Excerpts
Excerpts & Meditations
A collection of heartfelt prayers, poems, and reflections by Catherine L. Coates. These writings invite you into moments of honesty, stillness, and spiritual connection. Read slowly, pause often, and let the words open a space within you.
You Are Loved
You are loved whether you feel it or not. Because at its deepest meaning love is the commitment to go the distance no matter what befalls us.
Shrouded
Presence in my life, long have we been shrouded from each other. Only glimpses breaking through to be gone in a fleeting moment. Thank you for staying by me, longing for me as much as I have longed for you. Blessed be.
Pain
Open your heart, they say.
But there is so much pain within.
Opening up would only let in more pain, wouldn’t it?
There are no guarantees that the flow
would go the other way—
that the pain would drain
and love would enter.
They say the love is already there.
Then why do I feel only pain?
What kind of god is it
that lets so much pain abound?
They say god is feeling our pain with us.
So what?
And how do they know?
Who the hell are “they” anyway?
And what kind of god feels the pain
rather than expels it?
They must have walked this path before,
those who are not spouting platitudes.
And the God who is there—
the God who is everywhere present
is in the heart where it has always been:
suffering with us
and filling the empty places with love.
Jesus’ Prayer Adapted
Holy One, who is ever-present Blessed be thy names.
Help us to make Your commonweal the way of life for the whole cosmos.
Today, let us revel in Your grace.
Help us to see where we miss the mark,
responding to all hurtfulness with compassion.
Help us to seek and follow Your lead
spreading love on all our paths.
Closer than Breath
Belovèd, closer than breath;
Heartbeat of the universe.
I long to know Your presence
in my heart of hearts,
that I might follow You this day.
With thanksgiving for Your
ever-present grace.
Blessed Be..
Plug In
Plug into the heartbeat of the earth. Flow with its rhythms. Listen to its voice. Sing its song of joy, that all may be well.
Tormentors Dissipated
This morning I want to wake up with, no—
actually, I don’t want to wake up.
But if I must
I want depression to no longer weigh me down.
Is that true?
Depression is my invisibility cloak.
I hide behind it so no one can see
the deep pain, sadness, guilt, and shame
that are my constant companions.
So odd—depression as a protector
when it is, in itself, a tormentor.
This morning I want to wake up unencumbered.
Flying free, and reveling in it.
Until the tormentors have dissipated,
and the depression has run its course.
Completeness
Holy Mystery, losing myself in You
is not self-abnegation.
It is freedom to relax,
and thus release my true nature—
which is always present
and has peeked out when it felt safe.
It’s not about hating the self, the persona.
Rather, I am learning to fly free.
There isn’t a goal of becoming better.
There is a journey towards completeness,
a journey which never ends.
I am loved as I am.
I am loved into a more perfect union
with Holy Mystery.
May it be so.
Heartfelt Words from Seekers
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