Blog Archive
Contemplation in Action – Community – Prayer – Listening – Spiritual Direction – Nature
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How God Works Through the Ministry of Spiritual Guidance
As a spiritual pilgrim, director of Shalem’s Spiritual Guidance Program, and associate of a Benedictine monastic community preparing to welcome a new class of associates seeking to explore their vocations as spiritual guides, I’m wondering about what light the Rule of St. Benedict might shed upon the formation of spiritual guides. What, within the core…
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The Healing Path
The next time I went to see Thomas Merton for spiritual direction, I asked his permission to spend some time each day alone in the loft of the sheep barn. With Merton’s permission, I began my daily ritual of going to the loft of the sheep barn to pray and be alone with God. One…
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Iona: A Touchstone to a Longer Horizon
The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh loved to tell a parable about a man and his horse. The horse is galloping quickly and everyone who sees the man fly by assumes that he is on a mission, going somewhere important. At some point a man standing along the road shouts at him, “Where are you…
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Stepping Out…to Step in More Deeply
Why does a person participate in a spiritual pilgrimage? Is it a desire for knowledge… or a vacation with friends? My heart has been drawn to pilgrimage for a long time. Choosing to travel for the purpose of drawing closer to God is quite different than being in a “tour group” or on a “vacation…