Category: Speaking to the Soul

“We often hear that we should sit quietly in prayer to God daily, not merely presenting our petitions, thanksgivings, or whatever, but simply sit with open minds, still hands and feet, and just listen for what God may wish to tell us. I remember the first time I tried centering prayer. The instructions were to sit quietly, without thinking of anything, and, should any thought appear, simply note that it appeared and then dismiss it and return to the empty mind again.  It was hard because my mind was so used to taking control of silence, but gradually I found it got easier. I can’t say I can do that for long periods of time, but I know the more I practice it, I can increase the stillness of mind for longer and longer.”

“As I read today’s Genesis passage and realized I had actually been to the place about which tradition says Jacob was speaking, I was struck again by how important ritual and place are for the mourning process. Jacob makes a detailed request for his burial and, after he dies, his son Joseph takes his internal grief and expresses it externally.”

“Yet if we take seriously what Paul is saying here, we are assured that worship is not just bound up in rites, no matter how beautiful; or communal singing of praise songs, no matter how uplifting; or even in sermons, no matter how illuminating. Of course worship online can feel isolating, but it also can be a powerful tool of evangelism. So long as people of faith set their hearts and minds on living a life dedicated to following the Way of Jesus in the mundane moments of our lives, true worship can never be halted.”

“In today’s passage the apostles John and Peter come to Samaria to follow up on Phillip’s work. To add to their surprise and amazement, even the local sorcerer is baptized, and when he misunderstands the nature of their work, repents and asks for their prayers. It must have been confusing and disorienting, yet very exciting, for Philip, John, and Peter to see faith in Jesus take hold among Samaritans, even as persecutions continued back in Jerusalem. These stories from the early days of the Church show how, in the midst of a crisis that threatened the very lives of the early Christians, the message of Jesus continued to spread.”

“And Jesus took the children (and the teachers, school administrators, school staff, cooks, bus drivers, janitors, parents, grandparents) in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10:16)

“Our road to salvation is a much easier one. Baptism. The Sacraments. The teaching of the Church. But there is, as Shakespeare would say, the rub. Our humanness.”

“This level of listening is, for me, the sign of Jesus’ divinity.  Only God listens so well.  He allowed the Canaanite to speak to him and he listened to what she had to say.  He allowed himself to be astounded by it and to learn — and he made the change at lightning speed.”

“The first mention we have of her is during what we call “The Annunciation,” when an angel appeared to her from God and told her that she was chosen by God to be the mother of God’s son. From what we read in the gospel, Mary questioned the whole thing but meekly accepted the situation. I often wonder what she would have said had this event happened a millennium or so in the future.”

“Jonathan Daniels, were he alive today, would be 81. The days are fast approaching when his cohort group will be gone from us. Once the cohorts are gone, the original story is gone. Will the story that remains be faded and monotone, or will the story be colorful and vibrant?”

“In both of these stories, people of different backgrounds were eventually able to talk with each other and learn from each other, and they left these encounters feeling that they had received a blessing. The horizon where “self” meets “other” converges, and both parties are changed forever, by recognizing each other’s common humanity at a time when keeping the population at each other’s throats was a useful political strategy encouraged by the empire.”