Your Lens: Clear or Cloudy?

May 26, 2014

Each person has an inner lens through which s/he views the world. The lens can be clouded with prejudices, assumptions, preferences, self-serving attitudes or it can be clearer, able to see reality more truthfully. The source of these things that can cloud our vision of reality can be our religion, our culture and even the […]

A Contemplative Life

May 19, 2014

A contemplative life is not as we might imagine it—dull with nothing to do but ponder and reflect. What the word contemplative usually conjures up for us is someone, probably a cloistered monk or nun—who has nothing to do all day long except think about God. There actually are contemplative orders of religious people that […]

Peace

May 12, 2014

  Peace is one thing that we long for, pray for, desire above all, and yet so often we look at peace as contingent on someone or something else. “If only he would______, I could rest in peace.” Or if “God would bring peace to this world, I could be at peace.” Or “If she […]

In the World, but Not of the World

Apr 28, 2014

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be in this world, but not of the world.[John 17:14-19] And I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what that would mean to you or me. First, let’s talk about what it doesn’t mean: 1. What it is not about is us being above […]

Rethinking Christianity

Apr 21, 2014

As we in the Christian church regroup in an era where the church has lost much of its authority in our country, I think we need to look deeply within for why we have turned so many people off in the last forty years. From the scandals of the Catholic priests to the Protestant politicians […]

Every Day is Holy

Apr 14, 2014

Recently I received an interfaith calendar of holy days for April from the hospital chaplaincy board I was apart of in Charlotte. It started me thinking that maybe everyday is a holy day in some religion. And then by extension, what if we considered everyday, a holy day? Not just the Sabbath. And every step […]

We’re on a need-to-know basis with God

Apr 07, 2014

In living the Life of the Spirit we give up the need for control, the selfish desires that rule our lives, the right to call the shots, and much more. We live in the present, with what we are given now to do, with God calling the plays. You could call God the Great Coach. […]

Surrendered

Jan 20, 2014

Surrendered. Embracing. Peaceful. Calm. Centered. I first encountered some women who radiated these qualities in 1998 when I entered a training program for spiritual directors at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. I’ve met a number of Sisters of Mercy since then and most all of them emanated these same qualities. The essential quality is […]

The Crux of the Life of the Spirit

Oct 22, 2012

The crux of the Life of the Spirit is this: to know God’s voice within and to heed it. Everything else in the spiritual life is about how we get there. My premise, my belief, is that we have this capacity to know God built into us and that our fulfillment lies in activating that […]

A Dream of Acrobats

Nov 28, 2011

Practice. Persistence. Dependency. Joy. Acrobats illustrate so well the life of the Spirit, the life lived in, with and for God. It takes tons of practice to make sure that all the elements are there to keep each one safe and that each acrobat is in the right place at the right time catching, releasing, […]