My latest column at Patheos is available on how to let go of the God of whom you are certain and open yourself to the One who is beyond your imagining: Let mystery have its place in you; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the plowshare of self-examination, but leave a [...]
Posts in the Patheos category
Sacred Fasting
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Here is my latest column for Patheos on desert wisdom for Lent: Abba Daniel used to say, "He lived with us many a long year and every year we used to take him only one basket of bread and when we went to find him the next year we would eat some of that bread." [...]
The Sacred Art of Living
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My latest article at Patheos: I was sitting in St. Ephrem, a small Orthodox stone church near the Sorbonne in Paris, listening to the sublime solo suites for cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. The young man playing did not have sheet music, he knew this entire piece by heart. His eyes were closed as he [...]
Stirring in the Belly: Listening for New Life
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I am reposting my Seasons of the Soul column for Patheos from last year to honor this sacred day: The most important events make no stir on their first taking place, nor indeed in their effects directly. They seem hedged about by secrecy. It is concussion, or the rushing together of air to fill a vacuum, [...]
Practices for the 12 Days of Christmas
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My newest column is available at Patheos: What good is it to me if Mary gave birth to the Son of God fourteen hundred years ago and I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my time and in my culture? We are all meant to be Mothers of God. —Meister [...]
Abbey Bookshelf: Between Heaven and Mirth
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I received a copy of Fr. James Martin’s newest book Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life from Patheos where it is this month’s featured book club selection. His central premise is that in our churches we often act very grim and forget that humor [...]
Is God Coming? An Advent Theoblogger Challenge
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Patheos offers regular Theoblogger challenges, inviting their writers to respond in 100 words or less. This month's challenge asks the question "How is God coming into the world this Advent?" Here is my response: In the Northern hemisphere Advent is the season of growing darkness and waiting in the midst of unknowing. Images of night, mystery, [...]
Streams of Contentment
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This month at the Patheos Book Club they are featuring Robert Wicks’ new book Streams of Contentment. I was invited to write a post in response to the theme of the book and participate in a conversation abotu contentment. Wicks' book offers us an array of stories to illuminate this journey toward living a life of [...]
Ancient Wisdom for the Storms of Life
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My latest Seasons of the Soul column at Patheos: Amma Syncletica said, “In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing towards God and afterwards, ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire; at first they are choked by smoke [...]
The Holy Pause: Spiritual Practices for a Time-Obsessed Culture
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Stop by Patheos for my latest reflection: Time is the measure of things that come to an end, but where time itself ends, eternity begins . . . In the end, there is no end. The ends of time are near the roots of eternity, and the ends of the Earth touch on the other [...]
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