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Tag Archives: darkness

John of the Cross: Poet, Pastor, Mystic

Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross John of the Cross: Poet, Pastor, Mystic Friday, April 24, 2020 Father Iain Matthew is a contemporary Carmelite priest from England and author of The Impact of God: Soundings from St John of The Cross. My copy is all marked up, so brilliant are his insights on… Continue Reading John of the Cross: Poet, Pastor, Mystic

Made for Infinite Love

Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross Made for Infinite Love Thursday, April 23, 2020 Jim Finley, my friend and fellow teacher at the CAC, began studying the mystics at the Abbey of Gethsemani at age eighteen, with Thomas Merton as his novice master. He remembers when he first read this excerpt from the… Continue Reading Made for Infinite Love

Prayer in Captivity

Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross Prayer in Captivity Wednesday, April 22, 2020 In 1567, when Teresa of Ávila was 52 and deeply involved in her attempts to reform the Carmelite Order and create the Discalced (or “barefoot”) Carmelites, she met the newly ordained John of the Cross. Though he was only 25… Continue Reading Prayer in Captivity

The Dark Emotions

The Path of Descent The Dark Emotions Thursday, March 26, 2020 Author and Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor invites us to consider the lessons that suffering has to teach us and reminds us that we can only learn when we are willing to stay put instead of turning away. [Psychotherapist Miriam] Greenspan says that painful… Continue Reading The Dark Emotions

The Path of Descent

The Path of Descent The Path of Descent Monday, March 23, 2020 The CONSPIRE 2018 conference focused on the Path of Descent as the Path of Transformation. Suffering is a universal experience occurring across space and time, revealing the “big T” Truth that going down, going through, and going into the unknown can be powerfully transformative. In the meditations this week I will be sharing the wisdom offered by my fellow teachers at the CAC, whom I also call my friends. I hope you will trust their insights as you… Continue Reading The Path of Descent

The Cloud of Unknowing

Knowing and Not Knowing The Cloud of Unknowing Wednesday, January 29, 2020 God, it seems, cannot really be known, but only related to. Or, as the mystics would assert, we know God by loving God, by trusting God, by placing our hope in God. It is a non-possessive, non-objectified way of knowing. It is always… Continue Reading The Cloud of Unknowing

Darkness: Weekly Summary

Darkness Summary: Sunday, December 1—Friday, December 7, 2019 People who live with faith in the midst of darkness never stop growing, are not easily defeated, are wise and compassionate, and frankly, are fun to live with. They have a quiet and confident joy. (Sunday) Experiences of darkness are good and necessary teachers. They are not… Continue Reading Darkness: Weekly Summary

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

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