· 8 June 2008 | 306 words
I discovered an old interview with Father Gabriele Amorth on the internet concerning Satan and exorcism. It is an interesting article, but this particular piece near the end jumped out at me. How does the Devil go about seducing men...
· 7 June 2008 | 36 words
love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun more last than star -- E.E. Cummings...
· 2 April 2008 | 185 words
From Br. Joseph -- From today's Gospel reading, John 3:16-17: God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send...
· 13 March 2008 | 406 words
From Br. Joseph -- This is the fifth reflection on seven signposts for the season of Lent (and for all seasons). Gravitate to humility. This signpost points in the exact opposite direction the world points by pointing to the First...
· 4 March 2008 | 537 words
From Br. Joseph -- This is the fourth reflection on seven signposts for the season of Lent (and for all seasons). Signposts give us direction. They point to some place. They involve action, movement. Many signposts call us to remember...
· 11 February 2008 | 898 words
Signposts point to where we want to go. Follow, or don't follow. There are seven signposts listed below because seven is the number of completeness. No claim of originality is made for the signs, excerpt maybe for their grouping. Keep...
· 28 January 2008 | 608 words
Near the end of the film Into Great Silence (technically it is a film, but it is something more), there is an interview with an old, blind monk. The years of solitude do not wear heavy on him. He is...
· 30 October 2007 | 258 words
From Br. Joseph -- Hope keeps faith alive, and faith rekindles hope when all seems lost. At one point in Hannah Hurnard's allegorical book of the spiritual journey, "Hind's Feet on High Places", the protagonist is having a particularly tough...
· 27 October 2007 | 14 words
God refuses to be known except by love. -- St. John of the Cross...
· 28 July 2007 | 38 words
What a feeling in my soul Love burns brighter than sunshine It's brighter than sunshine Let the rain fall, I don't care I'm yours and suddenly you're mine Suddenly you're mine And it's brighter than sunshine -- Aqualung...
· 24 July 2007 | 65 words
We cannot know whether or not we love God, although there are strong indications for recognizing that we do love Him; but we can know whether we love our neighbor. And be certain that the more advanced you see...
· 18 July 2007 | 81 words
Freedom is about choice, and there are two kinds of freedom. There is a freedom to choose to do whatever you want, and another kind of freedom to choose to live for others. One freedom leads in, the other out....
· 18 July 2007 | 271 words
When I was younger, late high school and especially in college, I identified with Descartes' "I think, therefore I am." It was the motto for the Age of Rationalism. It is still often used in today's postmodernism. After finding faith,...
· 3 July 2007 | 21 words
My past, O Lord, to your mercy; my future, to your providence; my present, to your love! -- St. Padre Pio...
· 25 June 2007 | 111 words
Only in love can I find You, my God. In love, the gates of my soul spring open, allowing me to breath a new air of freedom and forget my own petty self. In love, my whole being streams...
· 24 May 2007 | 171 words
Affliction is a marvel of divine technique. It is a simple and ingenious device which introduces into the soul of a finite creature the immensity of force, blind, brutal, and cold. The infinite distance separating God from the creature...
· 17 May 2007 | 244 words
Another parabox--joy and suffering, both come from love. A friend shared this meditative reflection with me recently. I asked permission to post it. I feel waves of suffering coming from within my being. It's as if they are at regularly...
· 7 May 2007 | 339 words
Listening to the song "Epiphany" by Staind on the iPod. The music is loud enough to drown out the background noise. At this line, I drift off... But I know I'll do the right thing If the right thing is...
· 27 April 2007 | 58 words
I ran across some Latin phrases the other day. This one struck me most applicable to living a spiritual life. In silvam ne ligna feras. (Don't carry logs into the forest.) -- Horace In other words, God will provide. The...
· 25 March 2007 | 395 words
We all are virgins of the heart. We seek, often desperately, intimacy with another person. But even in the midst of close intimacy, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or intellectual, it is not perfect. Something is always missing. It remains...
· 22 March 2007 | 68 words
A poem from awhile ago reflects this line from Romano Guardini in The Lord: Love is a stream that flows from God to me, from me to my neighbor (and not to one only, but to all), from my neighbor...
· 22 March 2007 | 180 words
Romano Guardini, in his book The Lord, describes how it was supposed to be: God has shaped human life mysteriously indeed. Man's essence is meant to leap up to its God and return with the life it has [received] from...
· 8 March 2007 | 115 words
"Repentance seeks to know the truth." I am guilty before You. I admit it. You are the Judge. I come before You, against myself. I desire You. I want to be with You. I want Your will to be...
· 4 March 2007 | 281 words
"To sin, it is not necessary to break the rules," the sage said. "just keep them to the letter." It is more than possible to make rules for our existence, the measure of our souls. But when rule-keeping takes...
· 1 March 2007 | 28 words
LIVE love, ACT truth, HONOR life. And it will be God within you whom you live, act, and honor.
· 19 February 2007 | 112 words
It is easy to write words about the consolations of love. Just look at all the love songs and poems. But how does one describe the love for another for love's sake, for who they are, what they are, for...
· 13 February 2007 | 318 words
From James Finley's Merton's Palace of Nowhere, Finley quotes Thomas Merton: It is...a blindness to prayer that exposes us to the pitfalls of becoming ourselves like those, ...for whom a tree has no reality until they think of cutting it...
· 7 February 2007 | 84 words
I find myself asking God to have mercy on those who died in some long ago battle or tragedy described in the pages of history. Am I a fool? Does love and prayer reach far back into time? What about...
· 31 December 2006 | 189 words
Father, I just want to be with you. I'm tired of words. I want the clutter of thoughts in my mind to stop for awhile so that I can just pray, just exist with you. No asking for anything. No...
· 27 November 2006 | 354 words
From today's entry in God Calling: Not our wills but Thine, O Lord. Man has so misunderstood Me in this. I want no will laid grudgingly upon My Altar. I want you to desire and love My Will, because therein...
· 16 November 2006 | 54 words
I heard the song "Pretending" by Eric Clapton on the radio this morning. It's about ones heart ache due to another pretending to love in the relationship. O Father, please do not let my love for you, for others, be...
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us