Setting Our Internal Clocks We live in a culture which wants to set our internal clocks for us. The society we have built for ourselves believes we work all day every day. It is difficult to schedule time for resting and sleeping, much less reflection, into our lives. There is always something more to read, to analyze, to sort into boxes. We work as long as we can, as hard as we can, as often as we can. There is... Read more
When Spiritual Life Feels Far Away Some of us like to believe spiritual life is always with us. People familiar with coded academic language talk about God being “omnipresent.” They are saying spiritual life is all around us, and within us. In the same way fish live in water, we live in spiritual life. Quite a few of us want to know why, if spiritual life is always with us, does it so often feel far away? We may agree in... Read more
Spiritual Life of Summer Welcome to the first weekend of summer! How is summer going for you so far? Some of us see summer as a time to get away. The kids are out of school so we can spend some time together. Summer may feel a little calmer and more deliberate than the rest of the year. We have more time for picnics, corn on the cob, and fireworks. For other people, summer is just as frenetic as every other part of the year. Work... Read more
Breathing In and Breathing Out Monks inspire me to remember, in the words of Benedict’s Rule, “Always, we begin again.” Each breath is a new beginning. We breathe in and fill our lungs with opportunities to begin again. When we breathe out we expel what we do not need and give ourselves room to begin again. As long as we are still breathing we can begin again. Our breathing reflects who we are and how we live. At times when we struggle,... Read more
Spiritual life can feel a lot like sports. People have their team loyalties. They gather together whenever their is a game to watch and cheer for their team. We all want to think we are on the winning side, that our team will prevail in the end. Read more
Spiritual Life is Like Ice Cream I have had a passion for ice cream my entire life. As a proud son of America’s Dairyland, I have eaten ice cream longer than I can remember. I went to school at the home of the best ice cream in the world, in Babcock Hall, at the University of Wisconsin. Ice cream is personal. People have favorite flavors and textures. We may be willing to try something new, but usually go back to what makes us feel... Read more
How Do Monks Communicate? The monks in the monastic community where I am an oblate value stillness. Many monasteries practice what is called the Great Silence. They practice silence from the conclusion of the final prayer service of the day until the next morning. It is common for monasteries to serve and eat breakfast in silence. Communities often develop a set of hand signals to help them communicate in silence. The community where I am an oblate is a hermitage.... Read more
Does Spiritual Life Really Matter? I know people who have never really thought much about spiritual life. We have created a culture in which spiritual life is something to be belittled or ridiculed. Our lives are focused on work or family or friends. Spiritual life is something which makes us feel embarrassed or afraid. We spend our money on vampires and zombies and werewolves, not on real spiritual life. People who seem to know about real spiritual life are not interested... Read more
Landscaping Our Spiritual Lives Some people use the analogy of a garden to describe spiritual life. They talk about how intentionally we tend our own gardens, planting and watering and weeding. I have read what people have written about whether we want to plant food or flowers. There are people who prefer formal, structured gardens which follow intricate plans. Other people grow natural gardens with organic seeds and indigenous plants. Some of us include dramatic water features while others are... Read more
Drawing Strength From Our History There are people who, when given leadership responsibility, seem to want to forget the past. They assume leadership is all about having a vision and taking action into the future. We tend to see leadership as being about fixing things or creating change. Leaders try to build something new, superseding what has gone before. We think leadership is crossing frontiers and blazing new trails. The monks I know are much more adept at drawing strength from our history. There... Read more
Strategic Monk
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