https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdN7vC2q9Mc 'Wake Awake, For Night is Flying,' arranged by F. Melius Christiansen (St. Olaf College Choir). "Wake, awake! for night is flying,"The watchmen on the heights are crying;"Awake, Jerusalem, arise!"-- Philip Nicolai (Hymnary.org) A couple of weeks ago, I attended a planning workshop at my parish church that took an unexpected turn. The workshop was … Continue reading ‘Awake, for night is flying’: An armchair theologian’s mission statement for Advent and the new year (1 of _?)
Thinking of scripture as story: ‘In the beginning …’ to ‘… making all things new’ (spiritual journal – Nov. 2025)
Editor’s (admin’s) note: Lightly edited copy, with links added, of my email in advance of this month’s appointment with my spiritual director, giving her a heads-up on what I’ve been journaling about (or, in this case, why I haven’t been journaling) since our last meeting and, more to the point, helping me focus over time by … Continue reading Thinking of scripture as story: ‘In the beginning …’ to ‘… making all things new’ (spiritual journal – Nov. 2025)
Jesuit spirituality as a antidote to desolation in the aftermath of a lost election in a dying empire
Thomas Cole, 'The Course of Empire: Desolation,' 1836 (Wikimedia Commons). Even before Pennsylvania was called for Trump, I shut off the internet Tuesday night and went to bed with a good book. The news was too much to bear. By coincidence, Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization had come in the mail that afternoon. … Continue reading Jesuit spirituality as a antidote to desolation in the aftermath of a lost election in a dying empire
Praying to Einstein’s God (or Spinoza’s)? Dominican discernment journal (2 of _)
Raphael, 'Ezekiel's Vision,' 1518 (Wikimedia Commons). Second of (__) journals based on my answers raised by questions sent to Dominican Associates in advance f an Aug. 24 retreat at the motherhouse in Springfield. See HERE for more info in the first journal. Today's questions, on our Relationship with God, ask: “Who is God for you … Continue reading Praying to Einstein’s God (or Spinoza’s)? Dominican discernment journal (2 of _)
How a Jesuit spiritual exercise and a dream are helping me struggle with an apocalyptic election year
Domenichino, St. Ignatius' vision at La Storta, 1622 (Wikimedia Commons). I'm not going to call what happened last night anything other than what it was: A dream. No heavenly light on the road to Damascus (not even New Berlin or Jacksonville). No visions of God the Father and God the Son bearing the Cross by … Continue reading How a Jesuit spiritual exercise and a dream are helping me struggle with an apocalyptic election year
Fixing the world’s grief, at least feeling a little better about my own, with a little help from a meme on social media
For several years now, an internet meme has been a mantra of mine when the news gets unbearable. Or, maybe, a talisman. More likely some of both. It purports to be a quote from the Talmud, but actually it's a paraphrase or mashup of passages from a prophet in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, … Continue reading Fixing the world’s grief, at least feeling a little better about my own, with a little help from a meme on social media
‘I will arise and go to Jesus’: Seeking a personal God for a dark February twilight of the soul in Ilia Delio’s christology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0vo43hu_HQ Virtual Choir, FAPCinNYC, Sept. 27, 2020 There's an image in Gary Snyder's "How Poetry Comes to Me" that I like very much. He compares poetry, the creative impulse, to a wild animal that comes up to his campfire, but stays just out of range at the edge of the darkness. So, says the poet, … Continue reading ‘I will arise and go to Jesus’: Seeking a personal God for a dark February twilight of the soul in Ilia Delio’s christology
A Jesuit, a Protestant reformer and a spiritual mutt walk into an ER (instead of a bar): How I’m learning to trust God
Pilgrims entering Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, November 2012. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. -- Proverbs 3:5-6 (NRSV): Our prayer doesn’t change God’s mind, it changes us. It helps us change our own minds and hearts. It … Continue reading A Jesuit, a Protestant reformer and a spiritual mutt walk into an ER (instead of a bar): How I’m learning to trust God
Practical ways on a Jesuit website in Ireland to ‘face into the storm’ of cancer diagnosis and treatment
Peter Paul Rubens, Miracle of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Wikimedia Commons) There's a story I really like in James Martin's Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life. An editor-at-large of America magazine who has written several New York Times best-sellers, Martin sets it up the by saying the Jesuits pride themselves on … Continue reading Practical ways on a Jesuit website in Ireland to ‘face into the storm’ of cancer diagnosis and treatment
Luther and the indwelling ‘Christ present in faith’ — Finnish theologians, Irish Jesuit offer a way of coping with a scary diagnosis
Matthias Stom, St. Peter at Prayer, ca. 1633-40 (Wikimedia Commons) One thing about getting a cancer diagnosis -- it tends to focus your mind, especially if you've been working on your prayer life already. Increasingly since I was diagnosed toward the end of October, I've been falling back on what's sometimes called the Prayer of … Continue reading Luther and the indwelling ‘Christ present in faith’ — Finnish theologians, Irish Jesuit offer a way of coping with a scary diagnosis
‘What am I doing for Christ?’: An Ignatian triple colloquy F2F with Jesus via Zoom
Third in an occasional series of Ignatian colloquies ... Christ Pantocrator, Haiga Sophia, Istanbul, ca. 1080-1100 (Wikimedia Commons) Editor's (admin's) note. One of a series of posts in which I journal my attempts to incorporate Jesuit imaginative prayer exercises into my own prayer life. In today's, I try what is often known as the triple … Continue reading ‘What am I doing for Christ?’: An Ignatian triple colloquy F2F with Jesus via Zoom
Sundays@6: ‘Reclaiming L-Word’ (i.e. ‘Lutheran’) book study; Dwelling in the Word discernment practice
Editor's (admin's) note. Lightly edited copy of a blast email I sent to members of a parish book study group I co-facilitate with Debi. Saved here for future reference, since our current book, Reclaiming the ''L'' Word: Renewing the Church from Its Lutheran Core by Kelly Fryer, takes kind of a Lutheranism 101 approach. The … Continue reading Sundays@6: ‘Reclaiming L-Word’ (i.e. ‘Lutheran’) book study; Dwelling in the Word discernment practice
Pastoral letters clarify — US Supreme Court’s anti-abortion ruling denies moral agency to people of faith
Linked to my parish newsletter this week was a pastoral message from my bishop -- Bishop John Roth of the Central/Southern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -- spelling out the church's position on the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court, "as we strive, as God’s church, to … Continue reading Pastoral letters clarify — US Supreme Court’s anti-abortion ruling denies moral agency to people of faith
Can an 11th-century legend of St. Patrick teach a 21st-century skeptic to pray? Echoes of a hymn from my confirmation
An Ignatian colloquy for Trinity 2020 -- 2 of ___ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fqzWs6KPoE St. Patrick's Breastplate, arr. Rod Lewis, Columbia, S.C., Trinity Sunday 2020 Editor's note. As I try to jumpstart my prayer life, I've been experimenting with Jesuit prayer exercises known as Ignatian contemplation and the Triple Colloquy, in which you imagine yourself interacting with Jesus. … Continue reading Can an 11th-century legend of St. Patrick teach a 21st-century skeptic to pray? Echoes of a hymn from my confirmation
Spiritual direction, May 2022
Editor’s (admin’s) note. Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director the night before our monthly meeting for May. I email her every month, mostly to focus my mind before we meet, and I archive them here so I have a record of issues I’ve dealt with over time. Here's my monthly … Continue reading Spiritual direction, May 2022
Another step in a spiritual mutt’s surprising journey — committing as a Dominican associate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx7-NvOCnv8&t=2631s Commitment Ceremony for Associate Candidates, Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois, Sacred Heart Convent Chapel. Streamed live May 1, 2022. [YouTube at springfieldop.] Debi and I read our commitment statements at 41:15-43:40. About 15 years ago, Debi and I were talking about our lifestyle, and one of us -- I don't remember who, and it … Continue reading Another step in a spiritual mutt’s surprising journey — committing as a Dominican associate
Ow! Again I say to you, ow! False witness and civility in a polarized society
Editor's (admin's) note: Lightly edited text of a blast email I sent to participants in the "Sundays@6" online congregational book discussion group I co-facilitate on the Ten Commandments, ahead of our session on the eighth commandment (by the Lutheran and Catholic system for numbering them and the ninth by the most common Protestant system) forbidding … Continue reading Ow! Again I say to you, ow! False witness and civility in a polarized society
‘Here am I’: Isaiah’s call to prophesy in the year King Uzziah died; also, nibbling around the edges of today’s apocalypse
The Prophet Isaiah, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, ca. 1725 (Wikimedia Commons). Isaiah 6 (NRSV). In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, … Continue reading ‘Here am I’: Isaiah’s call to prophesy in the year King Uzziah died; also, nibbling around the edges of today’s apocalypse
19th-century Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden: Applying a Japanese discernment concept to a historical research project
With an awkward footnote preserving a middle-of-the-night scratch outline on how to further revise my ALPLM paper 'Swedes in Roger Williams' Garden: Acculturation in Immigrant Churches, 1848-1860.' A useful discernment or decision-making technique I learned in a class for Dominican lay associate candidates -- it's called ikigai, and I wish I'd known about it when … Continue reading 19th-century Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden: Applying a Japanese discernment concept to a historical research project
Reflections on prayer in the parking lot of a walk-in clinic during a time of pandemic
It's a perfect late fall afternoon, blustery with tufts of white cloud scudding past in a blue sky. Temperature in the 40s, but enough sunshine coming through the windshield that I don't have the car heater on while I'm waiting in the HSHS PromptCare walk-in clinic's parking lot on MacArthur. This is how we do … Continue reading Reflections on prayer in the parking lot of a walk-in clinic during a time of pandemic
A Jesuit, Martin Luther and a statehouse reporter walk into an elevator … surviving the aftermath of this year’s election
Tennessee State Capitol, Nashville (Wikipedia) In an online election-eve article titled "Jesuit tools to help you survive the election (and its aftermath)," Fr. James Martin, SJ, laid out some tips for America magazine readers on "navigating the rough emotional waters over the next few days, weeks and perhaps months or years." Naturally enough, they come … Continue reading A Jesuit, Martin Luther and a statehouse reporter walk into an elevator … surviving the aftermath of this year’s election
A bookish, unlikely mantra for Advent in a dark time — wait, be patient, keep faith … just in case the world isn’t about to turn yet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hPDrkqZGWE Canticle of the Turning | katherinemoore77 Advent has always seemed to me like a study in polarities. Darkness and dawn, the soaring promise of the Magnificat -- "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / and hath exalted the humble." Light overcomes darkness; hope overcomes despair (or, more often in my case, … Continue reading A bookish, unlikely mantra for Advent in a dark time — wait, be patient, keep faith … just in case the world isn’t about to turn yet
Speaking truth to power, praying for discernment — a reflection for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 12:49 “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From … Continue reading Speaking truth to power, praying for discernment — a reflection for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost
Ordinary Time 