Tagged: meditations

All Saints Day

Spirituality

These Are the Saints – An All Saints Day Meditation

When a loved one dies their life is changed not ended. This is a truth of Faith, it is not wishful thinking. Those who have gone before us are still alive, but in a new way. Some of them now dwell forever in heaven. Not a boring heaven where people recline on clouds, strumming harps; but a vibrant, joyful heaven, where there is fun, laughter, and friendships deeper than one can imagine. Where they live there is no fear, no prejudice, no division, no aching bones or illness....

Friends

Jill’s Place

Every neighborhood has one: the Kool-Aid house. The one place where all the kids hang out, play, and laugh. Schools have them too, Kool-Aid classrooms, where kids congregate before or after school to chat with the teacher; the place to which graduates return. Jill’s classroom was the Kool-Aid house of our school. Day after day, students stopped in to chat, surrounding her desk as she sat in her motorized scooter. Whenever I saw an All Saints graduate return for a visit, I knew exactly where they were heading:...

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...

Introduction the Devout Life

Prayer

St. Francis de Sales Video Meditation

St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life is one of my favorite spiritual classics.  If you’re looking for a good read this Lent, I highly recommend it, especially the ten meditations St. Francis provides.  At one time, I thought I would try adapting those ten meditations for today’s junior high students (age 10-15).  I even had the thought to turn them into videos for the iPod generation.  I’ve since had to put that idea on hold indefinitely, but here’s the first video I made, for what...

Quiet Places with Jesus

Books and Reading / Prayer / Spirituality

The Best Thing I Read This Week

I found a real gem at the used book store yesterday: Quiet Places with Jesus by Rev. Isaias Powers, C.P. I’ve been looking for a prayer book to help me concentrate more on the person of Jesus as I pray. I tend to be a bit too intellectual when I meditate and I wanted something that would help tap my imagination. Fr. Powers wrote these guided meditations in the 1970s and they’re very much in the Jesuit tradition of using the imagination to help one pray. What I’ve...

Books and Reading / Spirituality

5 Books about the Blessed Mother for Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms today. In honor of Mother’s Day, here are five books about Mary, our Blessed Mother: Introduction to Mary: the Heart of Marian Doctrine and Devotion by Mark Miravalle – an informative explanation of the Church’s beliefs about Mary True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort — a challenging read, but this book was central to the late Pope John Paul II’s formation The Rosary: Chain of Hope by Fr. Benedict Groeschel — profound meditations on the different mysteries...

This Tremendous Lover

Spirituality

Books for Lent

If you’re giving up something for Lent that frees up some time (i.e. TV, video games, surfing the web), one great way to use that extra time is by reading spiritually enriching books. Here are a few suggestions: The Bible (of course) especially the gospels, or the books of Jeremiah and Exodus: you could buy a book that contains the daily Mass readings and read along with the Church The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri: use this great book to begin your meditations on the afterlife The Confessions...