Tag Archives: darkness
Waiting in Darkness
Darkness Waiting in Darkness Friday, December 6, 2019 The darkness of this world will never totally go away. I’ve lived long enough and offered spiritual direction enough to know that darkness isn’t going to disappear, but that, as John’s Gospel says, “the light shines on inside of the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome… Continue Reading Waiting in Darkness
Trouble Don’t Last Always
Darkness Trouble Don’t Last Always Thursday, December 5, 2019 Today I share the writing of a modern mystic, Dr. Diana L. Hayes. She is an author and professor emerita of systematic theology at Georgetown University. I appreciate how her writing integrates her intellectual knowledge with her deeply embodied life experience. Hayes’ words are a testament… Continue Reading Trouble Don’t Last Always
Life Goes On
Darkness Life Goes On Wednesday, December 4, 2019 Sister Joan Chittister continues to reflect on what it means to suffer through times of doubt or unknowing when it comes to our faith: The sense of being stranded in the midst of life . . . is enough to drain a person’s very personality until there… Continue Reading Life Goes On
Lightlessness
Darkness Lightlessness Tuesday, December 3, 2019 I have shared the writings of Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister many times. She is a tireless advocate for the poor and marginalized, and she is also a brilliant and prolific writer, with more than fifty books to her credit. She writes here of the effects of literal darkness or… Continue Reading Lightlessness
Gaining New Traction
Darkness Gaining New Traction Monday, December 2, 2019 Experiences of darkness are good and necessary teachers. They are not to be avoided, denied, run from, or explained away. Even if we don’t experience clinical or diagnosed depression, most of us will go through a period of darkness, doubt, and malaise at some point in our… Continue Reading Gaining New Traction
Waiting and Unknowing
Darkness Waiting and Unknowing Sunday, December 1, 2019 First Sunday of Advent Advent [meaning “coming”], to the Church Fathers, was the right naming of the season when light and life are fading. They urged the faithful to set aside four weeks to fast, give, and pray—all ways to strip down, to let the bared soul… Continue Reading Waiting and Unknowing
Searching for Love
Love: Week 1 Searching for Love Friday, November 2, 2018 All Souls’ Day John of the Cross (1542-1591) is one of many Christian mystics who writes about being loved by God in an intimate way. My friend and fellow CAC faculty member James Finley reflects on John’s Dark Night of the Soul as a journey… Continue Reading Searching for Love
Traumatization of Spirituality
Suffering: Week 2 Traumatization of Spirituality Tuesday, October 23, 2018 James Finley, one of my fellow faculty members at the Center for Action and Contemplation, is a clinical psychologist. He speaks expertly—from a professional, personal, and mystical perspective—on suffering and healing. Here Jim explains how Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542–1591) allowed trauma to… Continue Reading Traumatization of Spirituality
Unknowing: Week 2 Summary
Unknowing: Week 2 Summary: Sunday, October 7-Friday, October 12, 2018 We cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain a certain degree of anxiety, and a willingness not to know—and not even to need to know. (Sunday) Information is not… Continue Reading Unknowing: Week 2 Summary
