The Life of St Antony of the Desert, written by the fourth century Bishop of Alexandria, St. Athanasius, contains this charming passage in which the author explains a little bit about the nature of angels. What I love about this passage is, while he is not trying to make a point about how contemplative the angels are (and how their presence in our lives helps up to be more contemplative), that is nevertheless pretty much the gist of what he’s... Read more
A Facebook friend shared with me that she has been “thinking about contemplative prayer as a resource for peacemaking or for community building.” Especially given the horrors in Orlando this past weekend, perhaps this is something we all need to be thinking about. Is contemplative prayer a meaningful tool for fostering reconciliation? Can it foster peace — not only inner peace, but peace in the world as well? I don’t have any scientific data to help provide any kind of definitive... Read more
Today (June 15, 2016) marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the death of Evelyn Underhill, the Anglo-Catholic writer who probably did more than anyone else in the first half of the twentieth century to promote Christian mysticism as a spiritual path for everyone, not just priests or saints, monks or nuns. In this way she anticipated the Second Vatican Council and its affirmation of a “universal call to holiness.” Underhill is best remembered for her landmark book Mysticism: A Study in... Read more
Rodney Stark is a Protestant historian who teaches at a prominent Baptist university. He’s not exactly the kind of academic one might expect to write a book defending Catholicism from the prejudicial myths that have dogged the faith over the past few generations. Yet that is exactly what he has done with Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History. Written for the general public rather than for scholars, it is an engaging and at times eye-opening read, and I think it... Read more
What is contemplation? Unfortunately, answering this question is tricky — for contemplation is like some other words in the English language, such as love or success or happiness. In other words, different people use it to mean different things. Recently a reader named Daniel sent me this message: I’ve been gradually learning about contemplative spirituality for a couple of years now. Throughout this journey I’ve continually wondered how “contemplation” should be defined. I’ve discovered that it seems to mean different things in different contexts. Nevertheless, I’ve often felt... Read more
This past Saturday evening I received a lovely honor. The Georgia Writers’ Association selected me as a “Georgia Author of the Year” in the Inspirational/Religious category for Befriending Silence. The Georgia Author of the Year Awards is the oldest literary awards ceremony in the southeastern United States, started by the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists in 1964 and hosted by the GWA since 1994. Befriending Silence was among 154 nominations in 14 categories that include both fiction and non-fiction genres. Thanks goes... Read more
“Do Gifts of the Spirit, especially those like tongues, have any connection with mysticism? Historically, theologically, experientially, in connection with the Divine… If so, in what way, and if not, why not?” A few months back, I asked folks on Facebook if they had any questions they would like me to address on my blog. Here is what a person named Anna wrote in reply: Well – this was a question I asked when I was on my silent retreat in a very... Read more
May 31, 2016 marks a grim anniversary in the history of the Cistercian Order. It’s been twenty years since the assassination of seven Trappist monks of Notre Dame de Atlas Abbey in Tibhirine, Algeria. The monks, who had been kidnapped by insurgents two months earlier, were probably killed on May 21; their remains were recovered ten days later — on May 31. The circumstances surrounding their death — and who was responsible — remains clouded in mystery. The Martyrs of Atlas, as... Read more
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults — the Catholic process by which adults enter the Church — suggests that there are four stages or steps in the process of Christian initiation. These steps — evangelization, catechesis, initiation, and mystagogy — not only define the journey of general formation in the life of Christ (in other words, “becoming a Christian”) but they also give us insight into the process by which followers of Christ are called “deeper” into the contemplative or mystical life.... Read more
My friends, I’m happy to announce my forthcoming book, due in October 2016. Christian Mystics: 108 Seers, Saints and Sages is a companion volume to The Big Book of Christian Mysticism. I originally envisioned including a section in that book that would serve as a sort of who’s who of mysticism, with entries for all the major figures that gave biographical informa-tion, key teachings or ideas, and a representative quote or two. For a variety of reasons, that never came to... Read more
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