One prayer of thanksgiving when things go badly is worth a thousand when things go well. — St. John of the Cross
One prayer of thanksgiving when things go badly is worth a thousand when things go well. — St. John of the Cross
The song “Laughing With” is haunting me in a good way. When I searched for the lyrics yesterday, one of the first sites that came up was one of those song meaning sites. I read through some of the comments. Some were debating if the song was really about God or if it was a […]
If I had a theme song for this summer, it would be Keith Urban’s upbeat and bouncy, “Somebody Like You”. (Listen) The first stanza, especially the third line, is what caught my attention when I heard this song on the radio this morning. It is full of energy and joy. Except for the third line […]
Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror up to where you’re bravely working. Expecting the worst, you look, you look, and instead, here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see. Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be […]
My deepest desire and most longing want is to see the face of Jesus Christ. Based on one of the Beatitudes, my daily prayer is for God to purify my heart so that I may see Him, see Him in others, and for others to see Him in me. I often think or imagine or […]
As one has to learn to read or to practice a trade, so one must learn to feel in all things, first and almost solely, the obedience of the universe to God. It is really an apprenticeship. Like every apprenticeship, it requires time and effort. He who has reached the end of his training realizes […]
I was in the middle of the first part of a three-step prayer yesterday evening when my whinny little four-year suddenly bursted into my room and demanded he needed a fresh pair socks at that very moment so he could put on his shoes to go back outside. It jolted me out my prayer and […]
At the end of the movie, American Beauty, the main character Lester Burnham reflects on his life: …there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax, […]
It is easy to write words about the consolations of love. Just look at all the love songs and poems. But how does one describe the love for another for love’s sake, for who they are, what they are, for themselves and not what they give? The word “love” is too short to describe what […]
Something today reminded me of an analogy I had once read by Simone Weil. Joy and sorrow are like two sentences painted on a wall in different colors. Most people do not know how to read the language it is written in, and so only notice the difference in colors. Those who can read it, […]
I am currently reading the book Reaching Out by Henri J. M. Nouwen. In this book, Nouwen describes three type of movements or spectrums. Nouwen views our spiritual “ascent” as evolving in three movements. The first movement, loneliness to solitude, focuses on the spiritual life as it relates to the experience of our own selves. […]
Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable. The obstacles preventing the realization of both these extreme states are of the same nature: they derive from our human condition which is opposed to everything infinite. — Primo Levi