I strive for distractions-free prayer spaces, and I was sure the stateroom balcony on our once-in-a-lifetime cruise would be such a place. A monotonous horizon of water stretched in every direction. I had nowhere to be, no agenda, and as much time as I desired. Yet my brain refused to settle. Distracting thoughts disturbed my […]
Ignatius’s worldview did not include an awareness of social sin. He did not identify the unjust structures of society as embodiments of sin, nor did he think of sin in communal or relational terms. Ignatius’s understanding of sin would have been more individual and act-oriented. His own battles with scrupulosity taught him that obsessing with […]
In an episode of Pop-Up Prayer, Fr. Brice Higginbotham shares thoughts about listening for God’s voice in the silence and predisposing ourselves to prayer. Fr. Higginbotham is the author of Remaining with Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of John.
The start of a new year is inevitably a moment of transition. And transitions can be challenging. Excitement for the new collides with nostalgia for what’s already gone. Possibility and potential meet with regret and missed opportunity. A sense of what was good in the past seems all but impossible to rediscover and reclaim in […]
In January 2023, the Lord invited me to hope. At the time, I faced a long journey ahead of rebuilding myself, body and soul, so I was a little afraid to hope. I did not want to be surprised again by challenges I didn’t anticipate. I did not want to feel my hope wasn’t enough. […]
As we begin a new year, I pray, as I do every year, for God to reveal to me something he’d like me to meditate on in the coming year. What does God want me to learn? And where does he want me to grow? In past years, God has revealed joy (2022) and fearless […]
Rather than compose elaborate resolutions for the year to come, simply do, in some small way, what you intend to do all year: Say “Thank you” to at least one person. Make one healthy choice about your body—food or drink or rest or motion. Do one generous act, big or small. Say “yes” to the […]
Fr. Kevin O’Brien, SJ, encourages those who are in pain or suffering with a brief video message. He says, “It’s part of being human, and if it’s part of being human, God is present. In the Christian tradition we believe that God became one of us in the person of Jesus and shared with us […]
