script type='text/javascript' src='http://track2.mybloglog.com/js/jsserv.php?mblID=2006083115370773'>

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Listen to Moore recite Brodsky's Star of the Nativity

Listen to Janet Conners interview Thomas Moore for her UnityFM program, The Soul-Directed Life in which Moore talks about his new book The Soul of Christmas. The program broadcast Thursday 8 December 2016. Watch Conners' post-interview video on her Twitter feed.
 At the beginning of the episode, Moore recites this poem by Joseph Brodsky:

Star of the Nativity
In the cold season, in a locality accustomed to heat more than
to cold, to horizontality more than to a mountain,
a child was born in a cave in order to save the world;
it blew as only in deserts in winter it blows, athwart.

To Him, all things seemed enormous: His mother’s breast, the steam
out of the ox’s nostrils, Caspar, Balthazar, Melchior — the team
of Magi, their presents heaped by the door, ajar.
He was but a dot, and a dot was the star.

Keenly, without blinking, through pallid, stray
clouds, upon the child in the manger, from far away —
from the depth of the universe, from its opposite end — the star
was looking into the cave. And that was the Father’s stare.

December 1987

Enter Christmas season thoughtfully with cheer

Catholic News Live shares an excerpt from Thomas Moore's new book The Soul of Christmas as the "The True Spirit of Christmas". The passage includes:
"Christmas is one of the most soulful days of the year. You don’t need to be Christian or a follower of Jesus, because the roots of Christmas lie in the natural rhythms of the year, and solstice celebrations are universal. Christmas is a solstice festival with a significant overlay of the story and teachings of Jesus. But his teaching is universal and dovetails beautifully with the spirit of solstice. Jesus offers a vision of utopia, a perfected world. He envisioned a time when we would get over our neuroses, our demonic tendencies, and live in peaceful community."
"It would be better to enter the spirit of the liminal rather than fight it. Step outside of ordinary time: be of good cheer, give some real gifts, make some good food, and spend more time than usual with friends and family. The best way to deal with the exhaustion of the holidays is not to withdraw but to enter them thoughtfully."
Order The Soul of Christmas from its publisher Franciscan Media.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

S&P chooses The Soul of Christmas as Editor's Pick

Read a review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Thomas Moore's The Soul of Christmas  for Spirituality & Practice. They include specific ways to celebrate the season's soul. The S&P site also shares a short excerpt about the meaning of Santa Claus as a holy figure.

Spirituality & Practice profiles Thomas Moore in its Living Spiritual Teachers project.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Blogger responds to Moore's The Soul of Christmas

Tom Rapsas, "a blogger on issues related to everyday spirituality" shares reflections about Thomas Moore's new book, The Soul of Christmas in two blog posts with Patheos:

"Moving from the darkest of days to the light of Christmas"
8 December 2016

 "How to Become a Christmas Mystic — with One Simple Practice"
16 December 2016

Rapsas writes in the second post, "Moore points out that you don’t need to be a Christian or a member of any religion to do these things. 'You can be a natural, ordinary and unaligned mystic.' It also doesn’t mean fading away from your family and social obligations, but blending your mysticism with them by being both 'very human and very spiritual.'”

Sunday, December 04, 2016

Moore talks Christmas with Franciscan Media

Watch Franciscan Media's interview The Soul of Christmas with Thomas Moore on its Facebook page by scrolling down to Dec. 2. Then click Shop to purchase Moore's book and audio CD narrated by him for 50% off until Dec. 9. You may also download the free study guide for his book. The Soul of Christmas is a perfect gift for sharing the best of this solstice season.