1 - reorientation: grieving as hurt, hurt as healing Imagine yourself as physically wounded. What do you do? If you are wounded, you do not cover it up and pretend it doesn’t exist. If you are wounded, you open up...
“Benedict’s Rule, then, is itself a kind of catechism. Even though it’s been the central guidebook for Western monasticism, its vision of life isn’t just for a particular sect of Christians called ‘monks’ and ‘nuns.’ This is a vision for...
1) Wounded in Spirit: Advent Art and Meditations by David Bannon. Recommended by Lillian Miao, Director of Paraclete Press “So many of our books have such good content, but I'd have to say that David Bannon's Wounded in Spirit is one of...
Prayer is asking for things. Very true. This is indeed the basic meaning. ‘I pray you do this’ means ‘I beg you’, ‘I beseech you’.What may we ask for? We might ask for a bicycle or a pair of jeans or a...
While a longing for community—a desire for real relationship with God and other people—may bring us to monastic wisdom, the wisdom itself pushes back against our desires, suggesting that our longings are not enough. Benedict knows that a simple desire...
The first time Jesus appears, in the first Gospel, the first instruction he gives is “Repent.” From then on, it’s his most consistent message. In all times and every situation, his advice is to repent. Not just the scribes and...
In a life of wholeness we may face brokenness and endure woundedness, but our suffering will not be meaningless. Meaningless suffering is soul-destroying. —Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference From...
Purity of heart means that every desire is for the same thing: God. Does this imply that other loves are wrong, or other goods illusory? No. The Christian view has never been a traditionally stoic one; we are never meant...
From Laurie Brock's Horses Speak of God: How Horses Can Teach Us To Listen and Be Transformed. Getting out of our heads. These creatures teach me to feel life and faith in my body and in my being, not to...
