The Contemplative Story of Dear Prudence
I love the Beatles, and like many Beatles fans, I think The White Album is one of their great masterpieces. And one of the best songs on The White Album …
Three Mystics You May Have Missed
Walk into a Catholic bookstore — or a general bookstore large enough to have a “Christian mysticism” section — and you will see books by or about Thomas Merton, Julian of Norwich, …
Seven Ways the Mystics Inspire Us Today
One of my favorite quotations comes from Karl Rahner: “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist.” It’s a prophetic statement, from a man who died …
How Saint Benedict Can Help Us Grow Spiritually
How can the wisdom of the monastery help folks like you and me — who are not monks or nuns — to grow spiritually? To answer that question, we can …
How Mysticism is Unique — and Universal
How, exactly, does Christian mysticism relate to all the other “mysticisms” of the world (Kabbalah, Sufism, Taoism, Vedanta, Zen, etc.)? A reader of this blog writes: I have been reading …
What to Say to the Nay-Sayers: Talking About Contemplation With Its Critics
If you are active in a church or other faith community, and you are drawn to (or practicing) silent prayer, if you talk about it with others you will likely, …
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Mindfulness and Contemplation
Recently a reader left the following comment on this blog: I have been reading and tried to practice the way of a contemplative life although poorly I believe. But my …
Desert Island Discs (and DVDs)
If you were stranded on a desert island, what music would you want to accompany you? The BBC has a long-running program called Desert Island Discs which began airing in 1942 and …
Principles for Contemplative Spirituality (Part Two)
Last week I shared six principles that guide me in my understanding of what Christian contemplative spirituality is. This week I’m sharing six more. As I said last week, it’s …
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Principles for Contemplative Spirituality (Part One)
A couple of years ago Rob Bell wrote a book with the title What We Talk About When We Talk About God. I haven’t read the book, but I love …
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Artist, Mystic, Pilgrim, Companion: An Interview with Christine Valters Paintner
Recently I had the opportunity to interview author and contemplative artist Christine Valters Paintner of the Abbey of the Arts. We talked about contemplative spirituality, pilgrimage, and her latest book, …
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Letter and Spirit: Thoughts and Silence?
In his sermon On Conversion, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux quotes Acts 26:24, only he paraphrases it like this: “Too much thinking has made you mad!” Whenever I see a verse like …
The Rule, the Discipline, and Spiritual Growth
I bet if I took a poll, almost everyone who reads my blog would agree with this statement: “I want to grow spiritually.” Readers of spiritual blogs want to grow …
Better to Light a Candle (of Silence) than to Curse the Darkness (of Language)
Does language always limit the way we talk about, think about, or even pray to, God? This question has been on my mind for the past few days. This past weekend …
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What Do Contemplatives Want?
First a disclaimer about my headline. I’m answering this question (What do contemplatives want?) based on the results from my 2015 readers’ poll. If you aren’t interested in the survey results, scroll …