Category: Reflections
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Two ways to grow in the spirit of gratitude
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In the letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul gives a very specific instruction: “Be filled with the Spirit… giving thanks always and for everything.” (5:19-20) Here are two simple ways to put this into practice, and change your life and life of those around you. One is to start a gratitude…
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When the Spirit Heals with the Gift of Tears
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I didn’t expect to start crying, but I did. I was leading a healing retreat. I made the mistake of going off-script. The Holy Spirit took over. What I experienced then is often called the Gift of Tears. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit where a person is…
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To follow with love and longing
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“Did I tell you I saw my son?” a mother asked me in a spiritual direction session. About a year ago, her adult son cut off all contact. Since then, her texts, emails, and phone calls have gone unanswered. She suspects he’s blocked her. She doesn’t understand how he could…
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What’s the most important step in the spiritual life?
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‘ “I need to find a place to live.” Not surprisingly, this is a common request from the homeless people I meet with at Strong Life Rescue Mission each Wednesday. In my response, I look for a little step the person can take. My follow-up goes something like this. “Do…
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Enter the New Year “Filled with Expectation”
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“The people were filled with expectation.” (Lk 3:15) This is how yesterday’s gospel reading for the Sunday celebration of The Baptism of the Lord began. It seems like a foreign phrase, “filled with expectation.” If someone were to ask me, “How are you feeling?” I doubt I would respond, “I’m filled…
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One dark night, kindled in love with yearnings
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I like to pray outside. It’s been a challenge when the temperature has been in the twenties, and the ‘feels like’ is 14 degrees! I’ve been starting a fire. Since my feet were the only thing getting warm, it’s been my “dark night of the sole”. In all seriousness, “One…
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Discovering A New Chapel of Ease in 2025
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Jesus said, “When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” (Mt 6:6) I wonder. As Jesus and his disciples traveled through the Judean countryside, where were they going to find this room? It’s not a stretch to think that the inner…
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Focus on the Now, not the Next
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When my son was in fifth grade, I joined his class on a field trip to the Biltmore House. It’s a mansion in Asheville with over two hundred rooms. In the months before Christmas, they elaborately decorate the rooms with poinsettias, Christmas trees, ornaments, and garlands. I was assigned a…
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Not this way or that, but something much better
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“I have two possible job offers,” a man sprung on me as we met for spiritual direction. “One has a longer commute. The other requires more travel. Both reduce the time I can pray and spend with my wife.” As his spiritual director, neither sounded appealing to me. After a…
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Advent: A Time to See the Incredible in the Ordinary
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Advent is a time to lose our skepticism and see ‘incredible things’ every day.