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
Ordinary Time 