Tag Archives: freedom
Contemplative Responsibility
Thomas Merton: Contemplation and Action Contemplative Responsibility Monday, November 23, 2020 Thomas Merton has been a primary teacher and inspiration to me ever since I read his book The Sign of Jonas as a teenager. He was one of the most influential American Catholics of the twentieth century. It was Merton who reintroduced the Christian… Continue Reading Contemplative Responsibility
The Reign of God as Community
Jesus and the Reign of God The Reign of God as Community Thursday, November 19, 2020 The world has suffered much from the various forms of Christian colonialism. Yet the Reign of God is an alternative to domination systems and all “isms.” Jesus teaches that right relationship (i.e., love) is the ultimate and daily criterion.… Continue Reading The Reign of God as Community
A Silent Love
Thomas Keating: The Secret Embrace, Part Two A Silent Love Monday, October 26, 2020 Nowhere is my destination. And no one is my identity. My daily bread is powerlessness. Temptations can be overwhelming. Gone is every hope of help. An abyss opens up within me. I am falling, falling, Plunging into non-existence. Is this annihilation?… Continue Reading A Silent Love
Freedom in the Desert
Mystics and the Margins Freedom in the Desert Tuesday, September 29, 2020 When Christianity became the established religion of the Roman Empire, something remarkable and strange took place. A whole set of people began to flock to the margins of the Empire to pursue God. They went to the deserts of Palestine, Cappadocia, Syria, and… Continue Reading Freedom in the Desert
Margins Create Liminal Space
Mystics and the Margins Margins Create Liminal Space Sunday, September 27, 2020 When we are content and satisfied on the inside of any group, we seem to suffer from a structural indifference. We do not realize that it is largely a belonging system that we have created for ourselves. It is not until we are excluded… Continue Reading Margins Create Liminal Space
A Simple Truth
Simplicity A Simple Truth Friday, July 3, 2020 During World War II, Jesuit priest Walter Ciszek (1904–1984) was accused of being a “Vatican spy.” After spending five years in a Moscow prison, he was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in Siberian prison camps. He is an example of someone whose life has been… Continue Reading A Simple Truth
Openness and Receptivity
Simplicity Openness and Receptivity Wednesday, July 1, 2020 Despite many differing views of Jesus’ life and teaching, we can say confidently that Jesus was a poor man who fully embraced life with those on the margins of society. Francis of Assisi certainly did the same, and it became his litmus test for all orthodoxy and… Continue Reading Openness and Receptivity
Embracing Enoughness
Simplicity Embracing Enoughness Tuesday, June 30, 2020 I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. —Lao Tzu Most of us have grown up with a capitalist worldview which makes a virtue and goal out of accumulation, consumption, and collecting. It has taught us to assume, quite falsely, that more is better. But it’s… Continue Reading Embracing Enoughness