Moving away from a self-referential life
We must get beyond even our most spiritual possessiveness, and find our joy simply in God being God. It is enough for us that he is. . . . faith punctures the self-sufficiency of our world, so that there is…
From Frederick Buechner's novel "Brendan"
Set in 6th century Wales, the elderly St. Brendan is in conversation with Gildas, a Welsh monk and scribe. Finn, Brendan’s friend and follower narrates the story: “Perhaps we’ve given all but what [God] truly wants,” Brendan said. “And what…
abba (n)
abba (n) I am trying to unlearn, and then re-learn you Me with my finite body and tiny mind, I have tried to define you, and in that, confine you to a god that serves and acts, instead of a…
Keep a Place for the Unexpected
Let mystery have its place in you; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the plowshare of self-examination, but leave a little fallow corner in your heart ready for any seed the winds may bring, and reserve…
The Myth of Certainty
To hold questions seriously is much more a source of spiritual wisdom than to have quick and easy certitudes. The ego and the mind want to rush to judgment. What the mystics and the true spiritual directors teach is how…
What Kind Of Heaven . . . ?
Sue had been told that tumors had developed in her liver and lungs. She had been in a deep depression for a while, but she finally followed Barb’s advice to call me after various people at her church kept saying…
A Commencement Address
. . . I bet I’m beginning to make some parents nervous – here I am, bragging of being a dropout, and unemployable, and about to make a pitch for you to follow your creative dreams, when what parents want…
The Second Gaze
It has taken me much of my life to begin to get to the second gaze. By nature I have a critical mind and a demanding heart, and I am so impatient. These are both my gifts and my curses,…