When Jesus revolutionized public worship by instituting a Eucharistic Celebration—a Love Meal—he did not tell us his End Plan was to create the Beloved Community. Nor how it would come about. Jesus left that work to the human heart and the Spirit who would inspire us. Inspiration for me came from attending the Eucharistic […]
Awareness, Awareness
December 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Living the spiritual life is anything but being a robot or a sleep walker. For a spiritually centered life, we need self-awareness. It anchors our life in reality. Not for creating scruples, but for living a creative, deep spiritual life. Self-awareness is a heightened consciousness of the presence, depth and source of the movements (thoughts, […]
Obstacle to Community
December 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment
We should celebrate solidarity with others because we are all members of the Body of Christ. While this is a spiritual reality, we cannot say that we experience it deeply or often. The great obstacle to living this solidarity is the basic flaw in human nature of alienation, the result of what has been called […]
Practice Jesus’ Incarnation
December 1, 2011 by
Through his Resurrection, the Risen Christ unleashed three major spiritual realities. He transformed the whole life of the historical Jesus into a sacramental power source present here and now. He poured forth the power of his Spirit who acts as our constant guide and mentor. And he incorporated the Body of Christ, continuing his Incarnation […]
Compassion through Contemplation
November 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The Scriptures do not disclose Jesus’ life of contemplation. But how else can we explain Jesus’ intimate closeness to God? In Jesus Before Christianity, Fr. Albert Nolan, O.P. states: “It is generally agreed that somewhere at the heart of Jesus’ mysterious personality there was a unique experience of intimate closeness to God—the Abba experience…we know […]
Embracing the Embrace
November 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Often it is difficult to understand the full meaning of our deep spiritual experiences. Simply having such experiences doesn’t exhaust their meaning. We may even need an outsider to explain their significance to us. Such was my experience in discovering a fuller understanding of the practice of compassion. In the article, Spirituality of Compassion, I […]
Spirituality of Compassion
November 5, 2011 by
Some years ago I visited Paris. The highlight of this trip was a visit to the Louvre, the home of Leonardo de Vinci’s Mona Lisa and other masterpieces of art and sculpture. It was here that I discovered a whole new understanding of the word “compassion.” Most importantly, an understanding of its significance for the […]
The Essential Practice
September 11, 2011 by
Of all the spiritual practices available to us, the one essential, fundamental practice that should precede all our spiritual activities is that of centering. I am not referring to centering prayer, which is really only an extension of the centering practice. In fact, centering prayer has become the tail wagging the dog. Ask anyone about […]
