The Anchorage- A Sanctuary of Wisdom and Spirituality.

21/04/2026

19/04/2026

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀, 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱: 𝗔𝗻 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗾𝘂𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 🕯️☀️🎇🥚✨
𝘈𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘶𝘴: “𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴, 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥.”

Risen Lord,
we walk roads today marked by fear and division—
where many are unheard, unseen, forgotten.
Like the disciples, we carry quiet griefs and broken hopes.
Yet You draw near, even in these wounded paths.

Stay with us, Lord.
Stay with those who suffer injustice,
those burdened by poverty, violence, and indifference.
Stay with us when compassion feels difficult,
when hope grows dim in the face of so much need.

Stay with us, Lord.
Set our hearts on fire again—
not only to believe, but to love and to act.
Open our eyes to recognize You
in the poor, the stranger, the struggling neighbor.

Stay with us, Lord,
and make us Your presence for others—
so that no one walks alone,
and every road may lead to hope.

18/04/2026

3rd Sunday of Easter

"We need the star-shine of each other to light our skies and chase the shadows."

This quote shared by our friend and guide Sr Hildegard (of Lectio Divinas past), opens up a whole new dimension to the story of the disciples on the journey to Emmaus and our own journeys. This is what Hildie had to say to us back in 2017 and as always, she'd be happy to know we're listening and reflecting again on her words!

"I am responding to Francis Moloney’s insightful commentary on today's Gospel which pinpoints the reality of this text: the disciples were walking away from God’s story, away from Jerusalem where it was all happening. And so, which one of us hasn’t wanted to walk away from God’s story in our lives? When it is all too hard, all too challenging and we are weary, we often walk away, even for a short time or distance. For the most part, we come back again. The grace of God goes with us and strengthens us to return to the story which God has begun in us, and which God continues to proclaim in us.

The Prophet Isaiah comes to mind: 'For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.' (Isaiah 41:13). George Bernard Shaw said that there is only one universal passion: fear. It is usually fear that makes us walk away from the story. Fear in all its regalia and its different guises undoes us at one time or another. Recently I found a piece of loose paper in my book of quotations with the following words by Patricia Pinkston written on it: 'We need the star-shine of each other to light our skies and chase the shadows.' So true! We need the star-shine of one another to keep us anchored in Jerusalem, where God’s story is at its peak (the Jerusalem of our hearts?). I will try this week to bring star-shine to another’s shadows and prevent them walking away from God’s story as it is unfolding within them."

Image: The Road to Emmaus by Daniel Bonnell

13/04/2026

Monday morning 'Easter Blessing' as we begin this new week ...

God of rising,
you bring new life
to all the places death inhabits.
Bless our own dying dreams
with your greening breath,
make our dry bones dance,
inspire us to sing,
revive our bodies
so we might become
more vibrant, hopeful witnesses
to the life’s persistence.

We call on Christ’s wisdom
to bless and sustain us
in the practice of resurrection,
of honouring our bodies
and being agents of generous abundance.

May all the nets we draw up
from the water be overflowing with fish,
may our wounds still visible
be a sign of healing grace,
and may we encounter your presence
when we sit at table with strangers.

Let our lives be a celebration
of all the ways your love thrives
where once there was only doubt,
like the first riot of daffodils in spring.
~ Christine Valters Paintner

12/04/2026

07/04/2026

Like Mary in the garden, when our life feels overwhelmed by burdens and loss, can we discover that perhaps Jesus has been with us all along, working away in the background in the garden of our souls, until suddenly we look down and recognise Him.

05/04/2026

"Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Jesus asked Mary Magdalene when he met her outside the tomb where she had expected to find his body. As Easter arrives, I am thinking about emptiness that comes as an astonishing grace and a discombobulating joy, calling us into a world we can barely begin to imagine but that we receive a glimpse of on this day. Beloved friends, I am sending so many blessings for you.

SEEN
A Blessing for Easter Day

You had not imagined
that something so empty
could fill you
to overflowing,

and now you carry
the knowledge
like an awful treasure
or like a child
that roots itself
beneath your heart:

how the emptiness
will bear forth
a new world
that you cannot fathom
but on whose edge
you stand.

So why do you linger?
You have seen,
and so you are
already blessed.
You have been seen,
and so you are
the blessing.

There is no other word
you need.
There is simply
to go
and tell.
There is simply
to begin.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
janrichardson.com/books

Image: “In the Garden of Resurrection”
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com

Inspired by John 20:1-18.

05/04/2026

When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed (Jn. 20:1-9)

04/04/2026

🕯️✨☀️🌹

04/04/2026

Holy Saturday. This is the day that calls us to breathe. This is the day that invites us to make a space within the weariness, the fear, the ache. This is the day that calls us to hold our anguish and our hope in the same hand. This is the day that beckons us to turn toward one another and to remember we do not breathe alone.

IN THE BREATH, ANOTHER BREATHING
A Blessing for Holy Saturday

Let it be
that on this day
we will expect
no more of ourselves
than to keep
breathing
with the bewildered
cadence
of lungs that will not
give up the ghost.

Let it be
we will expect
little but
the beating of
our heart,
stubborn in
its repeating rhythm
that will not
cease to sound.

Let it be
we will
still ourselves
enough to hear
what may yet
come to echo:
as if in the breath,
another breathing;
as if in the heartbeat,
another heart.

Let it be
we will not
try to fathom
what comes
to meet us
in the stillness
but simply open
to the approach
of a mystery
we hardly dared
to dream.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
janrichardson.com/books

Image: “The Sixth & Seventh Words: It Is Finished/Into Your Hands”
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com

04/04/2026

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is his time.
It is the time when we learn to trust his sacrifice of love which death can neither subjugate nor comprehend.
In Holy Saturday we begin to see that it is he who has made death his instrument; not to terrorise us into submission, but to call us more intimately to his side.
In the purifying darkness of Holy Saturday we discover the Sabbath of our waiting.
We come to the end of our way and the beginning of his.
It is only Christ who can carry us over into Easter morning,
and so it is with all the Holy Saturdays of our life.

O holy Christ, carry us over with you this day...