Part One A. Introduction This essay is a catechetical response to the debate about Centering Prayer that has taken place within some sectors of the Catholic Church, and to some extent in Protestant ecclesial communities. There is a debate as to whether Centering Prayer is orthodox Christian prayer or whether it is New Age or too […]
Catechetical Essay on Centering Prayer Read More »
In Sacred Scripture we read that we must not let the sun go down while still angry, that to do so gives the devil a foothold (Eph. 4:26-27). The book of James speaks in many places about the virtue of patience and gentleness and warns that anger leads to unrighteousness. The Proverbs are full of
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Prophetic: Based in the tradition of the prophets Carmel, and in particular the distinctive way Elijah was prophetic. Being a Carmelite is an opportunity to be prophetic by making the experience of God and relationship with Him the telos of life. It means making actual in this life the restoration in Christ with the Father
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In natural meditation and contemplation there is a wonderful opportunity for inter-religious dialogue, mainly because natural contemplation affirms that there is a divine reality that is the infinitely good ground and end of all that exists in the present moment. This point was classically understood as uncontroversial. It was a point that many so many
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More than a few articles have been published in the past few years advising against the use of mindfulness meditation by Catholics. The primary reason for this is because it is a secular adaptation of a common form of Buddhist meditation where one trains awareness to the breath. This is meant to help the meditator
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In the Western tradition there is an history that helps us to understand a common misunderstanding that forms a cultural narrative. The narrative is this: meditation is an Eastern practice largely based in either the Buddhist or Indian (Hindu) tradition that westerners weren’t aware of until the encounter between the meditative and yogic traditions of
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I have a close friend that doesn’t believe in a god. He, like many of our contemporaries, thinks that to believe in God is to believe in a god. And so then it is more of a game of pick and choose. Evidentally most people do this based on culture and preference. They chose a
Where am I? Where is my God? I didn’t ask it enough. I tried. Hard. I tried. Slipped. I tried. Ecstasy. I tried. Kenosis. I tried. Falling asleep. But there were periods. Extended. Even enough. More than enough. The dark light of shame. And the clear light of enough-ness.
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The result was nil until we let go absolutely… (How it Works, AA) A friend asked me the other day what it means to let go absolutely. He brought up a line in the book Alcoholics Anonymous that says the result was nil until we let go absolutely. Upon immediate analysis it is clear that
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In respect to the subjective gravity of the sin of masturbation the Catechism of the Catholic Church reads, To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that
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