Update: this blog post from March 2018 features events that have already happened. If you’d like to see where I’ll be speaking in the future, click here. Thank you! Friends, I’ll be in New York in April, and if you live in that part of the world, I hope I’ll see you there! Two opportunities for us to connect: April 17-20 in West Park, NY: I’m leading a retreat called Mapping Your Journey of Faith: Guidance from C. S. Lewis, Teresa... Read more
What is Christian hospitality? What does it mean to receive guests, strangers, travelers, pilgrims, refugees, as if we were receiving Christ himself? What does it mean to find Christ in all people, or as I put it the other day on Twitter… Hospitality, for Benedict, meant receiving guests as if they were Christ. So, for us, it means finding the Divine within all who come to us. — Carl McColman (@CarlMcColman) February 26, 2018 This morning I received this response:... Read more
Our journey through Lent continues with my experiment in Lectio Divina Diligens. Click on the link to read about this idea, if you’re not familiar with it. Today let’s look at the readings for the Second Sunday in Lent, particularly the Gospel Reading, Mark 9:2-10. It’s the story of the Transfiguration. Lectio — reading After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes... Read more
I am using the Psalm selection for the first Sunday of Lent (Psalm 25:4-9) for my Lectio Divina Diligens devotion. Lectio — reading 4 Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths. 5 Guide me by your fidelity and teach me, for you are God my savior, for you I wait all the day long. 6 Remember your compassion and your mercy, O Lord, for they are ages old. 7 Remember no more the sins of my youth; remember me according to your... Read more
I am using the Ash Wednesday Gospel reading (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) for my Lectio Divina Diligens devotion. Lectio — reading Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do... Read more
This photo appeared on Twitter a few days ago: I got the goodie package @CarlMcColman / just in time and Perfect for my Lenten reflections this year. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/j3nM5fQQw7 — Lisa Colón DeLay (@LisaDelay) February 9, 2018 Lisa Colón DeLay hosts a podcast called Spark My Muse, and she is the first one to schedule an interview in support of my forthcoming release, The Little Book of Christian Mysticism. So my publisher sent her copies of The Big Book of Christian... Read more
A reader wrote the following question to me. My son has a very rare developmental disability, Prader-Willi-Syndrome, and needs 24/7/365 monitoring. How, given his awareness level, is he able to assimilate even the basics of what it means to be holy? Because of his disability, he has little concept and interest, if any at all, in anything spiritual, yet I’ve read many spiritual writers, such as yourself, who either don’t address the question, or, if they do, only briefly mention... Read more
We’re just over a week away from Ash Wednesday! Which means it is time to be reflecting on your Lenten devotion. Last week I suggested a couple of books that might be good choices for your Lenten reading. Today I’d like to offer another idea — something I plan to explore more fully in this blog each week during Lent. It has to do with prayerfully — and mindfully — reading scripture. Many people who embrace Christian contemplative practice discover... Read more
Pick up any edition of The Cloud of Unknowing, and you are likely to find the following language a bit intimidating: Whoever you are possessing this book, know that I charge you with a serious responsibility, to which I attach the sternest sanctions that the bonds of love can bear. It does not matter whether this book belongs to you, whether you are keeping it for someone else, whether you are taking it to someone, or borrowing it; you are... Read more
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Love Matters More Than Logic or Experience (Lectio Divina Diligens for the Third Sunday of Lent)
We continue our journey through Lent with a new approach to Lectio Divina that I call Lectio Divina Diligens. Click on the link to read about this idea, if you’re not familiar with it. Today let’s look at the second reading for the Third Sunday in Lent: the Epistle Reading, 1 Corinthians 1:22-25. Lectio — reading Brothers and sisters: Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to... Read more