Aug

31

Quote for the Day

Contemplation / Meditation / Quotations / Spirituality

The contemplative discipline of meditation, what I will call in this book contemplative practice, doesn’t acquire anything. In that sense, and an important sense, it is not a technique but a surrendering of deeply imbedded resistances that allows the sacred within gradually to reveal itself as a simple, fundamental fact. Out of this letting go there emerges what St. Paul called our “hidden self”: “may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong” (Eph 3:16). Again, contemplative practice does not produce this “hidden self” but facilitates the falling away of all that obscures it.

— Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land:
A Guide to the Christian Practice of
Contemplation

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Aug

30

Register now for “Introduction to Christian Mysticism” through Evening at Emory

Announcements / Christian mysticism

Just a reminder to those in the Atlanta area: registration is now open for the class I’ll be teaching through Emory University’s Center for Lifelong Mysticism:

Introduction to Christian Mysticism
through Emory University’s “Evening at Emory” Program.

The renowned twentieth century German theologian Karl Rahner said, “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.” What could he have meant by this? In the popular mind, mysticism is associated with eastern spirituality, like Yoga or Zen. But there is a little-known tradition of meditation and spiritual awakening even within Christianity. This non-sectarian class will survey the history of Christian mysticism from Biblical times to the present, explore the meaning of mysticism and why Christians often view it with suspicion, and consider the role that mysticism might play in Christianity of the present and future.
Textbook: The Big Book of Christian Mysticism.
Instructor: Carl McColman
September 23-October 21, 2010
7:00-9:00 pm
Click here to register

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Aug

29

Books we talked about in Ulster

Books

Here is a partial list of some of the many books we talked about, recommended to one another, read from, or otherwise consulted, during the Spirituality and Peacemaking week in Northern Ireland earlier this month. Some of these books were mentioned in our sessions; others were used to help plan the sessions; others came up in informal conversations between the retreat participants. If you weren’t on the retreat, dipping into these books might give you a sense of the breadth of the conversation we had during our week in Ulster. If you were on the retreat, perhaps this list will help you to find a book or two to read, to deepen the experience.

I’m sure there are others that I missed (if anyone who was on the retreat reads this and thinks of a book that was part of the retreat experience for them, please let me know and I’ll add it to this list).

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Aug

28

Talking about mysticism on Youtube

Christian mysticism

Recently I was interviewed by Peter Wallace, who is the host of the Day1 radio show and website. The interview was filmed and has now been published on Youtube. Here are the videos (it has been separated into three parts):

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Aug

27

Chants from the Benedictine Monks of Rostrevor

monasticism / Mysticism

Holy Cross Benedictine Monastery, Rostrevor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland

When I was in Northern Ireland, I stayed at a retreat center in Rostrevor, in County Down. Just four miles down the road is Holy Cross Monastery, which according to its website is the first new Benedictine monastery in Ireland since the twelfth century! It was established in 1998, and currently is home to six monks. I attended lauds there one morning, and mass on Sunday; nearly all the locals who spoke of the monastery mentioned that the monks sang beautifully, and indeed they were right.

Happily, the monks have posted three MP3s on their website, so you can hear their lovely singing for yourself. Just follow these links to enjoy.

Credo •  Jubilate •  Suscepimus

The monks indicate on their website that these tracks are samples for downloading, so feel free to save these to your computer or iPod.

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Aug

26

Photos from Northern Ireland

Ireland / Spirituality

Heading to Downpatrick: the beautiful Irish countryside

The only camera I had with me on my recent trip to Northern Ireland was my iPhone camera. So I didn’t take a lot of pictures, and the ones I did take will hardly win any awards. Eventually the various retreatants are going to be swapping photos amongst ourselves, so hopefully I’ll have a few more shots to share with you in the future. But for now, here are a few images from a most remarkable week.

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Aug

25

Quote for the Day

Quotations
When we keep trying to come up with the extraordinary, we may be interfering with getting the job done.
— Source unknown; Seen on a refrigerator
in Northern Ireland
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Aug

17

Ian Cron asks “Are you a Mystic?”

Christian mysticism

Ian Cron, author of Chasing Francis, has posted an interesting article on Christian mysticism. Like me, Ian follows Karl Rahner in emphasizing the ordinariness of the mystical life.

Are you a Christian Mystic?

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Aug

15

New “Cloud of Unknowing” Prayer Card Available!

Announcements

I’m pleased to announce that I have a new prayer card available! This one features quotations from The Cloud of Unknowing and The Book of Private Counsel which is generally regarded as written by the author of The Cloud. Here’s what the front and back of the prayer card look like:

Of course, I still have plenty of my original Julian of Norwich Prayer Card:


I don’t sell these cards, but I do ask that anyone wanting them send me a self-addressed, stamped business sized envelope. I’ll use your SASE to send you two of each prayer card, along with a bookmark promoting The Big Book of Christian Mysticism.

Send your self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Carl McColman
P.O. Box 1146
Clarkston, GA 30021

Please allow a few weeks for delivery. Sorry, but currently I’m only able to send these cards to addresses in the USA. If you want more cards than what will fit in a single envelope with one stamp on it, please let me know — based on how many cards you want, I’ll figure out how much postage you need to send me.

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Aug

14

Off to Ireland

Activism / Ireland / Spirituality

Well, dear friends, today I pack my bags and tie up a few loose ends around the house. I’ll go visit my dad this afternoon and go to mass tonight. Tomorrow I board a plane to Newark where I’ll catch a direct flight to Belfast. I arrive in Northern Ireland on Monday to join Gareth and Erin in our last minute preparations for the Celtic Spirituality and Radical Peacemaking retreat, which begins on Tuesday the 17th.

So, my posting here on the blog may be a bit spotty over the next few days. I have something pre-scheduled to post tomorrow, but after that I’m not sure how often I’ll get online once I’m in Ireland. I’ll have my laptop and apparently the retreat center does have wi-fi, so I might be on every day. Then again, I might not.

So keep us all in your prayers. I’ll take pictures and I’ll write, even if it’s after the fact, once I get home. So stay tuned.

This morning I posted a brief little meditation on peacemaking and the meaning of this trip to my blog at Day1. You can read it by following this link: I’m Off to Northern Ireland.

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