Spiritual Reflection

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  The pew and the academy

  Dec 01, 2023

  Circles of piety and the academy of theology are not enemies. They need to befriend each other.

  
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  Helplessness as fruitful

  Nov 24, 2023

  We can be generative through what we actively do for others, and we can be particularly generative when we stand passively with them in helplessness.

  
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  Love beyond death...

  Nov 19, 2023

  As Christians, we are invited to pray for the dead. Not surprisingly, certain Christians balk at this, protesting that God doesn’t need to be reminded to be merciful and forgiving.

  
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  The power of words …

  Nov 10, 2023

  Words give us meaning. We can’t make or remake reality, but the words we choose to name our reality can lift us out of the humdrum of everyday experience.

  
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  Bad thoughts

  Nov 03, 2023

  Someone once quipped that we spend the first half of our lives struggling with the sixth commandment – Thou shalt not commit adultery – and the second half of our lives struggling with the fifth commandment – Thou shalt not kill! There’s a truth here worth examining.

  
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  A subtler kind of poverty

  Oct 27, 2023

  Cardinal Francis George was once asked what he thought of the radical pacifism of people like Dorothy Day and Daniel Berrigan, prophetic figures who believed in absolute nonviolence.

  
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  Surrendering to love

  Oct 06, 2023

  Perhaps all of Jesus’ invitations to us can be summarized in one word, surrender. We need to surrender to love.

  
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  A single line says it all

  Sep 29, 2023

  No single line, outside of scripture, has ever spoken to me as powerfully, as persistently, and as hauntingly, as that line from St. Augustine. In essence, it’s Augustine’s life story – and the story of each of our own lives as well.

  
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  Hypocrisy’s two faces

  Sep 22, 2023

  The irony in Cook’s reaction shouldn’t be missed — and it isn’t missed by anthropologists. When we kill someone in God’s name, it doesn’t matter whether we call it human sacrifice or capital punishment.

  
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  Divine permission for human fatigue

  Sep 15, 2023

  A woman or man at prayer is equally pleasing to God, enthusiastic or tired – perhaps even more when tired.