When you go to your shelf or nightstand to read the Bible, what do you grab? (You do grab something, right?) You take down one bound volume — a book. If you read Sacred Scripture on your tablet or computer,…
The Bible: the Good Books
The Art of Praying
In his book, The Art of Praying, Romano Guardini explains in wonderful detail how to go about the act of prayer, and the vital importance of understanding all of its aspects, from preparation of time, place and self, to the…
Diet
We have survived Easter and the fifty days. We ease back into the routine of life and the down time of summer, school’s out. The liturgical year slips into its benign period and for a while anyway spiritual demands are not…
A New Catholic Sister
As a convert, close spiritual relationships with my Catholic sisters-in-the-Lord are among God’s most treasured and healing gifts. One Catholic sister-in-the-Lord, is dying of brain cancer. She’s the Grateful-for-Adversity Grandmother I wrote about last year. I went to visit her…
Why Do We Have to Die?
“Why do we have to die?” This is a question that many of us wrestle with for as long as we’ve understood the concept of death. It is that thing that so many of us fear above all things. But…
Pentecost: The Difference that the Spirit Makes
As a teen, I thought the clergy were supposed to do everything. We laity were just called to pray, pay, and obey. Oh yes, and keep the commandments, of course. The original 10 seemed overwhelming enough. Then I discovered the…
The Spiritual Flash Mob
Our times, they are contentious. Believers are being attacked in favor of secular agendas. Prominent Catholics make heretical statements, crowning themselves as representative of Church teachings. Faithful journalists offer rebukes of both the attackers and the Church for what they…
In The Game of Life, The Rules Are God’s Will
This game of life we’re playing is really God’s game. Creation and our role in this world are based upon God’s plan and essentially His will. Everything that happens, good or bad, planned or unplanned, new or old, is either…
God Is Not Fair and Other Reasons for Gratitude
Two thoughts from reading the title of this book drew me to it immediately. One, I thought,” thank God he isn’t fair” and two, “I need to practice more gratitude.” If you are interested in thinking deeply about living as…
Seeing as God Sees
For the past week-and-a-half I’ve been travelling the same route to and from work, through the densely populated outskirts of Accra, Ghana, via bus or taxi each day. There’s a tedium to it, yes, but it’s counter-intuitively captivating at the…