Sister Mary Lucy was a Poor Clare nun who suffered greatly. She lost her eyesight and had a degenerative bone disease which caused her spine to crumble. The doctors could do very little to help her. I used to visit her regularly, but never once heard her complain. Instead she had a huge radiant smile. I [...]
I am reading up on the history of the Benedictine movement in preparation for a new class I will be teaching at the Avila Institute starting in January. It is How St Benedict Changed the World. As a Benedictine oblate, I am biased, but the writings of the Benedictine masters of spirituality always have such beauty and balance. [...]
After a week in the priest's cabin at the Norbertine Monastery of Canonesses in California I can be excused for wishing to hunker down even more than usual. I'm one of those introverts who, when faced with pandemic lockdown, muttered, "So things are going to change?" The priest's cabin at the nun's Bethlehem Priory was one [...]
To be led by God's patient love into this attitude of unconditional self surrender is painful, but there is no avoiding it for anyone who seriously wants to pray. It requires no special conditions or peculiar way of life. The ordinary experience of work, daily hardships and living with people is the field of obedience to [...]
Life is a casting off... What is it in me that likes the difficult sayings of Jesus more than the easy sayings? Everybody loves Jesus who says, "Let the little children come to me" and "Neither do I condemn you" But have you read the gospels lately? Jesus' teaching is much more forceful and [...]
Someone said recently that I have firmly declared myself to be a conservative. Indeed someone from New Jersey once said I am an "arch conservative." I am happy to take that label. I'm happy to take all the other labels too. To see what I mean go to this post: Call Me an Evangelical, Charismatic, Liberal, [...]
St Francis of Assisi ...and can change you too. One of the things that makes St Francis so popular is that he was so utterly and completely converted. He was rooted and engrafted into Christ through several remarkable events that transformed him from the inside out. It is this profound and radical encounter with [...]
St Jerome This week has long been one of my favorites in the church year. Who can resist the sweetness, purity, power and goodness of all these saints and angels celebrated in one week! September ends with the celebration of the great heavenly warrior St Michael, and he is followed a day later by [...]
Guest blogger Norman Anderson is married to Marjorie and is a Catholic father of high schoolers Kevin, Marybelle and Hazel. He works as a claims adjuster at Skinner’s Insurance Incorporated. He attends St Martha’s Catholic Church in Adam’s Falls, North Carolina. Norman is a suburban hermit. Friday is my birthday and I am experiencing the usual [...]
Guest blogger Norman Anderson is married to Marjorie and is a Catholic father of high schoolers Kevin, Marybelle and Hazel. He works as a claims adjuster at Skinner's Insurance Incorporated. He attends St Martha's Catholic Church in Adam's Falls, North Carolina. Norman is a suburban hermit. Jeannine at the office said yesterday that I had the [...]