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What’s the most important step in the spiritual life?
‘ “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 you have a job or source of income?” I’m looking but no one will hire me because I lost my social security card. “I can take you to the Social Security office and get you a replacement.” They need an ID. I lost that too. “Let me take you to the DMV instead.” I can’t pay the fee. “They’ll waive…
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How to cope when the wine of life runs dry
In the presence of the divine groom, the waters in the jugs can’t help but be transformed into the wine of God, flowing in abundance, drowning the world in love, joy, peace, happiness. But we don’t always feel it. What do you do when the wine runs out?
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Enter the New Year “Filled with Expectation”
“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 with expectation.” I guess that it would be the same for most people. Christmas is receding in the rearview mirror. Maybe there are a few decorations to put away and a few bills to pay, but most have probably slipped back into the workaday world and the drudgery of daily life. Probably not “filled with expectation.” I look around and…
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One dark night, kindled in love with yearnings
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 dark night, kindled in love with yearnings” is the opening stanza of Saint John of the Cross’s masterpiece, Dark Night of the Soul. In it, the saint provides a beautiful metaphor for divine healing. It’s like a fire that transforms a log of wood. He says the transformation takes place in several stages. First, the fire forces out the moisture. …
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Discovering A New Chapel of Ease in 2025
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 room Jesus mentions is not a particular prayer spot, but somewhere deep within our heart where God abides, that place Teresa of Avila calls our interior castle. I recalled a recent trip to Saint Helena’s Island, near Beaufort, SC. I visited the ruins of a Chapel of Ease. Chaples of Ease were built so people in remote locations would have…
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Christmas is God’s way of saying, “Excuse me!”
If one ordinary child can change the community in the plane, think about how the birth of the son of God can change the human family. Christmas is our celebration of the God of the universe breaking into our world of selfishness, loneliness, sadness, and pain and saying, “Excuse me!”
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Focus on the Now, not the Next
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 group of six boys to chaperone, including my son. With boys that age, however, I had no time to ponder the impressive decorations in each room. The boys would enter a room, hastily look around, and then race to the next room at the first opportunity. It became a competition to see who would be the first to see something…
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Not this way or that, but something much better
“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 deeper exploration, he saw the fear behind his urgent desire to switch jobs. His industry had certain expectations for career advancement, and he feared that if he didn’t jump ship, the technology would pass him by. In the end, he decided to stay put. Months later, God laid out a completely unexpected trajectory for his life and moved him to…
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A Word Only Found in the Desert
“The word of God came to John in the desert.” (Lk 3:1-6) These are words of great hope, not only for the people of John’s time but also for you and me. Just as the word of God came to John, the word of God can come to Scott. The Word of God can come to you. Advent is a season where we invite the word of God into our hearts. Why is it important to hear the Word of God? It is the only word that could make sense of the sorrow, oppression, helplessness, confusion, and pain. It’s the only word that can repair this broken world. Let’s learn…
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Advent: A Time to See the Incredible in the Ordinary
Advent is a time to lose our skepticism and see ‘incredible things’ every day.
