The great Sufi Rābiʻa al-ʻAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya was so deeply devoted to God that she was able to learn and experience in her life the wisdom which we must attain if we want to be pure at heart: we must seek after and attain a pure love for God, a love which will love for God without any fear of judgment or desire for reward. In her prayers and teachings to others, she was known to throw all such concerns away,... Read more
Come, let us climb up the holy mountain, Side by side with the three noble ones, Seeing the brightness of the sun, Encircling all God’s daughters and sons. Two come forth and boldly proclaim, The truth which they had been told. Some want to enclose in their domain, Only the message given of old. Clouds then cover and hide the glory: In the darkness, a lone voice is heard: “This is my Son,” the rest is transitory, All things to... Read more
This is the third post in a series of texts exploring how Mary and the saints can hear our prayers. To read the first post, click here, and to read the second, click here. Even if we are not normally aware of our spirit and how it works, we have experience of it as our minds are able to think, contemplate and experience metaphysical realities which transcend mere materiality.[1] Free will also reveals our spirit; while our freedom is impoverished,... Read more
Can a Catholic vote for Cthulhu for President? Well, yes. Why not? Don’t worry that he represents the greatest evil. How else do you think you will make American great again? By platitudes? You need someone as great as you want the nation to be. Cthulhu! He’s your candidate! Don’t worry that he is not pro-life. He is at least not a hypocrite and will treat everyone equally, the born and unborn. He vows to fix government once and for... Read more
“Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Prov. 26:12 RSV). Wisdom is found within those who appear foolish to the world. The world thinks those who have acquired many thoughts, hold them in and speak of them to others, represent wisdom, but all they do is reveal the limits of their knowledge. They accept the praise of the people for such little feats, demonstrating through... Read more
“But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him” (Heb. 2:20 RSV). When we are before God, the proper response is to bring ourselves to total silence. We are to wait upon God, to let God be God and act as God without any imposition from our expectations. “For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him” (Ps. 62:5 RSV). This silence is not merely about the absence... Read more
There are many ways theologians and commentators have understood the fall of humanity expressed in the Book of Genesis. Often, they are complementary and not contradictory, though to be sure, not all interpretations can be brought together into a cohesive whole. Those who see the book as literal history instead of as a poetic and theological exploration of creation will oppose an evolutionary reading of the text and will likely focus on a very narrow reading of the text. But,... Read more
This is the second post in a series of texts exploring how Mary and the saints can hear our prayers. To read the first post, click here. Scripture provides us a basis by which we can believe that the dead in Christ, the saints, are able to hear us by showing us that even before the incarnation, there was a way for the dead to know what happened on earth (and even to have a way to dialogue with those... Read more
Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them (Eccl. 4:1 RSV). In modern times, it’s been long recognized that the elite hold the power which they use to keep themselves among the elite. What they do, whether or not they intend to do so,... Read more
It happened one day that one of the brethren in the monastery of Abba Elias was tempted. Cast out of the monastery, he went over the mountain to Abba Anthony. The brother lived near him for a while and then Anthony sent him back to the monastery from which he had been expelled. When the brothers saw him they cast him out yet again, and he went back to Abba Anthony saying, “My Father, they will not receive me.” Then... Read more
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