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February 2025

February 14, 2025

Can Love Be Saved? Some Thoughts on the World Today

Happy Valentine's Day! I recently published a post on Patreon called Can Love Be Saved?...

March 2024

March 09, 2024

Meister Eckhart: A Deeper Dive (33 Books to Explore)

A Facebook friend recently posted a request for suggestions on books by or about Meister...

March 05, 2024

It’s Not Too Late to Sign Up for the Modern Mystics School!

Hi friends, just wanted to make sure that if you haven't had a chance to...

December 2023

December 07, 2023

“Breathe and Hope and Chase and Love…” Some Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary of “Tales from Topographic Oceans”

Things are all in colours And the size of others shall send you forward Arranged...

June 2023

June 22, 2023

A Conversation about Mysticism! Kate Rademacher and I talk about “The New Big Book” and other fun stuff

My first interview talking about The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism has been...

June 08, 2022

Online Event: Contemplative Day of Reflection: Kenneth Leech and Pauli Murray, Contemplative Activists for Our Time (June 25, 2022)

Join me (Carl McColman) for a special online quiet day of reflection on June 25,...

February 2022

February 24, 2022

The Christian of the Future — a New “Mystical Minute” Video for Contemplative Seekers

Friends, here is a new video I'd like to share with you. God willing, this...

February 06, 2021

What is Centering Prayer?

Centering Prayer is a contemporary method of Christian spiritual practice that is based on teachings...

November 2020

November 20, 2020

Seven Ways to Think About Christian Mysticism

Here is the third episode of my "Schola Mystica" podcast. The transcript of the episode...

October 2020

October 19, 2020

What Mystics Do (and You Can, Too)

What do mystics do? The following list can be a way to begin answering this...

August 2020

August 28, 2020

Living in the Spirit of Contemplative Prayer

What does it mean to live a contemplative life? Especially for those of us who...

March 2019

March 22, 2019

Requiem for a Not-Quite-Friend

On the day before my 58th birthday, a man who was just a few weeks...

March 02, 2019

When to Let the Sacred Word Fall Away (and When to Keep On Praying It)

A reader of this blog wrote to ask me this question: How does Centering Prayer...

January 2019

January 07, 2019

The Contemplative Life in Three Easy Steps

Origen of Alexandria came up with the idea first. Unless you're a Christian history geek,...

January 04, 2019

After the Silence, or, the Long Process of Forming a Contemplative Life

So you've been to a centering prayer workshop or two, and now you participate in...

June 2018

June 08, 2018

Secrets of the Sacred Heart

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus occurs every year on the Friday...

April 2018

April 13, 2018

Talking About Mysticism in Manhattan (April 22, 2018)

There are still a few openings in the class I'm teaching in Manhattan on April...

March 2018

March 05, 2018

Here’s an Idea for Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day (That Doesn’t Involve Green Beer)

This year, for St. Patrick's day, why not take a Celtic spirituality e-course? Alternatively, give...

February 2018

February 08, 2018

What Does Holiness Look Like When You’re Disabled?

A reader wrote the following question to me. My son has a very rare developmental...

June 2017

June 09, 2017

It’s Summertime (On the Road Again!)

Hello friends and readers of A Contemplative Faith. Just a quick note here to let you...

April 2017

April 12, 2017

Seven Things I’ve Learned from the Vinyl Revival

Sometimes I'm a bit slow on the uptake. Apparently vinyl records have been making a...

February 2017

February 06, 2017

Why do Mystics Love the Church?

For a long time now, I've been fascinated by people who self-define as "spiritual but not...

December 2016

December 01, 2016

“You Wrote Books About Paganism?!?”

The late Kenneth Leech used to tell the story about giving a lecture at a...

July 2015

July 27, 2015

“They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love” — And These Gifts Make It Possible

One of C.S. Lewis's last, and best, books was called The Four Loves. Drawing from four...

March 2014

March 31, 2014

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Blessed are the peacemakers, and today I want to celebrate two such persons in particular....

September 2013

September 26, 2013

The Archbishop and the Community Theologian

I've posted both of the following quotes in this blog before, but they are such...

December 2004

December 01, 2004

Sparkle the Dark Up

Every year on December 1, I play what is far and away my favorite secular...