Good Morning Digital Neighbors! Happy Friday ADD Irregulars, WSN Curators, Friends, Refugees, Early Birds and Later Dayers at the Report, all you Misfits and Pham runnin' wild at Phetasy and you Awakening Wonders pulling up a chair to Russell. To you Conversants, Lurker and Wanderers, good morning from your local Field Agent of God, the dubbed Friar at Phetasy and Spiritual Father to many, and to many more, just Tom. š I can't never not be me, nor can you never not be you. I am very blessed as Tom, I hope you are blessed whoever you are and wherever you are.
One of the recurrent topics at Padre's is how many people seem to have muted, abandoned or never cultivated that interior dialogue that connects us to all those hidden parts of ourselves. I am not sure what is going on in such people, perhaps just the old TV test pattern after the nightly signoff? Are their lives so exterior and momentary that reflection, imagination and musing are a lost art and part of themselves?
I don't claim to be some master of the interior state, but I do try to nourish it, to feed it will all the necessary elements that awaken curiosity and wonder, that usher in awe that humbles me about just how ignorant I am to so many things. It all seems to begin with our exterior engagements and then spring-boarding into the wilds of that mysterious inner space. When we first begin to really, see, listen, and touch we can open the doors much more readily and find the silence and time to nourish reflection. To begin to forget ourselves and be present to that most recent or distant experience and memory. As the words below state, so much of it begins with listening. While seeing might be believing, listening is all about connection and communion. Happy Friday my friends.
LISTEN
Listening
to your heart,
finding out who you are,
is not simple.
It takes time for
the chatter to quiet down.
In the silence of ānot doingā
we begin to know
what we feel.
If we listen and hear
what is being offered,
then anything in life
can be our guide.
āauthor unknown
White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman FranƧois-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the āSun Kingā (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaireās main love was writingāan endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.Ā
Happy Friday, Digital Neighbors!! Slept in a little this morning. Woke up at my ordinary time, hit the hour timer, and wandered back into short, incoherent dreamland. It was a good hour to try and get a little more rest after a long day yesterday. We had a good staff team-building day with personal prayer and then looking at the DISC tool as a way to appreciate our gifts as we work together for the good of our parish family.
Had a meeting in the evening to explore using our auditorium for an Emergency Overnight Shelter in the winter for the homeless and unhoused in our local area. Lots of potential, lots of work if that is to come to fruition. As I mentioned last night, this is where the rubber hits the road on personal charity. People feel comfortable giving money to support charities, but the possibility of hosting and staffing one is way out of the comfort zone for most. Prayer and time will tell.
Off to some āifferismsā for your Friday cup of Joe.
If you get gloomy, just take an ...
Ā
The Beautiful
Ā
Said the Disciple to the Lover, āSir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved.Ā Were they then speaking the truth?ā
The Lover answered, āThose who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved.Ā So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.ā
