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July 2016

July 14, 2016

The Place of Joy in Christian Spirituality

What is the relationship between prayer and joy? If we enjoy our prayer, does that...

March 2016

March 16, 2016

Do Contemplatives Need the Church?

A post on this blog received the following comment yesterday: Having been with the Catholic...

March 09, 2016

Three Approaches to Prayer When the Dry Times Come

A friend of mine posed the following question recently on Facebook: You may have written...

February 2016

February 24, 2016

Five Essential Dimensions of Christian Prayer

I talk a lot about silent prayer in this blog, which is understandable considering that...

January 2016

January 28, 2016

The 2016 Presidential Candidate Prayer Challenge: Are You In?

As a blogger, I tend to avoid politics like it's radioactive. Not because I don't have...

January 06, 2016

Seven Reasons to Pray the Divine Office

Everyone knows that monks devote their lives to silence, but also to daily prayer and...

July 2015

July 22, 2015

What to Say to the Nay-Sayers: Talking About Contemplation With Its Critics

If you are active in a church or other faith community, and you are drawn...

July 15, 2015

Mindfulness and Contemplation

Recently a reader left the following comment on this blog: I have been reading and...

July 06, 2015

Do You Need a Spiritual Teacher?

A reader of my blog wrote the following message to me: I have been meditating...

June 2015

June 10, 2015

The Rule, the Discipline, and Spiritual Growth

I bet if I took a poll, almost everyone who reads my blog would agree...

May 2015

May 15, 2015

The Intelligent Person’s Guide to Prayer

Like so many folks in the blogosphere, I was fascinated by the story of Leah...

April 2015

April 22, 2015

A Prayer for Contemplatives

O Divine Beloved, you are the source of life and the fountain of all goodness....

April 15, 2015

Contemplation and Grieving

A reader named Monika wrote the following comment and left it on one of my...

March 2015

March 23, 2015

Rocking Justice & Spirituality: Like the Two Movements of the Breath

When I met the Anglican writer Kenneth Leech, who is one of my heroes, he...

March 06, 2015

Why We Need Contemplation

I am troubled by the idea that it's harder to be a child today than it...

February 2015

February 25, 2015

Making (and Keeping) a Personal Rule of Life

Every January, lots of folks make New Year's Resolutions. This year I will lose weight,...

February 20, 2015

Just a Minute

Several months ago I joined Planet Fitness. I won't bore you with my adventures learning how...

February 11, 2015

Seven Hopes for the Christian (and Church) of the Future

In his 1981 book Concern for the Church, Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner made his famous...

December 2014

December 04, 2014

Silence Today

Today is a wonderful day to be silent. If you have never taken time to...

July 2014

July 30, 2014

Lectio Divina Every Day

"Love for Jesus is fed by constant meditation on the Gospels." — Michael Casey, OCSO...

May 2014

May 10, 2014

A Prayer for the Morning

Beautiful God, Blessed Trinity, I thank you for the gift of this new day. O...

February 2014

February 03, 2014

Sometimes When I Sit in Silence…

Contemplative prayer — the prayer of sitting in silence, waiting in faith and trust on...

October 2013

October 22, 2013

The Fullness of Our Destiny

I picked up a copy of an old book called The Laughter of God: At Ease...

September 2013

September 27, 2013

Why Contemplation is Revolutionary

In September and October 2013 I wrote a series of blog posts called "Why Contemplation...

September 01, 2011

“Accept all things… silently and with a tranquil mind…”

Then you should readily and trustfully commit yourself and all that concerns you to the...