, I asked her why.

She said, “Because we keep them hidden in the safe and they let us travel if we ever have to leave.”

Sarah is only four and has no idea how true her words are. Her mother’s grandparents didn’t have passports after World War Two and were stateless for years. My grandmother and her siblings escaped Berlin largely because they had the papers necessary to leave and got out in time."

https://www.jewishaz.com/opinion/my-4-year-old-says-the-most-precious-thing-in-our-home-is-our-passports/article_3f55ea80-d675-4bc7-8113-7073067ee3ce.html

Today’s the #Sabbath , which is a day of rest allotted to humans. Perhaps one of the oldest #workers rights traditions.

It’s rooted in freedom from slavery under Hyksos in Kemet. An acknowledgement of holy life.

Tradition broke when ICE & Border Patrol increased #deportations towards their crowded cells.

Tradition broke when military killed & attacked foreign government (Sat, Jan 3, 2026).

Scary to think that President #Trump received an award from PM #Netanyahu .

https://www.vera.org/news/more-people-are-in-immigration-detention-than-ever-before