The Archive
Category: Speaking to the Soul
It’s NOT All up to Me
I don’t know who first coined the term “practical atheist.” I first heard the term as a description of people who express faith in God but who live as though God were absent, as though everything depended upon their own resources. I find it all too easy to slip into practical atheism…
Stability, Conversion of Life, and Obedience
Today is the feast of St. Benedict. Benedict’s rule of life has brought focus and balance to centuries of Christians wishing to live an authentic and healthy life. Benedict’s rule structures each day as being grounded in liturgical prayer and spiritual reading, with plenty of time for rest, for work, for eating, and for building relationship. The three promises of the Benedictine rule are promises of stability, obedience and amendment of life.
Sunday, July 10
For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes
Saturday, July 9
Saul clothed David with his armour; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s
Friday, July 8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending
The prayer of the heart
Serenity is not removal from the storm but peace within the storm. Centering prayer must never become “self-centering prayer.” Rather it is an attempt to pay attention to the inescapable presence of God, which grounds our very existence. The mercy of God comes as an unbidden gift, not because God ever leaves us, but because we choose to turn away.
Wednesday, July 6
“But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in
Tuesday, July 5
“Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these
Monday, July 4
Rise up, O LORD; set me free, O my God; * surely, you will strike all my enemies across the face, you will break the