I was listening to the homily for today’s morning Mass on EWTN radio as I drove to work. The homilist, Fr. Joseph Mary, paraphrased Dietrich von Hildebrand: The essence of purity is reverence. Fr. Joseph Mary added, “…reverence for the person, reverence for my own dignity, and reverence for God. That is what the essential […]
The following poem/prayer is by Fr. J. Michael Sparough, S.J. It originally appeared in the journal Presence, Vol. 1, Number 1, January, 1995. My spiritual director read it to me about two months ago from the book, A Retreat with Our Lady, Dominic and Ignatius. This poem/prayer hits the very center of everything for me. […]
From Br. Joseph — This is the second reflection on seven signposts for the season of Lent (and for all seasons). Signposts give us direction. They point to some place. They involve action, movement. Many signposts call us to remember something important, some thing that is already there but is often covered up by the […]
Signposts point to where we want to go. Follow, or don’t follow. There are seven signposts listed below because seven is the number of completeness. No claim of originality is made for the signs, excerpt maybe for their grouping. Keep hope alive. Dare to trust. Surrender to grace. • • • Reflect love. • • […]
Received this in an email this morning (slightly edited, original author unknown). Paired with Br. Joseph’s reflection, I wonder… When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing “dance” at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing […]
This statement by Ronald Rolheiser, from his book The Shattered Lantern, got me to wondering. When there is no pattern to our actions we experience meaninglessness. Just because I do not recognize or perceive a pattern, does this mean that there is no pattern? Would God do this to me or to us? Would He […]
The thought that the affairs of the world, like those of the stars, are in God’s hands—and therefore in good hands—apart from being actually true, is something that should give great satisfaction to anyone who looks to the future with hope. It should be the source of faith, joyful hope, and, above all, of deep […]
I don’t remember where I read it, but this one line has been stuck in my mind for the last few weeks. It was something along the lines of “gorging on emotions.” The idea of feeding upon my emotions is bothersome. It sounds self-cannibalistic. It sounds down right stupid (a word I use sparingly). I […]
I ran across some Latin phrases the other day. This one struck me most applicable to living a spiritual life. In silvam ne ligna feras. (Don’t carry logs into the forest.) — Horace In other words, God will provide. The energy you need to love others and God will be given when you need it. […]
From today’s reading, Jesus says to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) This is one of my favorite passages. It describes […]
On the thin border between faith and doubt walks Christ, calling all to trust.
To paraphrase Peter John Cameron, O.P. in “Lent and Reality”: Salvation is an escape from our own inability. In our darkness, the incomparable capacity of our being will settle for nothing less than the embrace of the Infinite. Like nothing else, our helplessness moves us to cry out for that embrace in confidence and trust. […]
No one sin is too much for God to forgive. Sometimes that is hard to believe. Or maybe it’s too much to trust? If you think your sin is too bad, then it’s pride that is helping you to hold on to it instead of letting it go. Maybe you have become so attached to […]
It’s Spring Break, and I’ve stepped out of the iHermitage to look around a little. In “It’s Not About Belief” by Jon Zuck, I found this intriguing little tidbit that adds another way to look at something: The Greek word pisteo is almost always translated “belief” or “faith” in the New Testament. However, it also […]
At Wednesday night’s RCIA class, Father used a set of concentric rings to describe how an individual develops friendship (see diagram below). People in the outer ring are considered acquaintances, and there are many of them. You just chit-chat with acquaintances. You talk about everyday kind of things, like the weather or how green the […]