Awakening the Energies of Love
Today’s post is by Patricia Farrell I think the most important qualification for a spiritual director is the commitment to a lifestyle of spiritual deepening. One of the very important things I learned, experientially, in the Shalem program is that doing spiritual direction is about the way I live my life every day. My own […]
The Privilege of Silence
Today’s post is by Carl McColman Back in 2003, I spent a day at a relatively new monastery near Sligo, Ireland. Like many small religious foundations just getting off the ground, it was struggling, although the members of the community were filled with optimism and a sense of purpose about their shared mission. I plied […]
Welcoming Christ, Welcoming Others
Today’s post is by Mary van Balen Stepping out of the parking garage elevator and starting down the walkway to the office building, I stopped to look at the nativity scene that had been placed outside the large windows. All the faces were painted pink-white. Sure, that nativity was probably bought decades ago and spends most […]
Spiritual Awakening and Addiction Recovery
Today’s post is by Tom Adams At lunch at the Gerald May seminar, Compassion of the Mystics, I was at a table where 12-Step meetings and recovery were being discussed. Having been a student and beneficiary of 12-Step groups for over 30 years, my ears perked up. A lunch table friend was describing how someone […]
Pilgrimage: Going and Returning
Today’s post is by Carole Crumley Happy are the people whose strength is in you! Whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way. –Psalm 84 Pilgrimage is one of the spiritual practices that is common to many of the great faith traditions. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and many others find their common ground in […]
Reflections on Openness, Contemplation, and Love
Today’s post is by Tom Adams I was eager to attend the Gerald May Seminar on the Compassion of the Mystics with Bernard McGinn. Since embracing the practice of centering prayer a couple of years ago, my interest in love and how love grows has been front and center. I figured compassion and love were […]
Thomas Keating and Centering Prayer
Today’s post is by Mary van Balen I’m not sure when I began reading books by Thomas Merton. Probably late high school or early college. I’m also not sure how I discovered them. Though I was naturally drawn to contemplative prayer, the word was unfamiliar to me until Merton’s writings provided it. “Contemplative” was not […]
Making More Space
Today’s post is by Jeff Nelson A few years ago, our trusted MacBook of a couple years finally refused to turn on again. At that time we didn’t immediately have the resources available to purchase another one, but each of us—my wife and I—needed a working computer to get our work done. So we settled […]
A Place Where Grace Flows
Today’s post is by Mary van Balen Have you read something that stays with you, popping into mind out of nowhere, bringing insight to the moment? Recently, I read Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax by Michael N. McGregor. Lax was a great American poet and close friend of Thomas Merton. I took heart […]
Uselessness and Benefitting Others
Today’s post is by Shirin McArthur I recently read a Buddhist story, shared by Andō, a Zen poet I follow online, about The Useless Tree. In a nutshell (!), the story is that an oak tree grew so twisted and gnarly that its wood was not considered useful, so it was not disturbed. The point […]