Category: Spirituality

Fr. RIck Nagel

Deacons and Diaconate / Spirituality

Open the Door and Let the Spirit Get to Work

Deacon Greg Kandra has a seemingly endless supply of inspiring, funny, and/or deeply spiritual videos to post on his blog The Deacon’s Bench. Here’s one he posted yesterday about a parish that’s using its prime location to great effect in evangelizing: Sometimes it’s that simple. God doesn’t need much from us–just a little–and once we’ve opened the door, the Spirit gets to work. Read the rest of the story at The Deacon’s Bench to find out what St. John’s is doing over Superbowl weekend.

St. Teresa of Avila

Prayer / Spirituality

St. Teresa of Avila’s Prayer for Peace of Soul

This resonated with me today: O Jesus! Who knows how much in Holy Scripture refers to peace of soul? Since, O my God, you have seen how important this peace is to us, incite Christians to strive to gain it. In your mercy do not deprive those on whom you have bestowed it, for until you have given them true peace and brought them to where it is unending, they must ever live in fear. As quoted in At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in...

J.R.R. Tolkien

Books and Reading / Spirituality

Vocation in The Lord of the Rings

Though National Vocation Awareness Week has ended for this year, the working out or living out of our vocations goes on. Jeffrey Langan, Associate Professor at Notre Dame, delivers a fascinating lecture in which he uses Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings to illustrate the dynamic of vocation. Though he seems to be speaking mostly about the ordained or religious life, many of his remarks could also be applied to marriage and other vocations.

Sunrise

Spirituality

Who Will You Be This Day?

National Vocation Awareness Week ends this weekend, and today’s gospel meditation on John 1:35-42 by Rachel Subras in Give Us This Day fits the occasion well: You are called like Simon to leave aside your plans and go when summoned, to be beheld and known by God’s own, and be renamed. You do have a choice. You can retreat, take comfort in the familiar, and risk missing your calling. Or you can set out, take on the discomforts of the strange and the stranger, and live into, live up...

Tolkien Relaxing Under a Tree

Books and Reading / Spirituality

Leaf by Niggle: One of Tolkien’s Most Overlooked Works

Today is J.R.R. Tolkien’s 120th birthday. Known, of course, mainly for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, one of his most under appreciated works is a gem of a short story called “Leaf by Niggle.” This simple story is a beautiful allegory for the creative life and for the transition into eternal life. Similar to C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, “Leaf by Niggle” is much more subtle. It is also deeply spiritual and rooted in a solid Catholic theology of art and afterlife. “Leaf by Niggle” complements...

Theotokos

Spirituality

Mary: A Model of God’s Invitation to Shared Life and Sacrifice

How wonderful to open up the January issue of Give Us This Day and discover that the very first meditation of the new year is by my diocese’s very own Bishop Blase Cupich. Here is the conclusion of his meditation on this Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: This blessed virgin agreed not only to give birth to the Son of the Most High God. She also consented to enter into a unique relationship with God, a relationship that is so intimate that only the bond between a...

The Holy Family

Spirituality

Three Valuable Lessons from the Holy Family

Today’s Office of Readings provides a beautiful meditation from Pope Paul VI on this feast of the Holy Family. As Paul VI reflects, he recalls three things we can learn from Jesus’ upbringing: Silence First, we learn from its silence. If only we could once again appreciate its great value. We need this wonderful state of mind, beset as we are by the cacophony of strident protests and conflicting claims so characteristic of these turbulent times. The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace...

Cornucopia

Spirituality

What Does It Mean to Be Thankful?

What does it mean to be thankful? Being thankful begins with community. It means knowing we cannot do it alone, and that as much as we Americans worship freedom and doing things our way, we cannot do everything ourselves. There is no thanksgiving for those who need no one. Second, being thankful requires awareness. It means looking closely at our lives and noticing how much we have been given. It means recognizing that Someone loves us enough to hold us in the tender hands of the universe and...

To the Field of Stars

Book Review / Books and Reading / Spirituality

Review: To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim’s Journey to Santiago De Compostela

To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim’s Journey to Santiago De Compostela by Kevin A. Codd My rating: 5 of 5 stars I enjoyed every word of this gorgeous, honest, life-giving journey with Fr. Kevin Codd as he made his pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago De Compostela. Fr. Codd not only recounts the physical aspects of his journey, but–more signifcantly–he lets us in on the psychological and spiritual journey he went through as he trekked over 500 miles on foot. To the Field of Stars is a concrete...

Oregon Sunset

Spirituality

55 Ways to Start the New Year

Three years ago for Lent, Orthodox priest Fr. Tom Hopko wrote a list of “things that a believer would do if he were really a believer.” As 2011 begins, this is going to be the list I use for my spiritual development. Here are his 55 maxims (If you’re interested in a fuller explanation of the maxims, be sure to listen to this episode of Fr. Tom’s podcast, “Speaking the Truth in Love”): Be always with Christ and trust God in everything Pray as you can, not as...

Thomas Merton

Prayer / Spirituality

Thomas Merton on the Divine Office

I came across this moving testimony to the of the Liturgy of the Hours in Thomas Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain: Presently [my brother] said: “What’s that package you’ve got under your arm? Buy some books?” “Yes.” When he had unlocked the car, I ripped the paper off the package, and took out the cardboard box containing the set of four books, bound in black leather, marked in gold. I handed him one of the volumes. It was sleek and smelled new. The pages were edged in...

Vice President Biden

Spirituality / Writing

Does Ridicule Have a Place in Catholic Discourse?

Last week I commented on the blog of a popular Catholic apologist when he seemed to ridicule Vice President Biden.  Though it appears I misunderstood his blog post, the comment began a brief discussion about the place of ridicule in public discourse.  I wrote, “I’d like Biden out of office, too, but not by ridiculing him out.  Let’s raise our level of discourse and not lose our souls to gain the whole world.” Here is what he had to say in response: …I guess I have to disagree...