Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote a wonderful little book called You, which is really about us and our relationship with God. Although the cultural references are a little dated, here is a cursory explanation, sprinkled with golden nuggets of insight, of why we worship God. If you are a father, do you not like to […]
From yesterday’s entry in God Calling: Jesus, hear us, and let our cry come unto Thee. That voiceless cry, that comes from anguished hearts, is heard above all the music of Heaven. It is not the arguments of theologians that solve the problems of a questioning heart, but the cry of that heart to Me, […]
From today’s entry in God Calling: Jesus, hear us, and let our cry come unto Thee. That voiceless cry, that comes from anguished hearts, is heard above all the music of Heaven. It is not the arguments of theologians that solve the problems of a questioning heart, but the cry of that heart to Me, […]
In Come to the Feast, Fr. Richard Fragomeni uses a visual experiment to help describe the Mystical Body of Christ: In my hand I have a loaf of bread, can you see it? Look carefully at this loaf. What do you perceive? Nourishment. When you see nourishment, what do you see concretely? Seeds. When you […]
Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will […]
The prayer of listening makes things simple but it also makes us vulnerable, and that is frightening. Listening makes us open to Christ, the Word of God, spoken in all things: in the material world, the Scriptures, the Church, and sacraments and, sometimes most threateningly, in our fellow human beings. To listen at prayer is […]
There is a story of how, at the beginning of time, God decided to hide in the created universe, and God summoned three angels to advise on a suitable hiding-place. The first angel suggested that God might hide in the depths of the earth. “A good idea,” said God. “I will indeed hide myself in […]
Throughout most of Lent, nearly all of the quotes that will appear in the “Quote of the Day” above come from a book I most highly recommend. The book is Peter Kreeft’s The God Who Loves You. It is a wonderful blend of theology and mysticism, of left and right brain thinking, of the head […]
I am not sure where I caught sight of this book, Letters from the Desert by Carlo Carretto, but it is a jewelle. Each facet of its short reflective chapters shines a different light into the mysteries of faith, prayer, love, and of course, God. The description on the back of the book cover explains […]
The second and last letter in the alphabet of Love: Just then she looked up at the cliffs above her head and started with surprise and delight. In a tiny crevice of the rock, where a few drops from the trickling waterfall could occasionally sprinkle on it, was a single plant. It had just two […]
The first letter of the alphabet of Love: On the last morning she was walking near the tents and huts of the desert dwellers, when in a lonely corner behind a wall she came upon a little golden-yellow flower, growing all alone. An old pipe was one tiny hole through which came an occasional drop […]
Don’t you know by now, that I never think of you as you are now, but as you will be when I have brought you to the Kingdom of Love, and washed you from all the stains and defilements of the journey? [When] I come along behind you and notice that you are finding the […]
I have wanted to write and recommend this book for well over a month now, but the words never seemed to come to me when I sat down to write. This book has become one of those cornerstone books for me, one that has literary and figuratively changed my life. It has helped spell out […]
An allegory: Many people never learn to float. They never manage to take the initial risk, to do the opposite of what their instincts tell them. They never learn to relax, to let their head be pillowed by the water, to let go, hang loose, float free. Perhaps they simply decide they don’t want to […]
“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?” The only toy that was kind to the Rabbit was the Skin Horse. The Skin Horse had lived in the nursery longer than any of the others, and he was very wise. “Real isn’t […]
From Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: There’s no answer, no problem-solving, simply awareness. You cannot not live in the presence of God. You are totally surrounded by God as you read this. St. Patrick said, God beneath you, God in front of you, God behind you, God above you, God within you. You cannot earn this God. […]
At the beginning of March, a very dear friend gave me the book Against an Infinite Horizon by Ronald Rolheiser. The gift came out of the blue as a very pleasant surprise. I had intended to start this book after I finished reading another book at the time. Well, I was sort of reading another […]
The following story and commentary by Ronald Rolheiser, in Against an Infinite Horizon, has completely pushed my understanding of sin to new depths, depths that bring tears to my eyes in regards to my own sinful and broken nature. Fr. Rolheiser recounts a story told by James Mackey about a man who went on a […]
I must always remember that I can no more approach God than an infant can approach his mother. When the baby sees its mother several feet away, he tries to reach her by stretching out his tiny arms toward her. But it is Mom who goes the distance and makes the connection. In the same […]
Julie D. has posted a list of books that she got from someone else. The game is to remove authors who you do not have in your library and replace them in bold with ones you do have. Here are mine: Thomas Merton Henri Nouwen Larry Niven Thomas Keating C.S. Lewis J.R.R. Tolkien Peter Kreeft […]
We want to avoid a feast/famine pattern of prayer. It will not hold up under the influence of our constantly fluctuating feelings. Since late November, my prayer life has become rather inconsistent in intensity and frequency. (See this post). It seems that all sense of discipline has gone out the window. I don’t know what […]
More quotes from Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way to Love by Fr. Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt. See Part 4 We all have weapons to lie down and battles to call off before we can open up our hearts. It is a stance of surrender that we are talking about. Ultimately, hospitality is not about […]
More quotes from Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way to Love by Fr. Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt. See Part 3 Hospitality starts at home, after all. And you do not become good at loving the strain of being together in a family or a community if you have not yet learned to be alone. (ch. 4)
More quotes from Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way to Love by Fr. Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt. See Part 2. When we create a life surrounded by people just like ourselves, it is a very narrow life. We will not be challenged by such a life. We cave in on ourselves; our minds and spirits […]
More quotes from Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way to Love by Fr. Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt. See Part 1. Genuine spirituality is not cozy, and seldom makes you comfortable. It challenges, disturbs, unsettles, and leaves you feeling like someone is at the center of your existence on a major remodeling mission. While affirming how […]