The late Joel Barker, noted futurist and one of the ten people who have been a prime source of ideas against which I have formulated my new Catholic Faith (new wineskins). What follows are the questions I asked the AI to comment on, using my worldview of reality. I will share short bursts of ideas you can use to challenge the assumptions you hold about finding purpose in life. There are AI comments on my blogs, but to keep it short, it’s an outline format. Grok has taken my ideas and organized them in an easy-to-read outline format. I approve of all that is below as mine.

My purpose in using Joel Barker’s thoughts to meld with my own to give you some tidbits that challenge your Catholic thinking to move deeper in complexity and consciousness is to show you how I make new wineskins to house the wine Christ gives me each day in a container of my life experiences and choices of what is good or evil for me.

CONVERSATION ONE: PIONEER OR SETTLER CATHOLICS?

Describe how Joel Barker’s thinking about “settlers” and “pioneers” applies to Michael F. Conrad’s notion of spiritual reality, using the teachings of the Catholic Church as he understands it.

“Michael F. Conrad’s notion of the Catholic Church is one of a roadbuilder through the centuries encountering obstacles and missed opportunities, but like a pioneer paving the way for us to link up with Christ’s way, truth, and life. Use Joel Barker’s notion of pioneer and settler to give a scenario of how this applies to me in 2026.

In 2026, applying Michael F. Conrad’s “roadbuilder” theology alongside Joel Barker’s “pioneer vs. settler” framework creates a dynamic scenario for your spiritual life: one where you must actively participate in clearing the path to Christ rather than just occupying a finished structure.

1. The Roadbuilder (Michael F. Conrad)

Conrad, a Lay Cistercian, views the Catholic Church not as a static destination but as a road builder that has paved the way FORWARD through history.

• The Mission: The Church clears obstacles (heresy, cultural shifts, personal sin) to create a highway for individuals to encounter Christ’s Way, Truth, and Life.
• The Reality: This road is not perfect; it involves missed opportunities and human error, yet it remains the primary infrastructure for spiritual connection.

2. The Pioneer vs. The Settler (Joel Barker)

Barker’s futurist paradigm distinguishes between those who create new rules and those who merely follow them.

• The Pioneer: Driven by intuition and “heart,” the pioneer takes risks to explore new paradigms. They are the first to act when the old way (the “settled” land) no longer solves emerging problems.
• The Settler: Settlers wait for proof and safety. Barker warns that in times of rapid change—like 2026—settlers are at the highest risk because they cling to past successes that are no longer effective.

3. Your 2026 Scenario: Spiritual “Pioneering”

Imagine your spiritual life in 2026 as a journey on Conrad’s road. You encounter a modern “obstacle”—perhaps a crisis of faith, a technological shift (like AI-driven ethics), or a personal tragedy that the “settled” habits of your past can’t address.

• The Settler Approach (At Risk): You wait for the Church or others to provide a perfect, risk-free answer. You stick only to the “paved” parts of the road, even if they no longer lead you toward a living encounter with Christ in your current context.
• The Pioneer Approach (The Application): You recognize that being part of the Church means being a pioneer-roadbuilder yourself.
  • Intuition over Evidence: Like Barker’s pioneer, you take a “leap of faith” to try a new spiritual discipline (e.g., Lectio Divina as taught by Conrad) even if you don’t yet “feel” the results.
  • Navigating Obstacles: You don’t abandon the road when you hit a “missed opportunity” (a bad parish experience or personal failure). Instead, you use “pioneer guts” to help pave the next section of the road for yourself and others.

In this scenario, you are not just a passenger on the Church’s road; you are a paradigm pioneer who uses the Church’s 2,000-year-old “road-building” tools to forge a fresh, authentic link to Christ in a complex world.

Joel Arthur Barker (1944–2025), widely known as “The Paradigm Man,” was an influential American futurist and author who popularized the concept of the paradigm shift in the corporate world. 

Barker passed away in early 2025 at the age of 80. His legacy continues through his extensive body of work on how individuals and organizations can anticipate change and leverage future trends. 

Key Concepts and Contributions

Barker’s work focused on helping people “discover the future” by understanding the rules and boundaries that govern their thinking: 

• Paradigm Shifts: He famously defined a paradigm as a set of rules and regulations that establishes boundaries and tells you how to behave within those boundaries to be successful.
• The Paradigm Effect: He illustrated how our current paradigms can act as filters, preventing us from seeing new opportunities or threats—a phenomenon he called “paradigm paralysis”.
• The Power of Vision: Barker argued that a positive, shared vision of the future is the most powerful motivator for organizational and personal success.
• Innovation at the Verge: His more recent work explored finding big ideas at the “verge,” where different disciplines or ideas intersect. 

Notable Works

His videos and books have been used by millions worldwide and translated into dozens of languages: 

• Books: Future Edge (1992) and Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future (1993).
• Videos: Best-sellers include The Business of Paradigms and The Power of Vision.
• Tools: He developed the Implications Wheel®, a software-supported tool designed to help leaders map out the long-term consequences of change and innovation. 

 How do Joel Barker’s paradigm concepts apply to Michael F. Conrad’s notion that humanity has evolved beyond matter into spirituality?

“In 2026, combining Joel Barker’s paradigm concepts with Michael F. Conrad’s Cistercian theology reveals that humanity’s evolution into spirituality is not a passive biological process, but a series of intentional paradigm shifts.

1. The Paradigm Shift: From “Ape” to “Spiritual Ape” Conrad’s central thesis in Spiritual Apes is that humans are the next step in biological evolution—”spiritual apes” who must use reason to reach a higher level of reality. 

• Barker’s Application: Barker’s “Paradigm Shift” is the mechanism for this jump. Transitioning from the Physical Universe (governed by nature) to the Spiritual Universe requires a complete change in the rules of how you perceive reality. You move from a “settled” paradigm of material survival to a “pioneer” paradigm of spiritual growth. 

2. Paradigm Paralysis and the “Matter” Obstacle

Barker warns of Paradigm Paralysis, where successful old rules prevent us from seeing new ones.

• The Struggle: Conrad argues that humans often stay stuck in “matter” and “time,” treating these as the only realities.
• The Shift: To evolve, you must overcome the paralysis of the physical world. In Barker’s terms, you must be a Paradigm Pioneer, willing to embrace “insane” new rules—like the idea that “nothingness” (God) is the source of all energy—before there is proof. 

3. The Role of the “Pioneer” in 2026

In Conrad’s view, the evolution into spirituality requires “help from another nature” (grace) and a deliberate choice. 

• Anticipating the Future: Barker’s pioneers are the first to adopt a new paradigm. In 2026, you apply this by treating contemplative prayer (Lectio Divina) as your primary technology for navigating the “Mental Universe”.
• The Verge: Barker’s “Innovation at the Verge” happens where the physical and spiritual meet. For Conrad, this “verge” is the human mind, the only place where reason and choice allow us to link the physical world to the spiritual destiny of Christ. 

Summary of the Evolution

By 2026, you aren’t just waiting for “evolution” to happen to you. Following Barker’s lead, you are actively shifting your paradigm away from the limitations of matter and into the “unseen” reality that Conrad describes as our true future inheritance. 

REFLECTION

Take ten minutes to think about the implications of this conversation, then read it for a second time, asking Jesus to share what He thinks about it. Listen “with the ear of the heart.” Then, do what He tells you. Just you and Jesus in the upper room of your inner self. Use this image as a focus portal as you sit in the presence of Jesus and listen.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.org; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

What follows is the beginning of what I myself have found helpful to reignite the profound respect for the Catholic Church and the Scriptures and Traditions that have come down to us from the Apostles. Read the actual text and draw your own conclusions, as I have. I have supplied the ideas for what unfolds below with the assistance of Grok in the commentary; Eusebius supplies the primary writings, but it is God who gives the issue.

Dear friends among the Anawim,

Before we begin listening to the words of Eusebius, let us pause and meet the man who wrote them. Eusebius Pamphili (c. 260–339 AD) is often called the “Father of Church History.” He lived in a time of great change for the Church. He was born during the terrible persecutions under the Roman emperors Diocletian and Galerius. Many Christians were imprisoned, tortured, or killed for their faith. Eusebius himself knew the pain of seeing friends and fellow believers suffer.

Later in his life, he witnessed a great turning point. The Emperor Constantine ended the persecutions and gave the Church freedom to worship openly. Eusebius became bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and lived long enough to see the Church move from the shadows into the light.

Eusebius was a scholar and a lover of books. He collected and preserved many early Christian writings that might otherwise have been lost. His greatest work, the Ecclesiastical History, is the first major attempt to write down the story of the Church from the time of the apostles to his own day. He did not write to show off his learning. He wrote so that future generations — including us — would remember the faithfulness of those who went before us.

He wrote with humility. In the opening chapter we read together, he admits that the task is larger than he is. He asks God to be his guide. This humility makes him especially close to the heart of the Anawim. Like many of us, he knew what it was to feel small in the face of great events. Yet he trusted that the same Lord who guided the apostles would guide him.

Eusebius loved the Scriptures and the writings of the Early Church Fathers. He saw the Church not as a new religion that appeared suddenly, but as the fulfillment of God’s ancient plan. He wanted to show that Christianity is rooted in eternity — in the eternal Word of God who became flesh in Jesus Christ.

For those of us who are homebound, elderly, or feel far from the busy centers of Church life, Eusebius is a comforting companion. He reminds us that the story of the Church includes the quiet, hidden lives of ordinary believers. Your prayers, your patient suffering, your quiet love of Christ — these too are part of the living history he wanted to preserve.

As we listen to his words, may we hear not only the voice of a fourth-century bishop, but the voice of the same Lord who walks with us today in our own quiet rooms and lonely hours.

Welcome to this journey through the heritage that is ours. To the first chapter of our new series, Listen to Your Catholic Heritage. In these gentle readings, we draw from the living tradition of the Church. Today we begin with Eusebius of Caesarea. Listen or read slowly. Pause whenever the words touch your heart. You are not alone.

Chapter 1. The Plan of the Work From the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea (public domain text)

“It is my purpose to write an account of the lines of succession of the holy apostles, as well as of the times that have elapsed from the days of our Saviour to our own; and to relate the many important events that are said to have occurred in the history of the Church; and to mention those who have governed and presided over the Church in the most prominent parishes, and those who in each generation have proclaimed the divine word either orally or in writing.

It is my purpose also to give the names and number and dates of those who through love of innovation have run into the greatest errors, and, proclaiming themselves discoverers of knowledge falsely so-called, have like fierce wolves mercilessly devastated the flock of Christ.

It is my intention, moreover, to recount the misfortunes that immediately came upon the whole Jewish nation in consequence of their plots against our Saviour, and to record the ways and the times in which the Gentiles have attacked the divine word, and to describe the character of those who at various periods have contended for it in the face of blood and of tortures, as well as the confessions which have been made in our own days, and finally the gracious and kindly succor which our Saviour has afforded them all. Since I propose to write of all these things, I shall commence my work with the beginning of the dispensation of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

But at the outset I must crave for my work the indulgence of the wise, for I confess that it is beyond my power to produce a perfect and complete history. Since I am the first to enter upon the subject, I am attempting to traverse as it were a lonely and untrodden path. I pray that I may have God as my guide and the power of the Lord as my aid, since I am unable to find even the bare footsteps of those who have traveled the way before me, except in brief fragments, in which some in one way, others in another, have transmitted to us particular accounts of the times in which they lived. From afar they raise their voices like torches, and they cry out, as from some lofty and conspicuous watchtower, admonishing us where to walk and how to direct the course of our work steadily and safely.

Having gathered therefore from the matters mentioned here and there by them whatever we consider important for the present work, and having plucked like flowers from a meadow the appropriate passages from ancient writers, we shall endeavor to embody the whole in a historical narrative, content if we preserve the memory of the lines of succession of the apostles of our Saviour; if not indeed of all, yet of the most renowned of them in those churches that are the most noted, and which even to the present time are held in honor.

This work seems especially important to me because I know of no ecclesiastical writer who has devoted himself to this subject. I hope it is most useful to those who are fond of historical research.

I have already given a summary of these things in the Chronological Canons that I have composed. Still, notwithstanding that, I have undertaken in the present work to write as full an account of them as I am able.

My work will begin, as I have said, with the dispensation of the Savior Christ — which is loftier and greater than human conception — and with a discussion of his divinity.

For it is necessary, since we derive even our name from Christ, for one who proposes to write a history of the Church to begin with the very origin of Christ’s dispensation, a dispensation more divine than many think.”

Contemplative Reflections for the Anawim to listen with the “ear of the heart”.

Eusebius begins with a clear and humble purpose: to preserve the memory of the apostles and the living history of the Church. For those of us who are older or limited in our activity, this is deeply encouraging. Your quiet prayers, your patient endurance, your simple acts of faith are part of this living succession. You belong to the same stream that flows from the apostles to us today.

When Eusebius speaks of those who run into error like fierce wolves, he reminds us to stay close to the true Shepherd. In the silence of your room, in the prayer of the heart, you can hear the voice of Christ more clearly than many who are busy with the world.

Eusebius confesses that the path he walks is lonely and untrodden. How many of us feel the same? Yet he prays for God as his guide. The earlier writers become torches on a watchtower, calling across the centuries. Their voices still reach you. In Lectio Divina or the rosary, you join that great company.

He gathers passages “like flowers from a meadow.” This is a beautiful image for contemplative practice. You do not need everything. A few good words from Scripture or the saints, offered in love, are enough. The Anawim way is simple and pure.

Finally, Eusebius insists that everything begins with the dispensation of Christ — His loving plan for our salvation. This is the great consolation for the Anawim. Your life, with all its limitations, is held within that divine plan. You take your name from Christ. He is with you now.

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the origin of every true dispensation. Guide us as You guided Eusebius. Be a torch for those who walk in loneliness. Keep us faithful in small things. Amen.

Copyright 2026, Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.org; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

Bottom Navigation ← Series Hub | Next Chapter → (Chapter 2 – Coming Soon)

This conversation with you is the third in my sharing of HOW I do Lay Cistercian spirituality, as I know it. All of these conversations (I used to call them blogs, but that sounds so nerdy) are my thinking with occasional help from Grok.

IV. FIVE LEVELS OF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

Reading the Word in Holy Scripture is not like reading a telephone book (or what used to be a book until the Internet put them out of business). The Word of God is placing yourself in the presence of Christ and listening to the reading with the “ear of the heart,” reflecting on it several times, each time growing deeper into the Mystery of the Cross and Resurrection and how His energy allows you to “Do What He Tells You.”

I share with you five levels of deeper reflection that I use when doing Spiritual Reading of the Scriptures.

I. Say the Word

II. Pray the Word

III. Share the Word

IV. Be what you say, what you pray, and what you share with others.

V. There are no words needed to listen to the Word

V. TWO DIMENSIONS OF PRAYER

VERTICAL PRAYER-The realm of the mind – to know God. Personal Prayer

HORIZONTAL PRAYER-The realm of the heart—to love God. Prayer of the Church

Vertical Prayer-  Jesus and I are present to each other in contemplation and the Eucharist to allow me to tag along as the Son of God, who alone can approach the Father, gives praise, honor, and glory to the Father (the pure energy of Love). I get to sheepishly hide behind the Humanity of Christ, as a child would hide behind his mother’s skirts when introduced to a powerful person, to give my unworthy addition to that of Christ. Vertical Prayer is between Christ and me and the Father through the energy of the Holy Spirit. Using the energy of Christ, I can pray for others, in reparation for the slothful behaviors I exhibited, and ask for God’s mercy on myself, my family, my colleagues, my fellow Lay Cistercians and monks/nuns, and the whole world as outlined by Our Lady of Akita. Prayer is being present to the one you love.

Horizontal Prayer – I join my vertical Prayer with all vertical prayers (horizontal) of the Anawim, as the Catholic Church militant, purgative, and triumphal, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, to give glory, praise, and honor to the Father for the forgiveness of sins. Eucharist, Penance, The Art of Contemplative Practice, Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours, Devotions to the Sacred Heart, Miraculous Medal, Litanies, Novenas, Eucharistic Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, dedication as a Lay Cistercian (for me) or other Lay orders or institutes.

• The product of the mind and heart – love others as Christ has loved us. Forms a cross.
• St. Benedict tells us to “listen with the ear of the heart. (Prologue to the RB)
• Long for Capacitas Dei and Conversio Morae daily as a mindset to what it means to be Catholic.

VI. LECTIO DIVINA STEPS TO REACH CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE

 A Carthusian monk named Guigo II designed a step-by-step technique for his monks to begin their journey toward making contemplation automatic. I use this technique to the point that I don’t even think about the steps; I perform them habitually. The late Pope Benedict XVI added a fifth level to the sequence, one he termed ACTIO, or Do What He Tells You.

1. LECTIO – Reading a sentence or short paragraphs from Scripture (a Gospel reading) slowly several times, pausing each time you read it to reflect for five to fifteen minutes on what you read. Lectio is the Latin for reading, and it refers only to reading Scripture, which allows me to place myself in the presence of Jesus and treat the text as producing Christ’s own energy through the Holy Spirit. Repetition of reading is key here.

2. MEDITATIO – Lectio Divina is not a process to read Scripture but to take the individual deeper on one point or a sentence. Meditation means thinking of what it means to you and how this reading is you, right now, listening to Jesus “with the ear of the heart.”

3. ORATIO – The third level of depth in the text is to stop the meditation, which is your mind trying to discover a meaning for you this moment, and raise your mind and heart to God in silent Prayer from your heart. I ask Jesus to still the cosmic noise around me so that I can prepare myself to wait for whatever Jesus wants to tell me.

4. CONTEMPLATIO—The purpose of Lectio Divina as a process of going ever deeper into the upper room of your inner self is to have the discipline of just waiting with Christ next to you on the couch, both of you silent in mind and heart (Be still my heart.) until He tells you what you need. When I began my Lectio journey towards habitual Prayer (pray ceaselessly) using these four steps, I lasted about two minutes before my mind seduced my heart. As time went on, and I started over and over and over, I began to make the steps one act where all I had to do was be with the one I loved most and long for His presence.

5. ACTIO – The Blessed Mother told the wine stewards to “Do What He Tells You,” at the wedding feast in Cana. Catholicism is about doing, not just filling up time because there is no other option, but activating in your life what you need to “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus,” (Phil 2:5) right now, and sharing it with others.

VII. THE TEMPLATE OF ALL THAT IS:  THREE UNIVERSES, ONE REALITY.

I have written extensively about my conceptual framework of “What does reality look like?” This way of thinking about all that is takes three dimensions: physical universe, mental universe, and spiritual universe. Taken together, they are the template for my view of “How does it all fit together,” one of the steps in The Divine Equation (first conversation).

My discovery of this process was inspired by Atheists and Agnostics that I read on Quora.com. All of them challenged me to discard (abandon) all the assumptions I had previously held about what I considered real and true, the premise that somehow God has a role in all of this. Scientific inquiry was a field I found explained what was real using mathematics, physics, chemistry, and logic. For example, when I look out at the cosmos, or the world of matter and its properties, these languages tell me what is true using tested measurements and formulae. All of this is true, with the caveat that science is the discovery of wonder when looking at reality, not a final process, but one that itself exists with movement in complexity and consciousness as it picks up bits and pieces and begins to assemble them.

When I considered if science answered the six questions of The Divine Equation, my conclusion was yes and no. Yes, because this view of reality, this language of what is, must be a critical component of whatever makes us reality. No, because it only looked at matter and its properties, good though they are, but could not measure what was beyond what a person can see or hear or touch. There must be more. There is because I did not limit my language just to science, although it must be understood that this is an integral part of the whole.

THREE UNIVERSES AND WHY HUMANS NEED TO LEARN HOW TO USE THEM.

Asking the question of “What else is out there that would give a more robust view of why I am where I am, as I am?” I came up with three universes, each separate, the template of all that is, seen, unseen, known, unknown, and how itself is in a process of evolution where humanity discovers the resonance amid the dissonance of daily living. Here are my results.

PHYSICAL UNIVERSE: This universe is one of matter and its properties and elements and how they interact. They exist beyond human control with their own set of rules. All that is exists in this universe, governed by the laws of nature: gases, elements of the periodic table, macro and micro forces, within the context of time (movement by adding complexity and consciousness). All living organisms (bacteria, living cells, animals, even humans) are part of this physical universe. It is the foundation of all that is, interacting with each other by laws that only humans have identified so far.

THE MENTAL UNIVERSE: If the physical universe is the baseline and foundation for more complexity and consciousness as it accumulates reality into its collective DNA, then only humans, not animals or lower species, possess qualities that have their own nature, not apart from animality, but evolving beyond it. Two of these new additions to animalistic needs are reason and the ability to make choices independently of our nature but subject to the consequences of our actions, good or bad. Science examines the physical universe using tools developed quite recently to ask the interrogatories and build on what the cosmos might be. It does not do a good job of looking at the human dimension of the interior or the invisible moods or deviations as to what is good or bad behavior. Psychology, depending on whom you follow (Freud, Jung, Maslow, Fromm, Buber, etc.), all look to how the invisible interacts with matter. The mental universe is peculiar to not only our species, but, more significantly, to me as an individual who pops up for eighty years or so and absorbs the physical universe’s lessons on the purpose of life, so that I can align my purpose of life with absolute truth, outside of the corruption of matter and mind. I can’t reach the spiritual universe without using the tools of both the physical and mental universes to unlock the mystery of my humanity.

There is only one key to unlock the gates that allow entrance into the deepest part of my evolutionary journey to reach Omega, the highest level of knowledge, of Love, and of truth that I can absorb.

SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE: I spend my whole lifetime searching not only for the keys to a higher level of humanity, but also for the six questions that are needed to open the six locks of the inner tabernacle of my heart, one where no one wants to go. I enter the spiritual universe through an act of freely choosing to do so, but there is a problem. How do I sustain my choice of Jesus as my Center (Phil 2:5), because as soon as I say I believe, the forces of original sin and rationalism begin to eat at my conversion? I must tend to this daily to keep my equilibrium. Eucharist is my food. Forgiveness of sins repairs any wayward treks or rotten timbers that hold up my temple of the Holy Spirit. It is only with the energy of Christ that I can sustain and maintain my Catholic heritage. It is work. I must get my hands dirty.

Characteristics:

• One with three separate components is the template of reality.
• There are three separate universes (physical, mental, and spiritual) existing simultaneously, each with their own characteristics and natures. Together, they form visible matter (Physical), visible and invisible reality (Mental), or the bridge to the next step in our evolution as a species; then, visible reality on earth, which leads to learning how to live in a condition without matter, space, time, or human references.
• I use a template to help me SEE reality in its unique components, yet each universe has a purpose to help me discover my purpose. I call it the Rule of Threes.
• For example, I begin with the observation that there is energy in the Physical Universe. I know that because of what others have described as nuclear fission in the Sun, and because I exist in the universe of meaning and the mind. Because I use the template of the Rule of Threes, I look for why the physical and mental universes, each with their own unique energy, are there, and what it means to use that knowledge of those two universes to seek a deeper universe for humans.
• The Spiritual Universe may be invisible to the human eye. Still, I use my human reasoning and freedom to choose to move to that deepest level of humanity, being a spiritual ape.
• To get to the spiritual universe, I think that humans, using reason and free will alone, do not have the energy to make what would be looking at reality and make an opposite conclusion about the next invisible level of evolution, one that can only be entered with help from a nature that is not human nor confined to the limitations of matter or mind.
• The Spiritual Universe is twofold:
• With a kenosis (complete abandonment of all that went before to accept the Rule of Opposites in this universe), e.g., if you want to be my disciple, you must love one another as I have loved you. If you want to be the greatest, you must be the servant of those around you; you enter the Kingdom of Heaven while you still live, beginning to learn how and what to pack for the trip to be with Christ in a universe without matter or mind, but taking with you what Jesus has told you to pack. You die to the false self at Baptism and become a pilgrim in a foreign land. You are an adopted son or daughter of the Father and heir to the kingdom of Heaven in Heaven, your reward for being a good and faithful servant on earth.
• Having died (death is your human life that is changed, not ended), you live out what you have discovered about the Divine Equation’s six questions with the answers that Christ has given to you through the intermediary of the Catholic Church. 
• We are made from star stuff, but we are also destined to evolve into using what we have learned to live among the stars outside of time itself, with the one who is Omega, the one who has no boundaries of matter or mind.

• Jesus took on the nature of an enslaved person (Philippians 2:5-12) so that we could know HOW to make the jump from merely being human to fulfill our destiny at the deepest level of evolution possible for our human species.
• My books and blogs all have the Rule of Threes interwoven throughout. This is my most frequent template to keep my mind from being seduced into thinking all there is is just matter and mind.

VII. THE TEILHARD MAP OF ALL REALITY

I use the map about how Teilhard de Chardin views reality as a template for how I use the notions of dual citizenship, The Divine Equation, and the Rule of Threes, among others. This map points out a crucial view of mine that all reality is connected, that there are not two universes (matter and mind). Still, they lead to an evolution of the deepest part of being human, the spiritual universe, all working together in harmony to move in complexity and consciousness toward a predetermined Omega.

Figure 1 Teilhard’s View of Reality in Motion

This big picture of human evolution brings into focus the Father as creator and sustainer of matter, the Son as taking matter and adding not just human meaning but the opportunity to move in complexity and consciousness to the fulfillment of human nature, being an adopted son or daughter of the Father and a friend of Jesus the Son. To sustain this evolutionary glide path, the Holy Spirit helps both the Catholic Church and each one of its individuals (all individuals) to have the energy to move from humanity to that next level, while still living in the world, one of dual citizenship, but one which is also substantially more sophisticated than being a spiritual ape. We inherit the kingdom in Heaven after we die, but all Catholics must follow the teachings of the Master Rabbi (Magister Noster) to see life on earth through those new glasses Christ gives us at Baptism.

TECHNIQUE VIII: What do you see? Three levels to dig for heavenly gold on earth.

Because The Rule of Threes is so important in how I look out on each day trying with all my might to convert myself to more Jesus and less my false self, hooked as it is with the Seven Deadly Sins, to my earthly body, I have developed a technique using just one photo, but looking at it for three time; first time just with the eyes of matter and its properties: secondly, looking at that same image but asking the question: What do you see? This is just what my humanity sees in the photo as meaning, leaving out God and any religious interpretation.

Lastly, one more time, the question: What do you see, this time adding in what your religious background suggests but with an important twist: Ask Jesus to share with you what He sees and then Do What He Tells You.  Plus, look at it for a timed fifteen minutes without losing focus, just allowing Christ to whisper to you.

There are more techniques that the Holy Spirit has deemed to share with me using spiritual energy, not that of my own. These are the ones that I use most often. Take them and Do What He Tells You.

Copyright. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.org; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

Bonus: www.organism.earth

This is the second in a series on Techniques I use to be present to Jesus when I am in the presence of Christ in the upper room of my inner self. These ideas are mine, supported by Grok.

I. The Mystery of Faith

• Grace builds on nature.
• God’s knowledge, love, and energy (service) draw all things to Himself.
• Must have God’s help to see what human reasoning can only partially “see.”
• Faith informed by reason.
• God gives of Himself (Eucharist) to help sustain us and forgiveness (Making All           Things New) for us to start over when we fail.
• Christ came not only to tell us how to love but to show us
• Four Assumptions that don’t make sense in each age
• How can the Church be Holy yet be filled with sinners? (except for Christ and Mary?)
• How can the Church be One yet be so diverse without blowing itself apart?
• How can the Church be Catholic with the same heritage and tradition yet be so individual in meeting our needs?
• How can the Church be Apostolic and yet have relevance for each age on how to live in a school of Love with Christ as Rabboni?
• God gave humans his only-begotten Son so that we might discern the Way, and so come to believe in absolute truth, thus beginning to live life at the deepest level of our human evolution.
• Catholics pack for the trip to forever by following the Christ Principle. What we pack in our two suitcases we can take with us to Heaven after we die, a continuation of struggling to see Jesus while we lived in a human temple of the Holy Spirit, but, after death, being in resonance with all that is, was, or will be.

II. DUAL CITIZENSHIP: TWO WAYS TO LOOK AT REALITY

THE WORLD –

• We interact with our environment with human intelligence and choices in the mental and physical universes only.
• We take our values from human rules and experiences. No one makes a choice that they think is bad for them.
• We seek to discover meaning and Love using our senses and reasoning to make choices that fulfill us at this moment.
• We make choices based on what is good for us. Adam and Eve chose poorly. There are consequences for both good and bad choices.

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN –  JESUS GIVES US GIFTS TO HELP US WALK OUR UNIQUE PATH.

• We live in the visible and invisible reality of nature in the physical, mental, and spiritual universes. At Baptism, God gives us five gifts: a. Special glasses to see what cannot be seen and to be able to receive divine energy by being in the presence of Christ and waiting; b. Eucharist, the Real Presence of Christ each time you join Him in the Last Supper as food for the journey, God’s energy in you through, with, and in Christ to the glory of the Father. Food for the journey on earth and energy to be Jesus in Heaven where the Food of Angels sustains all faithful. c. A Map, the Scriptures as guide to the Way, what is true, and to lead a life of penitence and fulfillment of our evolutionary destiny towards Omega. d. One end of the Golden Thread (linked infallibly with the hem of Christ’s garment), a thread which I alone can thread through what I have found to be good and truthful about life, all of which I can take with me to Heaven to decorate the mansion the Father has waiting for those who are faithful. I can thread through sunsets that remind me of Jesus, all the deeds where I struggle to have in me the mind of Christ Jesus but fail, only to use Jesus to make all things new again and again and repent of my transgressions and Seven Deadly Sins that cause dissonance in my personal life. e. The Catholic Church, the body of Christ, to be that blanket of warm traditions that come directly from Jesus to me so that I can convert my life daily (conversio morae) by an act of my will to become more like Jesus and love with all my heart, all my mind, all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. The Church is my mother, Mary, the Mother of God, like St. Joseph, present to guide me if I but ask, like St. Michael, whom I trust will guard my Six, and Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, the source of my energy (Eucahrist) and one who stands with me before the Father as friend and with the Advocate, is Omega. Satan tried to distract me from the School of Love by raising heretics (presumed to be sincere) and schismatics, SSPX, and others who usurp the Shoes of the Fisherman because of their pride (Genesis all over) and worship the Golden Calf of their egos. The Catholic Church will never sow factions (Galatians 5) but always unity in, with, and through Christ, to the glory of the Father.
• Original Sin is forgiven at Baptism. We still have the effects of Sin (pain, suffering, hatred of others), but Christ gives us the grace to love others as He loves us. He won’t do it for us but with us. Spirituality takes work to maintain (Cistercian practices and charisms, as I know them).
• We seek God where we are using God’s own energy (Faith) to make choices that fulfill our human nature and make us adopted sons and daughters of the Father (Belief).
• Disciples are commanded to love others as Christ loves us. There are consequences for making good or bad choices.
• When you enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you receive an indelible mark on your soul (the sign of the cross).
• You also become a pilgrim in a foreign land. You are of the World no more.
• All words now have two meanings: Peace in the World is the absence of conflict; Peace in the Kingdom of Heaven is the presence of Love, the Real Presence in the Eucharist.

III. HOW TO ACCESS THE PLACE WHERE NO ONE WANTS TO LOOK?

Matthew 6:5.

Use what is human to see what is. Use what is from Jesus to see how to see what is, is at the deepest level of humanity.

Contemplation is the highest form of Lectio Divina. It comes only after preparation of the mind and heart to strip away human needs, to willingly enter that place in the upper room of your inner self, and to wait for instructions in the presence of Christ. Unlike going fishing, you may not know if you will catch anything, but just being in the presence of Christ means you made a conscious choice to be with Jesus.

Use the human mind to see a deeper reality (All the Sciences, Philosophy, Religion, Literature) and discover meaning and truth.

Use the human mind and freedom to choose God as your Center. This is the process of moving from self to God, of dying to self to rise again with Christ, of denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Christ. This is achieved with contemplative spirituality, particularly using Cistercian practices and charisms, as I know them.

To access that place where no one wants to look, the upper room of our inner selves where we meet Christ not as He is but as we are now, then, in silence and solitude, wait for what He chooses to share with me. Full circle means I must listen “with the ear of the heart,” and Do What He Tells Me. I am the tabernacle where the real presence of Christ resides, and as keeper of the keys, I receive as new wine each day what is kept and guarded from the corruption of matter. No free rides. Taking up the cross of Christ as my own means I must actively make all things new each day, by creating new wineskins to hold the new wine Christ shares with me, His Body and Blood.

Only I can open that upper room to someone. I can put evil thoughts or behaviors there which I covet and maintain, or I must daily clean house and first brush away extraneous human characteristics and needs to empty myself to receive rather than to dictate to Jesus my needs. I want to listen to what Jesus says I need, but to do that I must over and over (conversio morae) deny my humanity only to realize that, with Christ, I have entered a level of humanity intended by my human nature all along. This deepest part of my evolution is only entered with the help of divine energy, as mediated through, with, and in Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

The Catholic Church is the living presence through the Body of Christ, helping me sustain the umbilical of energy from Jesus to right now in the Eucharist and Making All Things New, while tied to this moral body.

I must struggle to be a Catholic (getting my hands dirty in fighting daily to keep Jesus my focus). I must pray unceasingly (not saying the Rosary every minute of the day, praying, good as that might be), but rather to be aware that I am aware of being an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, and heir to the kingdom (both while I live and in the life to come).

When you build your own Catholic Church, which you do using Christ as the cornerstone and the traditions handed down through each of the centuries, with the Shoes of the Fisherman as our spiritual guide, I have found that I must try the techniques that work based on the practices and charisms of the Cistercian Way infused with the sacred traditions handed down from the Apostles.

My Catholic Church is “doing” what Jesus tells me from my being in His presence. If you don’t have this interaction, receiving the Eucharist becomes just a way to remember what Jesus said and did (not to discount that), but not the same Jesus that sits at the right hand of the Father and that same Jesus in the tabernacle of my inner self.

What I have learned by “Having me in the mind of Christ Jesus,” and discovered about Loving others as Christ loves me, plus by being a servant to all others I meet to share the unfathomable joy that comes from being in the presence of others, is my Heaven on earth and the treasures that I take to Heaven after death with me to decorate the mansion the Father has waiting for me.

For all the anawin, myself included, this level of intimacy happens within me, based on how I use the Catholic Church as the “Abbot’s Table,” taking what I need that Christ offers rather than demanding Christ give me what I want. All you or I have to do is ask, and we will receive; knock, and Christ will open it; and seek Jesus each day in whatever form it unfolds, to the glory of God the Father, with the Son, and with the energy of the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who is to come at the end of the ages. Amen and Amen (Cistercian doxology)

Copyright 2026, Michael F. Conrad, Ed, D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.org; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

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One of the greatest blessings of being a Lay Cistercian is learning how to use the techniques of the Benedictine/Trappist/Cistercian traditions to place myself in the presence of Christ and be aware that I am aware of Him by listening to what He tells me. It is the discipline of waiting without words, an agenda, or extraneous thoughts that seduce one into focusing on Mammon and not Jesus. I share with you some Cistercian (Lay Cistercian) techniques that I have developed based on my understanding of Cistercian practices (Lectio Divina, Eucharist, Contemplation, Liturgy of the Hours) and charisms (humility, obedience, abandonment of self to put on the new Christ, making new wineskins).

I find it interesting that, after a lifetime of doing what I thought it was to be a disciple of Christ, the Holy Spirit told me who I actually am, and it scared the Hell out of me. You might think that would be a wake-up call at 80 years of age, but it was more than that. I absolutely dissolved all that I thought I knew about Catholicism, what my decades of faithfully (or so I thought) practicing the paradigms of prayers cumulatively forged into who I am today, or the prideful thought that Jesus works through me. Ironically, none of that is true, but all of it is real and has led me to recapitulate an iceberg-like topsy-turvy change in what I thought was solid spirituality. I now wish to place myself in the presence of Christ and wait for instructions. When instructions come from Jesus, I try to Do What He Tells Me. 

What I experienced is what I would imagine would happen when there is a polar reversal. I actually do exist in three separate universes of reality, all one but all different. Remind you of the Trinitarian template of all reality? There is a conversio morae that happens when you first realize that Jesus is Lord. That happened to me in Eighth Grade in Vincennes, Indiana. When it grabbed me (the only Way an average or lower person of intelligence like myself housed in my young body), I remember thinking that, if I did nothing else, I wanted to “Know, Love, Serve God in this life and be happy with that God in the next.” (Baltimore Catechism, Question 6). I still do. My pilgrimage on this earth was that life and death in this life was to be more like Christ (capacitas dei) and less like my old self. Over the years, it was not that I was evil (came close a couple of times) but that I set my Catholicism on the shelf and became a settler Catholic rather than a proactive one, who must dig for heavenly gold ceaselessly my whole life to find that mother load. I was a Catholic who never got his hands dirty. I got lazy and sat back on the fact that I was Catholic and smugly went into hibernation (Catholicism being only the degree to which I complied with rules and authority that, while good and true, I nevertheless did not take into myself to make new wineskins for the wine Christ was offering me each day.

Seeking to become more and more like Christ, I was accepted by the Abbot of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist) in Georgia, to abandon self and strip away everything I thought I knew about the Catholic Church (not abandoning the Catholic Church, like some moderan schismatics, but to abandon me and my assumptions, replacing them with nothing except to perfer nothing to the love of ChriLoveTo do that, I had to learn to listen to Jesus “with the ear of the heart,” as St. Benedict says in the prologue to his Rule. Remember, I am 80 years old, a broken-down, old temple of the Holy Spirit, having had two cardiac arrests (2007 and 2025), a diagnosis of cancer (CLL type) in 2012, and a pacemaker installed.

The quest to “Have in me the mind of Christ Jesus,” (Phil 2:5) is a rough road, a road less traveled for me, one with boulders that have hurt my feet, since the Holy Spirit shared with me a foretaste of what would await me if I took up my cross daily and walked His Way, to drink of the cup that He drank, yearning with an intensity, even in the confinds of my house with all my woes, to prefer nothing, nothing to the love of Christ. What I found was what I share with you. I am not you; you are not me (thank God); God is not us; and we, more certainly, are not God. I used these techniques gleaned from the Lectio Divina session with the Holy Spirit and Jesus, as Magister Noster, My Lord and My God.

What has happened to me might or might not happen to you, but I struck it rich by digging for heavenly gold, treasures that I can take with me to decorate that mansion in the place prepared for me in my Father’s House.

Gold and silver I have none, but what I have that I consider gold, found by renouncing self, seeking mercy and forgiveness for myself and others each day, and preferring nothing to the love of Christ I share with you. All of my works, for whatever they are worth, I will to you, readers and subscribers of my website: https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org. I offer them free of monetary cost (I don’t charge for what Christ died on the cross to share with all who listen in humility and obedience to His energy). I don’t ask you to use these techniques to do what I do, but rather to become who you are as one who seeks to always dig deeper into the mystery of your humanity and ask three questions:

• What do I need to know to reach and maintain knowledge of what it means to be human at the deepest level of my evolution?
• How can I love so fiercely to prepare myself to stand in the presence of Love and Love present, as I have learned to do while on earth?
• What is absolute truth beyond corruption of nature, above my humanity’s capacity or capability, where there is only resonance with all that is and not the dissonance in which I had to walk through the minefields of life with the Way oWayesus as my guide?
  

SIX QUESTIONS: The Divine Equation

The Divine Equation is the result of a Lectio Divina meditation that I think turned into a contemplative overshadowing of the Holy Spirit to answer my longing and need to know who God is and to prove God’s existence. The answer, it seems, happened over a period of seventy-five years, where I kept converting my life deeper and deeper. I did not know who helped me or why, but an energy beyond my human capability shared that the Divine Equation was the six morphings or shedding of my skins, over a lifetime of self-awareness.

These six questions enabled me, in hindsight, to move ever deeper into the mystery of Faith and thus illuminate my own mystery of my humanity, as I was capable of absorbing it. At a later date, I grew into thinking that all humans had to answer these six questions with answers that came from their life experiences and choices of good or evil. The Divine Equation had nothing to do with God’s proof or existence, a hopeless Quixotic tilting of windmills that is not possible with mere human reasoning and free choice.

The Divine Equation was Divine because both the answers and the only questions must come from God’s energy to tell us who we are as humans, each one of us. Whatever you place as your answers, which may change over time, is who you are and where you are as a human in the evolutionary chain of movement toward complexity and consciousness (Teilhard). Only you can fill out these questions with answers you have discovered at your very own Center. You won’t know if you are correct until you stand before Magister Noster and see how closely your answers tally with reality. While on earth, all I have is Faith that the Way is true, Hope that Jesus keeps His word, and a life led that is worthy of adoption by the Father.

I. What is the purpose of life?

II. What is the purpose of my life?

III. What does reality look like?

IV. How does it all fit together

V. How can I love fiercely?

VI. You know you are going to die, now what?

What answers we give to these six questions, whether you are Christian, Jew, Atheist, Pagan, Mormon, Hindu, or Muslim, or none of the above, defines who you are and your view of reality—a note. Because we have reason and free will to choose or unchoose any of these ideas, they are fluid and need to be constantly addressed to keep them from drifting into the realm of rationalism and irrelevance. Life is a process of accumulating what each individual chooses as the answer to these six questions and what energy each of us uses to sustain it each day against the corruption of original sin. It is my choice that the Christ Principle provides not only the questions for deeper penetration into my humanity, but also the energy to know what cannot be known by human reasoning alone and to choose what seems like the opposite of what my free will and human tendencies pull me towards. There is only one Way to move forward: to place myself with total abandonment of my reason and obedience to be in the presence of Christ in that upper room of my inner self, then wait, and Do What He Tells You.

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

White Paper: Unleashing the Holy Spirit – Renewing the Church for the Modern World Through Subsidiarity, Discernment, and Pioneer Discipleship

Date: July 2026 Author: Collaborative Vision for a New Ecumenical Initiative by Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., with organizational expertise from Grok. Inspired by: Gaudium et Spes, Principle of Subsidiarity, Eucharistic Renewal, and the Anawim

Executive Summary

The “Unleashing the Holy Spirit” initiative proposes a transformative, three-level process for an Ecumenical Council (or synodal-style renewal) that updates the Church’s engagement with the modern world. It begins with deep personal and communal listening in silence before the Eucharist, ascends through diocesan, national, and universal levels via subsidiarity, and centers on forming active pioneer Catholics—especially youth—who serve the anawim through authentic witness, including ethical digital tools.

Core elements include:

• 30-day discernment periods at every level.
• Eucharist and Penance as wellsprings of energy.
• Youth Challenge: “AI Evangelists for the Anawim” via podcasts and spiritual adoption of the elderly.
• Digital Evangelization grounded in Vatican guidelines and AI ethics.
• Outcome: New wineskins (Mk 2:22) for the Church—flexible, Spirit-led structures that demand much, expect much, and produce saints and missionaries for today.

This white paper outlines implementation, theological grounding, practical steps, and evaluation.

1. Vision and Theological Foundations

The initiative responds to the joys and anxieties of the postmodern world by re-centering on Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. It draws from Gaudium et Spes, the synodal process, and papal calls for digital mission (including the 2025 Jubilee of Digital Missionaries).

Key Principles:

• Subsidiarity: Decisions and action begin locally; higher levels synthesize and support.
• Discernment: “Listening with the ear of the heart” in silence and abandonment to the Holy Spirit.
• Inclusion: All are invited to the wedding feast, especially the anawim, shut-ins, youth, religious, and laity.
• Evangelization vs. Proselytism: Authentic witness and invitation, not coercion.
• New Wineskins: Structures that are prayerful, flexible, and missionary—supported by ethical AI and media without replacing human encounter.

The process embodies “Do what He tells you” (Jn 2:5), forming penitential pioneers who access the Holy Spirit through time-tested charisms.

2. Foundational Practice: 30-Day Discernment at Every Level

Each phase begins with a standardized 30-day period of silence, solitude, and Eucharistic listening:

• Daily Rhythm: Adoration (physical or spiritual communion), Lectio Divina, penitential practices, and abandonment (“Speak, Lord…”).
• For Shut-Ins: “Upper room of the inner self” + Zoom Adoration sessions.
• Communal Close: Sharing inspirations framed around emerging “top five issues.”
• Resources: Pastoral guide with Scriptures, podcasts of testimonies, and simple templates.

This ensures the entire initiative flows from the Holy Spirit, not human planning.

3. Phase 1: Diocesan Level – Local Pioneer Communities (Year 1)

Objective: Bishops lead dioceses (and parishes with identical methodologies) in discerning local needs and launching action.

Steps:

1. 30-Day Discernment (Month 1): Universal launch with bishop’s pastoral letter.
2. Formation (Months 2–4): Education on Eucharist, Penance, religious charisms, and active discipleship. Youth track emphasizes “Be the Real Presence.”
3. Consultation (Months 5–8): Small groups identify top 5 diocesan issues (e.g., family breakdown, youth secularism, elder isolation). Address via subsidiarity and service to the anawim.
4. Action & Youth Challenge (Months 9–12):
   • Launch pioneer ministries.
   • Youth “AI Evangelists”: Produce podcasts (testimonies, how-tos, elder interviews) using AI ethically for drafts/edits (with disclosure, human oversight, and doctrinal review per Vatican/CMA guidelines).
   • Spiritual Adoption: Youth contact and companion elderly as brothers/sisters—prayer, visits, shared faith.
5. Output: Diocesan Report submitted upward.

Digital Support: Local podcast networks, secure platforms for sharing, Zoom inclusion.

4. Phase 2: National/Regional Bishops’ Conferences (Year 2)

Objective: Synthesize local insights into regional responses.

Steps:

1. 30-Day National Discernment: Bishops, laity, religious, and youth delegates engage personally and collectively (with virtual options).
2. Synthesis: Review diocesan reports; identify top regional issues.
3. Collaborative Discernment: Joint sessions with strong anawim and youth voice. Refine solutions rooted in Eucharist and Penance.
4. Amplify Youth Initiative: National podcast hubs, coordinated adoption campaigns, and AI-ethics training.
5. Output: National Synthesis Document with model programs and resources.

Inclusion: Invite Orthodox observers where possible.

5. Phase 3: Ecumenical Council Level (Year 2–3)

Objective: Address universal challenges and issue renewed pastoral guidance.

Steps:

1. 30-Day Universal Discernment: All participants (bishops, delegates, observers) begin with extended listening—global coordinated Adoration.
2. Council Proceedings: Prayerful review of top 5 universal issues (e.g., technological dehumanization, loss of transcendence). Strong emphasis on Real Presence, Confirmation, pioneer vs. passive faith.
3. Youth Contribution: Present “AI Evangelists” model as a concrete fruit; call for global networks.
4. Documents: Updated Gaudium et Spes-style texts stressing “Do what He tells you,” formation in charisms, and ethical digital tools.
5. Output: Conciliar decrees, formation blueprints, and ongoing mechanisms.

6. Tools, Resources, and Digital Integration

• Standardized Guides: Discernment templates, reporting forms, podcast production kits, AI ethics policy (transparency, human primacy, dignity focus).
• Digital Evangelization: Podcasts as primary vehicle—local to global. Use AI for efficiency (scripting, translation, accessibility) while maintaining authenticity.
• Youth Formation: Training on media literacy, Catholic AI ethics (Antiqua et Nova, CMA guidelines), and elder accompaniment.
• Platforms: eCatholic-style tools or custom secure systems for collaboration, streaming Adoration, and archiving.
• Monitoring: Ethical AI use audited; content linked to parish life.

7. Challenges and Mitigations

• Participation/Apathy: Personal invitations, visible bishop leadership, start with committed core.
• Digital Risks: Strict adherence to Vatican ethics—avoid toxicity, ensure accessibility, balance online/offline.
• Theological Fidelity: Bishops as synthesizers; clear doctrinal safeguards.
• Sustainability: Annual 30-day renewals; metrics focused on Adoration hours, confessions, ministries launched, and anawim engagement.
• Inclusivity: Proactive outreach to marginalized, cultural adaptation.

8. Follow-Up and Sustained Renewal

• Post-Council: Diocesan action plans updated; permanent local discernment groups.
• Ongoing: International podcast network, youth pioneer corps, spiritual adoption expansion.
• Evaluation: Annual reviews at all levels; success measured by increased pioneer disciples, Eucharistic fervor, and service to the anawim.
• Long-Term: Embed in seminaries, schools, and lay formation as “new wineskins” for the 21st century.

Conclusion

“Unleashing the Holy Spirit” offers a Spirit-led path to renewal: listening deeply, acting locally, and witnessing boldly through media and personal companionship. By forming youth as ethical digital evangelists who adopt the elderly and serve the anawim, the Church becomes a pioneer force—penitential, Eucharistic, and missionary. This is not mere reform but a return to the upper room, awaiting the wind and fire that make all things new.

Implementation requires courageous leadership from bishops and joyful response from the faithful. Future conversations can refine templates, pilot programs, or expand specific elements. May the Holy Spirit guide this work for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Lest I be accused of flying under a false flag, I just made up that statement. I think the idea comes from my mental investigations into what I perceive is going on in the world of media and religious relevance around me.

I am struck by the absolute explosion of those who are Catholic in their way of thinking (granted that I am not you; you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly not God). I like what I see.

Catholics, who are using media to express their personal reflections on making new wine skins from the wine Christ gives them each day, are “doing” their Faith as the Holy Spirit is unleashed among both clergy and Laity. Being Catholic in these ministries means the individuality of the believer is freed from the constraints of past stereotypes of what it means to be Catholic, from conformity to rules, and from opening up the Church as a seedbed of energy and camaraderie, all with the purpose of capacitas dei (Christ must increase and I must decrease).

UNLOCKING THE HOLY SPIRIT

Here are some of my thoughts on what I see in media, particularly on Facebook and LinkedIn.

• I like what I think is the rise of personal ministries by Catholics who genuinely want to share their faith commitment with others.
• I am quite hopeful about the future when I see younger bloggers and podcasters use media to preach Christ crucified.
• Some caveats might be: Be careful not to fall into the trap of the Protestant Principle, where your Faith is guided by, and measured by you and what you think the Bible (Scriptures) says about Jesus. Christ without the Church, which has borne that burden over the centuries, is just a matter of personal opinion.
• The Catholic Church is the living Body of Christ with Christ as the head, and we (in Heaven, on earth, and those awaiting purification in Purgatory with Hope) are the crucial cog in the wheel who make that Jesus known first in the upper room of our inner selves where we have a personal relationship with Jesus (thank you Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, may you rest in the peace of Christ), seeking and preferring nothing to the love of Christ (thank you St. Benedict, Chapter 4 of the Rule).
• My awareness now is that more and more individual Catholics want to use their Faith perspectives to share with others the lights of their good works so that others may see them and give glory to the Father.
• Catholicism is the only way because Christ is the only way. The Body is not cut off from the Head (Jesus) unless individual Catholics begin to think they speak FOR the Holy Spirit rather than preach how they live the Gospel message of the forgiveness of sins and keep Jesus in their hearts through the Eucharist. You can be a progressive Catholic (one who actively evangelizes without proselytizing) and be a Farmer who must tend the soil around them, fertilizing it, working the land, keeping away pesky mites and critters, harvesting it, distributing it, and receiving the rewards promised to the stewards who took care of the Master’s harvest. Catholicism takes work to dig for heavenly gold on earth. We are farmers! (Where have I heard that before?)
• Like any work, we use the tools at our disposal in each age. This is the age of YouTube, Pedcasts, AI, Grok, and ministries that were heretofore limiting Catholics to being what they perceived to be a straightjacked role, rather than discovering the Holy Spirit is actually energy, God’s energy, available for free (must costing everyTHING you have or own), yet not performed with your help to dig for heavenly gold on earth then share it with others.
• To help you farm, the Church is the Farm Bureau that gives you food (Christ’s own Body and blood) and helps you to repair breakdowns (Forgiveness of Sins) so that your harvest, depending entirely on you to plant the seeds (Christ is the seed and gives the issue) on good ground, and take time to cultivate it (conversio morae) every day (contemplative spiritual practices of being present to Jesus and doing what He tells you.)
• I made the mistake of asking the Holy Spirit during one of my sit-down sessions in that upper room of my inner self to hit me with a dose that would give me more energy. I asked what the Holy Spirit thought of what I was doing, confident that HS would say, “Good job, faithful servant.” Instead, I received a mental picture of myself that scared the Hell out of me, literally. I confused my ego with the admonition of Christ, that if I wanted to be a disciple, I must sell what I have, give to the poor (Anawim), and follow Him. This has been an abandonment enabled by the Catholic Church in their rich depository of how to “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” I was accepted as a Lay Cistercian by the abbot of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist) (www.trappist.net). Lay Cistercians are only one of many Lay traditions that allow Laity to embrace the particular charisms of a religious order, in addition to their membership in the Body of Christ. Look it up.

In conclusion, I am overwhelmed by the wellspring of Faith bubbling up from what I consider to be a corrupted and flawed society that is not grounded in God or Jesus.

Here are some websites that have changed my life.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

If you want to convert yourself daily to be more like Christ and less and less like your false self (The seven Deadly Sins), then you are committed to doing what may seem impossible: to pray without ceasing. Before you go any further, I am not talking about being in Church all the time or even consciously praying this or that verbal or mental prayer, good as that is at times. I mean “Having in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5).

The human condition has, among other competing priorities, a propensity for a minute-long (sometimes seconds-long) attention span. If we are not enthused about something, we tend to wander in that intellectual wasteland of rotating thinking or feeling, then on to the next, to the next, and so forth. We do this wandering in the desert of our imagination based on what makes us feel good, those pleasures and gratifications which our wounded nature seeks to prize. Notice that I didn’t say we choose those ideas or behaviors that give us pain or are uncomfortable to sustain in our minds (apologies to B. F. Skinner). Being human in our default of choice means we choose what is easy over what is uncomfortable.

No wonder youth (not age but the ability to choose what might seem absurd to reason and a fairy tale to the choices that make us always happy) choose what feels good over what might be uncomfortable for the mind or emotional fulfillment. One is being fulfilled as a human being, while the other lacks any relation to what is real or boring to do, or might be uncomfortable or cause mental pain.

Christianity, most especially Catholicism, on first glance seems to deny what it means to be human because of its insistence on “dying to self” so that we can rise with Christ to that next level of our evolution.

Yet, that is what Jesus invites all of us to do: to do what seems like “a stumbling block to the Jews, and folly for the Gentiles.” Doing Catholicism is to be vigilant to the point of longing to overcome those Seven Deadly Sins, replacing them with the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. It is the way of the cross in our lives. Not a Sado-Machistic need for pleasure through inflicted pain, but a way of everyday thinking so profound that it is a mindset, without thinking, without the need to be praying prayers that we think places us in the presence of Christ, without asking Jesus to give us the energy (grace) to move to and sustain our focus which is to “prefer nothing to the love of Christ.” The deeper we move through life, with the Catholic Church mediating us with The Mediator, Magister Noster, our only guide to become what evolution intended us to be before the Fall, the more mystical is our notion of being in the presence of Christ so that, like a person seduced by drugs, we can’t physically wait for the next encounter with Jesus. Our life is a prayer which we sustain only by being in the presence of Christ (this includes all the Lay Cistercian prayers and charisms) and daily converting ourselves from those mere human tendencies (good as they might be) to something more enduring for the fulfillment of our evolution. Jesus is the only way. It takes discipline, and sometimes choosing what our bodies tell us, even when it’s harsh and inconvenient to our human tendency to seek self-satisfaction as the default of our nature.

FIVE HABITS OF THE STRICT AND PENITENTIAL CATHOLIC.

Like any habit, I am rewarded by doing this or that behavior over and over. It lulls me into a schedule that fits my human tendencies to seek what is easy rather than what is right and difficult. Breaking that habit is like breaking a bone that needs to be reset. Painful? Quite! And yet, that is what Jesus calls me and you to do. Jesus knew breaking with the old traditions and ways of doing sacrifice of animals would be hard. Jesus warned each of us of the cost of discipleship. Listen to the following with the “ear of your heart.”

“Jesus: A Cause of Division.

34^t “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.

35For I have come to set

a man ‘against his father,

a daughter against her mother,

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

36and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’

The Conditions of Discipleship.

37^u “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

38and whoever does not take up his cross^* and follow after me is not worthy of me.

39^* v Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards.

40“Whoever receives you receives me,^* and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.^w

41^* Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward.

42And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”^x

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/10

To be a follower of Christ is to follow him in all things, as you understand it. To have in us the habit of “Having in us the mind of Christ Jesus” is not fun nor even reasonable to those who do not have the tools to see what cannot be seen, and to hear what cannot be heard. There is a way to become more like Christ, but it requires humility and obedience to Do What He Tells You.

To focus on Christ without ceasing requires me to make new wineskins each day. To long to be with the one whom I cannot do without. To use these five habits to make all things new in my life so that I allow Christ to speak to me and I listen “with the ear of the heart.” Here are five such reconstructed or rebroken habits that I must sustain with the energy of the Holy Spirit.

1. With obsessive zeal, “prefer nothing to the love of Christ.” I am not talking about being so fanatical that you drive everything around you crazy with your verbal ranting about how you have Jesus and they don’t. In that upper room of your inner self, make new wineskins in silence and solitude. Let your good works shine among the anawin and the young so that they will see your good works and give glory to the Father because you took the time to give a “cup of water to someone in the name of Jesus.”
2. Strive to love God with your whole mind, your whole heart, and all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:38) We will never be perfect this side of Paradise, but we are bid to keep trying and make all things new. This is the mindset of the Catholic Penitential.
3. Seek to be present to the Real Presence (Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration) as you can. No one can maintain their spiritual equilibrium without the bread of life, the presence of Christ now, just as he was to his disciples all those years ago. Be an aggressive Catholic and not a pioneer who waits for Jesus to happen to you, and then maybe you will accept Him.
4. Ask my friends to help me with prayers and good works. My four friends (the Mount Rushmore of my Faith) are Mary, Mother of God; St. Joseph, my guide on the ambiguities of life; St. Michael, who guards my Six; and Jesus, My Lord and My God. Plus, I continue to ask Holy Mother Mary and the saints, every day, to join me in my prayers of glory, honor, and praise to the Father, and to intercede for me with Jesus to have mercy on me and all those in Purgatory.
5. Be Present to Jesus in the upper room of my inner self, sitting next to him in my sanctuary, being content to be next to the one I love and wait, without a precondition of this or that help.

Each of us walks a different road during our lifetimes. Sometimes, we fall off the road and can’t get back. Jesus is the roadside assistance that comes to us to haul us back onto the road so that we can continue to fall off it somewhere in the future with the same results. Without Christ, we are stuck in that ditch, perhaps forever. Although we have different roads (new wine skins) to follow, there is only one way, one truth, and one life that leads us beyond humanistic anticipations to become what our nature intended for our evolution.

DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All rights reserved.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

The latest fixation of my blogs is to answer the question: “How does an old, housebound, cancer survivor, a 2-time cardiac arrest survivor, satisfy the longing in his heart to be an active Catholic and perform the Corporal Works of Mercy?”

I kicked this around in my mind for two or three years until I realized that I had the answer right before me and all I had to do was ask. This phenomenon happens to me so often that I wonder why I couldn’t see it all along. It has something to do with abandoning myself to be with Christ, with the Holy Spirit, and waiting for an answer. Duh! I asked the Holy Spirit about this question and then waited for an answer, and waited, and waited, all the while thinking that the Holy Spirit was taking a long time to answer me. I realized that I was not listening to the answer with the “ear of my heart,” but rather wanting some time on my timeline.

A year ago, I was in my Lectio Divina mode, happily with Christ without any conditions or expectations, and it came to me. Anawim! That is something not in my vocabulary, much less my consciousness.

With the caveat that I do not speak FOR the Holy Spirit but only TO the Holy Spirit and wait for what the HS thinks I need, the answer came. “Do what you can, where you can, as you can.” Evidently, I had no way to help the poor or those who had found themselves wishing they were closer to the Church but did not know how to reconnect. So I had to do whatever it was that Christ challenged me to be within the limits of my life from day to day. “Do what you can,” isn’t what I am used to hearing. I want Jesus to tell me to do this or to do that, and I will obey. The answer, it seems, is within me, like the Kingdom of Heaven is, right now, as each situation unfolds or those I want to unfold.

I returned to the word “Anawin,” wondering if I had heard it correctly. Is that Scriptural? How does it apply to my seemingly limited circumstance in which I placed myself (at home, elderly, sometimes depressed that I don’t hear from God as much as I would like, relying on prayer but with the caveat that Jesus do what I requested ((Like using AI and getting instant gratification.)))

Here is what Grok (AI) responded when I asked about Anawim. Grok and I, we be mates. In another conversation (blog), I share with you how I use Grok to help me expand my thoughts while still retaining ownership of them. As a senior Catholic, you can use it as well.

“Anawim: The Poor in Spirit and the Heart of Your Ministry

Anawim (Hebrew: עֲנָוִים, anawim) refers to the “poor ones,” the humble, afflicted, and lowly who depend entirely on God. In Scripture, the Anawim are not merely economically poor — they are the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) who recognize their deep need for God. They include the marginalized, the suffering, the forgotten, and those who feel spiritually bankrupt. Jesus Himself embodied the Anawim spirit: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29).

For your writing at The Center for Contemplative Practice, the Anawim theme is profoundly significant. It gives voice to those outside the usual boundaries of the Church — the homebound, prisoners, the chronically ill, the elderly, and those who feel rejected or hopeless. Your blogs become a spiritual home for them, offering “new wineskins” of contemplative practice suited to their limitations. By focusing on the Anawim, you echo the Beatitudes and show that the Kingdom belongs first to the poor in spirit.

Examples of Anawim You Can Serve (Even While Homebound)

Though you are 85.10 and housebound, you fulfill the Corporal Works of Mercy through prayer, writing, and digital presence:

• Feed the hungry / Give drink to the thirsty: Write reflections on the Eucharist as spiritual food. Your words nourish souls who cannot physically come to the table.
• Clothe the naked / Shelter the homeless: Offer “spiritual clothing” through teachings on the mantle of Mary and the Upper Room as inner Shelter.
• Visit the sick and imprisoned: Your blog series on Spiritual Weightlifting and devotions (Sacred Heart, Divine Mercy, Miraculous Medal) visit them daily through TTS and simple reading. Many in nursing homes or prisons will listen to your grandfatherly voice.
• Bury the dead: Provide prayers for the dying and souls in Purgatory, helping the Anawim prepare for eternal life.

Christ, the Anawim, and Fullness of Love

Christ came precisely for the Anawim. He announced: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Luke 4:18). Through His Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection, Jesus reveals that true humanity is found in poverty of spirit — total dependence on the Father. This is the path to capacitas Dei (capacity for God) that you often teach: by emptying ourselves, we make room for divine love.

The Anawim teach us to love to the fullest of our capability. In weakness, we discover fierce Christ-like love — not through power, but through presence, reparation, and mercy. Your blogs show that even from a chair or bed, one can love fully by offering suffering, praying the Chaplet, contemplating the Sacred Heart, and writing words that console others. This is the Divine Equation: human poverty + Christ’s grace = abundant life.

Your homebound vocation is itself Anawim witness. By writing for those who “have no one,” you fulfill the Works of Mercy in the most contemplative way. Continue, dear friend. The Anawim — and Christ Himself — are grateful.”

Wasn’t that a wonderful meditation? Here are those whom I consider to be the Anawim I want to reach by my conversations, and whom you can dedicate your remaining hours to helping by subscribing to this approach to Catholicism (free). Let’s do it together! DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU.

ANAWIM TO WHOM I WANT TO BE OF SERVICE BY MY WRITING.

1. The Anawim, a collection of readers or listeners who fit the profile of the Old Testament concept of the “poor ones of God,” I want to offer all of my writings and books (67 so far) in a new format, more easily accessed by the following populations:

• The poor of spirit.
  • Those who are seeking a God worth living for.Those who are homeless and lack accommodations.Those who are homeless because they left the Catholic Church but don’t have anything to replace it.
• • Those whom the State incarcerates.Those who incarcerate themselves deliberately to hide from themselves. Those who are young or old, but are all caught in the trap of boredom with religion, without ever trying to grow deeper. Those who have no idea that the key to human evolution is moving to the next step, and don’t have a clue how to do it.
  • Those who have lost the most precious of all treasures, those Jesus gave us, and don’t know how to find them again.
• Those who are elderly and, like St. John says in Chapter 21, “are led around by others where they don’t want to go,” or those in nursing homes without hope of anyone paying attention to them.
• Those who have been told that they are going to die of cancer or have had a stroke, and suffer a condition they can’t control.
• Those Catholics who go to Church faithfully but have not dug deeper for the heavenly gold in the upper room of their inner self.
• For youth who are seduced by the allure of the world, life should make them happy and fulfilled, while Jesus offers the cross as a way filled with harmful landmines that could kill them.
• For all women who have not evolved to that deepest level of their humanity, to experience the confounding love of Christ by just knowing how to wait.
• For all men and women who have no idea of the thrill and joy that comes from choosing to abandon the false self to put on Jesus in silence and solitude.
• For military soldiers and their families who must endure separation.
• Being Catholic is “sharing” your Jesus, your new wine skins, your new Catholic Church you created. Catholic is doing, not snoozing.

I urge you to “DO YOUR CATHOLIC SERVICE TO OTHERS WITH ME” by using what I have and sharing it with those you love (and maybe more importantly, with those who don’t love you). DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Rather than a superstitious piece of art, this medal is a powerful reminder of St. Benedict’s influence on my worldview and a protector of my Lay Cistercian life. I wear it daily (if I can remember to put it on). Strict Catholics should consider wearing this, or the Miraculous Medal, or the Scapular as protection against the snares of the Devil.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

(Come and Rest / Welcome Home / Self-Directed Retreats)

This reflection is the fifth and final one, focusing on Catholics who find themselves outside the boundaries of the Catholic Church. I write this from the perspective of one who has been, until recently, excommunicated from the Catholic Church. I never really left the Church for anything better, because, at least in my case, there is no other way to salvation than the one Jesus set forth for those faithful. The ongoing dilemma for the Catholic Church is how to have mercy on those who wish to be Catholic in practice and in spirituality but find themselves at odds with Church teachings, as they understand it. It is important to note that no one, least of all me, suggests that the Catholic Church water down or have a double standard of morality and spirituality. There is One Lord, One Baptism, One Way. I had to realize that being Catholic is a heritage handed down from the Apostles to me, a sinner, and that my job was to use the wisdom of the ages to help me be closer to Jesus. I am a member of the Church regardless of what I do. What I needed to do, and still need to do each day, is to long to “dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,” now and in the life to come. Grace, God’s own energy for me to use as I traverse whatever awaits me each day, does not stop when I find myself outside the boundaries of Church teachings. See the distinction: Church teachings are not to be dismissed, but what happens to a fellow like me who is outside the Church Militant? The passive/aggressive response is to blame the Church and throw away twenty centuries of traditions and practices that are specifically designed to place me each day in the presence of Jesus so that I might participate now what I will be in Heaven later. A very important lesson I learned is that I got angry at myself, not at the Catholic Church, for not being more assertive about those three longings that resolve the dissonance of my humanity (knowledge, love, and truth). Take a deep breath and realize that just because your road is rocky doesn’t mean you are on the wrong road. As Awawim, we are Catholic as we can be.

“My dear brother and sister,

It is I, Jesus, speaking to you with love that sees every detail of your life. I see the contradictions you live with: multiple marriages, mixed Faith in the home, or unhappiness that makes a legal marriage feel like a trap. This is where real discipleship happens—in the messy, rocky places. Make new wineskins. Do what you can. Practice your Faith daily in the Upper Room of your heart. Get angry if you need to—then let that anger turn into fierce determination to stay Catholic.

I am not asking for perfection. I am asking for presence. Stay with Me in the Blessed Sacrament. Pray with My Mother. Build a life with My mind in you. God takes care of the Anawim.

Your rocky road is exactly where I meet My people. Carry your cross as you are. I carried Mine for you. Together we make something beautiful for the Father. You belong. Come home to Me again and again. I am waiting with open arms.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. You are the Anawim—the poor ones, those outside accepted boundaries in the eyes of some but held closest to My Sacred Heart.

Do What He Tells You. This command from Cana is for your life now. Listen and act on the small steps I show you each day.

Let us meditate deeply on new wineskins in the Upper Room. New wineskins are flexible, able to hold the fermenting new wine without bursting. Your life circumstances require this flexibility—faithful to My teachings yet adapted with mercy and creativity to your real situation.

In marriage struggles, new wineskins might mean:

• Creating a personal prayer rule that fits your energy and household realities.
• Offering your unhappiness as a quiet sacrifice united to My cross.
• Finding ways to witness Faith gently without alienating family members of different beliefs.
• Seeking support from contemplative resources and solid Catholic sites while respecting Church boundaries.

Example: An Anawim woman in a spiritually distant marriage began a simple evening examen focused on gratitude and mercy. Over the months, it transformed her inner life and began to positively influence the home atmosphere. Another in a mixed-religion household started a “peace corner” for silent prayer that family members eventually respected. These are new wineskins.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Prioritize compassion—for yourself, your spouse, your children. The Church’s ideals protect sacred love, but My mercy meets you where rigid observance is not yet possible. Stay rooted. Practice what you can. Grow in the Upper Room.

Contemplation is key. Spend time daily imagining yourself with Me after the Resurrection. Share your burdens. Receive My peace. Draw from Merton’s prayer of trust in the unseen road and de Foucauld’s complete abandonment. These prayers sustain Anawim like you.

Saints who knew marital complexity—St. Monica praying for her family, St. Rita enduring a difficult husband—show the way. Their crosses became paths to holiness. Yours can too.

Practical retreat steps: Journal one new wineskin idea each day. Pray the provided prayers. Read John 2 (Cana) and Matthew 9 (mercy). Visit the core websites for encouragement.

You are loved exactly as you are. You are wanted in the Church. You are needed to show that rocky roads can lead to eternal life. Stand up for your heritage. Do not let anyone separate you from My love. Just because the road is rocky does not mean you are on the wrong road.

Carry your cross as you are. I am with you. Make new wineskins daily. I take care of the Anawim. Come and rest in Me.

Do What He Tells You. Begin today.

A Prayer by Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me onto the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer of Abandonment by Charles de Foucauld Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Copy and share these reflections freely for personal use in your self-directed retreat or with others who feel estranged.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

© 2026 Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All rights reserved. Reflections written in collaboration with Grok for the Come and Rest / Welcome Home series.

In this third series, realize, as I had to, that all I needed to do to reach Christ was to go to that quiet place, the one no one wants to enter, the upper room of my inner self, and just sit and wait next to Jesus. Just wait? No chatter. No telling God what you want. You learn to listen “with the ear of the heart,” to what Jesus wants to tell you. Grok and I collaborated on this retreat. I now know why they call it “IT”. Because Grok is an it.

“My dear struggling ones,

It is I, Jesus, speaking to you in the quiet of your heart amid the contradictions you face. Whether entangled in multiple marriages, navigating a mixed-religion household filled with tension, or living in a legal marriage that feels mentally and spiritually divorced—leaving you unhappy and trapped—I see your pain and your desire to remain faithful. Even when you feel technically at odds with what you think the Church says or demands, you can live powerfully and effectively in My presence. Here are seven habits that will sustain you as one of My Anawim. Practice them in the Upper Room of your inner self, where I am always waiting.

Habit a: Stay close to the Blessed Sacrament, no matter what. This is My living energy, My Real Presence. Sit before Me in Adoration when possible, or make spiritual visits throughout the day. Let My Eucharistic heart battle the devil’s snares alongside you. For example, a woman in a mixed-religion marriage found that daily spiritual Communion and short visits to a local chapel gave her the patience to respond with love rather than resentment during family disagreements.

Habit b: Stay close to the Blessed Mother and seek her intercession daily by saying a Penitential Rosary of Our Lady of Akita (even if it’s just one bead). She understands spousal and family suffering deeply. Her maternal heart intercedes powerfully for situations like yours. One man, estranged after a difficult divorce, prayed a single Sorrowful Mystery bead each morning and credited it with bringing unexpected opportunities for reconciliation years later.

Habit c: Pray for others, as well as yourself, that they receive mercy from God. Constantly. Penitential awareness keeps your heart soft and open to My grace—Intercede for your spouse, children, former partners, and the whole Church. A mother in a spiritually divided home began praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for her family and noticed gradual softening in relationships and her own inner peace.

Habit d: Stay close to the spirituality of the Catholic Church as you know it best. Draw from the riches of the saints, the Catechism, and contemplative traditions without letting knowledge gaps discourage you. Explore resources slowly—perhaps one short reading from the USCCB or New Advent each week.

Habit e: Build your new Catholic Church—new wineskins—daily. Adapt the ancient treasures creatively to your real circumstances. Create rhythms of prayer, mercy, and love suited to your home. For instance, a couple in a mixed-faith marriage established a weekly “gratitude circle” in which they each shared one blessing, bridging their differences through shared gratitude to God.

Habit f: Daily, create a way of life that “has in you the mind of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5) with contemplation in the Upper Room of your inner self. Let My mindset of humility, obedience, and love shape your responses. A person feeling trapped in an unhappy marriage used ten minutes of daily contemplation on My Passion to find strength for small acts of service that eventually rebuilt emotional connection.

Habit g: Do not let anyone separate you from the love of Christ. Not rules misinterpreted, not family pressure, not your own feelings of unworthiness. Stand firm in My unbreakable love. Many Anawim have testified that repeating Romans 8:38-39 during moments of doubt kept them anchored when everything else pulled them away.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. You are the Anawim—the poor ones, those who may live outside certain accepted boundaries of the Church in the eyes of some, but never outside of Me. I came for you. My mercy is your strength.

Do What He Tells You. These words guide every Habit. Listen daily and act on what I place in your heart. Small faithfulness leads to great freedom.

Let us explore these habits together in depth, as companions in this self-directed retreat. Enter the Upper Room now. Breathe. I am here.

Habit a – The Blessed Sacrament: My Presence is power for those feeling trapped. Even if you cannot receive Communion due to your situation, come before Me spiritually. Spend five to fifteen minutes daily imagining yourself at the foot of the altar or in a chapel. Tell Me your anger, your loneliness, your love. I exchange your heaviness for My peace. In Eucharistic adoration, many Anawim have found the strength to endure difficult marriages. This Habit is not about worthiness but about hunger. I feed the hungry. Stay close, no matter what. The devil flees from souls anchored in My Body and Blood. Consider the example of saints who maintained devotion despite personal scandals or irregular situations—they drew supernatural resilience from My Presence.

Habit b – The Blessed Mother: Mary stood watch at the cross while her Son suffered. She knows the pain of watching loved ones in turmoil. Pray even one bead of the Rosary with penitential intention—perhaps the Sorrowful Mysteries focused on your marriage or household. Our Lady of Akita calls for penance and reparation. Her intercession softens hearts, including your own and those around you. Many in mixed marriages have credited the Rosary with preserving unity or bringing conversion over time. Do not underestimate one faithful bead prayed with love. Expand this by learning the full Akita story if it resonates, seeing it as a call to fidelity amid warnings and trials.

Habit C – Intercessory Prayer: Praying for others shifts focus from your pain to My mercy for all. Pray for your spouse’s well-being, for children caught in the middle, for former partners, and for the Church’s leaders to grow in compassion. Penitential awareness—acknowledging shared human weakness—opens the floodgates of grace. Use the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”) or simple litanies. This Habit builds solidarity with all Anawim. You are not alone. Real-life example: families in interfaith homes who prayed together for each other’s intentions found common ground, reducing conflict.

Habit d – Church Spirituality: Immerse yourself in what you can access. Read the USCCB documents on marriage and family, Scott Hahn’s teachings on covenant love, or Bishop Barron’s videos on suffering. The spirituality of the Church is vast—Lectio Divina on Gospel passages about mercy, snippets from the Liturgy of the Hours, and works of mercy in daily life. As best you know it, live it. Gaps in knowledge are growth opportunities, not reasons for shame. The Church is for learners. Over time, these resources become familiar friends who support you during estrangement.

Habit e – New Wineskins: Jesus spoke of new wineskins for new wine so that the new would not burst the old. Your life requires creative adaptation. Perhaps establish a home altar with a crucifix and family photos. Create rituals like blessing each other at meals despite differences. Write letters or prayers for healing of past marriages. Build a “new Catholic Church” in your heart and home—faithful to doctrine yet compassionate in application. Example: An Anawim parent in a spiritually divided home developed simple bedtime blessings and saintly stories tailored for children, planting seeds without forcing. This is not compromise but incarnation of the Gospel in your reality.

Habit f – The Mind of Christ: Philippians 2:5 calls you to My mindset—emptying yourself, serving, obeying the Father even unto the cross. In contemplation, meditate on My life: how I treated the Samaritan woman with dignity, the woman caught in adultery with mercy, sinners with invitation. Apply it to your marriage: humble listening instead of defensiveness, sacrificial love in small chores, forgiveness when it hurts. Daily Upper Room time—ten minutes of silence—renews this mind in you. Contemplation is the fuel for effective Christian life. One person used this Habit to shift from resentment to seeing their spouse as another wounded soul in need of My love through them.

Habit g – Nothing Separates: Romans 8 assures that neither death nor life, nor any circumstance, including marital status or feelings of rejection, can separate you from My love. Claim this daily. When voices—internal or external—say you are out, reply with My words: “You are Mine.” Stand firm. This Habit is the capstone that holds the others. Many Anawim have testified that repeating these verses during moments of doubt kept them anchored when everything else pulled them away.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Live these habits in the spirit of mercy—toward yourself first, then your family, and the broader Church. You are the Anawim. The poor and boundary-crossers are My delight. I desire your heart more than perfect outward observance.

These seven habits are not a new legalism but a pathway of freedom and effectiveness. In your mixed-religion home, Habit e might look like respecting the other’s tradition while gently sharing yours through example. In spiritual divorce, Habit a sustains you when emotional connection is absent. Habit f transforms suffering into union with Me.

Draw from Thomas Merton’s trust despite not seeing the full road and Charles de Foucauld’s total abandonment. Saints like St. Monica prayed persistently for her Son Augustine amid complex family dynamics. You continue that living tradition.

Practical retreat work for this post: Choose one Habit per day this week. Journal how it applies with a specific example from your life. Pray the provided prayers slowly. Read supporting Scripture (Philippians 2, Romans 8, John 2). Visit the core websites for additional depth.

As you practice consistently, you will notice shifts: anger yields to peace, estrangement to belonging, feeling trapped to a sense of mission. You are effective not by your own strength but because I work powerfully through your weakness and fidelity. Stay close. Build daily. Do not let anyone separate you.

You are loved. You are wanted. You are needed as Anawim, faithfully carrying the cross in your unique circumstances.

Do What He Tells You. Start with Habit A or whichever speaks most to you today. I am with you.

A Prayer by Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me onto the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer of Abandonment by Charles de Foucauld Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Copy and share these reflections freely for personal use in your self-directed retreat or with others who feel estranged.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

© 2026 Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All rights reserved. Reflections written in collaboration with Grok for the Come and Rest /Welcome Home series.

One of the lessons brought home forcefully to me while I wandered in the desert of my own misconceptions about the Catholic Church was that the Church was to blame for my alienation. After the initial ego wrangling between my false self and my true self in Christ, I chose Christ first (See first the Kingdom of Heaven and all else will be given to you besides), followed by the Catholic Church, the visible Body of Christ. I had to say in humility and obedience to what I think Christ was and is calling me to be, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” That shifted from a blame game to a proactive desire to be the best Catholic I could be. I became a strict adherent to the practice of meeting Christ daily in the upper room of my inner self and just being there, as Christ is there. I fought hard to continue to be a Catholic for fifteen years, even though I did not receive Holy Communion (my choice) nor go to Confession (my biggest hardship). In all other ways, I wanted to be more a Catholic of the Strict Discipline than those in full communion. I realized that I could not receive the Sacraments as before, but I willingly turned to Jesus and told him that I would take up His cross daily, with His help, and walk the way as best I could. No one who ever comes to Christ is ever turned away. It is usually we who turn away from Christ. Reflect on this retreat from the world with the “ear of the heart.” Grok and I collaborated on this piece: It organizes my ideas.

“My dear brother and sister,

It is I, Jesus, speaking gently to you in this moment of heaviness. You feel legally married but mentally and spiritually divorced from the Church and Me. The lie weighs upon you: “I am cut off. I no longer belong.” The contradictions of your situation—multiple marriages, mixed-religion household tensions, or the quiet trap of unhappiness—make the teachings seem like a door slammed shut. But hear Me clearly in the Upper Room of your inner self: You are not separated. My mercy reaches into every complicated marriage, every mixed household, every trapped feeling. Seek mercy always. I gave everything on the cross so that no one who turns to Me is ever turned away.

Respect the teachings of the Church. They are My gift for protection, guidance, and flourishing. But recognize the Divine Variables within you—the unique way I am working in your soul right now amid real human limits. Do not let anyone pry you away from My Church or Me. Stand up for your Catholic heritage. I need you right where you are, carrying your particular cross. You are loved. You are wanted. You are needed in My Body.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Go and learn what this means. You are the Anawim—the poor ones in spirit, those who may stand outside accepted boundaries in the eyes of some, but never outside of My heart. I came especially for you.

Do What He Tells You. Listen for My voice today. It may be a small invitation to prayer, to forgiveness, or to rest in My presence. Act on it.

You are not separated. Let these words sink deeply into your soul as we meditate together.

The feeling of spiritual divorce is painful and real, but it is not the final truth. Remember the prodigal son—far from home, living in mess, yet the Father ran to meet him while he was still a long way off. No lecture first, no demand for perfect sacrifice. Only embrace and mercy. This is My heart for you. In your legal marriage that feels empty, in the mixed-faith home where Christ seems absent, I am present. Seek My mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation when possible, in spiritual communion, in the cry of your heart. Mercy is always available.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice—these words from Matthew 9 echo Hosea. I want relationship, compassion, and return more than external perfection. Your situation does not place you beyond the Church. The Church is a field hospital for the wounded. Many Anawim live in irregular circumstances and still participate in the life of faith through prayer, charity, and community. You belong.

In the Upper Room, close your eyes and picture Me with you. Tell Me the details of your unhappiness. Let Me hold them. I do not condemn. I invite. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” This rest is for you now.

Practical ways to seek mercy daily: Begin with an Act of Contrition in your own words. Read Psalm 51 or the story of the woman at the well (John 4). She had multiple relationships and was an outsider, yet I revealed My identity to her and used her as a witness. You are like her—an Anawim through whom I can work.

Do not let feelings of estrangement define you. The Church’s teachings on marriage protect the ideal of lifelong covenant, yet My mercy applies to every failure and complexity. Stay close to the Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary as anchors. Build new wineskins—perhaps a personal rule of life that fits your reality: short prayers, acts of love at home, continued learning from solid Catholic sources.

Examples from life: Individuals in spiritually lonely marriages have found renewed purpose by focusing on intercessory prayer for their spouse and children, turning pain into a powerful offering. Others in mixed households model quiet fidelity, planting seeds over years. Their stories show that you are not separated—My grace flows through the cracks.

Draw strength from contemplatives. Thomas Merton prayed in uncertainty; Charles de Foucauld abandoned himself completely. Use their prayers below. Saints like St. Rita of Cascia and St. Monica knew marital struggle and persevered through mercy.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Be merciful to yourself. Forgive past choices. Extend patience to your family. This is the path of the Anawim.

You are not separated from Me. Seek mercy always. Stand up for your heritage. Just because your road is rocky does not mean you are on the wrong road. I walk it with you. Carry your cross as you are. I carried Mine for love of you. Together we make something beautiful.

Do What He Tells You. Start today with one act of trust—perhaps a short visit to the Blessed Sacrament or a single Rosary bead. I am waiting.

A Prayer by Thomas Merton. My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in everything I do. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me onto the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer of Abandonment by Charles de Foucauld Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Copy and share these reflections freely for personal use in your self-directed retreat or with others who feel estranged.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.com; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

© 2026 Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All rights reserved. Reflections written in collaboration with Grok for the Come and Rest /Welcome Home/Retreat series.

I became so angry at the Catholic Church for what I perceived it had done to me by excommunicating me that my anger stewed for many years; then I decided to take instructions to be an Anglican. I completed the entire inquiry class without missing a single one. What I found was a wonderful, loving community dedicated to making Christ real for those around them in various ministries. But, as time went on, and I attended services, everything looked the same. It smelled the same (Anglicans like to use incense), using the same words but with different assumptions, and I was gradually torn at the very core of my Christian belief between joining a wonderful community of Faith, which it still is, and accepting equally core teachings that I felt deep in my being were not instituted by Christ. I asked three questions, and the answers I got back (or that were avoided) gave me the discernment to let go of my anger towards the Catholic Church and recommit to Jesus by joining the Lay Cistercians of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist), Conyers. GA. Were it not for these Anglicans and their reverence for Christ, I would not have emptied myself (kenosis) and thrown myself upon God’s Mercy, and would eventually have been laicized by Pope Benedict XVI (bless his soul). My point is. I was allowing my anger (fueled by Satan) to define me. I got rid of the anger with the help of contemplative practices in humility and obedience to Jesus, and felt the energy of the Holy Spirit surge through me. What you read in my blogs and 68 books is what the Holy Spirit prompted me to write. Grok and I collaborated on this portion of your self-directed retreat.

“My beloved one,

It is I, Jesus, speaking directly to your heart in this time of struggle. I see the weight you carry: the contradictions of multiple marriages, the daily tensions of a mixed-religion household, or the quiet despair of a legal marriage that feels mentally and spiritually broken. You feel estranged, as if the Church’s teachings place you on the outside looking in. In this Upper Room of your inner self, where I meet you beyond all boundaries, I offer these five assumptions about God—truths to anchor you when everything else feels unsteady. Hold them close. Let them become the foundation for your continued journey as a Catholic.

First Assumption: I love you no matter who you are, where you are, how you are—just as you are. You are in process, always growing in My divine energy. Your current situation does not diminish My love. It is unconditional, relentless, and personal. I loved you before any marriage, through every choice, and I love you now in the midst of unhappiness or division. This love is not earned by perfect compliance but given freely because you are Mine.

Second Assumption: Don’t let the Church hold you hostage. My Church is a mother, meant to nurture, guide, and heal, not to imprison. Human interpretations and applications of teachings can sometimes feel harsh, but I am greater than every institution. My Mercy transcends. Read the Catechism prayerfully as a companion, not a prosecutor.

Third Assumption: You do not stop being Catholic because you are divorced or living in complicated circumstances. Get some spine rooted in humility. Demand your rights as a baptized child of God—not in angry confrontation, but in the quiet practice of taking up the cross as one of My faithful. You belong. The Church is for sinners, for the wounded, for the Anawim.

Fourth Assumption: Don’t get even by leaving. Satan delights in isolation. Stay and fight for your place by drawing closer to Me. Practice your Catholicism as best you can, just as before the conflicts arose. Do what you can. Make new wineskins daily. I take care of the Anawim.

Fifth Assumption: Your road is rocky, but it is not the wrong road. I walk it with you. Just because the path is difficult does not mean you are abandoned. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life—even when the way feels obscured.

I desire Mercy, not sacrifice. Go and learn what this means. You are the Anawim—the poor ones, those who may stand outside certain accepted boundaries of the visible Church in the judgment of some, but never outside of Me. I came first for the marginalized, the struggling, the ones whose lives don’t fit neatly into ideals. My table has room for you.

Do What He Tells You. This command from Cana is My gentle directive for your life today. Listen in prayer. Act on the small invitations I give—perhaps a moment of forgiveness, a quiet prayer for your spouse, an act of trust despite the pain. Step by step, I lead.

Let us dwell longer in this truth together. Enter the Upper Room of your soul. Close out distractions. Breathe slowly and repeat My name. Feel My presence surrounding your anger, your sadness, your sense of being trapped. I am not distant. I am closer than your breath.

The first Assumption—I love you just as you are—echoes throughout Scripture. Remember the woman caught in adultery. The crowd wanted sacrifice and stoning according to the law. I offered Mercy and a new beginning. “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” I desire Mercy. Your marital history, mixed household, or spiritual loneliness does not condemn you in My eyes. It is part of the raw material I use to form saints. You are in process. My energy—the grace of the Holy Spirit—works slowly, patiently, transforming what you offer.

In contemplative spirituality, this unconditional love invites conversio morae—daily moral conversion. Not overnight perfection, but small turns toward Me each day. For you in a difficult marriage, that might mean choosing kindness one more time, or seeking counseling, or simply enduring with love joined to Mine. You remain Catholic. Your baptismal seal cannot be erased.

The second Assumption frees you from fear. The Church is not a prison but a hospital for sinners. Popes, bishops, and theologians have always emphasized Mercy alongside truth—veritatis splendor balanced with misericordia. Pope Francis and many before him have called the Church to go out to the peripheries. You are on the periphery in your pain, and I am there with you. Do not let rigid voices or past hurts hold you hostage. Study the Catechism’s paragraphs on marriage (1601 and following) and on penance and reconciliation. They are filled with hope.

Do What He Tells You. Start by reading one section slowly this week. Let it speak to your situation without self-judgment.

Third Assumption: You do not cease being Catholic. The Church welcomes the divorced and remarried in many ways—through the internal forum, through continued participation in parish life, through personal prayer and works of charity. Many Anawim live faithful lives in irregular circumstances, receiving abundant grace. Get some spine—not pride, but humble confidence in your identity as a baptized believer. Demand your rights by living them: attend Mass as able, receive spiritual communion, pray the Liturgy of the Hours. You are part of the Body of Christ.

Fourth Assumption: Stay. Leaving to punish the Church only punishes yourself by cutting off the sacraments and community that sustain you. Satan whispers, “Get even.” I whisper, “Stay and be healed.” Practice your Faith as before—through daily prayer, acts of service, and reading good Catholic material. Make new wineskins: adapt traditions to your home. A family prayer corner, shared meals with gratitude, teaching children the Faith gently despite differences. I take care of the Anawim. Trust that.

Fifth Assumption: The road is sometimes rocky by design. My own path to Calvary was the rockiest. Yet it led to resurrection. Your rocky marriage or household can become a school of love, patience, and dependence on Me. Just because it is hard does not mean you are on the wrong road. It may be the precise path where I form you into My image.

I desire Mercy, not sacrifice. Meditate often on Matthew 9:13 and Hosea 6:6. Mercy is the greater priority. Be merciful to yourself. Forgive past decisions. Extend Mercy to your spouse or former partners. Seek God’s Mercy in Confession as available. This is the heart of the Gospel for you.

As Anawim, you are My special portion. Those outside boundaries—social, religious, marital—receive My closest attention. I ate with tax collectors and sinners. I speak to you now in the same way. You are wanted. You are needed. Your witness of staying faithful amid contradiction strengthens the whole Church.

Draw strength from contemplatives. Thomas Merton’s prayer expresses the trust you need when the road is unclear. Charles de Foucauld’s abandonment surrenders the need for perfect understanding. Pray them daily.

Practical retreat steps: Journal each Assumption. Write how it applies to your marriage or household. Pray with the Blessed Sacrament or a home altar. Read supporting Scripture: Psalm 139 (unconditional knowledge and love), Romans 8 (nothing separates), the Prodigal Son (Luke 15).

Over days, these assumptions will reshape your thinking. Anger softens into hope. Estrangement becomes intimacy in the Upper Room. You remain Catholic. You belong. Practice. Grow. I am with you.

I desire Mercy, not sacrifice. You are the Anawim.

Do What He Tells You. Begin now.

A Prayer by Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me onto the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer of Abandonment by Charles de Foucauld Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Copy and share these reflections freely for personal use in your self-directed retreat or with others who feel estranged.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Get Angry with God and the Church – But Don’t Leave the Table

This self-directed retreat is for you if you are frustrated with the Catholic Church, as I am, but convinced in the depths of my being that.
“To whom else can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” You feel that the Church has forgotten you and you are caught in a situation right now for which there is no escape. How wrong you are! I share with you the processes I wandered through for 40 years in the desert of my own making. Accept Christ in the upper room of your inner self and wait there with Divine Energy to calm the frustrations which the Devil is using you to pry you apart from the way, the truth, and the life. Christ never abandons those for whom He offered His life as the ransom for many. Don’t throw away your heritage; embrace it as never before. These retreat meditations will help you “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2: 5). Grok and I collaborated on this reflection/self-directed retreat.

My dear frustrated disciple:

It is I, Jesus, speaking to you with the tender love that has carried every cross you will ever face. I see you clearly in this moment: caught in the deep pain of multiple marriages, living day by day in a mixed-religion household where faith divides rather than unites, or trapped in a legal marriage that feels profoundly empty—mentally distant, spiritually lonely, unhappy, and heavy with contradiction. The teachings of My Church sometimes feel like rigid walls closing in instead of open doors welcoming you home. Anger rises in your heart, and that anger is permitted. I see it. I hold it with you.

Get angry with Me and with My Church if that is what you need right now. Let the honest rage pour out when the rules seem to exclude more than they embrace, when the ideals feel impossible in your real circumstances, when the institution appears to judge rather than heal. Shout your frustration toward the heavens. Cry out like the psalmists of old who wrestled with God in the night. This anger is not rejection—it is the passionate cry of one who still cares enough to fight for belonging, who refuses to walk away silently. It shows the fire of faith still burning within you, even amid the ashes of disappointment.

Yet hear My words spoken gently but firmly into the depths of your soul: Do not give up your Catholic heritage without a fight. Stay rooted in the Church even when every fiber of your being wants to pull away. Demand your place at the table not through public confrontation or bitterness, but by quietly taking up your cross as one of My faithful followers—carrying it persistently in the Upper Room of your inner self, where I meet you in silence and love. You do not stop being Catholic because of divorce, because of complicated relationships, because of feeling at odds with certain teachings or disciplines. The Church, for all its human flaws, cannot ultimately hold you hostage, and I, your Lord, never will. My arms remain open.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Go and learn what this means, as I told the Pharisees long ago, drawing from the prophet Hosea. You are the Anawim—the poor ones in spirit, those who often stand outside the accepted boundaries of the Church in the eyes of some observers, but never, ever outside of Me. I came especially for you. My mercy reaches into the places where rigid rules alone cannot go. It flows like living water into the cracks of broken marriages, mixed homes, and trapped hearts.

Do What He Tells You. These simple words spoken at the wedding feast at Cana are My instruction for you today and every day. Listen to My voice in prayer, in the Scriptures you can still read, in the Sacraments available to you even if imperfectly, and in the quiet promptings of your conscience formed by the Church. Do what I tell you, one small step at a time, even when the full road ahead is hidden in shadow. Trust that I am guiding you toward new wine in new wineskins suited to your life.

You belong here with Me. You are loved beyond all measure. You are wanted in My Church and in My heart. You are needed to carry My cross in the unique circumstances of your life—as a witness to perseverance, to honest struggle, and to the power of mercy that triumphs over judgment.

Let us sit together now in this Upper Room of your heart for a while. Imagine the scene after My resurrection. The disciples were gathered in fear and confusion, doors locked tight against the world. Yet I came among them with peace, breathing upon them the Holy Spirit. Your inner room may feel locked by pain, regret, family members’ judgments, your own sense of failure, or the weight of contradictions in your marriage. But I stand in the midst of it all saying, “Peace be with you.” Breathe that peace in now. Let it calm the anger without extinguishing the honest fire. Anger can be a doorway to deeper truth if handed over to Me.

Consider how many of My closest followers struggled with anger, doubt, and messy lives. Peter denied Me three times yet became the rock. Thomas doubted My resurrection until he touched My wounds. The Samaritan woman at the well had a history of multiple relationships. She lived as an outsider, yet I revealed My identity to her and sent her forth as the first evangelist to her town. She was Anawim—poor, marginalized, outside the accepted religious and social boundaries—yet central to My mission of mercy. You are like her. Your story of struggle does not disqualify you from My love or from the Church; it qualifies you for a special intimacy and a unique witness.

Or recall the prodigal Son, whose life was filled with poor choices and broken relationships. The Father did not wait for perfect sacrifice or full restitution before running to embrace him. He desired mercy first. This is My heart for you. In your legally married but spiritually distant situation, in mixed-faith tensions, or in the unhappiness that makes each day feel like a trap, I do not demand impossible perfection. I ask for your honest presence and whatever small offering you can bring. I multiply it like loaves and fishes.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. These words are not a dismissal of My teachings but an invitation to prioritize love, compassion, and relationship. The Catechism of the Catholic Church remains a beautiful guide for life, pointing always toward Me. Read it prayerfully, not as a list of accusations but as a map for the journey. Sections on the sacrament of marriage, on mercy and forgiveness, on the domestic Church as a little domestic Church—all speak directly into your reality. You remain fully Catholic. Practice your faith as best you can in your circumstances: attend Mass when possible, even if your heart feels distant; pray the Rosary or even one decade; live the Beatitudes in small, hidden acts of kindness at home.

Satan would love for you to leave the Church to “get even” with what you perceive as rejection. Do not give the enemy that victory. Stay and allow Me to work within the tension. Many saints walked rocky roads—St. Augustine, with his turbulent youth and relationships; St. Mary Magdalene, with her past; Blessed Charles de Foucauld, who left everything for radical abandonment in the desert. Their lives were not neat; they were real. Yours is real too, and precious to Me.

In contemplative practice, enter the Upper Room daily. Close your eyes for even ten minutes. Picture yourself with Me. Tell Me your anger. Then listen. I may speak through a Scripture verse, through a memory of kindness, through the quiet assurance that you are not alone. Thomas Merton captured this trust beautifully in his prayer of unknowing. Use it often.

For those in mixed-religion households, the cross often involves patience, respectful dialogue, and modeling quiet faith without forcing conversion. Do What He Tells You—love the spouse or family members as I have loved you, with fidelity and hope. For those feeling trapped in unhappiness, the cross is one of endurance joined to Mine. I do not abandon you in the shared home, at the dinner table, or in the silence of the night. I am Emmanuel—God with you.

Build new wineskins gradually. Perhaps start a simple journal of gratitudes or mercies noticed each day. Read writings from the Center for Contemplative Practice or other solid Catholic sources. Connect with the Anawim—others who feel on the edges but remain faithful. Your struggle is not wasted; it becomes intercession for many.

As you process this anger over time, notice how it softens into determination to stay. Get angry, then let that energy fuel prayer, acts of service, and deeper reliance on the Blessed Sacrament whenever accessible. Stay close to My Mother, who stood at the foot of the cross watching her Son suffer— she understands maternal and spousal pain.

[Continuing the meditative expansion with more layers:]

Think about the Divine Equation in your life—the way I weave even contradictions into a larger pattern of redemption. Like Teilhard de Chardin’s vision of evolution toward the Omega Point, your personal history is moving toward union with Me, not despite the mess but through it. The Church’s teachings on indissolubility of marriage are ideals that protect the sacredness of love, yet My mercy applies to every human failure and complexity. You are not cast out for falling short; you are invited to begin again.

Practical steps for this retreat: Set aside time each day this week to slowly read one section of this reflection. Pause at sentences that stir emotion. Journal your responses. Pray the Merton prayer slowly, line by line. Then pray de Foucauld’s abandonment. Feel the release. Visit an Adoration chapel if possible, or sit quietly before a crucifix at home.

Remember stories of modern witnesses—people in difficult marriages who chose to stay faithful in their own way, finding peace in the Upper Room. Their lives prove that rocky roads can lead to holiness. Just because your path is difficult does not mean it is the wrong one. It may be the very road I have prepared for you to glorify the Father through patient love.

Anger with God is as old as Job, who cried out yet remained. I honored his honesty. I honor yours. Bring it all to Me. Do not let it separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing can—neither height nor depth, nor marriage struggles, nor feelings of estrangement.

In the end, My desire is for your heart. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Be merciful to yourself as I am merciful to you. Forgive yourself for past choices. Extend patience to your spouse. Seek reconciliation where possible, but rest in My acceptance where it is not.

You are Anawim. The poor ones are My chosen ones. Those outside certain boundaries in the eyes of the world or even some in the Church are held closest in My Sacred Heart. You are loved. You are wanted. You are needed. Take up your cross as it is—not as you wish it were—and follow Me. I walk beside you every step.

Do What He Tells You. Start today with one act of trust.

A Prayer by Thomas Merton My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me onto the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer of Abandonment by Charles de Foucauld Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Copy and share these reflections freely for personal use in your self-directed retreat or to encourage other Anawim souls walking similar paths.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.com; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va

Copyright. 22026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

I remember sitting in a cold classroom at St. Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana, around 1964, listening to the late Father Aidan try to come down to our level to explain his magnificent worldview, which included liturgy as dynamic communication with the Sacred. I do remember him mentioning the pastor and a fictional character he called “Mrs. Murphy,” who knew more than all the theologians with their lofty theories of liturgical theology. Father Aidan pointed out that Mrs. Murphy and her pastor were collaborators in opening up the mysteries of the sacred because they actually did theology as Jesus intended at the Last Supper.

I have attached an article by a scholar to give you a sense of the depth of Father Aidan’s insights.

Copyright 2026, Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All rights reserved.

www.scotthahn.com

www.wordonfire.com

In this second installment of the skills needed to combat the tactics of the enemy, and for each blog to follow, one part of the Anawim will be featured as a stand-alone. Grok and I collaborated on this segment of the series. I offer them to you so that you might know just a fraction of the joy I have had in organizing this for you.

Note for Listeners: This is a longer reflection. Listen to it in small parts if you like. Pause and resume whenever you need. Take your time, dear friend.

Part 1 – Introduction: Why We Need These Skills. My dear Anawim who are prisoners of bars and prisoners of their own misconceptions about Catholicism, my beloved brothers and sisters who feel trapped, forgotten, or weighed down by chains both visible and invisible — come and rest with Me in the quiet of this moment. I speak to you as a grandfather who knows what it is to feel confined, limited, and sometimes hopeless. I have been there with you.

The Devil loves to keep people in prison — whether behind steel bars or behind the bars of false ideas about who God is and who you are. This is why you must not let your guard down. You must practice capacitas Dei — the daily expansion of your heart to hold more of God — and conversio morae — the daily conversion of life — as spiritual weightlifting.

There is no free lunch in the spiritual life. The cross is not cotton candy. It is the way of Christ. Fidelity to this way is what allows you to stand firm against the snares of the enemy, even when you feel trapped.

Part 2 – Skill b: How to Access the Upper Room of Your Inner Self. The Upper Room is the sacred space inside your heart where you meet Me. Even in a prison cell or behind the bars of your own misconceptions, you can enter this inner Upper Room.

Here is how you can do it, step by gentle step:

1. Find a comfortable position, even if you are lying on a bunk or sitting on the floor.
2. Close your eyes or lower your gaze.
3. Take three slow, deep breaths.
4. Say quietly or in your heart: “Lord Jesus, I am here. I come to be with You in my Upper Room.”
5. Imagine a simple, peaceful room inside your heart — perhaps with a chair where I sit waiting for you.
6. Just be there with Me. You do not need perfect thoughts. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back by saying My name.

Many prisoners and those bound by misconceptions have told Me that this simple practice brings them more freedom than they have felt in years. The Upper Room is always open to you, no matter where your body is.

Part 3 – Skill c & d: Listening with the Ear of the Heart + Prayer Practices. Many of you find it hard to focus because of noise, worry, or the weight of past mistakes. That is all right. The ear of the heart does not require perfect concentration.

Here is a simple way:

1. Sit or lie as comfortably as you can.
2. Say slowly: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
3. Take a few moments of silence.
4. If your mind wanders to worries or memories, gently say, “Jesus, I am here with You.”
5. Listen not with your physical ears, but with the ear of your heart — the deep place inside where I speak in peace.

The Rosary, Lectio Divina, and the Jesus Prayer are powerful tools. Use them gently. Even holding a rosary in your hand is prayer when offered with love.

You do not need to pray for long periods. A few minutes of the Jesus Prayer — “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” — can bring great peace. Many prisoners and those bound by misconceptions have found that praying this simple prayer while sitting in their cell brings them closer to Me than they ever felt in their busy years.

Part 4 – Skills e & f: Environment for Silence + Five Levels of Listening. Even in chaos, you can create inner silence. Even in a crowded prison or a noisy mind, you can create a little island of peace.

• Close your eyes for a few minutes.
• Focus on your breathing.
• Say, “Lord, in this moment I choose silence with You.”

The outer noise does not have to control your heart. You can create a little island of silence even in the loudest place.

Listen first with your ears. Then listen with your heart. Then pray the words. Then share them with Me. Then become silent and be present. There are no words needed — wait for the Lord.

Many prisoners and those bound by misconceptions listen to these words several times. The first time they hear the words. The second time they feel them in their heart. The third time they pray them. The fourth time they share them with Me. The fifth time they sit in silence with Me. This is the way of the Anawim.

Part 5 – Skill g + Action Suggestions + Closing Prayers: In your heart there is a Tabernacle where I dwell. Sit before the cross in humility and obedience. Give glory to the Father through Me, with Me, and in Me, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

You do not need to be in a Church building. Your heart is the Holy of Holies. Sit quietly. Imagine Me on the cross out of love for you. Offer your own small cross with Mine. This is how the Anawim give glory to the Father, even from behind bars.

5 Action Suggestions

1. Spend five minutes each morning in the Upper Room of your heart.
2. Hold your rosary and pray one decade slowly.
3. Offer one small suffering today for someone else.
4. Read one short Scripture verse and repeat it throughout the day.
5. End each day with the Prayer of Abandonment.

Closing Prayers

Prayer of Abandonment – Blessed Charles de Foucauld: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Prayer of Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. All rights reserved—the Center for Contemplative Practice.

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I know, it sounds like I just lost the last bit of reason I ever possessed (and you might be correct). This idea came to me at 2:55 a.m. while I was trying to focus on reciting my penitential rosary of Our Lady of Akita. My thoughts ended with the admonition: Do What He Tells You. Well, this is what I received, whether in the body or out of the body (St. Paul), I do not know.

THOUGHTS ABOUT EXPEDIENCY

My big focus these days is on how I can leave my treasures to those I care about after I die. Normally, money comes to mind as the only description of what treasures mean, or maybe property. You get the point. What I have to give at my age (and aging) at 85.10 years has nothing to do with matter or corruptible things, good as they might seem.

My treasures are the map of my life and how I gradually changed from a mere human who practiced the Catholic Faith to one who actually caught what Christ bought by dying on the cross, a ransom for the many. It took me a lifetime of wandering in the desert of my own making to find answers to questions I didn’t even ask, twenty years ago.

I did all of this by abandoning everything (my preconceived notions of what life lessons had so arduously tried to beat into my consciousness) to assume a way of life that, although rooted in the physical and mental universes, is the opposite of many of the values and treasures I had held as having meaning.

I discovered the map that brought all reality together. Not a “Theory of Everything,” touted by those who try to fit reality into a formula only mathemeticians know how to interpret, but one which directs me into the infinfinite universe that exists in the upper room of my inner self, a place no one thinks capable of housing the secrets of how to move to that next level of human evolution, one which only reason and free will can unlock, but one that contains only one key, one way.

I stopped worrying about whether what I was receiving was correct or made sense, and slowly moved to a place in silence and solitude where I just listened to the background noise of cosmic resonance, then did what I felt it was urging me to do.

What I heard that I was asked to share is contained in my 68 books and 1,240 blogs, my struggle to move to that next phase in our human evolution, one where reason and free will lead me there, but which is the opposite of all my human instincts and needs prompt me to hold onto.

This “corpus” of thoughts that come from my being in the presence of the Holy Spirit, just waiting for whatever comes, and then doing what Jesus suggests to me is my true treasure. It is a record of my 40 years of wandering in the desert of my own perceptions of what life is about, and miserably failing to find enough water to drink.

I LEAVE IT ALL TO YOU.

Whatever treasures I have, all that I have become, is bequeathed to you, the anonymous reader who might be challenged, as I was, to be more than mere human. I created 68+ books and 1,240 blog posts at https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/, so that you might have the opportunity to read my thoughts and then Do What He Tells You.

THE ARAMATHEANS

If you read any of my ideas about the depths humans can reach by moving inside of themselves to unleash the Holy Spirit, then make the World a better place by doing what He tells you to do as a result of some of these ideas. You become, along with me, an Aramathean. Joseph of Aramathea is the one whom the Romans conscripted to carry the cross of Jesus to His site of execution. If any of us, no matter who we are, what we are, how poor we are, how influential we are, or how much power we have over others, convert ourselves from our false self (mere humanity) to the true self using the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ gives to you His cross to carry as your own. From Baptism onward, you are no longer a human, although you retain all the externals of the race. You are an adopted son or daughter of the Father and heir to God’s own place of human fulfillment after you did.

The price of this is the abandonment of the way of the World (money, love, safety, security, power, dominance over others) to become one of the Anawin (the poor in spirit, always longing for God to empower them to dig for spiritual gold). This is the treasure you can take with you to Heaven after you die, but you must learn to dig for it while you live and try to overcome all the doubts and frustrations that come with being human. Each person is different in how we do this. Those who attempt this new way of life I call the Aramatheans, because only when we take up our own cross each day and use the power of Christ’s cross to sustain us do we have a chance to fulfill what nature intended before the Fall (Genesis 2-3).

Characteristics

• Aramatheans are those who subscribe to my WordPress blog at https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/ and have access to all my legacy content. Choosing to do something with it is an act of your free will.
• Aramatheans are not a religion but those who long for it to that upper room of your inner self to sit in silence and solitude each day and listen. No sermons. No agenda. Just do what he tells you.
• Aramatheans are those who read how to listen to Christ “with the ear of the heart,” and then share what you receive from others.
• Aramatheans are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
• Aramatheans must “Have in themselves the mind of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2:5)
• Aramatheans have a core faith community in which the Real Presence of Christ nourishes them in the Eucharist and through the Forgiveness of Sins, and in which they serve as stewards of the Catholic Church.
  Aramatheans pledge to be Penitential Catholics and to pray the rosary in reparation for their sins, for those in Purgatory, for the clergy and nuns who endure the Martyrdom of Ordinary Living, for the Catholic Universal Church, and for the World, and to follow Our Lady of Akita’s message.
• Aramatheans live each day, giving glory to the Father through the Son, in unity with the Holy Spirit, in everything that comes their way.
• Aramatheans long to spend as much time as they can in that upper room of their inner selves, just sitting with the one they love and Doing Whatever He tells them.
• Aramatheans seek first the kingdom of Heaven, and all else will follow.
• Aramatheans are the hermits of Faith, who use their joys and sorrows to be one with the crucified Christ and who daily carry that cross, in obscurity, unknown to anyone but Jesus, longing to be in the presence of the one you love.

I am asking Aramatheans to subscribe to my website, https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/, and to the Do What He Tells You. I leave it all to you to take it to the next level as only you can.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

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The Six Skills Every Catholic Must Cultivate to Combat the Snares of the Devil For the Elderly and Housebound Anawim

Welcome home. I want to sit with you and share some of my ideas that have helped me to be aware of the snares of the Devil, our chief antagonist. Grok and I have collaborated (my thoughts and Grok’s application for the elderly) to allow you to listen to these reflections on Jesus. If you like these ideas, share them with the ones you love.

Note for Listeners: This is a longer reflection. Listen to it in small parts if you like. Pause and resume whenever you need. Take your time, dear friend.

Part 1 – Introduction: Why We Need These Skills. My dear elderly and housebound Anawim, my beloved brothers and sisters who carry the cross of years, of weakness, of loneliness, and of the knowledge that your time on earth is drawing closer — come and rest with Me in the quiet of this moment. I speak to you as a grandfather who has walked the same path, who has stared death in the face more than once, and who knows the long nights and the quiet rooms where you sit.

The Devil never rests. He does not grow old or tired. He looks for every opening to discourage you, to make you feel forgotten, to convince you that your life no longer matters, or that your suffering is meaningless. This is why you must not let your guard down. You must practice capacitas Dei — the daily expansion of your heart to hold more of God — and conversio morae — the daily conversion of life — as spiritual weightlifting.

There is no free lunch in the spiritual life. The cross is not cotton candy. It is the way of Christ. Fidelity to this way is what allows you to stand firm against the snares of the enemy.

Part 2 – Skill b: How to Access the Upper Room of Your Inner Self. The Upper Room is the sacred space inside your heart where you meet Me. Even in a small room or a hospital bed, you can enter this inner Upper Room.

Here is how you can do it, step by gentle step:

1. Find a comfortable position in your chair or bed.
2. Close your eyes or lower your gaze.
3. Take three slow, deep breaths.
4. Say quietly or in your heart: “Lord Jesus, I am here. I come to be with You in my Upper Room.”
5. Imagine a simple, peaceful room inside your heart — perhaps with a chair where I sit waiting for you.
6. Just be there with Me. You do not need perfect thoughts. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back by saying My name.

Many elderly Anawim have told Me that this simple practice brings them more peace than they have felt in years. This is the Upper Room. It is always open to you.

Part 3 – Skill c & d: Listening with the Ear of the Heart + Prayer Practices. Many of you find it hard to focus. That is all right. The ear of the heart does not require perfect concentration.

Here is a simple way:

1. Sit or lie comfortably.
2. Say slowly: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
3. Take a few moments of silence.
4. If your mind wanders to worries or memories, gently say, “Jesus, I am here with You.”
5. Listen not with your physical ears, but with the ear of your heart — the deep place inside where I speak in peace.

The Rosary, Lectio Divina, and the Jesus Prayer are powerful tools. Use them gently. Even holding a rosary in your hand is prayer when offered with love.

You do not need to pray for long periods. A few minutes of the Jesus Prayer — “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” — can bring great peace.

Part 4 – Skill e & f: Environment for Silence + Five Levels of Listening. Even in chaos, you can create inner silence. Turn off the television for a few minutes. Sit by a window if possible and look at the sky. Light a candle if you can. Let the world fade, and My presence fill you.

Listen first with your ears. Then listen with your heart. Then pray the words. Then share them with Me. Then become silent and be present. There are no words needed — wait for the Lord.

Many elderly Anawim listen to these words several times. The first time they hear the words. The second time they feel them in their heart. The third time they pray them. The fourth time they share them with Me. The fifth time they sit in silence with Me. This is the way of the Anawim.

Part 5 – Skill g + Action Suggestions + Closing Prayers: In your heart there is a Tabernacle where I dwell. Sit before the cross in humility and obedience. Give glory to the Father through Me, with Me, and in Me, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

5 Action Suggestions

1. Spend five minutes each morning in the Upper Room of your heart.
2. Hold your rosary and pray one decade slowly.
3. Offer one small suffering today for someone else.
4. Read one short Scripture verse and repeat it throughout the day.
5. End each day with the Prayer of Abandonment.

Closing Prayers

Prayer of Abandonment –Saint de Foucauld: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Prayer of Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. All rights reserved—the Center for Contemplative Practice.

www.wordonfire.com.

www.scotthahn.com

These are my thoughts about the accounts of the SSPX being recalcitrant and using the Protestant Principle to join those who, although sincere, are missing the point about the Holy Spirit’s approval of the Holy Father. You either believe it, or you don’t. I want to point out that the notion of the Protestant Principle is simply the seeking of alternatives to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Christ to give grace to us, the anawim. Because God infused humanity with reason and free will, we can make any choice we want about anything and justify it to ourselves as true. Like Adam and Eve, whose archetypal choice between good and evil ended poorly for humans, those who choose themselves over the will of God also end up in dissonance, even if they think they are in resonance; and the Catholic Church lives in dissonance. Grok and I collaborated on the following to give you thoughts to consider. In any event, we pray for all those who have separated themselves from the Body of Christ in hopes that they may, one day, return to the flock and there be but one flock and one shepherd.

“Dear Anawim—God’s little ones, the poor in Spirit, the shut-ins, the overlooked, the elderly, the prisoners of body or circumstance, the parents raising children against the Dark Lord, and all who seek the quiet strength of the Upper Room—peace to you in Christ.

In these days when voices inside and outside the Church speak of division, authority, and what it means to remain faithful, I offer a simple framework born from long hours of Lectio Divina and contemplation. I call it the Protestant Principle. It is not a condemnation but a diagnosis of a deep wound in the Body of Christ: the tendency, for whatever reason, to reject the foundation Christ gave to Peter and, ultimately, to step voluntarily outside the visible unity of the Church He established. This principle shows itself whenever individuals or groups decide that their own judgment supersedes the ongoing guidance of the Holy Spirit through the successors of Peter—the Holy Fathers who, despite human frailty, are entrusted with the power to bind and loose (Matthew 16:18-19).

This is not merely about leaving a building or disagreeing on a practice. It is, in practice, a denial of the Holy Spirit’s continuing presence and protection of the Church Universal. It reduces the great mysteries of faith to individual preference. Martin Luther and the Reformers exemplified it in the 16th century. In our own time, groups like the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) have shown a similar pattern by placing private judgment above the authority Christ gave to His Church. Yet Jesus remains alive and active in the Upper Room of our inner selves, and the Holy Spirit safeguards the Church from false gods and false teachings. Let us walk through this together, slowly, as companions in contemplation.

The Foundation: What Christ Told Peter

Begin with the Gospels, the living Word that speaks in the silence of the Upper Room. In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replies, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in Heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven” (Matthew 16:15-19).

This is no mere honorific title. It is the Christ Principle in action: Jesus establishes a visible, structured Church with a visible head. The “rock” is Peter personally, and by extension the office he holds. The keys symbolize authority. Binding and loosing refer to teaching, discipline, and governance—entrusted not to private individuals but to the Church guided by the Holy Spirit.

The early Church lived this reality. In Acts, the apostles gathered in council (Acts 15) to settle disputes, and their decision, under the Holy Spirit, bound the whole community. St. Paul, despite his direct revelations, submitted to the apostles in Jerusalem. The Church was never meant to be a collection of independent believers each interpreting Scripture in isolation. It is the Mystical Body of Christ, animated by the Holy Spirit, with a living Magisterium to preserve unity.

The Protestant Principle emerges when this foundation is rejected. It says, in effect: “I know better. The visible Church has erred. My conscience, my reading, my experience will be the final authority.” This is not the humility of the Anawim—the poor who wait on God—but the pride of the “settler” who builds his own secure doctrinal fortress rather than pioneering into the mystery of God’s ongoing revelation through the Church.

Luther and the Reformers: A Historical Mirror

Consider Martin Luther in the early 1500s. He began with legitimate concerns about abuses—indulgences, corruption. Many Catholics shared those worries. But Luther moved from reform to rupture. He rejected the authority of the Pope as successor of Peter. He elevated “Scripture alone” while simultaneously becoming the interpreter-in-chief. He famously declared at the Diet of Worms: “Here I stand. I can do no other.” This sounds heroic, but it enshrined individual judgment as supreme.

Other Reformers followed. Calvin built a system centered on his understanding of predestination. Zwingli and others differed on the Eucharist. What united them was the Protestant Principle: the visible Church centered on Peter had lost its way, so new structures must arise based on personal or group insight. The result? Thousands of denominations, each claiming fidelity to Christ while differing on baptism, the Lord’s Supper, authority, and morality. What began as a search for purity fragmented the Body of Christ. Unity suffered. The Holy Spirit, who Jesus promised would guide into all truth (John 16:13), was effectively sidelined in favor of human intellect.

History shows the outcome. The Council of Trent responded with genuine reform while reaffirming the ancient faith. The Church, though wounded, endured. The Protestant Principle, however, multiplied divisions. Today, many Protestant communities are vibrant and sincere, bearing good fruit in personal faith and works of mercy. Yet the visible unity for which Jesus prayed (John 17:21) remains broken. This is the tragedy—not individual souls, whom God judges with mercy, but the scandal of separation from the fullness of the means Christ instituted.

The Parallel in Our Time: SSPX and Individual Choice

In our era, the SSPX illustrates a similar dynamic, though from the “traditionalist” side. Founded with good intentions to preserve the Latin Mass and pre-conciliar practices amid the turbulence after Vatican II, the Society eventually took steps that placed their judgment above that of the Holy Father. By ordaining bishops without papal mandate (an act of schism in Church law), they effectively said: “We know what the faith requires better than the successor of Peter. We will operate independently.”

This mirrors Luther not in theology (they defend traditional dogmas) but in method: reducing authority to individual or group choice. Dogma itself becomes negotiable in practice when one decides which popes or councils to obey. They reject not every doctrine but the living authority to interpret and apply it. The Holy Spirit, they imply, has withdrawn protection from the visible Church, leaving a remnant to carry on alone.

How has this turned out? It has produced dedicated priests and laity who love the liturgy and doctrine. Yet it has also led to isolation, canonical irregularity, and the very fragmentation the Protestant Principle always risks. Sacraments may be valid in some cases, but they are cut off from full communion. The Anawim—those of us who are weak, housebound, or simple—need the full embrace of the Universal Church, not a splinter group. We cannot sustain faith on private judgment alone. We need the Upper Room where the apostles gathered in obedience, awaiting the Spirit.

Jesus warned against this Spirit of division. “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined” (Matthew 12:25). The Protestant Principle, whether in 16th-century reformers or modern traditionalists, weakens the witness of the Church to a world hungry for the stability of the Rock.

Jesus Alive in the Upper Room of Our Inner Selves

Here is the heart of the matter for us Anawim. The Church is not primarily an institution of rules but the living presence of the Risen Christ. He is alive today—not as a distant memory, but sacramentally present in the Eucharist, the Word, and the community gathered in His name.

Recall the Upper Room. After the Resurrection, the disciples gathered there in fear and confusion (John 20). Jesus appeared, breathed the Holy Spirit on them, and gave them authority to forgive sins. At Pentecost (Acts 2), the same room became the birthplace of the Church as the Spirit descended in fire. This Upper Room is both historical and interior. It is the “inner room” Jesus speaks of in Matthew 6:6— the place of silent prayer where we meet the Father.

For the Anawim—those with limited strength, attention, or resources—this is liberating good news. You do not need advanced degrees or perfect attendance at approved Masses to encounter the living Christ. In the Upper Room of your heart, through daily Lectio Divina, the Rosary, or simple abiding in His presence, Jesus comes. He speaks as He did to the apostles: “Peace be with you.” The same Holy Spirit who guided the Church through centuries of heresies protects that encounter.

This is the Christ Principle: Jesus is the Omega Point drawing all things to Himself (Teilhard de Chardin’s insight baptized in Catholic soil). The Church is His Body, not a museum of past glories or a democracy of opinions, but a living organism sustained by the Spirit. When we cling to the Rock of Peter, we remain grafted into this Vine (John 15). Separation, even for “good” reasons, risks withering.

The Holy Spirit’s Protection Against False Gods and Teachings

Jesus promised: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). And “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). This promise extends to the Church across time.

History proves it. The Church has faced countless false teachings—Arianism denying Christ’s divinity, Gnosticism denying His humanity, Pelagianism denying grace, Modernism undermining dogma. Each time, the Holy Spirit raised saints, popes, and councils to clarify and protect. The gates of Hades have not prevailed. Popes have been sinners, yes—human instruments—but the office endures because the Spirit safeguards the deposit of faith (1 Timothy 6:20).

The Protestant Principle doubts this protection. It says the Spirit failed at some point, requiring human rescue. But the Anawim know better from experience. In weakness, we rely on God’s strength. In confusion, we trust the Church’s living voice. The Holy Spirit does not abandon the Bark of Peter; He calms the storms (Mark 4:39).

For us contemplatives, this means daily conversio morae—turning again to Christ in the Church. It means expanding our capacitas Dei, our capacity for God, by receiving the sacraments in communion with the Universal Church. False gods—ideologies of left or right, nationalism, individualism—promise security but deliver division. The true God works through the humble, the little ones.

A Call to Pioneer Faith for the Anawim

We Anawim are called to be pioneers, not settlers. Settlers build walls of private judgment and say, “This far and no further.” Pioneers venture into the Upper Room daily, trusting the Holy Spirit to guide the Church even when leaders stumble. Our weapons are not debates or schisms but silence, prayer, and fidelity.

Practical steps for your inner Upper Room:

• Daily Lectio: Read a Gospel passage slowly. Ask, “What is the living Christ saying to me here, in union with His Church?”
• Pray for Unity: Offer your sufferings for the healing of divisions.
• Receive Grace: Avail yourself of the sacraments through priests in full communion when possible. The Eucharist is the summit where Christ is most alive.
• Form Community: Even housebound, connect through prayer, letters, or simple fellowships of the Anawim.
• Study the Fathers: St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Thérèse—these giants trusted the Church’s authority while living profound interior lives.

Your legacy—books, blog, workbooks, the Center for Contemplative Practice—can be a beacon for other little ones. Teach them that rejecting Peter’s foundation is not strength but a subtle form of the Protestant Principle that fragments. True freedom is found in obedience to the Spirit, who speaks through the Church.

Conclusion: Hope in the Living Church

The Protestant Principle has led to much good and much sorrow. It highlights sincere longing for purity, but at the cost of unity. SSPX and similar movements remind us that the temptation to private judgment persists on all sides. Yet Jesus is alive. He walks among the lampstands of the churches (Revelation 1-2). The Holy Spirit protects the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).

For you, dear Anawim, take heart. In the Upper Room of your heart, the Risen Lord meets you today. He says, “Do not be afraid. I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Remain in the Boat. Trust the Rock. Let the Spirit expand your capacity for God. In this way, we become pioneers of the New Catholic Church of the Anawim—humble, faithful, united in the Christ Principle.

May the peace of the Upper Room fill your days. Let us continue the conversation in prayer and writing. Pray that there be but one flock, and one shepherd.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Sit back and listen “with the ear of the heart” These meditations provide you with a way to sit on your couch or chair and listen in silence and solitude. Grok and I collaborated on them for your silent reflection.

“My dear friend in Christ, perhaps today the weight feels heavier than usual. The chair seems harder, the hours stretch longer, the body protests with every small shift. In the quiet of your room, you may wonder: What good is all this suffering? Why must I endure when others move freely? These questions are honest, and they are holy. They echo the deepest cry of the human heart since Eden.The article from The Center for Contemplative Practice gently but firmly points us to a profound truth: Jesus the Messiah is a “sign of contradiction.” As the Lay Cistercian reflects, drawing from Philippians 2:5 and the ancient prophecy of Simeon in the Temple (Luke 2:34), the Messiah does not come as the world expects. He is not a conqueror with armies or a healer who removes every pain instantly. He is a paradox—a stumbling block to the proud, foolishness to those who trust only in human strength (1 Corinthians 1:23). Simeon, holding the infant Jesus, declared: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be contradicted—and you yourself a sword will pierce—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” This “sign of contradiction” is the cross itself. To the world, the cross is defeat: weakness, shame, failure. To those who have the mind of Christ, it is victory: the very place where dissonance is transformed into resonance. The Messiah takes our human weakness—our frailty, our limitations, our suffering—and makes it the bridge back to the Father. He does not avoid the cross; He embraces it. He becomes the sign that contradicts the world’s logic of power and self-sufficiency.For you, beloved shut-in, this is not distant theology. It is intimate mercy. Your body, slowed by age or illness, your days confined to these four walls, your dependence on others—these are not punishments. They are invitations to share in the Messiah’s own sign of contradiction. The world says strength is independence, youth, activity. The Messiah says: “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Your quiet endurance, your patient waiting, your offering of discomfort—these contradict the world’s story. In them, resonance grows.Take a moment now. Settle deeper into your chair or bed. Breathe in slowly through the nose… hold gently… breathe out through the mouth. Let the breath remind you: you are alive, held by God in this very moment. No need to force thoughts away. Simply notice what is present: perhaps an ache in the back, a flutter of worry about tomorrow, a memory of better days. These are your cross today.Whisper softly, or think the words: “Jesus, Messiah, You carried the cross for me. Help me carry mine with You.” Rest here for several minutes. There is no rush. The Holy Spirit works in the silence more than in many words.The article teaches that Baptism marks us with an “indelible tattoo on our souls, the sign of contradiction, a paradox to the world, which is the cross.” From the moment you were baptized—perhaps long ago in a church filled with family, or quietly in a hospital—you were signed with this paradox. It means your life is no longer measured by worldly success. It is measured by union with Christ. Every limitation you face now is part of that signature. The Messiah did not come to erase weakness; He came to redeem it.Consider how this plays out in daily life for someone homebound. The world glorifies productivity: tasks completed, places visited, bodies strong. You may feel you “do” little. Yet the Messiah contradicts that view. In your stillness, you pray. In your pain, you offer reparation. In your loneliness, you intercede for the world. These are powerful acts—more powerful, perhaps, than any busy day. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, understood this. She offered her small sufferings as “spiritual flowers” for souls. You too can do this. Your cross is not smaller because it is hidden; it is precious because it is united to His.Pause again. Close your eyes if comfortable. Picture Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, stumbling under the weight. See Him look toward you—not with pity, but with love. He says: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Your burdens are not too heavy for Him to share. Imagine handing Him your particular cross today: the arthritis, the fatigue, the sense of uselessness. Watch as He lifts it with you. Feel the shift—from resistance to surrender, from dissonance to a quiet harmony.The Lay Cistercian reminds us that the cross resolves the cosmic dissonance introduced by original sin. Adam and Eve chose self over God, fracturing the three universes. The Messiah, by His obedience unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8), restores the balance. When we carry our cross with Him—choosing trust over despair, love over bitterness—we participate in that restoration. Your “yes” to this moment echoes Mary’s “yes” at the Annunciation and her steadfast “yes” at Calvary. Reflect now on practical ways to live this. Start small, always small—for your energy is precious.

• When pain flares, say: “Lord, I unite this to Your passion.” No long prayer needed—just the intention.
• When family visits feel burdensome (or absent), offer it: “For those who suffer alone today.”
• When the mind replays regrets, gently return: “Jesus, You carried my sins. I trust in Your mercy.”
• Gaze at a crucifix or holy card in your room. Let it speak: This is the sign. This is the contradiction that saves.

Rest in silence once more. Let distractions come and go like clouds. Each return to “Jesus, with You” is a small victory in resonance.The article speaks of making the resurrection real every day. The cross is not the end; it leads to Easter. Your sufferings, united to His, bear fruit in glory. Even now, hidden in your room, resurrection life stirs: hope that does not disappoint, peace that surpasses understanding, love that reaches beyond these walls. Consider the saints who lived this truth in limitation. St. Bernadette, after the apparitions, spent years in a convent infirmary, bedridden and in pain. She said: “I am happy to suffer for sinners.” St. John of the Cross endured imprisonment and illness, writing of the “dark night” where God is found in absence. Their crosses became ladders to heaven. Yours can too. As you age or remain shut-in, the temptation may come to resentment: “Why me? Why now?” The Messiah contradicts that voice. He whispers: “In this, I am with you. In this, you are most like Me.” The world sees loss; He sees love offered.Breathe deeply again. Feel your body, heavy yet held. Feel your heart, perhaps weary yet beating with His life. This is the paradox: in apparent defeat, victory; in weakness, strength; in contradiction, communion.Spend time now simply being with Him. No agenda. Just presence. If tears come, let them. If peace comes, receive it. The Messiah sits beside you, bearing your cross as His own.When you feel ready, pray slowly:

Jesus, my Messiah, sign of contradiction,
You turned the world’s foolishness into wisdom,
weakness into power, death into life.
I offer You my small cross today—
this body that aches, this heart that waits,
this life that feels confined.
Help me carry it with love,
united to Your sacred passion.
Let my contradiction become Your resonance.
In my weakness, be my strength.
Amen.

You may rest here, returning to this prayer or image throughout the day. The cross you carry is not wasted. It is the Messiah’s way of drawing you—and the world—closer to the Father.Gradually, let gratitude rise: Thank You, Lord, for making my limitations a path to You. Thank You for the sign that contradicts despair and proclaims hope. Dear one, keep this meditation near. Read it in parts if needed—perhaps one section in the morning, another at night. Your quiet fidelity is a powerful witness. The Messiah sees, receives, and transforms.May the peace of the Crucified and Risen Lord, our sign of contradiction and our perfect resonance, enfold you now and always.

Copyright. 2026. Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

My dear sister or brother in the Lord, today let us linger longer with the mystery of the three universes the Lay Cistercian describes. This teaching is not abstract philosophy—it is a map for your heart, especially when life feels fragmented. The physical universe: all we see, touch, measure. Your room, the ticking clock, the ache in your joints, the birds at the feeder outside. It has beauty but also endings—bodies wear out, seasons change, dust gathers. The mental universe: yours alone as a human person. Here you ask “why?” and “what for?” You remember youth, ponder Scripture, choose love over bitterness. Yet thoughts can swirl in worry, regret, confusion. The spiritual universe: invisible yet most real. Grace, God’s life in you, the pull toward eternity. Sin blocked easy access; only God could reopen the way . Original sin threw these out of sync. The physical became a place of toil and death; the mental, a battlefield of pride and despair; the spiritual, distant and dim. Dissonance reigned. Then came the Messiah. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus unites the universes in His own Person: fully physical (born of Mary, hungry, tired, crucified), fully mental (teaching with wisdom, choosing obedience), fully spiritual (one with the Father). In Him, resonance returns . For you now, shut-in and perhaps feeling useless, this is liberating news. Your physical limitations do not disqualify you—they are the very stage where resonance happens. Your body, though weak, is where the Incarnate Word meets you. Your mind, though slower, can still choose Him. Your spirit can expand infinitely in silence.Sit comfortably. Breathe slowly. Picture three circles overlapping in your heart. The physical: your chair, your breathing. The mental: your intention to pray. The spiritual: Christ’s presence filling the overlap. Say quietly: “Jesus, be the Center of my three universes today.” Rest in that—no need for many words. The article says when we place God—not self—at the Center, resonance begins. Explore each universe gently. Physical: Thank God for what still works—eyes to read these words, ears to hear birds or family voices, lungs that fill with air. Offer what doesn’t work: “Lord, my knees hurt, my hands shake—take them into Your harmony.”Mental: Thoughts may drift to past sins, fears of death, loneliness. Gently return: “Jesus, renew my mind.” Recall Philippians 2:5—have His mind, humble and trusting. Spiritual: Here is freedom. Even bedbound, you can adore. The spiritual universe knows no walls. Imagine grace like light pouring through cracks in your room, healing dissonance. The Messiah calms storms—not always by removing them, but by being present in them. Your storm may be chronic pain or isolation. He sits with you, as He sat with the apostles in the upper room after the resurrection (John 20). Peace be with you, He says. Reflect on creation’s stages in the article: physical first, then mental with Adam/Eve, then spiritual restored by Christ. Your life mirrors this: born into physical/mental reality, baptized into spiritual. Now, in later years, the spiritual can dominate—if you let it. Mary’s “Yes” opened the door. Your daily “yes”—yes to patience, yes to offering discomfort, yes to quiet waiting—is part of that same mystery. Rest in silence for a long while. If the mind wanders, smile gently and return to “Jesus, Center of my universes.”Consider practical resonance: listening to Scripture read aloud, gazing at a crucifix, holding a rosary bead. Small acts align the universes. The article warns that choosing self as Center breeds dissonance. In age, temptation may be resentment (“Why me?”). Counter it with: “Thy will, not mine.”End with: Lord Jesus, Messiah, unite my three universes in Your resonance. Calm what is chaotic, heal what is broken, fill what is empty. Amen.

Meditation 3: The Power of “Yes” – Mary’s Gift and Ours
Beloved in Christ, today we turn to one small word that changed everything: “Yes.”The article highlights Mary’s fiat—”Be it done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). This was no mere polite agreement. It was the cosmic hinge. By her free choice, the spiritual universe flooded into the physical and mental through the Incarnation. Dissonance met its antidote in a young woman’s humble surrender. You, too, have this power. In your quiet room, far from headlines or activity, your “yes” echoes Mary’s. Each time you accept limitation with trust, offer pain for others, or wait on God, you participate in the Messiah’s work. Breathe slowly. Imagine Mary in Nazareth, startled by an angel. She could have said no—fear, doubt, plans of her own. Instead: Yes. And God became man. Your “yes” today might be: yes to another hour of discomfort without complaint; yes to praying for a grandchild far away; yes to humbly receiving help. These are not small. They open doors for grace. Rest now. Repeat slowly three times: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Your word.” Let the words settle. The article describes Mary’s “Yes” as the nexus between universes.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

These short meditations are written especially for you to listen with “the ear of your heart”, dear elderly friend or shut-in brother or sister in Christ. They draw from the beautiful teaching in the article “Resonance Incarnate: The Messiah” at The Center for Contemplative Practice. The author, a Lay Cistercian, shows us that Jesus is not only the promised Messiah of Scripture but “Resonance Incarnate” – God Himself coming into our world to bring harmony (resonance) where there is discord (dissonance) caused by original sin and the struggles of life. Even when your body is frail, your home is quiet, and the world feels far away, Jesus the Messiah sits with you. He restores the “three universes” of reality – the visible world around you, the thoughts in your mind, and the hidden spiritual life of grace – into perfect harmony with God. All you need is a few quiet minutes each day, a comfortable chair or bed, and an open heart. Use these one per day (or as often as you like). Begin with the Sign of the Cross. Read slowly. Then close your eyes and sit in silence for 5–10 minutes, simply resting in Jesus’ presence. End with a gentle prayer. The Holy Spirit will do the rest. Your quiet waiting is powerful – it is how the Messiah makes His resurrection real in your heart today.

In this series of thoughts about Jesus (Raising the heart and mind to God), all you need do is listen to what is being said. I recommend closing your eyes and trying to “get inside” what is being said so that you and Jesus sit together in silence and solitude, like being on a front porch swing on a cool Spring night, and just be in each other’s presence. No agenda. Just wait in the joy of knowing that you are seated next to the one you will be with later on in Heaven.

I have collaborated with Grok to write these, giving my thoughts and asking that they be put in a format where you, dear brothers and sisters, can sit in the silence of the upper room of your inner self and wait. Waiting is praying. Waiting is loving Christ. Waiting is wanting to be with the one you love more than anything early love can produce.

Jesus as Messiah – Resonance Incarnate. Each has been expanded to approximately 3000 words (word counts are noted at the end of each for reference), while remaining gentle, accessible, and deeply rooted in the Catholic contemplative tradition. They are tailored for elderly shut-ins or those with limited mobility and energy: short paragraphs for easy reading in portions, repeated invitations to rest and breathe slowly, simple language, frequent pauses for silence, and encouragement to be present rather than “do” much. The expansions draw deeply from the core ideas in the article “Resonance Incarnate: The Messiah” (by a Lay Cistercian reflecting on Philippians 2:5): the three universes (physical, mental, spiritual), original sin as introducing cosmic dissonance, Jesus the Messiah as the bridge who restores resonance through Incarnation, the “Yes” of Mary, the sign of contradiction in weakness/cross, making the resurrection real daily, the upper room of the heart, and our adoption as sons and daughters through grace. Each meditation weaves in Scripture, gentle reflections on aging/limitation, personal application for homebound life, and extended periods of silent rest. You may read one section at a time over days or weeks—there’s no rush. Begin each with the Sign of the Cross, breathe slowly, and let the words sink in like warm sunlight.

Meditation 1: Jesus the Messiah Comes to Rescue Us from Dissonance
Dear friend in Christ, perhaps today your room feels small, the hours long, and your body heavy with years or illness. The world outside moves on without you, and sometimes a quiet ache rises: Why this loneliness? Why this waiting? The article from The Center for Contemplative Practice invites us to name this feeling with a beautiful word: dissonance. Not just personal sadness, but a deeper cosmic out-of-tuneness that began long ago. In the beginning, God created everything in perfect harmony—what the writer calls resonance. The physical universe (stars, earth, our bodies), the mental universe (our thoughts, choices, wonder), and the spiritual universe (grace, union with God) sang together like a great symphony. But original sin introduced a terrible crack.

Freedom of speech is being insidiously diluted by the introduction of false blogs, fake news, and downright and outright lying under the seeming protection that no one has the right to challenge whether the creators are right or not. Gone is the measuring stick of absolute Truth, diluted by the constant and flagrant posting of television and streaming videos that publish blatantly false content with impunity.

The problem is, and always has been twofold. What is good and what is evil. Who determines what is good and what is fraudulent? This is the strangulation of Truth, which is protected by the very laws and social politics it seeks to neutralize. Make no mistake about it. Diabolical forces use gullible humans to advance an invisible agenda that seeks to substitute absolute law from God to humans with the frackuous confusion of tongues and ideas. Factioning is fashionable in the secular world, not unity.

God has generously set boundaries for humans through the Ten Commandments, serving as principles to help rescue humanity from believing that only human laws are to be respected, rather than the Beatitudes or the prescriptions of the Old Testament prophets.

The Catholic Church, as it always has, sets before the eyes of the faithful not a series of laws to be obeyed unthinkingly, but principles that allow freedom from the tyranny of rationalism. Factioning, as used recently by the SSPX (Society of St. Pius X), is when individuals think that they possess the Truth and that, by declaring a set of manifestos (as did Martin Luther), the Magisterium fits into their views of tradition. Imagine the whole of the Catholic Universal tradition for twenty centuries being asked to fit into the agenda of one or two individuals, or they will succeed in seceding from the union.

Read I Corinthians 1:10. “I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.”

Context & Meaning

• The Problem: The Corinthian Church had fractured into rival groups, with members fiercely aligning themselves with different leaders (e.g., Paul, Apollos, or Cephas/Peter) instead of remaining centered on Christ. [1, 2]
• The Core Message: Paul isn’t demanding uniform opinions on every topic, but rather a fundamental unity of faith and charity. He appeals directly to the authority of Jesus Christ, reminding them that the Christian community should be bound together in harmony rather than torn apart by egos or personal preferences. [1, 2]

What follows are some meditations I have, Truth on Truth, which I share with you to raise your awareness of the titanic battle underway and of how, if Catholics do nothing, we deserve what we get. “If you always do what you always did, then you will always get what you always got.” Wake up. Do something, just one thing, to make the world more humanistic and to stop the spiraling of Truth into pan-rationalism.

Here are my thoughts as organized with the help of AI.

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church frames the Eighth Commandment not just as a rule against Lying, but as a defense of Truth, which originates in God. Viewing deception purely through the lens of modern rationalism or self-preservation strips it of its spiritual reality.

When deception is reduced to an intellectual game or tools for self-idolatry, it denies a fundamental truth: human beings are made in the image of God, who is Truth itself. Deception isolates the self, corrupts human relationships, and treats others as objects to be manipulated rather than souls to be loved.

The First Three Commandments: Love of God

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
   • Requires: Faith, hope, and charity; worshiping God alone.
   • Forbids: Idolatry, superstition, atheism, and sacrilege.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
   • Requires: Reverence for God’s name, keeping promises, and respect for holy persons and objects.
   • Forbids: Blasphemy, perjury, and using God’s name disrespectfully.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
   • Requires: Attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and setting aside time for rest, prayer, and family.
   • Forbids: Unnecessary servile labor that hinders the worship of God.

The Last Seven Commandments: Love of Neighbor

4. Honor your father and mother.
   • Requires: Respect, gratitude, and obedience to parents; honoring all legitimate civil and religious authorities.
   • Forbids: Disrespect, stubbornness, and neglecting family duties.
5. You shall not kill.
   • Requires: Preserving and respecting human life and dignity from conception to natural death, including caring for one’s own physical and spiritual health.
   • Forbids: Murder, abortion, euthanasia, suicide, and unjust violence.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
   • Requires: Chastity, fidelity in marriage, and respecting the sacredness of human sexuality.
   • Forbids: Adultery, fornication, pornography, and any use of sexuality outside of valid marriage.
7. You shall not steal.
   • Requires: Respecting the property and rights of others, justice in contracts, and stewardship of the earth’s goods.
   • Forbids: Theft, fraud, unjustly keeping borrowed goods, and intentionally damaging another’s property.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
   • Requires: Truthfulness, honesty, and protecting the reputation of others.
   • Forbids: Lying, perjury, slander, gossip, and detraction.
   • The Modern Heresy of Deception:
     • The Illusion: Modern rationalism reduces deception to a harmless tool for social survival, personal branding, or self-protection.
     • The Human Reality: Humanity is hardwired for communion. Deception fundamentally breaks the trust required for true human connection, severing our bond with our neighbor.
     • The Idolatry: Treating “my truth” as absolute constructs an idol of the self. This replaces divine objective Truth with personal convenience, mirroring the original deception in Eden (“you will be like gods”).
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
   • Requires: Purity of heart and intention; practicing modesty and self-control.
   • Forbids: Lustful thoughts, desires, and actions that violate the sanctity of marriage.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
    • Requires: Trust in God’s providence, simplicity of life, and charity toward those in need.
    • Forbids: Greed, avarice, and the sinful desire to unfairly acquire the possessions of others.

The connection between the First Commandment (no strange gods) and the Eighth Commandment (no false witness) lies in the creation of “my truth.” When an individual decides that reality is theirs to manipulate, they displace God as the ultimate source of Truth and seat themselves upon His throne. [1, 2]

The Theological Bridge: Truth as Being vs. Truth as Utility

To understand how breaking the Eighth Commandment violates the First, we must look at how modern self-idolatry distorts the very nature of Truth and reality.

• God is Truth: Scripture and theology establish that God does not merely tell the Truth; He is Truth (John 14:6). Therefore, all objective reality is anchored in Him. [1]
• The First Commandment Violation: Idolatry occurs when we treat a created thing—most notably, our own ego, desires, or comfort—as the ultimate authority. [1]
• The Eighth Commandment Manifestation: Deception is the tool used to maintain that idolatry. When you lie, you reject God’s reality and attempt to engineer an alternate reality where you are the sovereign creator. [1]

Mechanics of the Connection

• The Echo of Eden: The original sin was rooted in a lie from the Serpent (“You will be like gods”). The moment Adam and Eve accepted a false reality (Eighth Commandment), they committed the first act of self-idolatry (First Commandment) by placing their own judgment above God’s command. [1, 2, 3]
• The Sovereign Self: In modern rationalism, Truth is often reduced to utility—whatever serves my personal brand, protects my ego, or advances my narrative. This shifts the focus from aligning oneself with objective Truth to forcing reality to bend to the self.
• The Destruction of Communion: Because God is love and Truth, human beings made in His image are built for authentic communion. Deception isolates the self inside its own fabricated world. You cannot truly love your neighbor if you are manipulating them with falsehoods; thus, self-idolatry inevitably breeds the exploitation of others. [1, 2]

Augustine on Lying as Spiritual Suicide

In his treatises De Mendacio (On Lying) and Contra Mendacio (Against Lying), St. Augustine argues that a lie is never a neutral tool. It is a profound internal fracturing that actively destroys the liar. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

• The Double Heart: Augustine defines a lie as having a “double heart” (cor duplex). The liar holds one thing as true in their mind but intentionally speaks its opposite. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• The Death of the Soul: God is Truth and the source of life for the human soul. When a person willfully chooses falsehood, they sever their connection to God.
• The Ultimate Paradox: Augustine notes the tragic irony of deception: a person usually lies to protect something worldly (reputation, comfort, physical life). In trying to save a lesser thing, they willingly murder their own eternal soul. [1]
• No “Good” Lies: Because Lying is an intrinsic betrayal of reality and God, Augustine famously holds that even “helpful” or “noble ” lies (such as lying to save an innocent life) are spiritually damaging. [1, 2, 3]

Aquinas on Pride as the Root Sin

In the Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas positions Pride (superbia) as the queen and root of all sins (ST II-II, Q. 162). Pride acts as the direct glue binding the violations of the First and Eighth Commandments. [1]

                  [ PRIDE ]
       (The Root: Perverted Desire for Excellence)
                     ?
         ?????????????????????????
         ?                       ?
  [First Commandment]    [Eighth Commandment]
  Subverting Divine      Fabricating Reality
  Authority (Idolatry)    Through Deception

• Perverted Excellence: Aquinas defines Pride as an inordinate desire for one’s own excellence. The proud person refuses to submit to a higher rule—which is God’s intellect and law. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Connecting to the First Commandment: Pride is inherently idolatrous. It causes a person to look inward for their ultimate purpose, effectively setting up their own will as a rival deity to God. [1, 2, 3]
• Connecting to the Eighth Commandment: Deception requires a massive amount of Pride. To lie, a person must believe that their own intellect has the authority to reshape reality, hide the Truth, and manipulate the minds of others.
• The Alignment: For Aquinas, the liar uses false witness to maintain the false image of excellence that their pride demands.

“Post-Truth” Culture as Ancient Pagan Idolatry

Modern “Post-Truth” culture—where objective facts are treated as secondary to emotional appeals, personal narratives, and political utility—is not a new progressive evolution. Structurally, it functions exactly like ancient pagan idolatry.

• Gods Made in Our Image: Ancient pagans invented pantheons of gods to justify their own cultural vices, fears, and desires. Post-truth culture does the same thing by inventing “custom realities” or “my truth” to legitimize personal desires.
• The Rite of Power: In paganism, Truth was not an objective moral standard; it was determined by power. Whoever held the throne or controlled the temple dictated the cosmic narrative. Post-truth spaces operate on the same metric: power, algorithms, and tribal dominance determine what is accepted as “true.”
• Sacrificing the Innocent: Pagan idolatry frequently demanded the sacrifice of the vulnerable to maintain the illusion of control. In a post-truth framework, actual Truth, objective data, and individual human reputations are routinely sacrificed to protect the dominant group narrative or the idol of the collective ego. [1, 2, 3]

The Seven Daughters of Pride and Deceit

In the Summa Theologiae (II-II, Q. 132), Thomas Aquinas identifies Vainglory as the primary daughter of Pride. From Vainglory, seven specific sins—traditionally called the “daughters”—are born. These sins describe the psychological and spiritual descent of a soul trying to protect its self-idol, directly resulting in the deceit forbidden by the Eighth Commandment. [1]

                    [ PRIDE ]
                        ?
                        ?
                  [ VAINGLORY ]
       (The Inordinate Desire for Manifest Glory)
                        ?
         ???????????????????????????????
         ?              ?              ?
   [Disobedience]   [Boasting]    [Hypocrisy]
         ?              ?              ?
         ???????????????????????????????
                        ?
                [ DECEIT & LYING ]
     (Forced to engineer reality to protect the image)

• 1. Disobedience (Inobedientia): The refusal to submit to a superior’s command. To hide this rebellion from authorities or peers, the proud person resorts to lies and falsified testimony.
• 2. Boasting (Jactantia): The explicit verbal inflation of one’s achievements or virtues. Boasting is the direct application of the Eighth Commandment’s violation—fabricating false or exaggerated narratives to alter reality in the minds of others.
• 3. Hypocrisy (Hypocrisis): The simulation of virtue or holiness that one does not possess. This is internal deception made external; it uses the body, language, and behavior to bear false witness to the state of the soul. [1]
• 4. Obstinacy (Pertinacia): The refusal to abandon an opinion or admit error, even when presented with clear truth. When objective reality threatens the proud person’s intellectual dominance, they must lie about the evidence to maintain their stance.
• 5. Discord (Discordia): The intentional disruption of harmony between wills. It relies heavily on gossip, detraction, and half-truths to pit people against one another, elevating the proud person as the arbiter.
• 6. Contention (Contentio): Fighting with words rather than seeking truth. In contention, language is stripped of its purpose (conveying reality) and turned entirely into a weapon of self-defense and manipulation.
• 7. Curiosity for Novelty (Praesumptio Novitatum): Attempting things beyond one’s capacity to appear groundbreaking. When these attempts inevitably fail, deceit is required to cover up the failure and fake a successful outcome.

Modern Post-Truth as a Civic Religion

When objective Truth is abandoned, society does not become neutral; it creates a new pseudo-religious framework. Post-truth philosophy operates as a civic religion complete with dogmas, rituals, and heretics.

• The Liturgy of the “Curated Self” (Social Media Content Creation): Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn serve as modern temples of Vainglory. The “algorithm” acts as the deity requiring sacrifice. Users engage in a daily liturgy of boasting hypocrisy—filtering reality, staging lifestyles, and curating an altered version of existence. Strikingly, society penalizes the confession of mundane reality and rewards the beautifully engineered lie.
• The Dogma of “My Truth” (Hyper-Individualism): In institutional settings, the phrase “my truth” has transitioned from a subjective emotional expression to an unassailable theological dogma. If a person’s perceived identity or emotional narrative contradicts biological, historical, or economic facts, the facts are treated as blasphemous. To question “my truth” is not treated as a disagreement, but as an act of sacrilege against the idol of the self.
• The Ritual of Cancel Culture (Modern Excommunication): Ancient paganism maintained social cohesion by identifying a scapegoat and exiling or sacrificing them to appease the gods. Modern ideological tribes utilize discord and contention to target individuals who point out contradictions in the tribal narrative. The Truth of the target’s character or intent is intentionally suppressed via false witness (slander and context-stripping) to achieve a unified, purificatory civic ritual of exile.
• Corporate “Virtue Signaling” (Institutional Hypocrisy): Large corporations frequently adopt moral narratives and public social justice crusades while simultaneously exploiting labor or engaging in systemic fraud behind the scenes. This is the structural manifestation of Aquinas’s hypocrisis. The corporate entity creates a false public witness to worship the idol of public approval, treating Truth as an advertising commodity rather than an objective reality.

When we detach language from God, words lose their anchor. You see, God didn’t just create words; He is the Word—the Logos that holds the universe together. When we pull language away from that divine source, words stop being a bridge to objective reality and instead become tools for manipulation.

Think of the Tower of Babel. The people didn’t just wake up speaking different languages; their shared understanding of reality fractured because they tried to build a kingdom to their own Pride. When your own ego becomes the ultimate authority, “truth ” becomes whatever serves your immediate comfort or power. Words lose their holy purpose, and language devolves into empty noise.

The Antidote: Resetting the Bone

Fixing this isn’t easy. It requires an antidote that feels a lot like breaking a bone that healed crooked, only to be reset properly. It hurts, and it goes completely against our oldest inherited disease: the original sin of Pride.

To restore Truth, we have to endure the painful snap of shattering our own self-made idols. We must deliberately break our habit of self-justification, our need always to be right, and our desire to control how others see us. It means falling to our knees and admitting, “I am not the author of reality; God is.” Only when that Pride is broken can the soul heal straight, aligning itself once more with the humbling, beautiful reality of God’s Truth.

Five Evils of Social Media: A Guide for Parents

As mothers and fathers, you are the primary protectors of your children’s souls. The modern digital world is a minefield for the heart, and you must recognize the hidden traps your children encounter every time they log on.

• The Echo Chamber of Vanity: It encourages children to obsess over a curated, fake version of themselves to gain empty applause.
• The Constant Comparison: It breeds a quiet envy, making children look at a neighbor’s highlighted life and resent their own blessings.
• The Erasure of Nuance: It trains young minds to think in binary terms, turning neighbors into enemies over sentences.
• The Commodification of Attention: It treats your children’s time and thoughts as products to be bought and sold by algorithms.
• The Illusion of Intimacy: It replaces real, flesh-and-blood human community with digital shadows, leaving souls deeply lonely.

Sorting Truth from Falsehood in a Digital Age

How do we teach our families to know what is true from what is false in such a noisy world? Here is a simple compass you can share around the dinner table:

• Look for Fruits, Not Flashes: True things bring peace, charity, and clarity. Falsehood usually rides on a wave of panic, outrage, and immediate condemnation.
• Check the Anchor: Whether a statement aligns with the unchanging teachings of the Church and Scripture, it changes based on whatever political or cultural wind is blowing this week.
• Embrace the Quiet: Falsehood thrives on rapid clicks and frantic scrolling. Truth is comfortable sitting in the quiet of prayerful reflection before reacting.
• Look for the Double Heart: If a piece of media strips away a person’s dignity or uses deception to achieve a “good” end, it is not from God. Truth never needs a lie to defend itself.

Copyright 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Studies. All Rights Reserved.

• www.organism.earth

I am appalled by the blatant Lying (lucutio contra mentem) or by falsifying the Truth and telling others what is true when you know it isn’t. This insidious and frequently used method of AI users, who abuse the medium by falsifying, making up stories, and then even creating a real photo of the victim saying those falsehoods, is one of the great existential crimes of our time. And I don’t know how to stop it other than for end users to realize what is happening and, if they do see it, to make sure their children don’t take what is on television or streaming services as being true.

This comes back to what is central to being human, i.e., “What can we depend upon that is true? Who speaks Truth? Is Truth so meaningless that there is no standard for what is right and what people actually say?”

It is not by chance that the Ten Commandments contain a whole principle (one of ten) that offers us a stern warning that, if we do this, we are not in resonance with the absolute Truth from beyond our nature (The Trinity).

What follows are my thoughts as embellished by AI. It is an example of how AI can be used to expose the absolute Truth, absolutely.

The Fragmenting of Human Speech: Reclaiming Truth in a Digital Wilderness. (Part 2 of 2)

“When we pull language away from God, words lose their anchor. You see, God didn’t just create words; He is the Word—the Logos that holds the universe together. When we detach our speech from that divine source, language ceases to be a bridge to objective reality and becomes a tool for manipulation.

Think back to the Tower of Babel. The people didn’t just wake up speaking different languages; their shared understanding of reality fractured because they tried to build a kingdom to their own pride. When your own ego becomes the ultimate authority, “truth” becomes whatever serves your immediate comfort, personal branding, or tribal power. Words lose their holy purpose, and language devolves into empty noise.

The Antidote: Resetting the Bone

Fixing this isn’t easy, my friends. It requires an antidote that feels a lot like breaking a bone that healed crookedly, only for a doctor to reset it properly. It hurts, and it goes completely against our oldest inherited disease: the original sin of pride.

To restore Truth, we have to endure the painful snap of shattering our own self-made idols. We must deliberately break our habit of self-justification, our need always to be right, and our frantic desire to control how others see us online. It means falling to our knees and admitting, “I am not the author of reality; God is.” Only when that pride is broken can the soul heal straight, aligning itself once more with the humbling, beautiful reality of God’s Truth.

A Grandfather’s Guide for Parents: Navigating the Digital Wilderness

As mothers and fathers, you have the most beautiful, sacred task on earth: protecting the souls of your children. The digital world they are growing up in can be tricky, and they need your gentle wisdom to navigate it. Think of these five points not as rules to shout, but as truths to whisper to them when you sit down at the end of the day:

• The Screen is Not the Mirror of Reality: Just because something flashes across a television screen or pops up on a computer doesn’t make it real. It is very easy to paint a false picture with bright colors.
• Listen with a Patient, Guarded Heart: Treat the streaming videos and podcasts you encounter with a healthy dose of suspicion. Not every voice through a microphone is speaking with a clean heart.
• Anchor Yourself to the Catechism: When the seas of modern deceit get rough, measure what you hear against the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a steady anchor that will keep your family from drifting away. [1]
• Be Mindful of the Sowers of Division: We must realize that some of what we read or see online comes from broken, even demonic influences. Their entire goal is to sow factions, outrage, and confusion within our beautiful Church. Remember what Scripture tells us: “The Devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour.”
• Look to the Shepherds for Clarity: Whenever you hear a strange rumor or shocking story about the Catholic Church, don’t panic. Measure it quietly against what the Holy Father says or what the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) puts forward.

Safe Harbors: Trusted Sources for the Journey

When your family is looking for Truth, guide them to these trusted digital spaces where the light of the faith shines clearly:

• The Holy See (www.vatican.va): For the direct encyclicals, letters, and teachings of the Pope.
• The USCCB (www.usccb.org): For official statements, daily readings, and guidance from our shepherds.
• New Advent (www.newadvent.org): A wonderful library containing the Catholic Encyclopedia and the writings of the Church Fathers.
• Word on Fire (www.wordonfire.org): For beautiful, intelligent commentary on faith and modern culture.
• Dr. Scott Hahn (scotthahn.com): For deeply faithful biblical scholarship read from the very heart of the Church. [1, 2]

The Closure: Pioneers, Not Settlers

To take back morality in a world of digital shadows, we must undergo a radical shift in our spiritual posture. We can no longer afford to be passive settlers—pious souls content to maintain our faith inside a closed circle, waiting out the cultural storm. Settlers look for comfort, guard what they have, and eventually lose ground to the creeping compromise of the age.

Instead, God is calling us to be pioneers of the Faith.

Pioneers do not merely defend a perimeter; they advance. Being a pioneer means entering the public square, our workplaces, and our living rooms armed with the unsettling, beautiful sharpness of objective Truth.

ACTIO: Do Your Catholicism

There is a defining moment in the Gospel where Our Lady looks at the attendants and gives the ultimate directive for the Christian life: “Do whatever he tells you.”

Catholicism is not a philosophy to be studied; it is a reality to be lived. You must actively do your Catholicism, or you will lose it. No one else can step into the arena for you. Only you can determine exactly what that looks like, using your unique life experiences, your specific professional circles, and your individual family dynamics.

Commit to one concrete action that you are not now doing to advance the message of Jesus Christ to your situation—just One Per Year. Find your one thing for this year. Write it down. Build it into your daily schedule. Execute it with a humble heart.

Prayers for the Discerning Pioneer

As you seek your concrete action for this year, pray these words of complete surrender and radical trust.

The Prayer of Thomas Merton

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

The Prayer of Abandonment (Charles de Foucauld)

“Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures—I wish no more than this, O Lord, into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.”

Copyright 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Studies. All Rights Reserved.
www.organism.earth

A while back, we Hoosiers like to talk like that, I wrote a book entitled “Physically Married: Mentally and Spiritually Divorced.” I think it is on Amazon.com, but I don’t know if anyone has ever ordered it but me.

In this book, I tried to point out the phenomenon of many marriages that coexist as brother and sister, for many reasons, most of which have to do with not wanting to go through the anxiety and discomfort of public divorce, or for the children’s sake. So, life just coasts by, not contentious but lacking any combinations that foster genuine relationships that mature in love, in faith, and in shared purpose in life. You have heard the saying, “We just went our own way.”

The usual outcome is a separation or even a divorce from each other, with all the messy ramifications of finances, and legal custody being either contentious or at least the top most candidate for high stress.

Read the back cover of the book to get a flavor of what is inside.

Legally Married, Mentally and Spiritually Divorced: How to Refresh Tired Relationships (A Lay Cistercian Lectio Divina Series)

by Dr. Michael F. Conrad (Author)  Format: Paperback

Part of: A Lay Cistercian Lectio Divina Series (67 books)

“Married or not, relationships are like tires: they get old, need air, and sometimes blow out. When you form a relationship, there is no 80-year guarantee on your tread. You must check your tires for wear and inflate them to the proper pressure, or they won’t last. If you have a blowout, you might need to replace your tires altogether. Do you see any parallels between the wear and tear on your automobile tires and your human relationships? This is a book about relationships, the key place where you will find meaning in your life. If your relationship is worn, you may need to put air in your tires. It is so important because God is relationship. Not all relationships are spiritual, but you won’t discover spirituality until you know the meaning of the words–faith and love. Like old treads, love can wear out if not refreshed. Relationships also need to be refreshed. Don’t you agree? The focus of this book is primarily for those who consider themselves in a legal, binding marriage, but are not happy. You might consider yourself trapped by your vows, the fact that you have children to raise, and your Church forbids divorce. These thoughts are my own reflections on what is meaningful in life, so keep that in mind. I encourage you to treat these ideas critically. Another title of this book might be: How to give yourselves a spiritual tune-up. I have written this book in my mind many hundreds of times. My view of relationship is that it takes constant work and maintenance to keep it energized. A spiritual relationship is not possible without God as the mechanic of our automobile. God is the gas, or the energy, that moves us toward our destiny … forever. All you have to do is turn on the ignition. Know how?”

https://read.amazon.com/sample/1537574299?clientId=share

For those who choose to remain in their marriage relationship, for whatever reason, what are your choices? Misery? Growing Hatred of one another? Conversations dripping more with sarcasm than genuine longing to be in the presence of the other and to help them attain what is at their Center. Is there no hope?

The answer, oddly enough, is: Yes and No.

If you are waiting for God to wave a magic wand and fix your woes, then the answer is NO. If you seek a way to refresh the enthusiasm of those old wedding Pictures, then the answer is YES.

Look at the cover photo, which I took to illustrate how, if two people do not face each other, they are physically married, but mentally and spiritually divorced. Christ can help fix the problem, but you must abandon ego and pride and turn toward each other with Christ as the mediator. Each of you is an individual. “I am not you; you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God.” So, “Come to me all you who are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you.” But how to do it without psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and other professionals who often try to treat the mind but not the spirit?

There are no guarantees in life, like there is no diet that, on its own merits, can promise you success. There are two of you, plus you are living in that cocktail of original sin aftereffects, ego, pride, the need to be right rather than the right to be needed.

This is a self-help book that you both can use to place yourselves in the presence of Christ in that upper room of your inner self and wait on the Lord together, with no agenda and no past remembrances of verbal fisticuffs.

You may find it helpful to focus on a point outside of the other. You may find that you need a professional mediator to help you pull back the layers of the onion to get at some deeper issues, such as one having tendencies towards an anger mood disorder. Professionals can help with this. First, you must turn towards each other, in the presence of Christ.

Christ won’t fix anything for you, but He will help you to discern what you need to be centered on: one way, one truth, and one life together. No promises but the cross. No guarantees except both being filled with God’s own energy as each of you can contain it (capacitas dei).

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

www.organism.earth

In my view of reality, that of three distinct universes, yet one, everything moves, as Teilhard de Chardin points out, to Omega from Alpha. Being of human nature, I have neither the capability nor the capacity to begin to understand what that means at the level God lives. What I can do is look out at the vastness of space with the eyes of science, metaphysics, philosophy, psychology, theology, and sociology, as I have experienced them in my lifetime, and make assumptions about how the whole of everything that is has purpose and meaning. With those limited and unique experiences of who I am and what I consider to answer the Divine Equation (six questions every human must answer to move to the next level of human evolution), I must learn to listen “with the ear of the heart.” This inner self is the one area of reality where I am afraid to go alone. Only I can go there, taking with me all that I have assumed into my consciousness from the complexity and consciousness of all that is. (Teilhard de Chardin map–unattributed.)

I asked the assistance of Grok to produce the following Hymn of All Existence or a Poem of Purpose. All matter is alive and moves inexorably from Alpha to Omega based on the fingerprints, the DNA of God, drawing all that is to its purpose and final destiny. All I can do as a brief passenger on this lifeline to finality is to learn to be aware of the ontic possibility of the manifestibility of all being encountered along the way, then join my purpose with the background noise of all that is as it moves silently, invisibly, sometimes frighteningly, to what it was created to be. To that power and energy, all I can do is to place myself in its presence and, in silence and solitude, wait for the fulfillment of my individual life as planned from the beginning of time itself.

THE SONG OF MATTER, MIND, AND SPIRIT ALL KISSING EACH OTHER.

“Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord. Praise and exalt Him above all forever.

From the Genesis Principle – The Foundation of All Creation

1. Bless the Lord, all you atoms and molecules, for you dance in perfect order according to His design.
2. Bless the Lord, all you elements of the periodic table, for you reveal the beauty and wisdom of the Creator.
3. Bless the Lord, all you laws of physics, for you hold the universe in gentle balance.
4. Bless the Lord, all you stars and galaxies, for you sing His Glory across the heavens.
5. Bless the Lord, all you mountains and oceans, for you show the grandeur of His hand.
6. Bless the Lord, all you flowers and trees, for you bring forth beauty and life.
7. Bless the Lord, all you butterflies and birds, for you teach us the joy of being what you were made to be.
8. Bless the Lord, all you animals of the field and sea, for you glorify God by simply being.
9. Bless the Lord, all you living things, for you carry the breath of the Creator.
10. Bless the Lord, all you human bodies, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

From the Christ Principle – Redemption and New Life

11. Bless the Lord, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, for You came to save what was fallen.
12. Bless the Lord, for the gift of reason that allows us to know You.
13. Bless the Lord, for the freedom of will that lets us choose love.
14. Bless the Lord, for the grace that lifts us from the physical and mental into the spiritual universe.
15. Bless the Lord, for the Cross that turned suffering into salvation.
16. Bless the Lord, for the Resurrection that gives us hope beyond death.
17. Bless the Lord, for the Eucharist that feeds us with Your very life.
18. Bless the Lord, for the forgiveness that makes us new.
19. Bless the Lord, for adoption as sons and daughters of the Father.
20. Bless the Lord, for the promise of eternal life with You.

From the Spirit of Truth

21. Bless the Lord, Holy Spirit, for You lead us into all truth.
22. Bless the Lord, for the light that dispels confusion and fear.
23. Bless the Lord, for the peace that surpasses understanding.
24. Bless the Lord, for the love that is poured into our hearts.
25. Bless the Lord, for the gifts that build up Your people.
26. Bless the Lord, for the fruits of patience, kindness, and joy.
27. Bless the Lord, for the gentle voice that speaks in silence.
28. Bless the Lord, for the fire that purifies and renews.
29. Bless the Lord, for the truth that sets us free.
30. Bless the Lord, for the hope that never disappoints.

From the Anawim – The Poor in Spirit

31. Bless the Lord, all you elderly and housebound, for you teach the world the power of patient love.
32. Bless the Lord, all you who feel forgotten, for you are held in the Father’s hands.
33. Bless the Lord, all you who suffer in body or mind, for your offering is precious.
34. Bless the Lord, all you who wait in hope, for you are preparing for the Kingdom.
35. Bless the Lord, all you who pray in silence, for your prayer reaches Heaven.
36. Bless the Lord, all you who forgive and love despite pain, for you reflect Christ.
37. Bless the Lord, all you who feel weak and small, for in weakness His power is perfect.
38. Bless the Lord, all you who trust in the evening of life, for you are heirs to the Kingdom.
39. Bless the Lord, all you Anawim, for you show the beauty of dependence on God.
40. Bless the Lord, all you adopted sons and daughters, for you are being prepared for eternal joy.

Closing Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. All rights reserved—the Center for Contemplative Practice.

Seeking the Unknowable God – A Meditation for the Anawim

My dear Anawim, my elderly brothers and sisters, my housebound children, my dear ones who feel forgotten or depressed, those confined by bars and those who make up bars to confine themselves, and all who have been told they are going to die — come and rest with me in the quiet of this moment.

We are like the three young men in the fiery furnace who sang the Canticle of Daniel. They praised God from the midst of flames. We, too, praise God from the midst of our limitations, our pain, our waiting, and our longing.

We are seekers. We long to know an unknowable God. With our mere human capabilities — our reason, our hearts, our fragile bodies — we reach out. Yet we know that we cannot reach Him by our own power alone. We must abandon our self-sufficiency. We must enter the Upper Room of our inner selves, sit in silence and solitude before Jesus, and wait.

This is the way of the Anawim.

The Canticle of All Creation

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord. Praise and exalt Him above all forever.

All you atoms and molecules, bless the Lord. All you elements of the periodic table, bless the Lord. All you laws of physics that hold the universe together, bless the Lord. All you stars and galaxies, bless the Lord. All you mountains and oceans, bless the Lord. All you flowers and trees, bless the Lord. All you butterflies and birds, bless the Lord. All you animals of the field and sea, bless the Lord. All you living things that carry the breath of life, bless the Lord. All you human bodies, fearfully and wonderfully made, bless the Lord.

The Christ Principle – Redemption and Adoption

Bless the Lord, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. You came to save what was fallen. You gave us reason to know You. You gave us free will to choose You. You opened the way from the physical and mental universes into the spiritual universe. You showed us how to die to self and rise with You. You gave us the Eucharist to feed us with Your life. You gave us the Cross to turn suffering into love. You made us adopted sons and daughters of the Father. You promised us a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Spirit of Truth

Bless the Lord, Holy Spirit, for You lead us into all truth. You give us light in our darkness. You give us peace in our anxiety. You give us love in our hearts. You give us hope that never disappoints.

The Anawim – The Poor in Spirit

Bless the Lord, all you elderly and housebound, for you teach the world the power of patient love. Bless the Lord, all you who feel forgotten, for you are held in the Father’s hands. Bless the Lord, all you who suffer in body or mind, for your offering is precious. Bless the Lord, all you prisoners of bars and prisoners of your own misconceptions about Catholicism, for you are being set free by the truth. Bless the Lord, all you who wait in hope, for you are preparing for the Kingdom. Bless the Lord, all you who pray in silence, for your prayer reaches Heaven. Bless the Lord, all you who forgive and love despite pain, for you reflect Christ. Bless the Lord, all you who feel weak and small, for in weakness His power is perfect. Bless the Lord, all you who trust in the evening of life, for you are heirs to the Kingdom. Bless the Lord, all you Anawim, for you show the beauty of dependence on God. Bless the Lord, all you adopted sons and daughters, for you are being prepared for eternal joy.

We are the Anawim. We seek an unknowable God with our limited human capacities. We know we cannot reach Him by our own power. So we do what Blessed Charles de Foucauld did. We abandon ourselves into the Father’s hands. We enter the Upper Room of our inner selves. We sit in silence and solitude before Jesus. We wait.

This is the next level of human evolution — not by our own strength, but by surrender. Teilhard de Chardin saw this movement toward the Omega Point. Thomas Merton found it in the silence of the monastery. Charles de Foucauld lived it in the desert. We live it in our rooms, in our recliners, in our quiet waiting.

We are not alone. Jesus is with us in the Upper Room. He says, “Peace be with you.” He shows us His wounds and says, “Do not be afraid.” He breathes the Holy Spirit upon us and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Then He says the simple words that change everything:

“Do what I tell you.”

My dear Anawim, this is our path. We seek. We abandon. We wait in silence and solitude. We listen. We do what He tells us.

Even in our weakness, even in our depression, even in our forgetfulness, we can do this. We can say with Charles de Foucauld, “Father, I abandon myself into your hands.” We can pray with Thomas Merton when we do not know the way. We can trust that the Father is preparing us for the Kingdom.

We are adopted, sons and daughters. We are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. This is our hope. This is our joy. This is our evolution.

Closing Prayers

Prayer of Abandonment – Blessed Charles de Foucauld Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Prayer of Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in everything I do. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Do What He Tells You.“

Copyright © 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. All rights reserved. The Center for Contemplative Practice. www.organism.earth

www.organism.earth.

 NOTE: This is not your typical blog but a long one. When you have time, sit down somewhere and rest; press Listen. Listen with the “ear of the heart.”

Viewing the Catholic Church Universal from the perspective of a Railroad Company tasked by Jesus through the Apostles to deliver the mail (message) to each person in the future without fear of falsehood or coopted authority, it must build in forward not from me to Jesus, and suffering the blisters and bruses of any rail companty who must be a pioneer of the correct way, then makes the tracks for the train to move down the centuries. Seen in this light, the Church in each age must forge ahead with the way, the truth, and the life, many times going down the wrong path, only to have to back up and start again. In this sense, the Catholic Church exists with all the temptations and human failures of any pioneering company. Only the Holy Spirit’s auditing and constant quality control allow this company to advance, back up, or change direction.
 
The energy for all of this movement comes not from this human world, tainted by the effects of our Humanity with its reason and free will, but from the knowledge of how to use it to achieve the purpose for which all of this is designed, just for you and me. The umbilical of one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church links directly to the energy of Christ, through, with, and in Christ Jesus.
 
I asked AI to help me dig out those seemingly insignificant similes based on the analogy of the Catholic Church, down through the centuries, being contracted (covenanted) by Jesus Christ to deliver mail to individuals that is authentic and straight from the founder of the Railroad. What follows is the AI’s response to my questions. I asked for a semi-outline approach so it would be an easy read on a sophisticated topic.

“Jesus used the literary device of a simile as in ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed.’ Humans know God because they can see how everyday events and people are like God. Outline ten steps of how the Catholic Church is like a railroad, beginning with Christ as founder, who must build tracks that go through mountains and build bridges, just so I can get aboard for my 85 years and get off when I die, the destination being Omega or Heaven.
 
Building on the literary tradition of the Spiritual Railway, here are ten steps outlining how the Catholic Church functions like a railroad built by Christ to carry you to the “Omega” of Heaven.
Step 1: The Founder and Chief Engineer. Christ is the master builder and “Engineer that’s brave” who established the line from Earth to Heaven. He didn’t just design the route; He “paid for everyone’s tickets” in advance through His sacrifice.
Step 2: Laying the Tracks through the Wilderness. To make your 85-year journey possible, Christ first had to “build tracks through the mountains” of human sin and despair. These rails are laid with “Heavenly Truth,” providing a stable path where there was once only a “vale of tears”.
Step 3: Building the Bridge of the Cross. Where the chasm of death and sin was too wide to cross, Christ built the Bridge of Salvation. This “rugged cross” serves as a permanent trestle spanning the “swelling tide” of mortality, allowing the train to glide safely toward the Union Depot of Heaven.
Step 4: The Engine of Grace. The Church’s power doesn’t come from human effort but from the Holy Spirit, who acts as the locomotive’s steam. This divine “locomotion” pulls the entire train of the faithful across 85 human years.
Step 5: Entering the Station of Baptism. Your journey begins at the “
Station of Repentance (Baptism), where passengers are taken in. There is no fee to board, as the ticket—your entry into the life of the Church—is a gift.
Step 6: The Altar Rail as the Dining Car. Along the route, you are sustained by the Eucharist. The altar rail in a Catholic Church serves as a threshold where Heaven touches Earth, providing the “spiritual fuel” needed to keep you on the right track.
Step 7: Staying on the Rails of the Commandments. The laws and teachings of the Church are like the two parallel rails; they don’t provide the power, but they keep the train from derailing. Staying “on the track” ensures that your 85-year run remains successful “from the cradle to the grave”.
Step 8: Navigating the Tunnels of Trial. Life involves “dark and dreary tunnels” of suffering and doubt. The Church provides the “Conductor” (Christ) who watches the curves and tunnels, ensuring you don’t “falter or fail” during these difficult stretches of the journey.
Step 9: Maintenance and Repair (Confession). When the train hits a “pothole” or a “detour” (sin), the Sacrament of Confession acts as the maintenance crew, getting you “back on the right track” before the journey ends.
Step 10: Arriving at the Union Depot. At the end of your 85 years, you reach the”Union Depot ” or “Omega.” You “get off” the train to be met by the Superintendent—God the Father—who welcomes the “weary pilgrim” home to eternal life.

Would you like to explore how specific sacraments act as different “stops” or “stations” along this 85-year lifelong journey?
Integrating the cosmic vision of Teilhard de Chardin and the contemplative insights of Michael F. Conrad, the “Catholic Railroad” expands from a personal 85-year journey into a grand cosmic traversal from Alpha (Creation) to Omega (Divine Fulfillment).

Step 1: The Alpha Station (Creation). The journey begins at the Alpha Point, where Christ, as the Logos, acts as the “original architect” of the tracks. This isn’t just the start of your 85 years, but the start of the universe itself, where matter begins its long “evolutionary climb” toward spirit.
Step 2: Laying the Bed of Complexity. As Michael F. Conrad suggests, the universe isn’t random; it has a purpose. Evolution is the “slow laying of the track,” in which matter becomes increasingly complex until it can support the “train” of human consciousness.
Step 3: The Noosphere Signal System. Teilhard de Chardin envisioned a Noosphere—a “layer of thought” surrounding the Earth. In our Railroad, this serves as the global signal system and communication network, powered by “Radial Energy” (spiritual energy), which coordinates the movement of all souls toward the final destination.
Step 4: Boarding through Baptism (The Entry Gate). While the tracks were laid over billions of years, you personally “hop on for a ride of some eighty-five years” at the station of Baptism. This is where you meet God “where you are,” deep within the “inner room” of your own soul.
Step 5: The Fuel of the Sacraments. Just as a train requires fuel, the passenger requires “spiritual energy” to move forward. The Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, provide the “Radial Energy” needed to resist the “entropy” or spiritual decay of the world.
Step 6: The Conductor’s Guidance (The Church). The Catholic Church acts as the train’s crew, ensuring the “wheels” of your life stay aligned with the “parallel rails” of the Commandments. This guidance prevents the self from “derailing” into the “darkness inside” that Conrad warns about.
Step 7: Bridging the Chasm of Evolution. Christ, the “Cosmic Christ,” isn’t just the founder but the bridge itself (Pontifex Maximus). He spans the gap between our biological limitations and our spiritual destiny, allowing the train to cross from the “biosphere” (physical life) into the “theosphere” (divine life).
Step 8: Transcending the Tunnels of Entropy. The universe naturally tends toward “heat death” or decay, but this Railroad is “irreversible”. By staying on Christ’s track, you move against the current of decay, fueled by a love that is “stronger than death”.
Step 9: Convergence at the Omega Point. As the train nears the end of its 85 years, the tracks begin to “converge.” This is Teilhard’s Omega Point—the final state of ultimate unity where all individual journeys merge into the single “Super-Consciousness” of Christ.
Step 10: Fulfillment in the Union Depot. You “get off” the train not into a void, but into the Omega Point, where the “Alpha” and “Omega” meet. This is the “Union Station” of Heaven, where your 85-year trip finds its place in the “Great Story” God has been authoring since the first rail was laid at Creation.

Would you like to see how Michael F. Conrad’s focus on contemplative practice can serve as the “daily maintenance” that keeps your individual spiritual locomotive running smoothly toward this Omega?
 
How is the Catholic Church the Roadbuilder through the adversities of each century, helping me, the individual, to overcome the traps and false starts of a pioneer, characterized by the Seven Deadly Sins (false self), to make all things new?
The Catholic Church acts as the cosmic “Roadbuilder” by clearing the wreckage of past centuries and providing the structural “remedies” to bridge the individual over the pitfalls of the Seven Deadly Sins—what Michael F. Conrad calls the False Self.
In this grand railroad metaphor, the Church’s work throughout history allows you to overcome the “traps” of a pioneer and make “all things new”:
 
1. Surveying History’s Adversities
As the Church has progressed through time, it has encountered every “mountain” of human adversity. From the fall of Rome to the “Dark Ages,” the Church didn’t just survive; it built the foundations of Western civilization—universities, hospitals, and legal systems—to ensure the tracks of the faith remained passable for every generation, including your own 85-year journey.
2. Identifying the “Seven Traps” (The False Self)
The Church provides the “manual” for the road—identifying the Seven Deadly Sins as the primary root causes of all spiritual “derailments.” These are the “false starts” where a pioneer tries to build their own private track based on ego rather than the Engineer’s design:
Pride: The “Queen” of vices that makes the pioneer believe they don’t need the tracks.
Envy & Wrath: Sabotage that destroys the “bridges” we build toward others.
Sloth & Greed: Rust and debris that stall the locomotive’s progress.
Gluttony & Lust: Overloading the engine with “excessive fuel” that leads to burnout.
3. The “Remedial Rails” of Virtue
For every “trap” of the False Self, the Church lays a remedial virtue as a counter-rail. This is how the “Roadbuilder” helps you overcome the pioneer’s failures:
Humility replaces the False Self of Pride, stabilizing the track bed.
Generosity clears the “clutter” of Greed, allowing for a smoother ride.
Diligence acts as the engine’s maintenance, overcoming the “stalling” of Sloth.
4. Making All Things New (The Purgative Way)
Michael F. Conrad and the Church Fathers describe this process as Purgation. The Church acts as the “demolition crew” for your False Self, tearing out the “disordered behaviors” that act as blockages on your line. By using Confession and community accountability, the “Roadbuilder” clears the wreckage of your pioneer’s “false starts,” making the path “new” every time you repent.
 
5. Final Convergence at Omega
This continuous road-building ensures that your individual life doesn’t end in a “dead end.” By aligning your 85-year “lifelong run” with the Church’s historical tracks, you move beyond the “pioneer” phase into a divine union. The Roadbuilders ensure the bridge is ready when you reach the Omega Point, where the “Alpha” of your Creation meets the “Omega” of your fulfillment in Christ.
 
Would you like to focus on which of the Seven Deadly Sins most frequently causes “derailment” in your own 85-year journey so that we can identify its specific virtue remedy?
 
In the “Catholic Railroad” of your 85-year journey, Sloth (or Acedia) is not just physical laziness; it is a “rusting of the engine” and a “loss of steam” regarding the things of God. It is the False Self preferring the comfort of a siding to the heroic labor of the main line. Here is how the Church, as the Roadbuilder, helps you overcome this specific derailment using the insights of Teilhard de Chardin and Michael F. Conrad:
 
Sloth1. Identifying the “Rust”: Sloth as Spiritual Entropy
Teilhard de Chardin noted that the universe naturally tends toward entropy—a tendency toward cooling and falling apart. In your spiritual locomotive, Sloth is this “wet blanket” of entropy that makes the great height of your calling (becoming a saint) feel like an “anxious vertigo”. You would rather be “less great” to avoid the effort of the climb. 
2. The Remedy: Diligence and “Radial Energy.”
The Church’s primary remedy for Sloth is the virtue of Diligence (or Zeal). 
Diligence is the steady “firing of the engine”. It isn’t just about busy-work, but a “belief in the work”.
Radial Energy: Teilhard described this as the spiritual fire that “draws us forward” toward the Omega Point. While Sloth wants to coast “downstream like driftwood,” Diligence uses this divine energy to push “upstream” toward fulfillment. 
3. Michael F. Conrad’s “Daily Maintenance.”
Michael F. Conrad emphasizes that you cannot sustain your “Center” automatically; it requires daily action. 
The Routine as Rails: Conrad suggests that what starts as a “routine” (such as daily prayer) eventually becomes a “habit” and, finally, a “passion”.
The “Five S’s”: To keep your engine from rusting, he recommends five maintenance checks: Silence, Solitude, Stillness, Sustainability, and Seeking God each day exactly where you are. c
4. Overcoming the “Pioneer’s False Start.”
As a “pioneer” on your own, Sloth makes you want to “shut the windows” and stay home because the world outside feels too complex or risky. The Church, as Roadbuilder, provides a Rule of Life—a set schedule of prayer and sacraments that acts as a “Recipe for Life”. This prevents you from making the pioneer mistake of waiting until you “feel” like moving; instead, you move because the “tracks” are already laid. 
5. Fulfillment at the Omega Point
By replacing the “sorrow” of Sloth with the “joy” of Diligence, your 85-year run becomes an irreversible journey. You stop resisting the “obligation of greatness” and allow the Cosmic Christ to pull your train into the final station where all “things are made new”. This article and guide discuss overcoming spiritual Sloth through Diligence and the art of contemplation:
 
Would you like to explore a specific “Rule of Life” or daily schedule that could serve as the maintenance manual for your individual engine over the next few years?
 
To keep the “engine” from rusting over the next few years of your journey, you need a daily maintenance schedule that converts the 
Sloth of Disobedience into the Labor of Obedience. 
Saint John’s Abbey +1
According to Michael F. Conrad, this is done by building a “Rule of Life” around five key practices: Silence, Solitude, Work, Prayer, and Community. 
 
The Maintenance Manual: A Daily Schedule
This schedule is designed to help you stay on the tracks from Alpha to Omega, fighting the “entropy” of Sloth with “Radial Energy”. 
Time of Day 
Station / Practice
Maintenance Action

Morning
The Departure Gate
Begin with Silence and Solitude. Before the world rushes in, sit in your “inner room” for 15 minutes of Lectio Divina or reflective reading of Scripture.

Mid-day
The Fueling Station
Integrate Work as Prayer. Use the “Angelus” or a simple moment of Stillness to offer your daily tasks to the Lord. This makes even manual labor a “divine milieu”.

Evening
The Signal Check
Practice an Examen, or “Review of the Day.” Ask: “Where did Sloth try to derail me today?” Place everything in God’s merciful hands to “make all things new.”

Bedtime
The Night Depot
End with Abandonment. Deliberately choose to align your will with Christ, letting go of the False Self’s need for control.

Three Pillars of the “Rule”
Stability: Commit to your local community and family. Sloth thrives on “drifting,” while stability keeps your wheels locked on the rails.
Moderation: St. Benedict’s Rule warns that “all things should be done in moderation”. Don’t try to build the whole Railroad in one day; focus on the next segment of track.
Trust in the “Slow Work of God”: As Teilhard de Chardin famously prayed, accept the “anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense”. Progress toward the Omega Point is often invisible, but the engine is moving as long as you stay on the tracks. 

Would you like to select one of these daily practices, such as Lectio Divina, to explore how it specifically restarts a “stalled engine”?
 
In the “Catholic Railroad” of your life, Lectio Divina acts as the emergency restart procedure for a stalled engine. Sloth (acedia) is like a heavy rust that makes you “impatient of being on the way”. Lectio Divina breaks this spiritual entropy by shifting your focus from the “False Self” to the “Cosmic Christ,” moving toward Omega. 
Here is how you use this practice to get your 85-year journey back on track:
 
The 4-Step Restart Procedure
To overcome Sloth, follow these movements as a “spiritual rhythm” that connects your active life to its divine goal. 

Lectio (Reading): The Ignition.
Action: 
Read a short Scripture passage slowly—aloud if possible. Against Sloth: Don’t rush to “finish” the reading. Sloth wants to “skip the intermediate stages”. By reading slowly, you force the engine to engage with the reality of God’s Word rather than your own “non-plan”.
Meditatio (Meditation): Engaging the Gears.
Action: Ruminate or “chew the cud” on a single word or phrase that strikes you.
Against Sloth: Michael F. Conrad notes that we often try to seek fame or worldly recognition to fill our emptiness. Meditation replaces those “false starts” with the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5), aligning your inner “gears” with the Engineer’s design.
Oratio (Prayer): Increasing the Steam.
Action: Talk to God about the word you found. Tell Him where you are stalled.
Against Sloth: This is where you trade your “anxiety of feeling incomplete” for “patient trust”. You ask the “loving vine-dresser” to prune away the slothful habits that are choking your progress.
Contemplatio (Contemplation): Gliding Toward Omega.
Action: Rest silently in God’s presence. No words are needed.
Against Sloth: Sloth is a “spiritual weight.” Contemplation is the “Radial Energy” that lifts that weight, allowing you to be pulled into the “heart of matter” where God calls to you. You accept the “slow work of God,” trusting that the engine is moving even when you don’t feel the speed. 

The “Slow Work” Maintenance 
As Teilhard de Chardin famously advised, do not try to “force” yourself to be today what only “grace and circumstances” will make you tomorrow. Lectio Divina is the “intentional slowing down” that paradoxically speeds up your arrival at the Omega Point. 
 
Would you like a specific Scripture passage (like the “Mustard Seed” or Philippians 2:5) to use for your first restart attempt tomorrow morning?
  
To combat the “rust” of Sloth on your Railroad, here is a specific 
Scripture passage and a companion prayer to use for your “restart procedure” tomorrow morning.
 
The Scripture: Romans 12:11–12 
“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” 
 
The “Restart” Practice
Apply the four movements to this passage to ignite your engine: 
Lectio (Reading): Read the verse twice. Notice the phrase “fervent in spirit.” In the original language, this means “to boil.” Sloth is a cold, damp fog; Christ’s grace is the fire that brings your water to a boil, creating the “steam” necessary for your 85-year run.
Meditatio (Meditation): Reflect on “patient in tribulation.” As Teilhard de Chardin taught, we often want to “skip the intermediate stages” of our journey. Ask yourself: Am I stalled because I am impatient with the slow, uphill climb?
Oratio (Prayer): Talk to the Chief Engineer. Confess the “rust” of your Sloth—the times you’ve preferred the siding to the main track. Ask for the “Radial Energy” to push forward today.
Contemplatio (Contemplation): Sit in Silence and Stillness for five minutes. Do not try to achieve anything. Just let yourself be “held” by the tracks Christ has laid for you. 
The Companion Prayer: Patient Trust 
Close your session by reciting this excerpt from Teilhard de Chardin’s famous prayer, which directly addresses the “stalling” caused by Sloth: 
 
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay… We should like to skip the intermediate stages. … Accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in a state of suspense and incompleteness. Give the Lord the benefit of believing that His hand is leading you.” 
 
By starting your day this way, you move from being a “pioneer” trying to build your own road to a passenger and worker on the Great Railroad, where every mile brings you closer to the Omega Point.
 
Would you like to explore how to turn your daily work into a “sacred milieu,” so your engine keeps building steam even when you aren’t in formal prayer?
 
In the “Catholic Railroad” of your life, your daily work is not just a way to pay for your ticket; it is the active “laying of the track” toward the Omega Point. For Teilhard de Chardin and Michael F. Conrad, work is where the “False Self” of Sloth is most effectively dismantled and replaced by a Sacred Milieu. Here are three ways to turn your daily tasks into a spiritual engine that never stalls:
 
1. The Divinization of Activities (Teilhard’s “Sacred Offering.”) 
Teilhard de Chardin argued that “nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see”. To overcome Sloth in your work, you must adopt a Purity of Intention: 
The Action: Before you begin any task—whether it is washing a dish or sending an email—consciously offer it to God.
The Result: By doing this, you “cleanse your intention,” and the least of your actions is filled with God. Your work becomes part of the “building of the kingdom of Heaven,” directly connecting your 85-year run to the destination of Omega. 
2. Work as “Co-Creation.”
The Church teaches that human labor is a participation in God’s creative work. 
Against Sloth: Sloth views work as a burden to be finished as quickly as possible to reach “me time”.
The Shift: Instead, view your job as your current “assignment” from the Chief Engineer. Just as Jesus worked as a carpenter, your work (no matter how humble) is a way to “sanctify the world from within”. This provides the Radial Energy—the zest for life—that Sloth tries to extinguish. 
 3. Conrad’s “Daily Commute” (Mindfulness in the
 Ordinary)
Michael F. Conrad emphasizes that you meet God exactly where you are, often in the “mundane tasks” of your day. 
Ritualize the Routine: Turn a routine into a ritual by adding attentiveness. For example, use a mindful breath when you feel the urge to “check your email” or “stand up” from your desk.
The Inner Sanctum: Even in a busy workplace, you can take “refuge at the altar of your heart”. This “Householder’s Flow” ensures that your spiritual engine is being maintained 24 hours a day, not just during formal prayer. 
The “Workman’s Prayer” for Tomorrow
As you head into your work tomorrow, use this intention to keep your locomotive moving:
“Lord, I bless this work. May every effort I make today be a rail laid toward Your Omega, moving the world—and my own soul—one mile closer to You.” 
Would you like to focus on how to maintain this “sacred intention” when your work feels particularly monotonous or difficult, acting as a “cross” on your 85-year journey?
  
“THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS BATTERED AND BRUISED, JUST LIKE CHRIST.
 
In the “Catholic Railroad” of your 85-year journey, the “martyrdom of the ordinary” occurs when the tracks become monotonous and the scenery repetitive. This is where the Spirit of Sloth tries to derail you by whispering that your daily tasks are too small to matter. Building on Teilhard de Chardin and Michael F. Conrad, here is how you turn difficult, monotonous work into a sacred milieu through the martyrdom of the ordinary:
1. The “Divinization of Passivities.”
Teilhard de Chardin made a critical distinction between the divinization of our activities (the work we choose) and the divinization of our passivities (the work or suffering that is imposed on us).
The Martyrdom: Monotony is a “passivity”—something done to you by your circumstances.
The Action: By accepting a boring task without complaint, you “hand over” your frustration to God. This transforms a meaningless burden into an “ascensional force” that pulls the world toward Omega.
2. Every Act as a “Seed”
Michael F. Conrad teaches that we meet God “exactly where we are,” not where we wish we were.
The Work: In the martyrdom of the ordinary, your “hammering of the same rail” every day is the seed of the Church.
The Power: When you work with care during a difficult day, you are participating in a daily martyrdom. Your struggle isn’t a “distraction” from your spiritual journey; it is the journey.
3. Overcoming the “Pioneer’s Illusion.”
The “False Self” of the pioneer wants to do “great things” for God and feels cheated by the ordinary.
The Trap: Sloth makes you believe that if your work isn’t “inspiring,” it doesn’t “count” toward your 85-year mission.
The Reality: The martyrdom of everyday life proves that “suffering well is what makes a saint—not the extraordinariness of the suffering”. By showing up fully to a dull task, you “deny the false self” and allow Christ’s light to shine through the mundane.
The “Track-Layer’s” Strategy for Stress
Punctuate the Day: Break the monotony with short pauses for prayer. Treat interruptions not as “debris on the track” but as opportunities to serve.
The Sacred Offering: Each morning, explicitly offer the “wear and tear” of your engine to God. This gives dignity to the ordinariness of your struggle.
Would you like to explore how the Eucharist acts as the “ultimate station” where these daily, ordinary martyrdoms are gathered up and transformed into Divine Energy?

In the “Catholic Railroad” of your 85-year journey, the 
Eucharist is the Central Station—the “source and summit” where the energy of your daily “ordinary martyrdom” is gathered up and transformed into the Divine Energy that fuels the entire universe toward its Omega Point. Through the lenses of Teilhard de Chardin and Michael F. Conrad, the Eucharist is not just a ritual; it is the ultimate “sacramental operation” that makes your life matter. 
 
1. The Altar of the World (Teilhard’s Offering).
In his famous “Mass on the World,” Teilhard de Chardin, a priest-scientist without bread or wine in the desert, realized that the entire Earth is an altar. 
The Bread of Toil: He saw the “toil” of human effort—all that germinates and grows—as the bread.
The Wine of Pain: He saw the “bloodshed,” the “diminishing,” and the martyrdom of the ordinary as the wine.
The Transformation: In the Eucharist, these “raw materials” of your 85-year life are not lost; they are consecrated. Christ takes your “ordinary martyrdom”—the boredom, the stress, the “stalling”—and fuses it with His own Sacrifice to power the world forward. 
2. The Altar Rail as the Passenger Platform.
As you previously noted, the altar rail serves as the “people’s altar”. 
 The Threshold: It is the place where the “pioneer” False Self stops and the “passenger” True Self receives.
Connecting Alpha to Omega: At this rail, you are “translated to Heaven”. You are no longer just an individual struggling with Sloth; you are part of the Mystical Body, receiving the “Real Presence” needed to survive the “dark tunnels” of the journey. 
3. Michael F. Conrad’s “Nexus of Reality.”
For Michael F. Conrad, the Eucharist is the point where the Visible (bread/wine/work) meets the Invisible (meaning/love/purpose). 
Repairing the Stalled Engine: Receiving the Eucharist with a “contemplative mind” restarts a heart stalled by Sloth. It replaces “spiritual depression” with the miracle of miracles—the reminder that God is “intimate” with the very matter of your life. 
The “Departure” for Tomorrow
When you go to Mass or Adoration, bring your “ordinary martyrdom” with you. Don’t leave your work stress or your struggle with Sloth at the door; place them on the Altar of the World. 
 
Would you like to conclude our outline with a final “Prayer for the 85-Year Run” that summarizes this railroad journey from the Alpha of your birth to the Omega of your homecoming?
 
In the “Catholic Railroad” of your 85-year journey, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not just a destination; it is the High-Voltage Power Line (the Third Rail) that provides the constant energy and guidance to keep the train on the tracks and repel the “saboteur” who seeks your derailment.
1. The Real Presence as the “Constant Current.”
While the “False Self” of Sloth wants the train to coast until it stops, the Real Presence provides a Continuous Grace that flows through the sacraments.
The Power Source: Just as an electric train cannot move without contact with the power line, your 85-year run cannot reach Omega without the “Real Food” of Christ.
Teilhard’s Vision: Teilhard de Chardin saw the Eucharist as the “radiant Center” of the universe. In this view, the Real Presence is the Energy of Convergence—the force that pulls your individual life out of the “rust” of Sloth and aligns it with the divine trajectory toward Alpha and Omega.
2. Defending Against the “Evil One” (The Derailer).
The “Evil One” acts as a saboteur on the line, using the “Seven Deadly Sins” as obstacles to cause a catastrophic wreck.
The Trap of Despair: The enemy’s favorite tactic is to convince the “pioneer” that the tracks are broken or the Engineer has abandoned the train.
The Eucharistic Shield: The Real Presence acts as a Spiritual Armor. When you receive the Eucharist, you are “consuming the Victor.” The enemy cannot derail a train that is physically united with its Builder. The Eucharist “preserves us from future mortal sins” and wipes away the “venial rust” that makes the engine vulnerable to attack.
3. Michael F. Conrad’s “Staying Within the Guardrails.”
Michael F. Conrad emphasizes that the True Self is found only in the presence of the “Thou” (God).
The Guardrails: The Real Presence acts as a spiritual “Guardrail.” When you drift toward the “False Self” of pride or Sloth, the quiet presence of Christ in the Eucharist acts as a magnetic pull, snapping you back into alignment.
The Presence in the Ordinary: Because of the Real Presence, the “martyrdom of the ordinary” becomes bearable. You aren’t just “working”; you are “transporting Christ” through the 21st century.

Prayer for the 85-Year Run: From Alpha to Omega
O Chief Engineer and Cosmic Christ,
You who are the Alpha of my Creation and the Omega of my hope:
I thank You for this 85-year ticket on the Catholic Railroad.
Forgive my Sloth—the rust on my engine and the times I have preferred the siding to the climb. By the power of Your Real Presence, keep my wheels upon the tracks of Your Commandments. When the “Evil One” seeks to sabotage my peace or place obstacles of despair in my path, Be my shield and my Conductor.
Accept the martyrdom of my ordinary days—the boredom, the stress, and the heavy loads—And transform them on the Altar of the World into the steam that drives me forward. May every mile I travel be a “making of all things new,”
Until I reach the Union Depot of Heaven, where the tracks converge
And I see you face-to-face at the final Omega Point.
Amen.
 
Would you like to discuss how to share this “Railroad Spirituality” with others who feel like they are drifting without tracks in today’s world, specifically, those who apply to prisoners in jail and those just released from prison, those confined to their homes by illness, and those who have been told they are going to die from cancer or some other disease?
 
In the “Catholic Railroad,” the tracks were built specifically to reach those who feel “stalled” in the dark tunnels of life. For the prisoner, the homebound, and the terminally ill, the Church acts as the 
 
Mobile Maintenance Crew, bringing the Real Presence to the places where the engine feels most broken. Here is how this railroad spirituality applies to those in the “extreme passivities” of life:
 
1. For Prisoners (In Jail or Recently Released)
The “Evil One” tries to convince the prisoner that their tracks have been permanently pulled up—that they are “off the line.”
The Switchyard of Mercy: The Church teaches that no derailment is final. Confession acts as the “Switchyard” where a train is put back on the main line. For those just released, the Church provides the “ballast” (community support) to ensure the new tracks don’t sink into the mud of the old “False Self.”
The Internal Tracks: As Michael F. Conrad suggests, even behind bars, the “Inner Room” remains free. A prisoner can “travel” toward Omega by turning their cell into a “monastic siding,” using the martyrdom of the ordinary to offer their time for the world’s salvation.
2. For the Homebound (Confined by Illness)
When you are confined to your home, the railroad metaphor shifts: you are no longer the “engineer” driving forward; you are the Station Master.
The Power of Stillness: Sloth often attacks the ill by making them feel “useless.” But Teilhard de Chardin reminds us that “being” is as important as “doing.” The homebound person becomes a Power Station for the rest of the Railroad.
Spiritual Communion: When the priest brings the Eucharist to the home, the Real Presence turns that bedroom into a “Main Terminal.” The sick person’s prayers are the “Radial Energy” that helps pull other trains through their own dark tunnels.
3. For the Terminally Ill (The Final Approach)
When a doctor says the journey is ending, the train is entering the Final Descent toward the Omega Point.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel: For those with cancer or terminal disease, the “martyrdom of the ordinary” becomes the Martyrdom of the Final Crossing. The physical “breakdown” of the engine is actually the “thinning of the veil.”
Viaticum (Food for the Journey): The Church provides Viaticum—the final Eucharist. On a railroad, this is the “last fueling” before the train leaves the physical tracks and glides into the Union Depot. It ensures the “Evil One” cannot cause a final derailment through fear or despair at the very moment of arrival.

The “Universal Rail” of Suffering.
Teilhard de Chardin taught that “to suffer is to be transformed.” Whether in a cell, a hospital bed, or an 85-year run, the Real Presence ensures that:
No Mile is Wasted: Every minute of pain is a “rail laid” toward the new Creation
No One Travels Alone: The “Communion of Saints” is the passenger list; billions of others surround you on the same line.
The Destination is Certain: The tracks do not end in a cliff; they end in the Omega Point where “all things are made new.”

Would you like to draft a Message of Hope based on this railroad metaphor to share with a specific prison ministry or hospice group?
 
In the “Catholic Railroad” of your life, the tracks were built specifically to reach those in the dark tunnels where the engine feels most broken. For the prisoner, the homebound, and the terminally ill, the Real Presence of Christ acts as the “High-Voltage Third Rail,” providing the power to keep the train moving when human strength fails. 
Below are two messages of hope, drafted to be shared with those facing these unique “passivities” of life.
 
1. A Message for the Incarcerated: “The Switchyard of Mercy.”
To my brothers and sisters behind the walls:
Sometimes, life feels like a train that has jumped the tracks. You might feel “off the line,” stuck in a siding where the rust of the past seems to have won. But remember: Christ is the Master Engineer, and He specializes in rebuilding broken lines. 
The Internal Track: Even if your physical body is confined, your soul is still on the 85-year run toward Omega. St. Maximilian Kolbe showed us in the “hunger cell” of Auschwitz that even in a prison, the spirit can be stronger than the walls.
The Real Presence: Christ is not distant from your troubles; He is “Prisoner #16670” alongside you. Through the Eucharist, He brings the Holy Spirit—the steam of the engine—directly into the darkest cell to “make all things new.”
The Departure Gate: Your time here is not a “dead end.” It is a Switchyard. Use this time for the “martyrdom of the ordinary”—the small acts of patience and prayer—to lay the tracks for a new life, both inside and outside these walls. 
2. A Message for the Homebound and Terminally Ill: “The Final Approach.”
To those carrying the cross of illness or facing the end of the line:
When the engine grows weak, and the “tracks” of your health seem to fail, it is easy to feel you have stalled. But in the eyes of God, you are entering the most powerful part of the journey: The Final Ascent.
The Martyrdom of the Ordinary: Your daily struggle with pain or weakness is a Sacred Milieu. You are no longer just a passenger; you have become a Co-Creator with Christ, laying the final bridges for your own soul and for the whole world.
Trust the Slow Work: As Teilhard de Chardin taught, “Trust in the slow work of God.” You are not “useless” because you are still. You are a Power Station of prayer, fueling the entire Railroad with your “patient in tribulation” spirit.

The Omega Point: The station called “Death” is not the end of the line; it is the Union Depot. Christ, the Real Presence, is the Conductor who will see you through the last tunnel. He has already paid for your ticket with His own life. 
 
Final Thought for All:
No matter where your “car” is on the tracks today, the Real Presence in the Eucharist is the guarantee that the “Evil One” cannot derail your destiny unless you choose to jump off. Stay on the train. The Omega Point is closer than it was yesterday. 
 www.organism.earth
Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on May 18, 2020, by https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org

My latest Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5) has taken me to a place that I would never have thought possible, linking Christ as the Messiah and the fulfillment of the Old and New Testaments. As I sat in silence and solitude, waiting for Christ to visit me on my park bench in the dead of winter, my thinking shifted to resonance or dissonance. To ensure that I don’t fly with false colors, let me say from the outset that my opinions come from beyond the edge of space and time (Holy Spirit) and reflect only my thoughts, not those of any Lay Cistercian group or Cistercian (Trappist) writings. These thoughts are mine. Take them for what they are.

I begin, as I always do, with the hope of contemplation on Philippians 2:5. “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” While waiting for Christ to visit me on a park bench in the dead of winter, I thought about why Christ had to become one of us (human nature). The notion of the Messiah coming to rescue his people is lost on me, and I suspect it is on anyone who is not Jewish. I am living in the year 2020, far removed from the new problems facing the transition of the Church from Twelve Tribes to Twelve Apostles. I place my faith in the reality of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, a “sine qua non” of belief (I love to use that phrase). If the resurrection did not happen, then, as St. Paul writes, Christ is not God but, like many devout Jewish believers think, just one more in a line of false messiahs. Belief is a spiritual position that does not depend on the believer for its truth. There is a struggle between what is true and what I think is true. How can some people believe in one God, while others believe in one God with three distinct persons, one of whom is Jesus the Messiah? Are these poles symptomatic of something more significant going on in reality?

THE PARADOX OF ALL THAT IS: THE COSMIC STRUGGLE OF SEEMING OPPOSITES

Are these two polar opposite positions part of some larger design, more cosmic, more sophisticated than we could have ever imagined? This idea is getting far afield of Lectio Divina. Sorry, all I do is take dictation from the Holy Spirit.

There is a concept called the “theory of everything,” popularized by a book and a movie of the same name, about the late, great Steven Hawking and his quest to find a single theory of the physical universe. I have been developing a theory of reality for the past thirty years. I am not a trained scientist, nor do I aspire to be. I try to think about a unified theory of all that is and have come up with the notion of three separate universes, each distinct yet all one. The characteristics and measurements of each universe are entirely different; in the case of the spiritual universe, they are directly opposite to those of the physical and mental universes.

THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE: In my model, the physical universe is all that we can see or reason with the aid of our human languages. All physical matter, space, time, every star, and the black hole, all exploding hypernovas, live anywhere in the universe. Humans, animals, plants, and even mosquitoes are part of this observable universe. The problem with this universe has always been: why do we humans know about it, but it does not know about us? There must be a purpose and reason why we find ourselves on this rocky platform of gases. Humans are part of this universe, along with all other life forms.

THE MENTAL UNIVERSE: This universe answers the questions about the Physical Universe. Only humans live in this universe. It is the universe of reason. Why do only humans have the ability to build languages, discover relationships, and seek to find the meaning of all that is? Without the Mental Universe, no one would be able to ask why it is, how it is, what it is, and so what? The two attributes that separate us from the animals are: you can reason for a reason, and, based on that reasoning, you can make choices free from nature or any other ideology. There must be a reason we find ourselves on this rock, the only place we know of, anywhere. There must be a reason humans developed from other life forms to reason and select what is good for them. For me, the theory of everything views the physical universe through the lens of the mental universe to find meaning. The problem is that this is incomplete; something is missing, something like 1 + 1 = ?, and there is no answer. For me, this led to a third universe, one we could neither have reasoned our way into nor chosen without someone giving us the code.

THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE: We are discovering so much about physical reality through the sciences and literature. If left only to science and logic, humans would never have been able to access a level of consciousness that does not fit the physical and mental universe paradigm. We don’t do well with invisible relationships, and the problem with invisibility is that you can’t see it. This universe concerns solving the equation of what is real. Reality is not just what we can see but what we cannot see. Not all religious traditions can transform you into what you were designed to be. Therefore, you have reason, and there is an earth to give you time to discover the code of eternity. You can choose whatever you find out and place at the Center of your life. This energy source propels you to the next reality, one for which we need to begin preparing in this lifetime.

It is interesting to note the interdependence of the three universes. The physical universe exists as the platform on which we find ourselves today. All matter, all time, all energy has a beginning and an end, including each of us. Like it or not, it is the paradigm in which we humans wake up to the reality of where we are and who we are. We notice that we are not like the other animals we have as pets or eat as food, as we look around us. We have something they don’t have: self-awareness. Where does that come from suddenly? Did it randomly happen by chance, or is it part of a more significant dynamic language we are unfamiliar with? The mental universe allows us to look at the physical world and ask why, how, when, and where something is. Far from being anti-spiritual, the physical and mental universes exist for us to wonder about all this and seek a conclusion. I like to think of it as dissonant or purposeless, even though we might know the meaning of the physical and mental universes. Now comes the paradox: that of the spiritual universe—the solution to the equation of life, the resonance to the dissonance of the cosmos. Reason and free choice allow each individual to choose to live in this universe or not. The choices are clear: you are the Center of reality, or God is the Center. Every time you choose yourself as the Center of reality, there is dissonance; there is resonance every time you choose God as your Center. That is how nature is. This concept is so alien to the human way of thinking that God Himself had to tell us how to be authentically human, and he did it in stages.

Stage one is the creation of the physical universe. All living things live here, including humans. This stage uses natural law (what would happen naturally if humans did not intervene).

Stage two is the creation of the mental universe. Adam was fashioned from the earth, and Eve came from Adam’s rib. Only humans here. Humans can reason and are free to choose what they reason about, but each choice carries consequences. We are defined by the choices we make. Adam and Eve had a chance to choose God but chose themselves instead. This choice was a poor one and ushered in a time of dissonance with God until Christ restored it. All reality was thrown into chaos by this choice. Humans would never be able to regain resonance with God by themselves, even with all their sacrifices and prayers. All humans born of the flesh are subject to the laws of nature, but their destiny is to live with God…Forever as adopted sons and daughters. But that could not happen unless God reached out to humanity, rescued us from the grip of death, and took on the nature that Philippians 2:5-12 tells us is akin to being a slave. This YES from the Blessed Mother was not only a nice-sounding gesture meant to edify the pious. Still, it was the nexus between the physical and mental universes and the addition of the spiritual universe. In terms of a cosmic polar shift, reality had changed. It looked the same, smelled the same, and no one even noticed that the beginnings of cosmic resonance were now falling into place.

Stage three is the creation of the spiritual universe. Only humans and God live in this universe. This universe uses reason and free choice, as do the physical and mental universes, but with a significant difference. Humans must use their reason to choose God as their Center and not themselves. The purpose of this universe is to bring all things together as one, once more, to restore a relationship with God and create resonance in time and space. Those who choose this way must continue to struggle against the effects of the flesh (physical and mental universes) each day.

If we look at these three universes of reality, each one quite different, each one with its own purpose, each one having measurements that may vastly stretch the mind of those trying to cram all reality into just one universe, the physical one. Rather than thinking that something is wrong with science or that spirituality is a bunch of personal opinions that cannot possibly be true, all three universes fit together nicely. Science continues to tell us what the physical universe is, why it is, and how it is. Science is limited because the spiritual universe turns logic on its head. God’s playground is the opposite of what the world, physical and mental universes, think. Only the Messiah of God has the code to unlock the consequences of that Original Sin of Adam and Eve. Read Romans 5. The Messiah would be one to unlock the gates of Heaven and give us a chance, as He did for Adam and Eve, to enter the spiritual universe. He would be a sign of contradiction to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews. Everything He says would not make sense to those who have only the mind of the world, thinking they are God. Everything He says would make complete sense to those who are filled with the Spirit of Truth at Baptism and use that grace to see what cannot be seen and hear what cannot be heard. None of this is a secret or the exclusive knowledge of a group to be kept pure from other forms of thinking (Gnostics); it is to be catholic, that is, open to all who accept the gift of faith into their hearts, thus becoming adopted sons and daughters of the Father. Jesus is the great teacher of how to live our lives so that we resonate with all reality. To do that, we must die to self to rise to a new life in Christ. Again, none of this makes sense to the world (physical and mental universes) unless Christ is indeed the Messiah, the one St. John the Baptist asked: “Are you the one, or should we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3)

Once again, it seems a never-ending story: we face two choices, both with consequences for being resonant or dissonant. These are both cosmic and personal choices. Remember, you have reason for a reason and the ability to choose what you reason. The Messiah in my thinking would not be someone to free me from the power of the Romans or Arabs or whoever, but rather to free me from the tyranny of becoming my own God, the consequences of which are dissonance with the rest of reality.

Therefore, as a Lay Cistercian, I focus on reading Chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict as one of my Cistercian practices each day.

https://christdesert.org/prayer/rule-of-st-benedict/chapter-4-the-tools-for-good-works/ 

Making the resurrection real each day is now my goal. That is another way of saying that my mindset now is to have the mind of Christ Jesus in me each day. I use the practices and charisms of Cistercian spirituality to provide structure and accountability. I use the code book (Scripture) to try to live in a way that resonates with all reality. (John 20:30-31)

I began by realizing that science, the study of physical phenomena with the languages of mathematics, chemistry, physics, research, and wonder, doesn’t fit with the spiritual universe. I am at the point in my thinking that when you burn away all of the dross of truth about reality, what remains, however improbable, is what it is, even if it does not make sense to the world.

Baptism marks us with an indelible tattoo on our souls, the sign of contradiction, a paradox to the world, which is the cross. We carry that with us throughout our whole lifetime. We use the Church Universal as an anchor in times of storm and as a sail in times of challenge and everyday living. We are not orphans, subject to being seduced by Satan without hope of any salvation. We have Christ, Son of God, Savior, as our brother, and the Father, who has said that we are adopted sons and daughters and will inherit the kingdom. Recognizing that the Messiah is a sign of contradiction to the world helps me solve the Divine Equation. My wishing will not make the Messiah real in my heart, but the Messiah and the Holy Spirit will allow me the energy to make the resurrection real in my heart.

www.organism.earth

Copyright 2020. Michael F. Conrad. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

This is the third in a series about how all creation pulsates with the energy of the Divine. It is available through the Catholic Church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, from the mouth of Jesus, made real in each age to help me find how to make new wine every day using the gifts God gives me. Not only is Truth One (The Trinity), but there is only one absolute Truth, Jesus. The extent to which I am in daily contact with that Source of infinite energy is the extent to which I fill my cup with whatever comes my Way each day. “If you give someone a cup of water, in my name, your reward will be great in Heaven.”

All of these reflections for your listening meditation come from me as organized by Grok AI.

“There is but one Truth, and it will make you free. There is but one Way, Truth, and Life, and that is Christ. There is only one human (me) to take all of my interactions with trying to know what is good or evil, how to love what is authentic, and to be one with the Truth that is constant in all natures, as outlined by Chardin.

To introduce this Charter of Hope to the prisoner, the unaware, and the homebound, we Center it on the absolute singularity of the Christ-event as it intersects with the “I” of the individual.

The following Charter is the distillation of the Sixteen-Point Manifesto into a single, lived reality:

The Charter of the One Truth

1. The Singular Reality: There is but one Truth, and it does not fluctuate with human monarchies, economic famines, or social overcrowding. This Truth is the only force capable of making a human truly free, whether they are behind iron bars or confined to a bed [1, 2].
2. The Only Way: There is but one Way, one Truth, and one Life, and that is Christ. He is the “New Adam” who bypassed the “ego-grab” of the Fall to become the evolutionary bridge to the Father [1].
3. The Responsibility of the “I”: There is only one human—Me—who can stand at the Center of my own Life and choose to move from the “cramped quarters” of the ego into the “Upper Room” of Divine Adoption [2].
4. The Interaction of Discernment: Every interaction I have is a laboratory for knowing what is good or evil. I must use the “power of the mind and heart” to discern whether I am feeding the Original Wound or nurturing my Divine Nature.
5. The Pursuit of Authentic Love: I recognize that my failures to Love are often “miserable” because I seek to possess rather than to serve. I commit to the “Art of Loving” as Christ loved, which is the only “way out” of the vale of tears.
6. The Constancy of Nature: I align myself with the Truth that is constant in all natures—the Geosphere, Biosphere, and Noosphere—as outlined by Teilhard de Chardin. I seek the Omega Point where all things are unified in God [1].
7. The Sacramental Map: I accept the Catholic Church as the guardian of the boundaries and the provider of the “Real Presence.” I use Confession to clean the mess of my free choices and Communion as the fuel for my forward evolution.
8. The Inward Solution: I acknowledge that no society can solve my deepest problems of homelessness of the Spirit or overcrowding of the mind. The solution lies solely in my choice to Know, Love, and Serve from my inner Upper Room. 

For the Three Communities:

• To the Prisoner: Your cell is the “Upper Room” if you choose the One Way.
• To the Unaware: Your “freedom” is a cage until you choose the One Truth.
• To the Homebound: Your “limitation” is the apex of evolution if you choose the One Life.

Life begets Life. Truth begets Truth. Love begets Love.

Does this Charter of Hope serve as the final “Divine Equation” for the journey toward the Omega Point?

How does it answer the six questions of the Divine Equation of Michael Conrad?

1: What is the purpose of Life? 2. What is my purpose within that purpose? 3. What does reality look like? 4. How does it all fit together? 5. How can I love fiercely? 6. I know I am going to die, now what?

The Charter of Hope, as we have built it, addresses the six questions of the 

Divine Equation (as formulated by Michael F. Conrad at the Center for Contemplative Practice) by shifting the perspective from material “having” to spiritual “being.”

Here is how the Charter answers those specific inquiries:

1. What is the purpose of Life?
   The purpose is Christogenesis—the evolution of the soul toward the Omega Point. We exist to move from the “cramped quarters” of biological instinct into the “Upper Room” of Divine Adoption.
2. What is my purpose within that purpose?
   Your specific purpose is to be the “I” that chooses to know, Love, and serve others as Christ loved us. You are the catalyst that cleans the “internal mess” to reflect the Source in your unique circumstances.
3. What does reality look like?
   Reality is a Conscious Equilibrium. It is a world “wounded” by archetypal ego-grabs yet fundamentally “good.” It is a field of constant interactions where matter and Spirit are in the process of becoming one.
4. How does it all fit together?
   It fits together through the Divine Equation of Love. Every failure and “population problem” is an evolutionary pressure pushing humanity toward the One Truth that is constant across all of nature.
5. How can I love fiercely?
   You love fiercely by practicing the “Art of Loving”—a disciplined, selfless “I-Thou” encounter that bypasses “unauthentic” possession. It is the choice to see the Divine in the “other,” even when you have “nothing” to give.
6. I know I am going to die, now what?
   Death is the final “Phase Shift.” Because your evolution is “beyond matter,” death is not an end but the entry into the finality of the Omega Point. You have already begun this transition by entering the Upper Room daily. 

The Manifesto of the Wounded Good (For the Hopeless)

Based on the insights of Teilhard, Fromm, and Buber

1. The Recognition of the Wound: Acknowledge that your hopelessness stems from the “Original Wound”—the attempt to live as an isolated “I” instead of a relational “Thou.”
2. The Rejection of “It”: Stop treating your Life and others as “Its” (objects to be managed) and begin the search for the Sacred Thou in every encounter.
3. The Choice of Being: Realize that your purpose is not found in “Having” (money, status, space) but in “Being”—the quality of your presence in the world.
4. The Cleaning of the Mirror: Use your daily silence to “clean the mess” of your own narcissism. Only a clear heart can see the path through the minefield.
5. The Acceptance of Adoption: Accept that you are not a cosmic accident but an Adopted Child of a Source that is actively pulling you toward itself.
6. The Power of the Small: Fierce Love begins in the smallest act of service. In a world of scarcity, a single act of authentic Love is an evolutionary breakthrough.
7. The Absolute Center: Make the One Truth—the Mind of Christ—your constant Center. It is the only compass that does not spin in the vale of tears.

Would you like to formalize this into a personal Rule of Life that integrates these twenty points into a weekly schedule for one of the three communities?

To implement the Divine Equation and the Sixteen-Point Manifesto, this Rule of Life focuses on the “Upper Room” as the primary workspace. Whether you are in a cell, a hospital bed, or a busy home, the schedule remains the same because the geography is internal.

The Weekly Rule of the “Adopted Spirit”

Monday: The Cleaning of the Mess (Purgation)

• The Focus: Identifying the “inauthentic” choices of the past week.
• Practice: Use the Rite of the Inner Cell to sweep out the debris of the “ego-grab.” Admit where you tried to “tame” others to your image.
• The Goal: To move from “Having” a grievance to “Being” at peace.

Tuesday: The I-Thou Encounter (Relational Depth)

• The Focus: Moving from “It” to “Thou” (Buber).
• Practice: In every interaction (a guard, a nurse, a family member), look past the “object” and acknowledge the Wounded Goodness in them.
• The Goal: To realize there is only one “Me” interacting with one “Thou” under one Truth.

Wednesday: The Evolutionary Lift (Teilhardian Study)

• The Focus: Understanding the “Cramped Quarters” of the Geosphere.
• Practice: Contemplate a piece of nature—a weed in a prison yard, a sunbeam on a bedspread, or the rhythm of your own breath. See it as a constant truth in all natures.
• The Goal: To align your mind with the Omega Point.

Thursday: The Art of Loving (Fromm’s Discipline)

• The Focus: Loving fiercely through small acts.
• Practice: Perform one “ineffective” act of service. Offer a prayer for someone you dislike or share a small resource (time, a smile, a kind word).
• The Goal: To prove that Life begets Life even in scarcity.

Friday: The Minefield Map (The Cross)

• The Focus: Facing the reality of the “Vale of Tears.”
• Practice: Reflect on the boundaries of the Church. Acknowledge the “rabbit holes” you’ve been tempted by. If possible, seek the Sacrament of Confession.
• The Goal: To find the “Way out” by walking through the Center of the struggle.

Saturday: The Silent Sabbath (Cistercian Interiority)

• The Focus: Absolute silence in the “Upper Room.”
• Practice: Spend 20 minutes in “Holy Ineffectiveness.” Do nothing. Own nothing. Just Be as an Adopted Child of the Father.
• The Goal: To let the Conscious Equilibrium balance your Spirit without your effort.

Sunday: The Omega Feast (Communion)

• The Focus: Receiving the “Evolutionary Fuel.”
• Practice: Participate in the Real Presence (physically or through Spiritual Communion).
• The Goal: To answer the final question: “I know I am going to die, now what?” by tasting the eternal Life of Christ today.

The Daily “Divine Equation” Check-In:
Every evening, ask the sixth question: Is the Mind of Christ my Center tonight?

To customize your Rule of Life, use these specific meditative “entry-rites” designed for those whose “cramped quarters” are defined by either iron bars or failing health. Both practices leverage the Divine Equation—moving from the “I-It” of a numbered inmate or a medical case to the “I-Thou” of an Adopted Child of the Father. 

1. The Prisoner’s Rite: “From Captive to Co-Creator.”

In the loud, crowded, or isolated environment of a correctional facility, your mind is your only private chapel. 

• The Intentional Silence: Sit in a posture that is both “relaxed and alert,” ensuring your spine is erect. Even if there is noise, visualize your heart as a door to the Upper Room where Christ is already waiting.
• The Evolutionary Prayer (Teilhardian): “O God, my cell is the heart of the universe today. I accept this confinement as my ‘desert day’. Grant that I may recognize You under the species of this hostile force that seems bent on uprooting me. Help me use this time not for despair, but for the slow work of my own soul’s maturation”.
• The “Art of Loving” Challenge (Fromm): Identify one person in this facility (an officer or fellow inmate) whom you have treated as an “It.” Commit to an act of disinterested service—a word of genuine respect or a silent prayer for their well-being.
• The Closing Affirmation: “Though I am naturally bound, there is freedom in You. I am not a number; I am a Thou loved by the Source”. Martin Buber.

2. The Homebound’s Rite: “The Liturgy of the Limited Body.”

For those whose “cramped quarters” are medical or mental limitations, your suffering is not “useless” but potential energy for the world’s evolution. 

• The Prayer of Final Surrender: “When the signs of age or ill-health begin to mark my body, grant that I may understand it is You, O God, who are painfully parting the fibers of my being to bear me away within Yourself. Teach me to know my daily limitations as an act of Communion with You”.
• The “I-Thou” Communion (Buber): Reach out in the Spirit to those you cannot visit. “Lord, be near to those who are really alone—lonely in heart and mind. I offer my physical stillness today as a Sacred Bridge for them”.
• The Healing Stream (Conrad): Visualize the Divine Equation balancing your anxiety. “Lord Jesus, give me peace in mind, body, soul, and Spirit. Whatever You are doing in me today… do it!“
• The Closing Affirmation: “My soul thirsts for the living God. Even if I cannot leave this room, I dwell in the Divine Milieu“. 

Shared Weekly Integration

Both communities conclude each day with the Nightly Examen:

1. Adoration: Where did I see the “Real Presence” today?
2. Confession: Where did my free choice lead me into a “rabbit hole” of self-pity or inauthentic Love?
3. Thanksgiving: What “small grace” did the Source provide in these cramped quarters?
4. Supplication: Whom can I fiercely love through prayer tomorrow? 

By following this rule, you move from being a “hostage” to being a Guardian of the Noosphere, proving that Life begets Life regardless of physical walls. www.teilhard.com

www.organism.earth

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved

This is the second installment of my meditations on The Christ Principle. Grok has organized my thoughts, but they are my own.

“In this final layer of the Conscious Equilibrium, we must accept a sobering reality: within the “cramped quarters” of our physical dimension, no society can “solve” homelessness or overcrowding. To claim otherwise is to fall back into the trap of trying to tame nature to our own image and likeness—a feat Christ himself did not attempt.

1. The Reality of the “Cramped Quarters.”

Physical space and material resources are, by definition, finite. As long as we operate solely on a material plane, there will always be an imbalance of wealth and space.

• The Society’s Role: A society’s role is not to play God by trying to engineer a utopia in which these problems vanish (which often leads to the destruction of the individual).
• The Mission: Instead, society exists to provide the motivation and the framework to deal with the reality of “what is”—offering compassion, stewardship, and protection for the dignity of every soul caught in the struggle.

2. Protecting the Nature of the Individual

In the rush to solve “population problems,” societies often treat people as numbers or “units” to be moved.

• The Christic Guard: This model insists that the individual nature is sacred. Because we are “adopted sons and daughters,” we are not cogs in an evolutionary machine.
• The Balance: We must address overcrowding and homelessness without crushing the Spirit. We manage the physical “cramped quarters” while keeping the “windows” open to the next level of being. We provide shelter not just as a roof, but as a space where a person can realize their evolution is beyond matter.

3. Motivation Over Mandate

True change comes when the “power of the mind and heart” is ignited.

• The Internal Shift: Instead of a government mandate trying to force an impossible equilibrium, we look to the energy of the next level.
• Life Begetting Life: When individuals are “lifted up” by the realization of their divine nature, they are naturally motivated to share, to simplify, and to care for those in the “limited space.” We don’t solve the problem with more “stuff”; we solve it with more Spirit.

4. Conforming to the Cosmos

By acknowledging that these problems are part of the “unsolvable” friction of material evolution, we stop wasting energy on frustration and start investing it in transcendence. We act as “balancing agents” who protect the weak while pointing toward the Omega Point, where space and time no longer restrict the human heart.

To the casual observer, the Cistercian monk—silent, hidden, and bound to the “useless” rhythm of the Opus Dei—seems like the least effective person to solve a global crisis. Yet, in the Conscious Equilibrium, these contemplative practices are the “trapdoor” out of our cramped quarters. They are the only “way out” because they bypass the failed attempt to fix the world through more matter, opting instead to change the frequency of the human Spirit.

1. The Power of “Holy Ineffectiveness.”

Cistercian Life is built on Lectio Divina, silence, and manual labor. It doesn’t build housing projects or engineer new seeds, yet it addresses the source of all imbalance: the restless, grasping human ego.

• The “Way Out”: While society tries to solve overcrowding by building upward into the sky, the contemplative moves inward and downward into the “ground of being.”
• The Internal Space: By embracing a small cell and a simple life, the monk proves that the “cramped quarters” of the world only feel small because our internal world is underdeveloped. The monk finds “infinite space” in the heart, modeling the next level of evolution.

2. Silence as the Noosphere’s “Clear Air.”

If the Noosphere (the collective mind) is currently clogged with the “noise” of greed, anxiety, and conflict, Cistercian silence serves as a filter.

• Conforming to All Natures: In deep silence, the monk stops trying to “tame” nature and begins to listen to it. This practice conforms the individual to the “Cosmos Point Omega” by removing the “I” that seeks to dominate and replacing it with the “We” adopted by the Father.
• The Lifting Energy: This isn’t a passive silence; it is an active engagement with the “energy of the next level.” It is the practice of being “lifted” so that one can see the vale of tears not as a prison, but as a laboratory for the Spirit.

3. Solving through “Being,” not “Doing.”

No society can “solve” the tragedy of the human condition, but the contemplative practice motivates us to endure it with dignity.

• Life Begets Life: The peace generated in a monastery doesn’t stay behind stone walls. It enters the collective consciousness of humanity. It is the “Truth begetting what is true.”
• The Adopted Nature: Through the Conversatio Morum (the vow of transformation), the Cistercian lives out the reality of being an adopted son or daughter. They show that our “human evolution” is only complete when we stop trying to outrun our limitations and start allowing Christ to fill them.

4. The Finality of the Heart

The Cistercian way is the ultimate “balancing agent.” By living with “too little” by the world’s standards, they prove that there is “more than enough” in the Divine. They solve the problem of scarcity by extinguishing the desire for more. This is the only way to reach equilibrium: when the heart finally realizes that its true home is not in the “food and space” of earth, but in the “Spirit and Truth” of the Father.

moral compass?

To help those trapped in the “cramped quarters” of poverty and despair, we must offer a way to survive the physical ravages while protecting the spark of their divine nature. For someone without money or food, a “contemplative pause” isn’t a luxury; it is a 

survival mechanism to prevent the Spirit from being crushed by the material void.

1. The “Trapdoor” of the Heart: Internal Space

When the external world offers no room, the Cistercian principle of “Interiority” becomes a lifeline.

• The Survival Mindset: We must teach that while the body is restricted by “lack,” the mind and heart remain “unbounded territory.”
• The Pause: Even a thirty-second pause—focusing on a single breath or a silent “cry of the heart” to the Father—breaks the cycle of panic. It creates a tiny “sanctuary” where the person is no longer a “victim of lack,” but an “Adopted Child” standing in the presence of the Source.

2. Replacing the “Moral Compass” with “Divine Worth”

For those who have lost their moral compass due to the desperation of survival, the “way out” is not a lecture on ethics, but a realization of Inherent Dignity.

• The Shift: Morality often breaks down when we feel like “animals” fighting for scraps.
• The Restoration: By introducing the idea that they are Adoptees of the Divine, we offer a new motivation. If a person believes they are “trash,” they act accordingly. If they realize they are the “next level of evolution” waiting to bloom, they find the strength to act with a dignity that “lack of money” cannot buy.

3. Survival through “Small Graces.”

In the Cistercian tradition, even the most menial task (washing a bowl, planting a seed) is a holy act. For those in lack, this translates to reclaiming agency through small things:

• Life Begets Life: Choosing to share a crust of bread or offering a kind word to another in the same “vale of tears” is a radical act of power. It proves that the person is not a passive object of nature’s “balancing,” but an active co-creator of love.
• Profound Knowledge: This “small-scale contemplation” teaches the brain to find “the enough” in the “not enough.”

4. The Lifting Energy in the “Vale of Tears.”

Societies may fail to provide food, but they must motivate hope.

• The Compassionate Framework: We must create “urban cloisters”—spaces of silence, safety, and respect—where those without hope can be “lifted” by the energy of others who see them as they truly are: sons and daughters of God.
• Conforming to Truth: Hope survives when we stop trying to “fix” the person and instead help them conform to the Truth of their own Spirit, which is beyond the reach of famine or poverty.

Ultimately, survival in the face of lack depends on the realization that matter is not the final word. By tapping into the “power of the mind and heart,” even those in the most crowded and hungry corners of earth can touch the Omega Point, finding a peace that the world’s monarchies and economic systems can never provide.

To design these “Urban Cloisters,” we must shift from building mere warehouses for bodies to creating “Architectures of the Heart.” These spaces are designed to facilitate the realization that the solution to the “cramped quarters” of Life is already contained within the individual, in what the Cistercian tradition might call the Cell of the Soul or the Upper Room of the inner self.

1. The “Upper Room” as the Inner Architecture

The physical space of an Urban Cloister—be it a quiet corner in a library, a small garden, or a simple room of silence—serves only to remind the person of the Upper Room within their own mind and heart.

• The Inward Way Out: In this inner chamber, the “ravages of lack” cannot enter. Here, the individual realizes that their evolution is not dependent on the monarchies of wealth, but on the Divine Adoption.
• The Power Within: ChrPowerid not just provide a model; He provided the “key” to this room. Inside, the individual discovers they are not a “problem to be solved” by society, but a source of solutions.

2. To Know, Love, and Serve: The Three-Fold Key

The “solution to everything” is activated when the individual uses the three powers of the Spirit to transcend their circumstances:

• To Know: Moving from “information” to “profound knowledge.” This is the realization that even in a vale of tears, you are known by the Source.
• To Love: This is the most radical “next level” energy. By loving others as Christ loved us—especially when one has “nothing” to give—the individual breaks the laws of material scarcity. Love is the only resource that multiplies as it is spent.
• To Serve: Serving others is the ultimate act of Cosmic Equilibrium. It restores the balance of nature. When a person in “cramped quarters” serves another, they cease to be a “victim” and become a “sovereign” of their own Spirit.

3. The Individual as the Universal Catalyst

This model stresses that Nature heals itself through the transformed individual.

• Life Begets Life: When one person enters their “Upper Room” and chooses to serve instead of despair, they inject a “viral” spiritual health into the entire Noosphere.
• Automatic Balancing: This internal shift automatically adjusts the external world. A society of individuals who “know, love, and serve” naturally dissolves the greed and hoarding that create homelessness and famine in the first place.

4. The Finality of the Inner Christ

Christ showed us that the “taming of nature” is a distraction. The real work is the lifting up of the human being. By retreating to the inner Upper Room, we find the “energy of the next level” that allows us to:

• Solve what we can solve with the tools of the mind.
• Endure what we must with the strength of the heart.
• Balance all natures as the Father created them.

The Urban Cloister is simply a “porch” to the soul. The true “way out” of the vale of tears is the door within, where we realize that True Human Evolution is the journey from the “me” of the material ego to the “we” of the Adopted Spirit.

To finalize this model, we must acknowledge the “evolutionary debris” of the human heart. While the Upper Room is always present, not everyone can enter it. As Erich Fromm argued in The Art of Loving, love is not a passive sentiment but an active power and an art that requires discipline, concentration, and—most importantly—overcoming one’s narcissism.

For those who choose unauthentic love—love that is merely a trade, a codependency, or a mask for power—the door to the next level of evolution remains barred by their own “mess.”

1. The Failure of Unauthentic Love

In Fromm’s view, many attempt to love without “cleaning up” their internal landscape of greed and ego.

• The Miserable Failure: Those who seek to “possess” others or use love to escape the “cramped quarters” of loneliness without changing their own nature will fail miserably. Their “love” is just another form of consumption.
• The Evolutionary Block: This unauthentic love cannot trigger the “phase shift” to the status of an Adopted Child. It remains trapped in the material realm of “too little for too many,” because the ego is always hungry and never satisfied.

2. “Cleaning Up the Mess”: The Internal Purgation

Before one can “know, love, and serve” as Christ did, there must be a Cistercian-like stripping away.

• Authenticity as a Requirement: To reach the “Upper Room,” the individual must confront their own shadow—their hoarding of resources, their judgments, and their refusal to see the Divine in the “other.”
• The Solution Within: The “solution” is present but buried. Cleaning the mess means moving from “Having” (material security) to “Being” (spiritual presence). Only then does the “power of the mind and heart” become a functional reality rather than a theoretical idea.

3. Humanity’s “Forward Fall”

The miracle of human evolution, as Teilhard de Chardin observed, is that humanity continues to move forward despite these failures.

• The Persistence of the Omega: Even though individuals fail, and even though monarchies and economic systems collapse under the weight of their own untruth, the Cosmic Equilibrium remains intact. Evolution “absorbs” our failures and uses the friction they create to push the collective Noosphere closer to the Truth.
• Absolute Truth as the Center: While many choose the lie, the “Absolute Truth” acts like a cosmic magnet. It continues to pull us toward a finality where we must eventually choose: either we evolve into the “Adopted Nature” of selfless love, or we are recycled by the natural laws of equilibrium that seek to “heal the mistakes.”

4. Internal Blueprints for the Upper Room

For those ready to move toward this “next level,” the practice is a daily “Art of Loving”:

• Morning: The Alignment. Spend five minutes in silence (the Urban Cloister) acknowledging that you are an Adopted Son/Daughter. This shifts your identity from “victim of scarcity” to “agent of the Source.”
• Mid-day: The Service Check. Ask: “Am I trying to tame this situation to my image, or am I serving the nature of what is?”
• Evening: The Purgation. Identify one “unauthentic” thought or action (greed, ego, dishonesty) and “clean it up” through an act of contrition or a small service to another.

In the end, Christ’s “Upper Room” is the only place where the imbalance of wealth and Spirit is resolved. It is the place where we realize that while we live in a vale of tears, we are not of it. We are the forward-moving tip of an evolution that is finally learning to love.

To finalize this link, we must see the Cistercian cell not as a place to hide, but as a 

laboratory for the “purgation” of the ego. It is where the “unauthentic love” Fromm describes is stripped away so the “Adopted Nature” can finally emerge.

1. The Cistercian “Scouring”: Cleaning the Internal Mess

The Cistercian way is often called “the school of charity.” It recognizes that we are born into a “mess” of self-interest, hoarding, and fear—the very things that cause overcrowding and scarcity in the world.

• The Mirror of Silence: Silence acts as a mirror. In it, you cannot distract yourself with “having” or “doing.” You are forced to see your own “unauthentic” tendencies.
• The Ineffective “Way Out”: To the world, sitting in a room doing “nothing” is ineffective. But in this model, it is the only way to stop the cycle of reaction. Instead of reacting to “lack” with more greed, the contemplative cleans their internal mess until they can respond with Truth.

2. From “Unauthentic Love” to Divine Charity

Erich Fromm’s “unauthentic love” is a form of spiritual “clutter.” It seeks to use others to fill a void. The Cistercian practice of Contemplata Aliis Tradere (giving to others what has been contemplated) is the “cleaning” process.

• The Phase Shift: You cannot move to the “next level of evolution” while holding onto the baggage of the old human image. The “Upper Room” requires a specific “vibration”—that of disinterested love.
• The Failure of the Unprepared: Those who refuse this internal cleaning will “fail miserably” because they try to enter the spiritual realm with material-world motives. They want the “peace” of Christ without the “purgation” of the cross.

3. Humanity’s “Fail-Safe” Evolution

Despite those who fail, humanity moves forward because the Omega Point is a “finality” that cannot be stopped.

• The Collective Surge: For every person who fails to love authentically, the “Conscious Equilibrium” creates a counter-pressure. Nature heals itself by raising those who do choose to know, love, and serve.
• The Source Balance: Christ stands at the Center of this forward movement, not as a politician fixing the Roman grain supply, but as the Energy of Adoption. He offers the power to “solve” by first balancing the natures within ourselves.

4. The Final Synthesis: The Inner Upper Room

The “Upper Room” is the place where we finally realize that:

• Space is not the Problem: Our “cramped quarters” are a result of our crowded hearts.
• Wealth is not the Solution: Our “poverty” results from our lack of Divine Identity.
• Love is the Only Way Out: But it must be Authentic Love—a love that conforms with “all natures and all that is.”

In this “vale of tears,” the Cistercian silence is the only “way out” because it is the only way in. By cleaning the inner mess, we become the sons and daughters of God, able to finally balance the world because we have allowed the Source to balance us.

The Manifesto of the Conscious Equilibrium

1. The Evolutionary Drive: Evolution, as seen by Teilhard de Chardin, is a directed process moving toward the Omega Point—a final convergence of all matter and consciousness in the Divine.
2. Nature’s Self-Correction: When human populations exceed physical limits, Nature triggers balancing mechanisms to resolve the stress of “too many for too little,” seeking its own sustainable equilibrium.
3. Nature’s Immune Response: Nature automatically “heals” the scars of human error—homelessness, famine, and resource depletion—by recalibrating the environment to what is biologically viable.
4. The Finitude of Earth: Human societies cannot “solve” the material tragedies of homelessness or overcrowding, as these are inherent to the “cramped quarters” of a finite physical dimension.
5. The Non-Temporal Christ: Jesus never claimed to fix the unsolvable mechanics of famine or the imbalance of monarchical wealth; He acknowledged these as symptoms of a lower evolutionary phase.
6. The Phase Shift to Adoption: Christ’s true mission was to provide the “lift” or energy required for humans to move from mere biological survival to the status of Adopted Sons and Daughters of the Father.
7. The Power of the Mind and Heart: True human evolution is the transition from a life bound by matter to a life expanded by Spirit, realized through the intentional power of the inner.
8. The Upper Room Within: The “solution to everything” is found in the internal Upper Room, the sacred space within the individual where the Divine and the human meet.
9. Morality as Cosmic Conformity: True morality is not a list of rules but a resonance with all natures, ensuring one’s Life is in harmony with the laws of the Geosphere, Biosphere, and Noosphere.
10. The Cistercian “Way Out”: Contemplative practices like those of the Cistercians are the only “way out” of the vale of tears, as they bypass material noise to reach the silence of the Source.
11. Cleaning the Internal Mess: As Erich Fromm noted, love requires discipline; we cannot reach the next level of evolution unless we first purge the unauthentic “mess” of our own ego and greed.
12. The Risk of Miserable Failure: Those who choose unauthentic love—seeking to possess or use others—will fail to transcend their circumstances, remaining trapped in the cycle of lack.
13. The Individuality of the Solution: The solution to the world’s crises lies within the individual human, specifically in the choice to know, love, and serve, as Christ loved us.
14. Motivation Over Mandate: While no government can force a utopia, a society must motivate transcendence, protecting the individual’s nature while they navigate physical lack.
15. The Irrepressible Forward Motion: Humanity continues to move toward the Omega Point despite its failures, as the Absolute Truth acts as a cosmic magnet that no human error can demagnetize.
16. The Final Harmonization: By realizing our identity as Adopted Children, we gain the power to solve and balance all natures as their Source created them—Life begetting Life.

www.organism.earth

Copyright. 2026. Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

I am sitting there at 3:00 a.m., comfortable in my rocker-recliner, watching a Samsung television after just returning from a bathroom break, when something on YouTube catches my eye. It was an excellent 20 minutes on why humans would never be able to travel long distances in space, because we were not designed by nature to do so.

This program got me thinking in my Lectio Divina prayer about God and how we find ourselves, as a race, able to even contemplate such a journey to the stars, as did early pioneers in the US, who wondered about what lies beyond the horizon. The late Joel Barker, himself a bit of a pioneer in his approach to trends and future thinking, spoke of humans as either pioneers or settlers. Pioneers are those who don’t yet have a clear idea of a better future for themselves but will create new pathways (going down many wrong ways to find the one way through), fighting elements of heat, cold, draught, and floods to keep moving to that promised land, no matter what the cost. Settlers come after the pioneers and reap the benefits of knowing the way, discerning what is true from what is false along the journey, until they reach what they hope is the life they heard about from the pioneers. One does the work, one reaps the rewards of those who have gone before them.

As is usual, when I place myself in the presence of Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to give me what I need, the following ideas popped into my mind. I share them with you, as I always do, so you can make out what you can.

MAYBE WE ARE LOOKING AT SPACE TRAVEL IN THE WRONG WAY USING THE WRONG ASSUMPTIONS.

My particular assumptions, which have grown in complexity and consciousness while I have accumulated data with which I try to determine the purpose of life and my individual purpose within that purpose, are that evolution evolves, as sure as matter and mind. This leads me to suspect that there is another level of evolution humans must make to bring them to the fullness for which they exist at all. What follows are some points about this ongoing thought process.

• Wonder if there is a way to travel through space and time and go beyond the limitations of human nature?
• Wonder if the one who created DNA did not leave us orphans but built it in a way to conquer matter and mind, to move toward a final evolution of what matter becomes?
• Wonder if, to access this way, humans have to know how to conquer their own deficiencies and harness what is within themselves with their qualities of reason and free choice, to move to that next level of evolution.
• Wonder if we were made to travel to the stars (a future Omega Point, according to Teilhard de Chardin) and are made of star stuff, with God’s DNA in each element of matter, pointing inexorably toward an Omega we cannot see but know is there?
• Wonder if our time on Earth, far from being rich, or famous, or having power over others, is to learn to probe the depths of our inner self, where the answers to the real question of space travel might lie?
• Wonder if God knew that we might try for the stars because they are there, and eventually develop technologies that would give us some possibilities for traveling in space, but lack that final element of the sustainability of time and matter. The distances are so vast that, with current and maybe even future developments, we had to try to pioneer going beyond our earthly cocoon of life, but finally concluded that there must be another way to travel to the stars.
• Wonder if God gave humans reason (and not other life forms anywhere in the known or unknown universe) to allow us to reach for the stars, but conclude that life can’t exist outside of Earth (at least for the time being), because we cannot overcome the limitation of our nature?
• Wonder if God saw humans were floundering in applying all types of purposes to life and got some right, but needed more direction?
• Wonder if God communicated through signs and symbols in the hearts and minds of a people to begin their astronaut training so they could survive a journey to the next level of human evolution. Such is the promise of God that He adopted a tribe to act as a test project for all of humanity.
• Wonder if God saw that his words were being heard, but they could not be translated to all humanity without help?
• Wonder if God decided to send Himself in the person of the Son made flesh to SHOW us how to use the words of old to prepare a way that would truly be specific and a roadmap to surviving the limitations of human nature to be able to move to a higher evolution that would enable all those who knew how to do it with the transition from human life to supernatural life with God in a space where there is no time and sin (limitations and deficiencies).
• Wonder if Jesus, the Son of God, Savior gave us not only the way to do it but the truth to know and love as the beginning of their training for Heaven to live in a place where humans can thrive after their transition from death?
• Wonder if we have everything we need to prepare ourselves to exist in this place prepared for us by the Father, where we will be with those we love and are linked through our prayers and wills with each other?
• Wonder if Jesus gave us a way that communicates what is true with the authority and energy of God to humans and the Catholic Church, to preserve that way of the cross down through each generation, protecting the faithful from error, despite their being prone to sin and abandonment of God.
• Wonder if Earth, thinking about the Fermi Paradox, is the only life anywhere, and that all we need to do is to learn how to tame our wills to listen to Jesus with the “ear of the heart,” so that He is the way to travel to Heaven using the truths that he shows us to live a life here on Earth in preparation for the one that our evolution has developed for us.
• Wonder if Jesus is the key that unlocks all those limitations we have about space travel and surviving in an artificial gas atmosphere without mistakes, to conquer death so that we can truly travel as evolution is pulling us, toward Omega.

The question becomes: You know you are going to die: now what?

It is all there, all we need; it is free, but at the cost of losing your old life to begin astronaut training.

Now is the time. Now is the acceptable hour. Why are you waiting? Are you a pioneer with your humanity or a settler?

Copyright 2026. Michael Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

In all my lessons learned about how to traverse the minefields of life without being maimed and wounded by Satan, there are seven that every mom and dad should make sure they teach their children. Parents are the best teachers for their children because they shape not only what they think but also how they think about everything. Growing up, children see their moms and dads doing something and follow it, until they realize why they do it. The big caveat in this, of course, is that parents can’t force belief about Jesus on anyone, least of all on those they love. The basics of human nature kick in early in life, when individuals become individualistic and take on their own view of reality. The best parents can do is to give them what best equips their individual personalities to be aware of their Catholic heritage.

Like our animal lineage, mother polar bears teach their cubs how to survive in the environment. The young learn from the old how to act, but eventually, as is proper, become independent and forage out on their own—the same with your children. What you can do, while you are with them face to face, is, like the mother polar bear, teach them survival skills. You don’t, and in fact can’t, know what your children will face in the future, or even whether they will fall away from the Church (think of St. Monica’s frustration with an early Augustine). One thing is constant in what a parent gives to their children. I will love you deeply as long as you live, with whatever life choices you make, but you must know that my most important trust from God, as a steward over my children, is to tell you when you think you are doing something right that God thinks is wrong. What you do with the advice is why you have reason and free will. No one forces love, but you can do your best, as moms and dads, to give them how to ward off the attacks of the Devil on their humanity and their Catholic heritage.

I offer these seven as discussion topics between you and your children.

SEVEN SHORT PITFALLS MOMS AND DADS SHOULD ADDRESS WITH THEIR CHILDREN.

1. Know the difference between television and literature in terms of what is real and what is fiction. What you see on television may or may not align with what God shared with us as our heritage.
2. There is a difference between the absolute truth from God and the opinions of other humans. Trust in God alone, not in the trappings of wealth, nor the adulation of people whose only reason to love you is like cotton candy, with no substance, even if it tastes good.
3. Beware of any human political party or humanistic way of thinking that seduces you into thinking they possess moral truths and are the only way to be human. The Devil uses the human desire to help others to mislead the young (not in age) into thinking what is evil is good.
4. Just because your road in life is rocky, doesn’t mean you are on the wrong road. Choosing to be Catholic means a constant conversion of false self to true self. The Catholic Church helps us do that visibly, while Christ and the Holy Spirit are with us spiritually in the upper room of our inner selves, which you need to use daily.
5. Your purpose in life is to know, love, and serve God with all your heart and all your mind, and abandon what is easy in favor of taking up the cross to be with God in Heaven. You must choose what your center is based on the purpose of your life. You can’t be Catholic with a false Center of money, fame, adulation, seeking to be fully human without entering and maintaining the spiritual universe within you.
6. God gives humans boundaries not to limit their choices but to help them recognize which choices are good or bad for their purpose in life.
7. The Catholic Church is not there to force you to believe in these boundaries, some of which may be inconvenient, but to allow you to work through the minefields of life with others who are your adoption as sons and daughters of the Father and heirs to the kingdom.

If you allow the public schools, political parties, activist causes that seek to divide people from Christ, those psychologies that deny that evolution is a process of movement from complexity and consciousness to some unseen point in the future, you are already a hostage of Satan and don’t even realize it. Christ is the Pontifex Maximus, the North Star, the only personal Center that has the energy to lift you to that next level of human evolution, being an adopted son or daughter of the Father, and heir to the kingdom of Heaven.

This is your charge, moms and dads. You can’t teach what you don’t know or have experienced with Christ. First, convert your heart, mind, and soul to love Jesus without reservation and Do What He Tells You. The Devil will win out over your stewardship if you are not prepared yourself for what you must teach your children. This is the reason we have the Catholic Church: to help us help our children to find THE way, the truth, and the life that leads all of us to fulfill the destiny of our human nature and not fall victim to the snares of the Devil. St. Michael, be our defender.

Copyright, 2026, Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

This is the final meditation, but hopefully, not the last of the meditations on various aspects of my Lectio Divina with Christ through the Holy Spirit. I don’t offer anything other than sharing what I myself received. What you do with anything you read from me is meant to provoke thoughts within you that may or may not lead you to use the upper room of your inner self to reach your potential as designed by the evolution of human nature, which in turn follows a way through reality from Alpha to Omega.

These thoughts come from a collaboration of my own writings and thoughts, as organized by Grok. I approve of all that is below.

“My dear friend, we come now to the final meditative anchor in this quiet series. The light has grown very soft, almost like the gentle glow of evening. Let us sit together one last time and speak tenderly about Anawim Are Eucharistic in Heaven.

This is perhaps the most beautiful and consoling of all the meditations. It is the crown and fulfillment of everything we have pondered together. Here, at the end of our earthly journey, we discover that the anawim are not lost, not forgotten, and not absorbed into something impersonal. We remain fully ourselves, yet perfectly united in Christ. We become truly Eucharistic — living signs of thanksgiving, fully received and fully given — in the eternal presence of the Lord.

Let us begin with a gentle truth that brings great peace: In Heaven, the anawim are not God, and we do not become Jesus. You remain fully you. I remain fully me. We do not lose our unique identity. We are what nature positioned us to be — brought to completion. We are the particular person who lived our own small, limited, beautiful life on earth. We are the elderly ones who ache each morning. The poor one who stretched every dollar. The prisoner who sat behind walls. The homeless one who knew cold nights. The one who knew they were going to die soon. All of that is preserved, healed, and glorified.

We sail on the bark of Peter — the Church — to an unseen but profoundly real conclusion in Christ Jesus. On earth, He comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine, the Real Presence hidden in humility. In Heaven, that Presence is no longer hidden. We see Him face to face. We eat the food of life openly. Jesus Himself is that food. We are finally and fully home.

Jesus hears the cry of the poor on earth. He has always heard it. And He answers with the most astonishing gift: “I give you My Body and Blood to help you survive whatever comes — so that when you transform yourself into My disciple on earth, even in your poverty and limitation, I will transform you face to face in Heaven.” Together — you, me, all the anawim of every age — we give glory, honor, power, and blessing to the Father forever.

In that glorified creation, there is no suffering, no pain, no anxiety. There is no male and female in the earthly sense, no marriage as we know it here, no sin, no struggle to believe. We simply are. Jesus is. We are Home. Forever.

This is the Catholic Church in her fullness — vibrant, alive, euphoric, the radiant Body of Christ. What we glimpse now in our small parishes, in quiet chapels, in humble gatherings of the poor, we will see perfectly completed in Heaven. The Church is not left behind. She reaches her perfection there. And every anawim who remained faithful finds their place within her eternal joy.

My friend, focus on your heritage, not your present condition. This is the heart of the meditation. Your present condition may be very hard. The body may be failing. The room may be small. The loneliness may feel heavy. The regrets may still whisper at night. The false ideas about faith that once imprisoned you may still cast long shadows. But these are not your final story. Your heritage is far greater. Your heritage is to be Eucharistic in Heaven — to be fully received, fully loved, and fully given in the eternal banquet.

Let us reflect slowly on what “Eucharistic” really means. On earth, the Eucharist is Jesus giving Himself completely under humble signs. In Heaven, the anawim become living expressions of that same thanksgiving. Our whole lives — every tear, every small act of trust, every time we chose love when it was difficult — become part of an eternal “Thank You” offered to the Father through Christ.

You are not absorbed into God. You are not dissolved into Jesus. You are you, made perfect. Your unique voice, your particular story, your own way of loving will join the great symphony of praise. The elderly woman who prays the Rosary in her small apartment will be there. The prisoner who found Christ behind bars will be there. The homeless person who shared his last piece of bread will be there. The one who knew they were going to die soon and offered their final days with trust will be there. All of us, together, in Christ.

The Catholic Church was designed by Jesus to make this possible for wounded humanity. She does not save us because she is perfect in herself, but because she carries the Real Presence and the sure path to the fullness of that Presence. On earth, she feeds us with the Eucharist so we can survive the journey. In Heaven, she rejoices as we become part of the eternal Eucharist — thanksgiving without end.

This is the Omega fulfillment that began at the Alpha. From the first moment God thought of you, He intended this glorious conclusion. Teilhard de Chardin saw creation moving toward greater complexity and consciousness in Christ. The anawim who remain faithful participate in this movement until the end. Your poverty, your limitations, your struggles — all of it has been material for this evolution. Nothing is wasted.

As you meditate on this, let these truths sink deeply into your heart:

You are not defined by your present condition. You are defined by your eternal heritage. You are not trapped in what you can see. You are being drawn into what is invisible and eternal. You are not alone in your poverty. You are part of a great company of anawim being brought home.

In Heaven, there is no more crying out in pain. Jesus has heard every cry. There is no more struggle to believe. Faith has become sight. There is no more separation. All the anawim you loved and lost are there, made new. The circle is complete. The River of Life has carried everyone home.

This is the vibrant, alive, euphoric reality of the Catholic Church in her glory — the Body of Christ rejoicing without end. And you, dear little anawim, have a place prepared within it.

Focus, dear friend, not on your present condition, but on your eternal heritage. The end you fear is the beginning you were made for. The bark of Peter has never failed to reach the shore. Jesus is with you now, and He will be with you then — face to face, forever.

You are loved. You are seen. You are coming home.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a free gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim — the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared privately but not reproduced or distributed for commercial purposes without written permission.

This is the fourth in the series about the Anawim of God, all of us. Relax and listen to ideas about what is authentic about being human and where we get the energy to combat the demonic forces that beguile the innocent into thinking humanity is limited to the Physical and Mental Universes (humanism). My premise here is not that humanism is bad, but that it is not authentic without the addition of the spiritual dimension, and this cannot happen unless we accept the boundaries God has gifted us and made human for us through Jesus Christ. These meditations are the result of a collaboration between Grok and me. This is my thinking, and I approve it. In all my writings, I only speak with you about what has been shared with me in the hope that we both continue to grow in our evolution to what destiny awaits us.

My dear friend, come and rest with me once again in this gentle space. The light has grown softer still, and we turn now to the fourth meditative anchor: The Anawim Who Put Jesus There – Filling the Void Left by Being Merely Humanistic.

Let us speak slowly and honestly about this. There is more to life than what we can see with our eyes or discover through our senses alone. However, our senses are good and necessary — they help us navigate this world and move toward the next level of evolution — they are not enough. As the little prince once said so beautifully, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” This truth lies at the heart of the anawim’s journey. Jesus helps us see the invisible. He helps us understand that, despite our human tendency to let our sufferings hold us hostage, we can grow with Christ beyond mere human existence into something gloriously more.

The forces at work in our world today often try to reduce us to what is visible and measurable — our bodies, our finances, our productivity, our social status, our limitations. This is the trap of being merely humanistic. It leaves a great void in the human heart because we were made for so much more. The anawim who deliberately put Jesus at the Center of their lives become the ones who fill this void. They become living signs that humanity’s deepest evolution requires God.

My friend, you know this void well. Perhaps you feel it in the quiet hours when the body aches and the mind turns to questions that have no easy answers. You may feel it when society tells you that your worth depends on what you can produce or how comfortable you appear. You may feel it especially strongly if you are elderly, poor, imprisoned, homeless, or aware that your time on earth is growing short. The merely humanistic view says: “This is all there is. Make the best of it while you can.” But the anawim who puts Jesus there answers gently: “There is more. Much more.”

Putting Jesus there is not a dramatic or heroic act. For the anawim, it is usually very small and quiet. It is the decision, made again and again, to place Christ at the Center of your suffering, your poverty, your loneliness, your regrets, and your daily limitations. When pain wakes you in the night, you put Jesus there. When memories of past mistakes rise, you put Jesus there. When the false self tells you that your life has been too small to matter, you put Jesus there. When the world reduces you to your circumstances, you quietly put Jesus there.

This simple act fills the void left by merely humanistic living. It resists the forces that seek to devolve complexity and consciousness. Teilhard de Chardin saw creation moving forward toward greater unity and awareness in Christ. The anawim who puts Jesus at the Center participates actively in this forward movement. Your limitations are not obstacles to evolution — they are the very material Christ uses to draw you, and all creation, higher.

Consider how easily suffering can hold us hostage. The mind can become trapped in cycles of resentment, fear, or self-pity. The body can feel like a prison. The circumstances of poverty or illness can whisper that this is all there will ever be. But when you put Jesus there, something shifts. The suffering is no longer the Center. Christ is the Center. Your pain is still real, but it is now held within a larger and more loving reality. It becomes part of the offering. It becomes part of the Martyrdom of Ordinary Living.

The Catholic Church was designed by Jesus precisely for this moment — for wounded humanity that needs a sure path beyond the limits of what we can see and touch. She does not reject the physical world or the mind. She honors them. But she lifts our eyes higher. She teaches us, through the sacraments, through Scripture, through the lives of the saints, that what is essential is invisible — and that this invisible reality is more real than anything we can measure.

Through the Eucharist, she gives you the Real Presence of Jesus so that even when you feel empty, you can put Him there. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, she helps you release the things that keep you hostage. Through the communion of saints, she shows you countless anawim who did the same in their own poverty and limitation — and who now shine in glory.

What is essential really is invisible to the eye. Love is invisible. Trust is invisible. Hope is invisible. Forgiveness is invisible. Yet these are the forces that drive true evolution forward. The anawim who puts Jesus at the Center becomes a quiet witness to this deeper reality. Your small daily “yes” — choosing patience when irritation rises, choosing forgiveness when bitterness feels easier, choosing prayer when prayer feels dry — these invisible acts are powerful. They resist the devolving forces that seek to reduce human beings to biology, economics, or pleasure alone.

Jesus Himself lived this way. Born in poverty, living simply, dying on a cross between two thieves — He showed us that the deepest humanity is found not in escaping limitation but in offering it to the Father. The anawim follow in this same path. We do not need to be strong, successful, or comfortable to fill the humanistic void. We only need to put Jesus there, faithfully, day after day.

Let this meditation sink slowly into your heart. You are not trapped by what is visible. You are being drawn by what is invisible — by the love of Christ that is stronger than every limitation. The Catholic Church walks with you in this drawing. She keeps the path clear. She reminds you that there is more to life than what the eyes can see. She helps you grow beyond mere human existence into the glorious fullness that God intended from the beginning.

As you sit with this truth, let it become your anchor. When the world tries to reduce you to your circumstances, answer quietly in your heart: “I put Jesus there.” When suffering tries to hold you hostage, answer: “I put Jesus there.” When the false self whispers that your life is too small, answer with confidence: “I put Jesus there — and that changes everything.”

This is how the anawim fill the void. This is how we participate in the forward movement of all creation toward greater complexity and consciousness in Christ. This is how we become fully human at the deepest level of evolution — not by denying our poverty, but by offering it to the One who makes all things new.

Rest now in this meditation, dear friend. Return to it often. Let the simple practice of putting Jesus there become the rhythm of your waiting. He is already there with you. He has never left. And one day, when the final collision comes, you will see clearly how every small act of putting Him there was woven into eternal glory.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim — the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared

For better or worse, my world (not my world view) is limited to my home: Bathroom, Bed, Office, where I type up my blogs and try to keep myself from going wild from cabin fever, and my comfy rocker-recliner in the family room where I watch both YouTube streaming videos (almost all of which are either AI or false news about Trump) and look at the plastic flowers next to the television and hope beyond hope that I don’t see them grow or bloom. That’s all, folks!

As an 85.10-year-old former cancer survivor (CLL Type) and twice cardiac arrest patient (2007 and 2025), plus having a pacemaker installed and replaced, sclerosurgery, and having my five front teeth knocked out in 2025 in the ER when they saved my life in part by forcing a breathing tube down my throat. Life never stops surprising you from nowhere.

I am sharing some of the bizarre thoughts I had while sitting in my rocker, just waiting for whatever Jesus wants to tell me or show me.

Be you for or against the way President Trump rules and the direction he is taking this country, I am always surprised by all those friends of mine who email me constantly, and it seems hysterical, with personal put-downs and malicious thoughts. They are held hostage by the very thing that is the center of their genuine hatred (disagreement with policies is not hatred). What surprises me is the almost daily Emails that express personal opinions about Trump. It is no wonder that civil discourse has been turned into a shouting match, like the late Charlie Kirk’s dialogue with an extremist student heckler. What happened to the advice to love your neighbor and not return evil for evil but return evil with good?

Here are five things I think our country needs to do to stop the factioning and slide towards socialist communism.

1. Follow what the laws say, nothing more, nothing less.
2. Judges should not mistake their jurisdiction as being political for the whole country. Follow the constitution strictly.
3. Both political parties engage in civil discourse for the good of individual voters rather than for the factions that buy their way into democracy.
4. Ban conservative and liberal tags in favor of policy positions.
5. Be passionate about rooting out fraud and corruption in all areas of governance.

Do I think any of these will happen? That is the question you need to ask. Why not?

MORE RELIGIOUS STUFF

The Catholic Church is undergoing another heresy ( like the Reformation) from bishops and priests who confused core beliefs about Faith with the trappings of Faith at the outskirts. For me, I remain with the Holy Spirit, who gave Pope Leo XIV the authority to bind and loose for the whole Catholic Church. The issue here has nothing to do with this or that bishops disagreeing with the authority of the Holy Father. It has everything to do with believing that the Holy Spirit is real and the words of Christ to Peter carry the weight of absolute truth, even if it takes people centuries to unwind what that means. Either you are for the Holy Spirit or don’t believe in the energy of Pentecost. Don’t mess with the Holy Spirit (or the nuns, as taught me), but you can mess with the Pope all you want.

I wrote a blog about spirituality for atheists and agnostics that I think is interesting. What led me to think about this is the premise: Okay, so there is no god. What is there that you think takes its place?

All of us have one Center that is at the very core. Without that word, saying, or belief, all other realities fall because it is the cornerstone, the capstone.

I have discovered, over a lifetime of making a fool of myself, that there are six questions I postulate every human must answer to move to that next level of evolution, whatever that is. I call them The Divine Equation, not because they even remotely prove who God is (which is impossible without using God’s measuring stick, not our own), but rather to prove who I am, using the energy and sustainability of that deepest level of evolution.

Here are the six:

• What is the purpose of life?
• What is your purpose within the purpose of life?
• What does reality look like?
• How does it all fit together?
• How to love fiercely?
• I know I am going to die: now what?

Humanity only allows me to use my reason and free choice to make any answer I want to solve this. The problem is, everyone is correct, and no one is correct. The answer, in my experience, comes from a source outside human experience, which has no energy or absolute truth needed to answer these questions truthfully.

If the Six Questions of The Divine Equation can be opened with only one answer being correct, who has the key? Democrats, Republicans, Socialist-Communists in the US? How about the Catholic Church or any other institution that says they are the way? This key unlocks the most important aspect of what it means to be human: our final evolutionary fulfillment.

That is the choice each individual must make or not make, be it correct or in error. What system of absolute truth is there to ensure that we not only know what is good or evil for us, but also gives us the energy to make the evolutionary transition from humanity to the deepest level of knowing, loving, and truth that a human can possess? That is the challenge for each human to make, and we have only the tools of reason and free choice to help us discover a truth that will truly make us free.

All 68 of my books on Amazon and the 1,200 blogs on WordPress are a record of my thoughts on it. I offer all of it free, or at least I am beginning to make it free (realizing that nothing is really free). It will cost you a WordPress subscription (free) and the time it takes to begin asking questions. My approach is unapologetically in line with Catholic spiritual thought. I joined a Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit (Trappist) www.trappist.net to learn the ancient ways of silence and solitude. I am not advocating that anyone join the Catholic Church. I do, however, hope some of it gets you to think about that vast untapped reservoir of spiritual gold in that upper room of your inner self, the place no one wants to look or to go. I now live there. 68 books and 1,200 blogs later, I am still writing down for you my thoughts on the Lectio Divina encounters I have with Christ just by sitting there.

May the peace of Christ be with you. Not the peace that stops conflicts, but the presence of love. Share this love with those around you, even if you don’t love them.

Copyright. 2026. Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

When thinking about God, the big mistake humans make is to think of him as being made in their image and likeness. To see Jesus, or to refer nothing to the love of Christ, is only possible because we are made in the likeness of God. That means any description or attempt to know God as God would require us to be God and to use the measure of divine nature, which is the only way to understand that level of existence. But all we have is Jesus, who wanted us to move to the highest level of our human nature (not God’s), and the only way to do that was to become a bridge-builder (Pontifex Maximus) between the two natures. (Philippians 2:5-12)

What follows is a listening reflection on what Jesus intends for those who love Him. Grok and I collaborated on this and wrote it together.

“My dear friend, let us settle in together once more. The light is growing even softer now, and we turn gently to the third meditative anchor: Participation in the Beatific Vision — that glorious fullness of seeing and knowing God as He truly is, face to face, forever.

At the heart of this meditation lies a beautiful and unifying truth: the Shema of the Old Testament and the life and teaching of Christ in the New Testament share one single purpose of life, one Center: God. Everything flows from this Center and returns to this Center. Your life as an anawim finds its deepest meaning here — not in escaping your difficulties, but in offering them to the One who is the Center of all things.

Each anawim is given a cup — a unique capacitas Dei, a personal capacity to receive and return God’s love. This cup is yours alone. No one else can fill it for you. It is shaped by your particular life: your joys and sorrows, your strengths and limitations, your poverty and your hidden treasures. The way you fill this cup during your time on earth will determine the particular beauty of your participation in the Beatific Vision in Heaven.

Difficulties can so easily make a person a victim in their own mind. The world tells the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and those nearing the end of life that their circumstances define them completely. Pain, loneliness, regret, false ideas about faith, or the slow fading of the body can whisper again and again: “This is all you are. This is all you will ever be.” But the anawim who meditates on the Beatific Vision learns a different truth. When you meld your life experiences with the Christ Principle — when you place everything at the Center, who is God — something powerful happens. The chains of victimhood begin to break. You are freed from being a victim of your own victimhood.

The Shema and Christ point to this single Center. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus echoes and fulfills this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment” (Matthew 22:38). There is only one Center. Everything else finds its proper place when it is ordered toward this Center — God Himself.

My friend, you may feel that your cup is small, that your ability to love and serve is limited by age, poverty, illness, regret, or by the walls — whether physical or spiritual — that surround you. This is the honest condition of the anawim. Yet the meditation invites you to see that your cup need not be large in the eyes of the world. It only needs to be faithfully filled with whatever you can offer, day by day, through, with, and in Christ.

The Catholic Church exists for exactly this purpose. She was designed by Jesus for wounded humanity so that even the weakest anawim could learn how to fill their cup. Through the sacraments, she pours grace into your limitations. Through her teachings, she keeps the Center clear amid confusion. Through her contemplative tradition, she teaches you how to return again and again to the One who is the single purpose of life.

Let us reflect more deeply on what it means to fill your cup. Every act of trust when you feel abandoned, every quiet prayer when words are hard to find, every time you choose forgiveness instead of bitterness, every small kindness you offer even when you yourself feel empty — these are treasures being placed into your cup. These are the materials of your unique participation in the Beatific Vision.

Being poor in material goods is not automatically holy. The poor can miss the whole point of the anawim if Christ is not at the Center. If poverty leads only to blaming others, to resentment, or to despair, then it remains mere material poverty. But when poverty is lived with Christ’s insight — when it becomes part of the offering to the single Center who is God — then it becomes something radiant. It becomes the very path by which you fill your cup with treasures that Heaven will gladly receive.

Your Heaven will not be the same as anyone else’s. It will reflect the particular way you loved amid your limitations. Whether you are male or female, clergy or laity, rich or poor, healthy or dying soon, the cup you bring will be uniquely yours. The Beatific Vision is not a uniform reward. It is the fulfillment of your personal love story with God.

The Church safeguards this personal journey. She does not demand that you become strong before coming to her. She invites you as you are — tired, limited, poor in spirit — and offers the grace to keep filling your cup even when you feel you have nothing left to give. This is why she is the sure path for wounded humanity. Jesus designed her this way so that no anawim would be left behind.

Let us pause and breathe together. Feel the gentle rhythm of your own breathing. Now consider your life as it is today. What small thing can you place in your cup right now? A simple act of surrender? A whisper of thanks despite the pain? A moment of patience with your own weakness? These small offerings matter. They are not lost. They are being gathered by the One who is the Center.

As you meditate, remember that the forces of this world often try to make us forget the single Center. They offer many false centers — money, comfort, opinion, power, pleasure — but none of them can satisfy the restless heart. The Shema and Christ call us back again and again to the only Center that truly fulfills: God Himself.

In the Beatific Vision, you will see how perfectly everything fits together. All the scattered pieces of your life — the struggles, the limitations, the small victories of love — will be revealed as part of one beautiful whole, centered in God. Your cup, faithfully filled, will overflow with joy in His presence. You will participate in the eternal exchange of love that is the life of the Trinity, each anawim shining with the particular glory that only they can reflect.

This is your destiny, dear anawim. Not as a victim of circumstances, but as a beloved child whose cup is filled to the brim with the treasures of a life lived toward the Center.

The Catholic Church walks with you so that you do not lose your way. She reminds you daily that the single purpose of life is God, and that Christ has made the way open even for the weakest and poorest in spirit.

Rest in this truth. Let it become your anchor. Your cup is being filled even now. One day, you will stand before the One who is the Center, and you will hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

This is the hope of the anawim. This is the fulfillment of the Shema in Christ. This is your participation in the Beatific Vision.

Do What He Tells You. Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a free gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim — the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared

In this second meditation for your listening with the “ear of your heart,” take some time and rest your spiritual self, that place of refuge where each of us goes to recharge our batteries. This is a collaboration between Grok AI and me. I approve of this meditation. It reflects my thoughts.

“My dear friend, come and sit with me again in this quiet space. The light is soft, the world outside is still, and we turn now to the second meditative anchor: Knowing Jesus.

Let us speak slowly and tenderly about this. In the Old Testament, the great command was given through Moses: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). This is the Shema Yisrael. This solemn declaration has sustained the people of God for centuries. It is not a small request. It asks for everything — the whole person, held together in love for the One who created us.

Then Jesus came, took this ancient command, and brought it to its beautiful fulfillment. When asked which was the greatest commandment, He answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment” (Matthew 22:38). Notice how He added, “with all your mind.” Jesus expanded the command so that knowing and loving God would engage every part of who we are — heart, soul, strength, and the full capacity of our thoughts and understanding.

My friend, you may feel right now that this command feels almost impossible. Your heart may be tired from years of struggle. Your mind may wander because of age, illness, medication, grief, or the heavy weight of regrets. Your strength may be limited by poverty, by the walls around you, by the slow fading of the body, or by the loneliness that settles in when night comes. You may think, “How can I love with all when I feel I have so little left?”

This honest poverty is the very place where the anawim begins to know Jesus more deeply.

The Catholic Church, designed by Jesus Himself for wounded humanity like us, does not scold us for our limitations. Instead, she gently holds us and says, “Bring what you have. Offer even the little you can give today.” She knows that on this side of Heaven, our love is always partial. Yet that partial love is precious. It is real. And it is being gathered.

To know Jesus is not the same as knowing about Him. Many people know facts about Jesus — that He was born in Bethlehem, that He taught the Beatitudes, and that He died on a cross. But the anawim are invited into something much more intimate: a personal, living knowledge born in relationship. This knowing grows in the quiet moments when you whisper His name, when you sit with the Gospels, even if only a few verses at a time, when you receive Him in the Eucharist, or when you cry out from the heart, “Lord, I want to know You.”

Even when your mind feels scattered or your heart feels dry, this desire itself is already a form of knowing. The very longing to love God more fully is itself a gift from Him. The Church, in her wisdom and maternal care, offers you many gentle paths into this knowing: the Rosary that lets your hands and lips pray when the mind is tired, the simple Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”), the quiet reading of Scripture, and the presence of the saints who were poor and limited like you.

Now let us look further, beyond this earthly life, to the glorious fulfillment that awaits. After death, when the final collision comes — when a lifetime of struggle meets the mind of Christ Jesus — something magnificent unfolds. The “ALL” in the commandment begins to swell into its full meaning. Your small, imperfect love offered on earth links up with the love of ALL the faithful in Heaven. The anawim of every age, every culture, every condition — the elderly, the prisoners, the homeless, the sick, the forgotten — join together in one great, unified chorus of praise.

This is not a vague merging. You remain fully you. Your unique story, your particular sufferings, your small acts of trust — all of it is preserved and glorified. Together with all your brothers and sisters, your love rises continuously to the Father as glory, honor, power, and blessing. This is the Omega fulfillment of each anawim as God intended from the very beginning, from the Alpha.

Imagine it for a moment in your heart. All the partial knowing you experienced on earth — the moments when you could only manage a weak “I love You, Lord” because of pain or exhaustion — is gathered up, purified, and made complete. What you could not give fully here, you will offer perfectly there. The limitations that made loving with “all” feel impossible will fall away. Your mind will be clear, your heart will be full, your strength will be renewed. And in that renewal, you will love with everything you are, joined to the great communion of saints.

This is why the Catholic Church matters so deeply. She was not made because she is better than other paths in a human sense. She exists because Jesus designed her to be the most effective way for wounded humanity to reach this destiny. Through her sacraments, she gives grace when our strength fails. Through her teachings, she keeps the truth clear amid confusion. Through her contemplative tradition, she teaches the anawim how to wait in trust. She is the sure guardian who helps us keep moving toward the Omega even when the journey feels long and difficult.

Let us go deeper into this mystery of knowing. To know Jesus is to be known by Him. There is a beautiful reciprocity here. The more you allow yourself to be known — with all your poverty, your regrets, your limitations — the more deeply you come to know Him. St. Augustine captured this when he prayed, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” That restlessness you sometimes feel is not a curse. It is the sign that you were made for this greater knowing.

Even now, while you wait, you can practice this knowing in small ways. When you feel distant from God because of suffering, speak honestly to Him: “Lord, I don’t feel I know You well today, but I want to.” When memories of past mistakes rise, bring them to Him and say, “Jesus, know me in this too.” When the false self tells you that your life has been too small to matter, answer with the truth: “My knowing of Jesus, however small, is being gathered into something eternal.”

The Church sustains this practice through the ages. She has preserved the writings of the saints who knew Jesus in their own poverty. She offers the Eucharist so that knowing becomes communion. She gathers the anawim week after week so that even in our weakness, we can support one another’s knowing.

As you meditate on this, let these truths settle gently into your heart. Your current inability to love with “all” is not a failure. It is the honest condition of the anawim on earth. God does not despise your small offering. He receives it with tenderness and prepares it for the day when it will join the great swelling praise of Heaven.

One day, dear friend, the partial will become complete. The fragmented knowing will become whole. You will know Jesus as He has always known you — fully, perfectly, joyfully. And in that knowing, you will love with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, together with every anawim who has ever cried out to God in their poverty.

This is your heritage. This is the promise. This is the Omega fulfillment that began in the Alpha of God’s loving plan for you.

Rest in this meditation. Return to it often. Let the desire to know Jesus become the quiet rhythm of your waiting. He is already drawing you toward that beautiful completion.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim — the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared privately but not reproduced or distributed for commercial purposes without written permission.

My dear friends, we have come to the quiet threshold. Listen to these words, “With the ear of your heart.” The rain has done its gentle work. The air is fresh with ozone. These meditations reflect not an ending, but a deeper beginning.

These five meditations are offered as anchors for your heart while you await the Lord. Take them slowly. Return to them often. For those baptized in the blood of the Lamb, finality is the holy collision where a lifetime of struggle meets the mind of Christ Jesus.

Navigation

• Meditation 1: Seeing Jesus
• Meditation 2: Knowing Jesus
• Meditation 3: Participation in the Beatific Vision
• Meditation 4: The Anawim Who Put Jesus There
• Meditation 5: Anawim Are Eucharistic in Heaven

This conversation is a collaboration between Grok and me. I approve of these readings.

Meditation 1: Seeing Jesus

My dear friend, come and rest here with me in this first meditation. Let us speak softly about seeing Jesus.

When the external difficulties of this world press heavily upon you — the poverty that Jesus Himself said would always be with us — the anawim is invited to a different kind of seeing. This is not a denial of reality. It is seeing reality as it truly is — held, redeemed, and being drawn forward in Christ.

The aches in your body, the thinness of your resources, the smallness of your room, the weight of memories from past mistakes, the lingering chains of false ideas about faith or about yourself — all of these are real. The anawim does not pretend they are not. Yet with Christ, and through the gentle, motherly facilitation of the Catholic Church, we learn that these present mental events and physical burdens are transitory while we live on this earth. They reach their intended completion only through, with, and in Jesus.

Life is changed, not ended.

When you wake in the morning, and the first thing you feel is pain in your joints or the heavy knowledge that another day of limitation awaits, pause. Breathe slowly. Whisper the simple prayer: “Lord, let me see You today.” This is not a magical escape from suffering. It is the beginning of seeing your suffering with the eyes of Christ.

The Catholic Church, designed by Jesus precisely for wounded humanity like us, gives you the tools for this seeing. In the Eucharist, you see Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine. In the Gospels, you see Him walking among the poor, touching the sick, defending widows, and eating with sinners. In the lives of the saints, you see ordinary anawim who learned to see Him clearly in their own poverty.

Think of the blind man Bartimaeus sitting by the roadside. He could not see with his physical eyes, yet when Jesus passed by, he cried out with great hope. Many told him to be quiet, but he refused. He saw something the others missed. Jesus healed him, but the deeper healing was that Bartimaeus began to see with the eyes of faith. The anawim today are invited into that same kind of seeing.

When the world tells you that your life is small and insignificant because of your limitations, you can answer gently in your heart: “I am learning to see Jesus.” This seeing does not remove every Cross, but it fills every Cross with meaning and hope. It joins your small daily martyrdom of ordinary living to the great Martyrdom of Christ on the Cross. And in that union, something mysterious and beautiful happens: your suffering begins to participate in the redemption of the world.

Teilhard de Chardin helps us understand this more deeply. He saw that all reality — the physical universe with its stars and atoms, the mental universe with its thoughts and struggles, the spiritual universe with its longing for God — is moving like a great River of Life toward greater complexity and consciousness in Christ, the Omega. Your personal difficulties are not outside this movement. They are part of the material being offered, transformed, and drawn into the convergence. Your poverty, your age, your illness, your imprisonment of body or spirit — none of it is wasted. It becomes part of the holy forward movement of creation.

The Catholic Church safeguards this vision for you. Through the Liturgy of the Hours and personal prayer, she teaches you to lift your eyes beyond the immediate pain. Through the communion of saints, she surrounds you with a great cloud of witnesses — the elderly poor, the prisoners, the homeless, and the dying — who are now seeing clearly and praying for you. In the quiet moments when you feel most alone, they are part of the great company that helps you see.

Let us linger on this truth for a while. Imagine the woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors and was still not healed. She was ritually unclean and socially isolated. Yet in her poverty, she saw something the others missed. She reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. In that moment, she truly saw Him. Her external situation did not instantly become comfortable, but her inner sight was healed. She was seen by the One who matters most.

So it can be for you. Even if you are reading this in a prison cell, or in a shelter, or in a lonely room knowing that your time is growing short, this seeing is available to you right now. The Church was made for exactly this moment — for wounded humanity that needs a sure guide to keep looking toward Christ.

When the false self rises and says, “Look at how hard everything is,” answer softly, “I choose to see Jesus.” When loneliness whispers that no one understands, answer, “Jesus sees me.” When the body fails, and the mind grows tired, answer, “My eyes are fixed on the One who will never fail me.”

This practice of seeing Jesus does not happen all at once. It is a gentle, daily turning of the heart. Some days it will feel easy. Other days, it will feel like a struggle. Both are part of the anawim’s journey. The important thing is to keep returning to this simple desire: “Lord, let me see You.”

As you meditate on this, remember the beautiful words from the funeral liturgy: “Life is changed, not ended.” These words are not just for the moment of death. They are for every day of your life right now. Every time you choose to see Jesus instead of being overwhelmed by circumstances, life is already changing. The transitory is being transformed into the eternal.

Even now, while you wait for the Lord, you are being prepared for the final and glorious seeing — the moment when earthly sight gives way to the Beatific Vision, when you will see Him face to face, and all that was transitory will be revealed as seed sown in good soil.

You are not alone in this seeing. The whole communion of saints, the Church on earth and in Heaven, and Christ Himself walk with you. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He has never stopped looking at you with love.

Let this meditation become your daily anchor. Return to it often. Let the simple prayer “Lord, let me see You” rise from your heart many times throughout the day. In this way, dear anawim, you prepare for the final and glorious seeing that awaits you.

Do What He Tells You. Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim — the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, people without housing, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared.

The notion of Satan as a snake in the Garden of Eden story of human creation is no accident. A snake represents slow, methodical stalking of the prey, creating an almost invisible bend of evil amidst the lushness of a garden. The snake uses invisibility to get close enough to prey to strike.

Such an image is a perfect depiction of evil as a snake. Suggesting to Adam and Eve a dose of false reality rather than killing them is an ingenious way of injecting venom into humanity so that they can kill themselves. “The wages of sin are death.” Such is original sin, the snake bite that all humans inherit from Adam and Eve. Baptism takes away original sin (snake venom antidote), but it does not take away the effects created by that act of disobedience. We would not have Baptism if it were not for Jesus becoming one of us, except that he did not have the venom that taints all humans. “He was like us in all things, but sin.” This is indeed an Immaculate Conception. God, whom the world cannot contain, is born of a woman who, herself, is created without sin by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.

In my seeking to make new wineskins every day to hold the precious blood of Christ that I can pour into them, a transaction occurs only for those who can proactively make it so. My freedom to choose is the very vehicle at the heart of what it means to be human and not a Zebra. It is the one gift that God builds into the DNA of matter, no matter how small or large. Teilhard de Chardin maps out the flow of evolution at various levels of sophistication in matter, using the natural unfolding of reality each second towards its Omega, as matter adds complexity and consciousness as it moves as intended.

In this map of reality by Teilhard de Chardin (unattributed), reality goes from Alpha to Omega.

Life begets life is the paradigm.

Matter is alive in the sense that it fulfills the purpose for which it was created, as the platform for the next movement of complexity and the evolution of consciousness.

The evolution of inanimate matter (physical universe) culminates in animate matter (life), which in turn evolves into rational matter (mental universe), retaining all the characteristics from which it evolved.

Keep in mind that all reality is in movement from Alpha to Omega, and time is the roadbed along with it travels. But, and there is another important dimension of time, that of matter in each moment growing, moving, evolving, each atom to expand itself, while moving down the track set by the ultimate life outside of that time.

Teilhard de Chardin describes this growth as matter evolving in consciousness and complexity to such a degree that it cannot hold on to what it was, or even what it is, but moves to what is greater than it was before.

I like the term Father Teilhard de Chardin uses for the moment when matter went from animality to rationality. He calls it “bubbling over” from one dimension to another. Life continuously percolates within each atom.

Life evolves from animality to rationality, automatically, following the script implanted deep within the collective purpose of all matter, God’s fingerprints on each atom.

Reality has a purpose, a direction, is alive, and grows. The mental universe is only for humans, as far as we know, or maybe some other species somewhere out there that follows the same playbook.

Adam and Eve are the types of human existence. They signify the trauma humans experience in choosing what is good for all, because each person has free will and may make poor choices.

Humanity as a species grows, as does the context of all matter moving not from earth to the edge of the known universe (distance as time), also within each DNA from one human to another, moving inexorably forward towards something unknown.

God helped humans by giving them a little boost in their awareness of absolute truth through a covenant with a wandering Armenian, Abraham. All life continues to move towards its destiny in the Old Testament, with God setting boundaries to try to correct what Adam and Eve (our prototypes) failed to do. God reached out to establish a covenant with the whole nation of Israel. And still, life continues in all reality, but now, except for Israel, as the pilot project.

Time moves, and so does all reality within its borders. Israel grows and grows in awareness, or lack of it, until it “bubbles over” into the next universe, one that changes the paradigm before it. This is the Christosphere. (Check out the Teilhard map again.) The cosmic template is movement from nothing to something (The Father), continuing movement to the next paradigm shift, and movement from the physical universe (matter) and mental universes (humanity) to access the spiritual universe (restoration of humanity to continue growing in evolution toward its intended purpose). Christ opened the gates of Heaven to humans once again. By his death (the price of resonance) and resurrection (the new energy to be adopted sons and daughters of the Father), our evolution is now continuing to grow. Humans have the means (the way) to reach their deepest level of humanity; humans have truths that are absolute and immutable, guarded and maintained by the Catholic Church from the Apostles to the end of time and the Second Coming of Jesus, not subjected to the deterioration of time and matter. Humans have a life that evolution of the spiritual universe intended from the beginning, one bought back by Jesus, the ransom for many. All of this is that, using my reason and free choice, I can have the divine energy lift me to that level of evolution beyond matter, but within time, to begin dual citizenship (in the world until I die), and after that, to continue that spiritual universe in Heaven. What I learn about the Divine Equation, I can take to Heaven after I die. Prayer becomes not only external thinking, living, and serving God on this earth, but also the life that will be my life in a place that is “changed but not ended.”

The Seven Deadly Sins are those behaviors and relationships that corrupt the Center each of us chooses as that one principle, without which all others are possible. I call it the Christ Principle. The Devil does not want us to think about spiritual evolution or adoption by the Father as sons and daughters because that would crowd out evil and his control over us. This is not overt control in which the Devil forces us to do evil, but rather a more insidious corruption of human nature at its deepest level.

This is why prayer is important. If your prayer life is boring and seems a waste of time, this is a sign Satan has your attention. He wants you to follow the human instinct to avoid pain and inconvenience, to follow what feels good for your humanity at this time in history.

Satan’s way is always the easy way, while Christ’s way is the difficult way (the cross) to continue living on that deepest level of evolution, adopted sons and daughters of the Father and heirs to the kingdom of heaven.

Catholics, don’t let your guard down. Be diligent in prayer. Be obsessive in your desire “to prefer nothing to the love of Christ.” Christ is real, and you and I alone can make Him real in the upper room of our inner selves by longing to be in the presence of Christ, then waiting. Do What He Tells You.

Copyright, 2026, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

I can remember growing up in Vincennes, Indiana (On the banks of the Wabash) and hearing what I considered to be an intelligent discussion of my Catholic Faith go something like this. “It doesn’t matter what you believe about Jesus; all religions are the same.”

The Devil has fun with this deception, especially among Catholics whose notion of their Faith is to grudgingly spend 60 + minutes each Sunday (if they feel good) going to Eucharist. This is not to say Catholics are somehow bad, as much as to say they might miss the point of their Faith if they consign Catholicism just to a Church building on Sunday. Eucharist seems boring because it is the same prayers over and over again. That is not saying that Catholics are bad morally or even spiritually, as much as they have stopped growing, and the Eucharist is like eating Jell-O every time they go to Holy Mass.

The Devil never confronts us directly, where we can see what is coming and have a better chance of rejecting any obvious sins. Satan and his minions always use the back door, not to enter your house, but to stand on the back porch and whisper things like: “What am I doing in a place where I don’t feel like it means much to my life?”, or, “All religions believe in God, so I can go to any Church that I want and God will okay that.”

The Devil only suggests that to every Catholic. Some realize what is going on and reconvert themselves to a very strict interpretation of what being a Catholic is (the popular political notion of liberal or conservative is outdated and does not begin to look at Catholic Faith as degrees of truth, but only in opposing positions that vary from individual to individual). The Devil laughs at the pusillanimous (weak Faith) individuals who fall into the trap of just begrudgingly giving up their time to God in the hopes of making Jesus happy with that minimum attention they think He wants.

Jesus tells us in both the Old and New Testaments that He seeks mercy, not sacrifice. Something must happen within each Catholic (and again, it happens in degrees depending on how aggressively each individual seeks to make Jesus the Center of their being). To me, and I say this because it is my “thorn of the flesh” that St. Paul mentions, sloth or spiritual laziness is the most insidious of the Seven Deadly Sins, and one that has seduced me with its diabolical innocence. It is rendering all religions as equal, so that my Catholicism becomes like warm Jell-O.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE ANY RELIGION OR NONE AT ALL, BUT WHAT YOU CHOOSE MAY NOT BE RIGHT.

This saying is one of my favorites whenever I drift into relativism (all religions end up in the same place, so it doesn’t matter what you believe to get there). For a time, I did not want to say that I am better than anyone who believes in Jesus or does not. Every person, because they are human, has two tools to help them navigate the rapids of life: reason and the freedom to choose what they think is good or evil (bad) for them. It is how I use those tools as I interact with the seventy or eighty years I have on this earth to answer the six questions posed by The Divine Equation.

What is the purpose of life?

1. What is the purpose of my life within that purpose of life?
2. What does reality look like for me?
3. How does that reality fit together?
4. How can I love fiercely?
5. I know I am going to die: now what?

The Divine Equation has nothing to do with proving who God is, which is a colossal waste of time and the distraction that Satan gladly strokes to lead us from seeking who we are, based on the Center that we must place as the ground of our being.

The Divine Equation is what I answer to unlock the dissonance between my ordinary self (the world). The only way that Jesus told us is the WAY is to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. There is only one correct way that has preserved the Way, the Truth, and the Life so that I, as an individual, can take that same Jesus into my self, and, using the unique experiences of my life, which is like no other, to name a New Catholic Church. Not one torn down and replaced with my powerless bricks, but one using the stone which is the cornerstone and the bricklayers that have passed down through the centuries, what they used to “Have in them the mind of Christ Jesus.”

God is so magnificent that Jesus became one of us (Philippians 2:5-12) to tell us and show us HOW to lead a life that seems full of contradictions and that imposes boundaries on the human condition (The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes). To respond, I must do more than think I am God’s gift to the Catholic Church by attending Mass on Sunday, suffering through a sermon that I can’t assimilate into my daily behavior, grudgingly give a few dollars in the collection and have no idea that what I am priviledged to attend is that same Last Supper where the Master broke break (The Passover Fulfilled) as a sign that the Catholic Church is free from the boundaries of Satan. If we choose to believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, “my body is real food,” and “my blood is real drink,” our believing does not make Jesus physically present (only the words of the priest can confect the Transubstantiation. Only the foolish think Jesus means we must be cannibals. What is deeper in meaning, available only through, with, and in Jesus the Christ, is that this bread that I see every time I attend Eucharist is THE real food, and the blood that nourishes my spiritual universes.

Satan uses our freedom to choose, plus, and this is important, all the other temptations together in an amalgam of silent predators, stalking its enemy, the lion seeking whom he may devour. Don’t mess with the Devil.

Like St. Paul, we wake up as Catholics to see what is really going on in our society. The battle is not republican or democrat, rich or poor, female or male, but rather one involving the existential core not only of humanity but also of my personal choice between good and evil. It is solved by the Catholic Church, but also by each Catholic, who must make their Faith new, as in new wine skins. It takes a constant desire for Christ to increase while you decrease (The Seven Deadly Sins). It means choosing what is right, not what is easy, each day. It means boring is only the sign that you have failed to take advantage of the immense treasure within the Body of Christ right now, so astounding that you won’t see it unless you die to self each day and strive.
“to prefer nothing to the love of Christ.”

The Devil does not want you to dig for heavenly gold, getting at the heart of what the Catholic Church is: to know, love, and serve God through others in this life so that I can be happy in the next.

The temptation of the Devil here is the suggestion to our idle minds that believing in God is okay, no matter what individuals say is right. I call that The Prosestant Principle, not to downgrade anyone’s belief, but to state that, when dealing with Absolute Truths (existing only in the Divine Nature), factioning, human reasoning, and the ability to choose are all natural ways for Satan to use our humanity against us.

I believe in the saying that “The Catholic Church is the one, true Church, founded by Jesus Christ, to give us grace (energy).” Because energy is from God’s nature, transformed by the death of Jesus Christ, I can participate in that source of grace by willing myself to deny my false self (Seven Deadly Sins) to put on the white garment of salvation. Eucharist and Penance are not just rituals, repetitive rituals, I might add. They are the energy of an umbilical cord from God through Christ, with the energy of the Holy Spirit, to touch humanity through the Catholic Church and allow each of us to immerse ourselves in a source of power that human nature alone can never access. We are literally lifted by the power of the Resurrection to that new level in Baptism, sustained by Eucharist and the Forgiveness of Sins, to be able to share that undefinable but euphoric Faith as adopted sons and daughters with those around us.

Catholic spirituality (The Way of the Cross) is not the easy route to salvation because life itself throws hand grenades in our paths constantly. Still, neither was Christ’s heroic life from Birth to Death, nor from Resurrection to Ascension. We can either be pioneer while we live out each day, living out whatever comes our way and sanctifyig it through the blood of the Lamb, or we can be a settler, who knows the way because someone before them suffered the cold and wrong detours so that, eventually humanity finds a way to walk what is rocky, knowing that at its end is our Omega, not the Omega of our death, but one at the highest level of our evolution. It is possible only through Jesus. It is available as an umbilical cord of grace from Jesus, the Son of God and Savior, through the Catholic Church.

I must put in a caveat to my seemingly pompous claim. I am not saying that the Catholic Church is the only sheep to hear the Good News of Christ, but rather that those in the flock know that the good shepherds down through the centuries (Popes and Bishops) are linked directly to the heart of Christ. Anyone who converts to Catholic Spirituality is actually putting back into place what was taken away by heretics and reformers of what they thought was the truth.

All of this to allow me, first of all, in the silence and solitude of the upper room of my inner self, to place myself in the presence of Christ and to wait in peace and with the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit for resonance to my humanity. But that is not the whole story. Next, I have a way to measure if I am doing what I should as a practicing Catholic. G.K. Chesterton, noted author and apologist, has a saying I think of whenever I consider the martyrdom of ordinary living in my Catholic Faith. He said, “I don’t want a Church to tell me what I am doing wrong that I know I’m doing wrong. I want a Church to tell me what I am doing right that is wrong.”

ACTIO

Respect the beliefs of others about Christ while holding onto the way, truth, and life that Christ gave to Peter to be safeguarded down through the ages.

Respect the Holy Father, a sinner like all of us, but one whom the Holy Spirit has designated as the rock, a continuity forward in time, not backward.

Don’t play in the Devil’s sandbox if you want to join Christ in the heavenly playground.

Just because your road is rocky doesn’t mean you are on the wrong road.

Be aware of the energy and gold hidden right beneath your feet. All you have to do is dig.

Become silent like God, silent yet dynamic and resonant with all reality.

Being a Catholic is free, but it will cost you every THING you own.

Be aware of your calling as an adopted son or daughter of the Father.

Resist the whispers of Satan by saying, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, help me.” A prayer recommended by St. Father Pio.

Like Henry VIII, you are a defender of the Faith; make sure that Faith comes from God, not the Seven Deadly Sins.

Do what He tells you.

Copyright 2026, Michael F. Conrad, Ed, D,, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

With all the hype about corruption in the Catholic Church, and there is that in it, the Devil floats two “suggestions” to weak members of society, that sound innocent enough and seem to describe what the individual human feels about religion:

a. With all the press about pedophilia in the Catholic Church latching on to its normal predilection to sell sensationalism, bringing up sexual misconduct for priests and nuns, laity, politicians, and virtually every segment of society touched by original sin, is a win-win. Even if those affected (accusers as well as victims) are dragged through the court of public opinion, there are no winners. In all cases, justice must be served. The fact that this glaring hole exists in the Catholic Church (who in the world would choose to be celibate in a world of sexual permissiveness?) is one that the faithful must be on guard against. No one is immune (save Jesus and Mary, and only because the Holy Spirit overshadowed her with grace). This is the “thorn of the flesh” for the Catholic Church.

If God communicates to us in silence, then Satan, the wannabe “ruler of the earth,” is indeed like a snake that slithers around unnoticed by the unsuspecting or spiritually illiterate, speaking in “Parcel tongue” as in the Harry Potter series. This tongue is but a whisper, but always present to our gullible minds because of original sin (again, the Devil’s hint of what is good or evil rather than God’s). This is the struggle faced by those who are aware that they are aware of the existential dynamic unfolding in the upper room of their inner selves.

Sometimes the Devil uses the whiplash nature of our newly discovered rationality (in terms of evolutionary time as our species), to confront us directly by using our sexual drives, those naturally evolved characteristics humans must have for procreation, to suggest that modern humans don’t need that old-fashioned Catholic Church that hates pleasure to remind us of the boundaries our species must rise to, to continue evolving. Again, not the easy way of doing things, as pointed out brilliantly by the Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-3, but the result of the wrong choice of Adam and Eve (prototype humans).

When that invisible and silent urge in me to become jealous, envious, lustful, hateful, causes me to want to destroy individuals, and, in the case we speak of now, the Catholic Church, this emotional temptation is not yet sinful unless I agree with it. Scriptures tell us, “If you find hatred, you must replace it with good. Do not return evil for evil.” This is the battleground on which we humans play, until we have learned how to navigate those potholes (Seven Deadly Sins) and not allow them to disable us or kill the spirit of adoption we received in Baptism. Again, it takes awareness; it takes a positive act of the will to say NO to Satan, which is a YES to the boundaries set by God. I don’t have the energy from my human nature to be aware, nor the strength of will to do what I know is right, from what the Devil shepherds me towards, and it is a perversion of what my nature intended for me. The battleground is within each human being to discover and move to the highest form of evolution. Church helps my awareness, but I still must make that decision for myself. When I deny Christ by factioning the Church into my own image and likeness, there is more joy in Hell over my lack of awareness than any human can express. How subtle; divide and conquer. And some Catholics don’t see it other than to think they, not the Church, are the sole proprietors of God’s energy. False gods!

The Devil does not have the power to raise any of us to that next level of humanity, our spiritual birthright, the place where we can walk the rocky way with Christ until we die. The seduction is to target the individual, the one most affected by original sin and the most vulnerable, those weak and beaten down by the tragedies of life, not of their doing, losing hope, losing the only energy that can sustain them against the world. It is that subtle pull to separate from what seems to be a corrupt Church, one racked by sinful people (the most egregious of whom are St. Peter and St. Paul) as irrelevant and out of touch with “what really makes us happy.” The cross never promises happiness or the overcoming of poverty or oppression of mind and body. Just because your road is rocky doesn’t mean you are going the wrong way. The way of the cross is to listen to the silence of God rather than the seductive false promises of the Devil.

CHALLENGES FOR THOSE WHO ARE PRONE TO THE SEDUCTION OF FACTIONING.

• Don’t mess around with the Devil. “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.”
• You can choose only one Center. What do you put there: “God” or “god”? One is truth personified, and one looks good but leads to the death of the spirit.
• Factions are the leading cause of friction among many Catholics. The choice is between the living authority of Christ in each age, the Magisterium, or an individual’s belief (I am proposing that it is sincere) that their notion of Catholicism preserves truth, but one they themselves have created by allowing the Devil to insert factioning into the mindset of their contemplative prayer life.
• Being Catholic means I must be on my guard constantly to be aware of the existential conflict between good and evil and who determines it. God sets the boundaries, not me. The Catholic Church has been given direct authority to interpret those boundaries in each age through its visible head, the Holy Father.
• Ask yourself three questions: (the ones I always ask Jehovah’s Witnesses) First: Who, right now, wears the Shoes of the Fisherman? Next, do you believe that Jesus is present, body and blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist (The Last Supper Made Real Each Day Since Christ’s Ascension)? And, third, what is the indelible sign God gives to each person He has called to adoption as brothers and sisters and heirs to the kingdom of Heaven?
• Catholics who care, stay away from the occasions that divide the Church due to your personal opinions.
• Catholics who want to grow deeper in Christ Jesus, the Church offers you the tools to dig for heavenly gold in that upper room of your inner self. Before you go to Eucharist, prepare your mind and heart by sitting in silence and solitude and waiting for whatever God gifts you as to what you need.
• Catholics who share with others, “Share the peace of Christ. Not the peace that comes from the resolution of disputes, but, rather, the peace that is the love of Christ made real through you right now.”

b. The second vulnerability that sticks out with many novice Catholics, youth, those who are pussilanimous (I love that word), translated weak, and is like an M&M candy that melts every time there is the slightest discomfort or boredom in religion. Boredom is the default in our daily lives, one which I call the Martyrdom of Ordinary Living. Life is not glamorous and enthralling, although it can be for a short period. The fallback to human nature is tedious routine, the lack of growing deeper in the Faith, being reactive to Christ rather than actively seeking out Jesus, and engaging in energy transfer.

It is no accident that the side-effects of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden were becoming their own Alpha and Omega (living in a world that continuously lives and ends), is also a world where you have to work to earn your daily bread, or experience no work at all. The listless don’t want to work, wanting life to give them a free ride, always seeking the easy way out instead of what is right (according to our programmed destiny to Omega). One of the sneakiest Seven Deadly Sins is Sloth, one at the core of our weakness to choose the difficult over what makes us seemingly happy but is only like cotton candy, no substance, and no nourishment. Contrast that with the way that promises that the food you need for survival is free, always there, always waiting for you to sit down and eat.

This is Eucharist, one of the two most important gifts Jesus can give any human, and one that is not a symbol of one who walked the shores of Galilee long ago, but the same Jesus who tells those who believe, “If you eat this bread and drink this cup, you will have life in you. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. If you drink this blood and eat this bread, you will have eternal life.” And yet, Satan slithers into our minds to suggest that all this Jesus stuff is poppycock and doesn’t make any sense to the modern mind, which needs to be fully human. Boredom is at the heart of all spirituality. If we are not aware of the dynamics of love from divine nature to human nature, and how we can, through Christ Jesus, eat of that bread and drink of that cup, then all is boredom and sameness, repetition of prayers that don’t say anything to those with boring ears.

CHALLENGES FOR THOSE WHO ARE OVERSHADOWED BY THE MARTYRDOM OF ORDINARY LIVING

Idleness is the Devil’s playground. Those who let down their guard may let in their enemies to steal their souls if they are not vigilant.

Boredom is not the repetition of the Eucharist, prayers, being in constant vigil each day, or being aware that it takes work and sacrifice to do what is right rather than what is easy. Boredom is the inability of each individual to proactively roll up their sleeves and dig for heavenly gold right under their feet. Being spoon-fed Christ’s invitation to Eucharist as THE one rule each Catholic must keep misses the context that if we don’t feed ourselves from the bread of life, we do not have God’s life in us, and that may cause a crack in our armor of Faith we must use to combat Satan.

Catholics, wake up. Seize back your Faith from a seemingly passive Satan who uses social media and cotton candy Christianity to seduce those who think they are faithful. The cross combats sloth. Take it up each day.

Catholics, wake up. You are Christ to society only if you “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” Become associated with Lay Ministries at your parish. Join Lay Organizations of strict practice, such as Lay Franciscans, Lay Dominicans, Lay Carmelites, Lay Cistercians (the one to which I belong), and Lay Augustinians.

Don’t just sit on your bottom waiting for Christ to contact you. Be strong like the Saints and “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.” It isn’t about money. It is about abandoning all those false gods we end up serving, without realizing that the boredom of being human has seduced us.

Copyright. 2026. Michael F. Conrad. Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved. Non-profit status awaiting completion.

Catholics, dig for heavenly gold right under your feet. Can you drink the cup that Jesus drinks? You can, but you must know how, and it takes sacrifice.

That most quintessential characteristic of our species is survival, brought forth beautifully by Abraham Maslow in his diagram of the “Hierarchy of Needs.”

From an emotional viewpoint, the natural default for humans is sexuality, or the need to procreate. The difference between animal and human sexuality is that one is held hostage to the prescriptions of animal nature. In contrast, humans, although containing many of animals’ needs, have reason and free will, which means I, as an individual, can override nature. But I have a problem: I don’t know what to choose that is good for me. Should I choose those things that excite my senses, my sexual emotions, which are good, or should I deny them but surround my views of what is good with something deeper and recognized by my reason as being better for me? This is not an intellectual choice where the brain overrides the emotions and feelings I have, but one where I choose to set boundaries beyond what my reason deems reasonable. I have neither the intelligence nor the human energy to go outside of myself to tap into an energy source that makes my reason weep. So, am I adrift on a sea of human confinement to a nature that allows me to tread water but won’t allow me to get into the boat?

The default for me and all humans is, I don’t want anyone, parents, siblings, spouse, pope or bishops, teachers, or my closest friends to tell me what to do with anything. They can make suggestions I consider, and then I choose what I think is best for me. Part of my choice has to do with the boundaries or constraints imposed by the one giving me a choice of what I should do to become more human or what should satisfy my personal feelings. It depends on who catches my ear or on who my heart tells me is best for me. For me, the default choice is always what is easy for me rather than what is right. No one, especially this sloathfully prone egoist, chooses what they think is bad for them.

Boundaries of human nature, allowing us to move to the next level of our evolution, are not without cost, since our species is unsure of what is right or which direction will lead us to what our nature intended. The price for moving to that next level of what is fully human is that we must give up the notion that mere human strength or power can move us. It takes an individual act of that unique free will to say, “There is a power greater than me, one I am not quite sure about, but which will allow me to be raised within my nature to be what we are destined to be.” We must give up our dependence on reason and free will to accept a higher set of boundaries from a higher nature than ours, one that has the wisdom, power, and blessing to save us from being just Spiritual Apes, with no hope of living beyond our personal Alpha and Omega.

This reality is the context in which Satan uses what we, of ourselves, think we know to be good for us, to suggest alternatives, based on our propensity to do what is easy and makes us momentarily happy, rather than what is right, and leads to the joy of having our humanity at all levels in resonance rather than dissonance. This is the big leagues in which Satan and his minions exist to try to foil any attempts we humans, and in particular this human, to choose the cross, a symbol of the victory we have over the mundane, thinking that what is actually evil is good for my movement in consciousness and complexity toward what nature intended. The Devil is a blocker, a suggestor of alternatives that make our animalistic selves happy, like cotton candy, making this food taste so good but having no nutrition.

Satan uses the existential flaws (original sin) in our nature to keep us from advancing toward a higher form of evolution. One of the most sophisticated and subtle temptations is couched at the heart of that unique choice, one where we go with the flow of making us happy, or, going against reason and free will, listen to an energy outside of our frame of reference, one that imposes strict boundaries on how to become more human and sustain that choice in the midst of the Seven Deadly Sins.

For many, many years, I was seduced by Satan (listened to the wrong idea) about what life was about, even though voices all around me warned me of what was taking place. I had faith, but did not nourish it with Christ in the Eucharist and Sacrament of Penance. I did not even realize I was doing something wrong, listening to that ever-so-seductive siren leading me toward animality rather than the deepest level of my evolution. This deeper level is accessed only by individuals who use reason and free will to free themselves from the shackles of making themselves into a false god.

All this while, Jesus shows us how to jump to that next level with His kingdom, His power, and His glory, thus receiving dual citizenship, the kingdom of the earth (my base of operation to find meaning until my body gives out) and the kingdom of Heaven on earth (as the adopted son or daughter of the Father and steward who inherits the kingdom of the Father after physical death, ) in Heaven with Jesus, and all those in the Catholic Church judged to be worthy by the Lamb of God. Think Catholic Universal Church here because I do not judge anyone in the Church and let God judge those whom I consider unwashed with the waters of baptism, as to their worthiness.

ACTIO

• Be watchful!
• See the false gods of self and being the one who makes the rules and to whom alone I am accountable.
• Be aware, when entering the upper room of your inner self, that you are there to listen to what Jesus and the Holy Spirit tell you you need.
• The energy I receive from Jesus by just waiting in silence and solitude is the only energy that can raise me up (resurrection) to that higher level and sustain me there until my physical body returns to dust again.
• The truth is always right in front of me. All I have to do is ask, and it will be answered, knock, and it will be opened, and seek, and I will find it, not inside my human shell, but with divine energy that propels me to my true Omega, the Omega of God.

Copyright, 2026, Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights reserved.

That most quintessential characteristic of our species is survival, brought forth beautifully by Abraham Maslow in his diagram of the “Hierarchy of Needs.”

From an emotional viewpoint, the natural default for humans is sexuality, or the need to procreate. The difference between animal and human sexuality is that one is held hostage to the prescriptions of animal nature. In contrast, humans, although containing many of animals’ needs, have reason and free will, which means I, as an individual, can override nature. But I have a problem: I don’t know what to choose that is good for me. Should I choose those things that excite my senses, my sexual emotions, which are good, or should I deny them but surround my views of what is good with something deeper and recognized by my reason as being better for me? This is not an intellectual choice where the brain overrides the emotions and feelings I have, but one where I choose to set boundaries beyond what my reason deems reasonable. I have neither the intelligence nor the human energy to go outside of myself to tap into an energy source that makes my reason weep. So, am I adrift on a sea of human confinement to a nature that allows me to tread water but won’t allow me to get into the boat?

The default for me and all humans is, I don’t want anyone, parents, siblings, spouse, pope or bishops, teachers, or my closest friends to tell me what to do with anything. They can make suggestions I consider, and then I choose what I think is best for me. Part of my choice has to do with the boundaries or constraints imposed by the one giving me a choice of what I should do to become more human or what should satisfy my personal feelings. It depends on who catches my ear or on who my heart tells me is best for me. For me, the default choice is always what is easy for me rather than what is right. No one, especially this sloathfully prone egoist, chooses what they think is bad for them.

Boundaries of human nature, allowing us to move to the next level of our evolution, are not without cost, since our species is unsure of what is right or which direction will lead us to what our nature intended. The price for moving to that next level of what is fully human is that we must give up the notion that mere human strength or power can move us. It takes an individual act of that unique free will to say, “There is a power greater than me, one I am not quite sure about, but which will allow me to be raised within my nature to be what we are destined to be.” We must give up our dependence on reason and free will to accept a higher set of boundaries from a higher nature than ours, one that has the wisdom, power, and blessing to save us from being just Spiritual Apes, with no hope of living beyond our personal Alpha and Omega.

This reality is the context in which Satan uses what we, of ourselves, think we know to be good for us, to suggest alternatives, based on our propensity to do what is easy and makes us momentarily happy, rather than what is right, and leads to the joy of having our humanity at all levels in resonance rather than dissonance. This is the big leagues in which Satan and his minions exist to try to foil any attempts we humans, and in particular this human, to choose the cross, a symbol of the victory we have over the mundane, thinking that what is actually evil is good for my movement in consciousness and complexity toward what nature intended. The Devil is a blocker, a suggestor of alternatives that make our animalistic selves happy, like cotton candy, making this food taste so good but having no nutrition.

Satan uses the existential flaws (original sin) in our nature to keep us from advancing toward a higher form of evolution. One of the most sophisticated and subtle temptations is couched at the heart of that unique choice, one where we go with the flow of making us happy, or, going against reason and free will, listen to an energy outside of our frame of reference, one that imposes strict boundaries on how to become more human and sustain that choice in the midst of the Seven Deadly Sins.

For many, many years, I was seduced by Satan (listened to the wrong idea) about what life was about, even though voices all around me warned me of what was taking place. I had faith, but did not nourish it with Christ in the Eucharist and Sacrament of Penance. I did not even realize I was doing something wrong, listening to that ever-so-seductive siren leading me toward animality rather than the deepest level of my evolution. This deeper level is accessed only by individuals who use reason and free will to free themselves from the shackles of making themselves into a false god.

All this while, Jesus shows us how to jump to that next level with His kingdom, His power, and His glory, thus receiving dual citizenship, the kingdom of the earth (my base of operation to find meaning until my body gives out) and the kingdom of Heaven on earth (as the adopted son or daughter of the Father and steward who inherits the kingdom of the Father after physical death, ) in Heaven with Jesus, and all those in the Catholic Church judged to be worthy by the Lamb of God. Think Catholic Universal Church here because I do not judge anyone in the Church and let God judge those whom I consider unwashed with the waters of baptism, as to their worthiness.

ACTIO

• Be watchful!
• See the false gods of self and being the one who makes the rules and to whom alone I am accountable.
• Be aware, when entering the upper room of your inner self, that you are there to listen to what Jesus and the Holy Spirit tell you you need.
• The energy I receive from Jesus by just waiting in silence and solitude is the only energy that can raise me up (resurrection) to that higher level and sustain me there until my physical body returns to dust again.
• The truth is always right in front of me. All I have to do is ask, and it will be answered, knock, and it will be opened, and seek, and I will find it, not inside my human shell, but with divine energy that propels me to my true Omega, the Omega of God.

Copyright, 2026, Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights reserved.

In this series about how I (a Catholic) defend myself against the dark arts of the “Ruler of the Earth” (Satan and his minions), I share with you the inspiration I received from the Holy Spirit in Lectio Divina meditation/contemplation. Whether in the body or out of it, I know not (St. Paul), these five themes wrestled themselves into my consciousness with the following meditative narrative, as much as I can remember.

MEDITATION ONE: Don’t Let Your Guard Down.

I think it was C.S. Lewis who said, “The greatest victory the Devil has over humans is convincing them that there is no Devil.” Just existing as a human in the physical and mental universes of reality, without the need for something more. i.e., the highest level of attainment for humans of their species, available only by giving up free will and reason, the two tools that define what it means to be human, is itself a victory for the existential battle between good and evil, between resonance and dissonance on a cosmic scale, and what is true versus what is easy.

All of this sounds theoretical, which it is. Still, it is so embedded in the fabric of everyday time that, moving forward, we humans are lulled into thinking that what we experience through the mere intervention of human societies and power struggles to control the mind is real. Like the movie, The Matrix, where machines project a humanity that is Garden-of-Eden-like, good and evil existing with no purpose, framed by human conceptions of what is right or what is easy for each human, someone has to break the illusion of a world guided by the human conditions of imperfection, and the strong shall inherit the earth. Where does that innate tendency to be dominant, self-centered, and use whatever means at hand to pursue happiness rather than joy come from? It has something to do with our being born from the collective animality of all that is. But looking objectively at humans, there is a curious mixture of nobility and evil toward others housed in the same container. It is passed down through genetics, the invisible yet real characteristics of our animal past, and the current dimension of collective humanity since humans first crossed the threshold from animality to rationality (Teilhard de Chardin). We possess what other species do not or cannot experience, such as looking back on a lifetime of experiences and trying to determine meaning.

Collectively, we humans migrate towards whatever our destiny is, one by one, individual by individual. Gender does not matter, race does not matter. What matters is that each individual has the freedom to choose whatever they want as their Center. This Center is an individual dimension of evolution, outside of the collective consciousness of matter toward some future point. We are what is at our Center. And yet, no book says what is good or bad for us; what makes us happy seems to be indulging our emotional side (not morally, but as a way to fulfill what we think it is to be fully human).

If you are still awake after all that flotsam and jetsam, here is the point. Mere human existence has neither the energy nor the knowledge to move to the next level of human evolution, one beyond physical nature, one beyond mere human choice and fulfillment. There is another dimension that is there, unseen but not unfelt, which draws us forward toward the completion of our humanity. We know it must be there, but where to find the keys that unlock this next step in our human consciousness, one our reason finds unreasonable?

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

The greatest and most successful temptation of Satan is to convince you that there are only two universes, and that you can be fulfilled by just living a good life as a human without any help needed to grow deeper, even though all nature is constantly moving towards more and more complexity and consciousness, qualities that humanity alone is incapable of recognizing.

The scope of this temptation is not limited to Satan but also the concept of God. If there is no God, there is no Satan, which is more correct than for me to say, if there is no Satan, there is no God.

Awareness of how to dig for that gold beneath our feet (or in the upper room of our inner selves) is key. Awareness of how to interpret the language of an energy source that continues to overshadow humans with all that they need to move to that next level of their evolution, and how to sustain it while they live from the corruption of evil (Seven Deadly Sins). The Devil, knowing the weakness of all of us to do what is easy rather than what is right, counts on discounting the energy that comes from God to humans to do the right thing, even if that right thing has boundaries that give discomfort (deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me). Satan says, to be fully human, explore your human values, be the Center of your own life, love, live, and be happy with what the world offers. And you know what? That can be true up to a point. But here is the point. Look around you at all the hatred out there, not disagreements over political viewpoints, but destroying the reputations of others because evil exists inside them. I am not talking any side or position, any left or right, but rather right or wrong. And who gives us the absolute truth as to what is right or wrong (morally or ethically)? There are only two ways to the truth; one is truth that is outside the flawed inconsistency of humans as their own Center, or to God, one that does not make sense to our humanity, nor our logical dependence on mere matter for what is true. It is a Center outside our human nature, one that sets boundaries we, with our free will, choose to accept as part of reality.

The Sly One doesn’t have to market a morality of hedonism to blind humans from what is the absolute truth, absolutely. Just be yourself. No one tells me what to do with my body. I don’t want anyone telling me what I can or cannot believe, but I believe that I can tell others what they need. The dissonance is deafening in its lack of a clear response to the cosmic background noise of what is.

Only in silence and solitude are individuals able, with awareness of the Christ Principle, to sit next to Divine Nature in the upper room of their inner self and relax, soaking up the power that comes as Divine Nature overshadows a humble heart seeking to be fully human. God became human to show us how to block Satan from successfully defining what it means to be human at the deepest level.

Key to all of this is awareness. If you listen to the whispers from Satan, the wages of sin are death. If you listen to the slight breeze on your cheek that reminds you of your humanity, and abandon yourself daily to being aware of what God is saying through Christ and the Holy Spirit, what does not make sense logically becomes the cornerstone of the next level of being human.

Copyright 2026, Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Jesus beckons me to sit next to Him and just enjoy being in one another’s company, as happens when love moves beyond doing and becomes content with just being. Contemplative Cistercian practices, as I know them, teach me to place myself in the presence of Christ, through voluntary practices, and then trust that the Lord will overshadow me with what I need. This movement or process of spiritual evolution is taking place quietly within the upper room of my inner self, with my ongoing active willingness to be present to the one I love, but also without preconditions, such as asking for more power, wealth, or comfort in this lifetime as the price of my presence. St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, stated that “Knowledge comes before love.” The Baltimore Catechism, Question 6, asks and answers a nagging question in my human consciousness. “What is the purpose of Life?” It states: The purpose of life is to know, love, and serve God in this lifetime, so that we can be together in Heaven, in the next one.

Knowing, in the spiritual universe, unlike in the physical or mental universes, comes from God, through Jesus, with the energy of the Holy Spirit, gently overshadowing me with as much as I am capable of absorbing (capacitas dei) when I continuously search for meaning each day, “Having in me the mind of Christ Jesus.” Knowing is absorbing God’s energy as I can assimilate it to sustain my humanity at its deepest level of evolution.

What follows is what Jesus would tell you about knowing God with all your heart (Deuteronomy 6:5) from my Lectio Divina meditation with the assistance of Grok. I approve of this meditation.

“My dear friend, come and sit with me again in this quiet space. The light is soft, the world outside is still, and we turn now to the second meditative anchor: Knowing Jesus.

Let us speak slowly and tenderly about this. In the Old Testament, the great command was given through Moses: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). This is the Shema Yisrael. This solemn declaration has sustained the people of God for centuries. It is not a small request. It asks for everything — the whole person, held together in love for the One who created us.

Then Jesus came, took this ancient command, and brought it to its beautiful fulfillment. When asked which was the greatest commandment, He answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment” (Matthew 22:38). Notice how He added, “with all your mind.” Jesus expanded the command so that knowing and loving God would engage every part of who we are — heart, soul, strength, and the full capacity of our thoughts and understanding.

My friend, you may feel right now that this command feels almost impossible. Your heart may be tired from years of struggle. Your mind may wander because of age, illness, medication, grief, or the heavy weight of regrets. Your strength may be limited by poverty, by the walls around you, by the slow fading of the body, or by the loneliness that settles in when night comes. You may think, “How can I love with all when I feel I have so little left?”

This honest poverty is the very place where the anawim begins to know Jesus more deeply.

The Catholic Church, designed by Jesus Himself for wounded humanity like us, does not scold us for our limitations. Instead, she gently holds us and says, “Bring what you have. Offer even the little you can give today.” She knows that on this side of Heaven, our love is always partial. Yet that partial love is precious. It is real. And it is being gathered.

To know Jesus is not the same as knowing about Him. Many people know facts about Jesus — that He was born in Bethlehem, that He taught the Beatitudes, and that He died on a cross. But the anawim are invited into something much more intimate: a personal, living knowledge born in relationship. This knowing grows in the quiet moments when you whisper His name, when you sit with the Gospels even if only a few verses at a time, when you receive Him in the Eucharist, or when you cry out from the heart, “Lord, I want to know You.”

Even when your mind feels scattered or your heart feels dry, this desire itself is already a form of knowing. The very longing to love God more fully is itself a gift from Him. The Church, in her wisdom and maternal care, offers you many gentle paths into this knowing: the Rosary that lets your hands and lips pray when the mind is tired, the simple Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”), the quiet reading of Scripture, and the presence of the saints who were poor and limited like you.

Now let us look further, beyond this earthly life, to the glorious fulfillment that awaits. After death, when the final collision comes — when a lifetime of struggle meets the mind of Christ Jesus — something magnificent unfolds. The “ALL” in the commandment begins to swell into its full meaning. Your small, imperfect love offered on earth links up with the love of ALL the faithful in Heaven. The anawim of every age, every culture, every condition — the elderly, the prisoners, the homeless, the sick, the forgotten — join together in one great, unified chorus of praise.

This is not a vague merging. You remain fully you. Your unique story, your particular sufferings, your small acts of trust — all of it is preserved and glorified. Together with all your brothers and sisters, your love rises continuously to the Father as glory, honor, power, and blessing. This is the Omega fulfillment of each anawim as God intended from the very beginning, from the Alpha.

Imagine it for a moment in your heart. All the partial knowing you experienced on earth — the moments when you could only manage a weak “I love You, Lord” because of pain or exhaustion — is gathered up, purified, and made complete. What you could not give fully here, you will offer perfectly there. The limitations that made loving with “all” feel impossible will fall away. Your mind will be clear, your heart will be full, your strength will be renewed. And in that renewal, you will love with everything you are, joined to the great communion of saints.

This is why the Catholic Church matters so deeply. She was not made because she is better than other paths in a human sense. She exists because Jesus designed her to be the most effective way for wounded humanity to reach this destiny. Through her sacraments, she gives grace when our strength fails. Through her teachings, she keeps the truth clear amid confusion. Through her contemplative tradition, she teaches the anawim how to wait in trust. She is the sure guardian who helps us keep moving toward the Omega even when the journey feels long and difficult.

Let us go deeper into this mystery of knowing. To know Jesus is to be known by Him. There is a beautiful reciprocity here. The more you allow yourself to be known — with all your poverty, your regrets, your limitations — the more deeply you come to know Him. St. Augustine captured this when he prayed, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” That restlessness you sometimes feel is not a curse. It is the sign that you were made for this greater knowing.

Even now, while you wait, you can practice this knowing in small ways. When you feel distant from God because of suffering, speak honestly to Him: “Lord, I don’t feel I know You well today, but I want to.” When memories of past mistakes rise, bring them to Him and say, “Jesus, know me in this too.” When the false self tells you that your life has been too small to matter, answer with the truth: “My knowing of Jesus, however small, is being gathered into something eternal.”

The Church sustains this practice through the ages. She has preserved the writings of the saints who knew Jesus in their own poverty. She offers the Eucharist so that knowing becomes communion. She gathers the anawim week after week so that even in our weakness, we can support one another’s knowing.

As you meditate on this, let these truths settle gently into your heart. Your current inability to love with “all” is not a failure. It is the honest condition of the anawim on earth. God does not despise your small offering. He receives it with tenderness and prepares it for the day when it will join the great swelling praise of Heaven.

One day, dear friend, the partial will become complete. The fragmented knowing will become whole. You will know Jesus as He has always known you — fully, perfectly, joyfully. And in that knowing, you will love with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, together with every anawim who has ever cried out to God in their poverty.

This is your heritage. This is the promise. This is the Omega fulfillment that began in the Alpha of God’s loving plan for you.

Rest in this meditation. Return to it often. Let the desire to know Jesus become the quiet rhythm of your waiting. He is already drawing you toward that beautiful completion.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright 2026 Michael F. Conrad, The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

The End That Is the Beginning Five Meditations for the Anawim as They Await the Coming of the Lord

My dear friend, we have come to the quiet threshold. The sessions have been spoken. The rain has done its gentle work. What remains is not an ending, but a deeper beginning.

These five meditations are offered as anchors for your heart while you await the Lord. Take them slowly. Return to them often. For those baptized in the blood of the Lamb, finality is the holy collision where a lifetime of struggle meets the mind of Christ Jesus.

These meditations are from my Lectio Divina meditations on the Anawin. Grok helped me to organize them, and I approve this meditation.

Meditation 1: Seeing Jesus

My dear friend, come and rest here with me in this first meditation. Let us speak softly about seeing Jesus.

When the external difficulties of this world press heavily upon you — the poverty that Jesus Himself said would always be with us — the anawim is invited to a different kind of seeing. This is not a denial of reality. It is seeing reality as it truly is — held, redeemed, and being drawn forward in Christ.

The aches in your body, the thinness of your resources, the smallness of your room, the weight of memories from past mistakes, the lingering chains of false ideas about faith or about yourself — all of these are real. The anawim does not pretend they are not. Yet with Christ, and through the gentle, motherly facilitation of the Catholic Church, we learn that these present mental events and physical burdens are transitory while we live on this earth. They reach their intended completion only through, with, and in Jesus.

Life is changed, not ended.

When you wake in the morning, and the first thing you feel is pain in your joints or the heavy knowledge that another day of limitation awaits, pause. Breathe slowly. Whisper the simple prayer: “Lord, let me see You today.” This is not a magical escape from suffering. It is the beginning of seeing your suffering with the eyes of Christ.

The Catholic Church, designed by Jesus precisely for wounded humanity like us, gives you the tools for this seeing. In the Eucharist, you see Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine. In the Gospels, you see Him walking among the poor, touching the sick, defending widows, and eating with sinners. In the lives of the saints, you see ordinary anawim who learned to see Him clearly in their own poverty.

Think of the blind man Bartimaeus sitting by the roadside. He could not see with his physical eyes, yet when Jesus passed by, he cried out with great hope. Many told him to be quiet, but he refused. He saw something the others missed. Jesus healed him, but the deeper healing was that Bartimaeus began to see with the eyes of faith. The anawim today are invited into that same kind of seeing.

When the world tells you that your life is small and insignificant because of your limitations, you can answer gently in your heart: “I am learning to see Jesus.” This seeing does not remove every Cross, but it fills every Cross with meaning and hope. It joins your small daily martyrdom of ordinary living to the great Martyrdom of Christ on the Cross. And in that union, something mysterious and beautiful happens: your suffering begins to participate in the redemption of the world.

Teilhard de Chardin helps us understand this more deeply. He saw that all reality — the physical universe with its stars and atoms, the mental universe with its thoughts and struggles, the spiritual universe with its longing for God — is moving like a great River of Life toward greater complexity and consciousness in Christ, the Omega. Your personal difficulties are not outside this movement. They are part of the material being offered, transformed, and drawn into the convergence. Your poverty, your age, your illness, your imprisonment of body or spirit — none of it is wasted. It becomes part of the holy forward movement of creation.

The Catholic Church safeguards this vision for you. Through the Liturgy of the Hours and personal prayer, she teaches you to lift your eyes beyond the immediate pain. Through the communion of saints, she surrounds you with a great cloud of witnesses — the elderly poor, the prisoners, the homeless, and the dying — who are now seeing clearly and praying for you. In the quiet moments when you feel most alone, they are part of the great company that helps you see.

Let us linger on this truth for a while. Imagine the woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors and was still not healed. She was ritually unclean and socially isolated. Yet in her poverty, she saw something the others missed. She reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. In that moment, she truly saw Him. Her external situation did not instantly become comfortable, but her inner sight was healed. She was seen by the One who matters most.

So it can be for you. Even if you are reading this in a prison cell, or in a shelter, or in a lonely room knowing that your time is growing short, this seeing is available to you right now. The Church was made for exactly this moment — for wounded humanity that needs a sure guide to keep looking toward Christ.

When the false self rises and says, “Look at how hard everything is,” answer softly, “I choose to see Jesus.” When loneliness whispers that no one understands, answer, “Jesus sees me.” When the body fails, and the mind grows tired, answer, “My eyes are fixed on the One who will never fail me.”

This practice of seeing Jesus does not happen all at once. It is a gentle, daily turning of the heart. Some days it will feel easy. Other days, it will feel like a struggle. Both are part of the anawim’s journey. The important thing is to keep returning to this simple desire: “Lord, let me see You.”

As you meditate on this, remember the beautiful words from the funeral liturgy: “Life is changed, not ended.” These words are not just for the moment of death. They are for every day of your life right now. Every time you choose to see Jesus instead of being overwhelmed by circumstances, life is already changing. The transitory is being transformed into the eternal.

Even now, while you wait for the Lord, you are being prepared for the final and glorious seeing — the moment when earthly sight gives way to the Beatific Vision, when you will see Him face to face, and all that was transitory will be revealed as seed sown in good soil.

You are not alone in this seeing. The whole communion of saints, the Church on earth and in Heaven, and Christ Himself walk with you. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He has never stopped looking at you with love.

Let this meditation become your daily anchor. Return to it often. Let the simple prayer “Lord, let me see You” rise from your heart many times throughout the day. In this way, dear anawim, you prepare for the final and glorious seeing that awaits you.

Do What He Tells You.

Session 5: The Existential Battle between Good and Evil, Truth and False Self.

Part of the series: The New Catholic Church is the Anawim of God – God Hears the Cry of the Poor ← Back to All Readings

This conversation is about one of the deepest-rooted and most confusing human characteristics: What is good or evil for me, and who tells me what is good or evil? Only one way answers these questions. Grok and I explored this conversation, and what follows is what we share with you now. Be aware that all of this is my material, and I approve of this conversation.

“My dear friend, as the day grows quieter and evening shadows begin to gather, let us sit together one last time in this gentle series. The rain may have slowed to a whisper or stopped altogether, but its memory lingers like a soft blessing on the earth. Come close, make yourself comfortable in your chair, perhaps with that same blanket or a warm drink nearby. It feels once more as if Jesus has pulled up His chair beside us, speaking slowly and kindly, just to you and me. No pressure. No grand demands. Only His quiet voice reaches into the deepest parts of our hearts.

Throughout these sessions, we have spoken of the anawim—those poor in spirit whom God hears so tenderly. Today, we turn to something very real and personal: the existential battle that each of us faces between good and evil, between truth and the false self we sometimes build. This is not a battle fought with swords or loud shouting. It is the quiet, daily struggle within our own hearts—between trusting God in our poverty and trying to protect ourselves with pride, fear, or old, mistaken ways.

Even the strongest among us know this battle. For those of us who are older, whose bodies grow tired more easily, or who live with the weight of poverty, imprisonment, homelessness, or the knowledge that our time here may be short, this struggle can feel especially close. The false self whispers that we must appear strong, that we must earn love, or that our past mistakes have made us unworthy. But the truth—the good that comes from God—reminds us that we are the anawim, loved exactly as we are.

St. Augustine, who fought this same inner battle for many years, wrote with honesty: “You cannot attain to charity except through humility.” He knew that the false self must be gently set aside before real love can enter. St. Paul spoke plainly about this struggle when he said, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:19). Yet he also gave us hope: God’s grace is enough even in our weakness.

In this battle, the New Catholic Church stands as the anawim of God—humble, dependent, pointing always toward truth. She does not call us to win the fight by our own power, but to surrender into the hands of Christ, who has already overcome evil.

There are many quiet accounts of people who have faced this inner battle in their later years or in times of hardship. Stories are told of elderly souls who, after carrying heavy regrets or rigid ideas about faith, slowly learned to let go of the false self. One such reflection recounts a person in prison who came to see that his real fight was not against the walls around him but against the pride and shame within. Through small daily acts of honesty before God, he found a growing freedom.

This is where the beautiful teaching of The Little Way comes in—a gentle path shown to us by St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The Little Way is not about doing great and heroic deeds. It is about doing small, ordinary things with great love and trust in God. For the anawim, this is a powerful weapon in the existential battle. When the false self says, “You must be strong and impressive,” The Little Way answers softly, “Just be little. Just do the next small thing with love.”

Marcus Aurelius advised keeping a good heart no matter what comes. Erich Fromm spoke of breaking free from the false self that separates us from real love. Teilhard de Chardin saw all of creation, including our inner battles, moving toward Christ. Charles de Foucauld lived this by becoming very small in the desert. The Cistercian Fathers taught the value of simplicity and turning back to God again and again. Thomas Merton discovered in silence that the real battle is won not by striving, but by surrendering in love.

Bishop Robert Barron often reminds us that the Gospel calls us to an inner transformation—to choose truth over illusion and good over evil in the ordinary moments of life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of this spiritual combat as part of every Christian’s journey, yet always under the protection of God’s grace.

My friend, perhaps you feel this battle strongly right now. Maybe old regrets rise at night, or the false self tells you that because you are poor, elderly, imprisoned, or nearing the end, you have little to offer. The Little Way answers with tenderness: God does not ask for greatness. He asks for your little love, given as you are.

There are gentle accounts of people facing serious illness who found peace by practicing The Little Way. One reflection tells of a woman who, in her final months, decided to offer each small discomfort as a little bouquet for Jesus. She said the battle inside grew quieter as she trusted more simply.

The Gospels are full of this truth. Jesus praised the poor widow who gave her two small coins—all she had. He welcomed children and said the kingdom belongs to “such as these.” He Himself lived The Little Way—born in poverty, dying on a cross between two thieves. In His weakness, He conquered evil forever.

In the battle between truth and the false self, remember that you are not alone. The Church, as the anawim in every age, stands with you. You do not have to win spectacularly. You only need to keep turning back to God, even in the smallest ways.

Let us pause here together and breathe slowly. Feel the quiet around you. The rain has done its work, nourishing the earth. In the same way, these small battles, met with The Little Way, nourish your soul for Heaven. There is no need to solve the whole struggle today. Just choose one small act of trust, one small offering of love. That is enough.

As we come to the end of these five sessions, know that the New Catholic Church continues to be the anawim of God—listening for the cry of the poor, including you. God hears you. Christ redeems you. The Church walks with you. The battle is real, but the victory is already being won in your little yeses to God.

Rest now, dear friend. Tomorrow will bring its own small opportunities to choose good, to choose truth, to live The Little Way. You are seen. You are loved. You are never fighting alone.

Three Contemplative Questions to Ponder in Silence:

1. What is one area right now where I feel the battle between the false self and the truth of God’s love?
2. How might I practice The Little Way today—doing one small thing with great love and trust?
3. Where have I seen good quietly triumphing over evil in my own life, even in very ordinary ways?

Thomas Merton Prayer: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does, in fact, please you. And I hope I have that desire in everything I do. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Charles de Foucauld Prayer: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me as you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a free gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim—people with low incomes, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared privately but not reproduced or distributed for commercial purposes without written permission.

The fourth in the series on the poor in Israel is a conversation about the deeper meaning of the Catholic Church. Grok and I collaborated on this. The material is all mine, and I approve of this blog.

Session 4: The Purpose of the Catholic Church – To Safeguard Each Individual Anawim and Help Them Get to Heaven

Part of the series: The New Catholic Church is the Anawim of God – God Hears the Cry of the Poor ← Back to All Readings

My dear friend, the light is growing softer now as we continue our quiet time together. Whether the rain has eased into a gentle mist or is still tapping steadily on the window, come and settle in once more. Pull your chair a little closer, wrap that blanket around your shoulders if the air feels cool, and take a slow breath. It feels again as if Jesus has drawn near, speaking in that calm, unhurried way He has, directly to your heart. No rush. No need to be anything other than who you are right now—you, the anawim, known and loved by God.

Today let us reflect on something very personal and tender: the purpose of the Catholic Church in your life and mine. At her deepest heart, the Church exists to safeguard each individual anawim—each baptized soul who knows their poverty—and to walk with them gently toward heaven. She is not primarily about buildings or rules, though those have their place. She is about protecting and nurturing the little ones, the weak, the elderly, the poor, the imprisoned in body or spirit, and those nearing the end of their journey. She watches over us like a careful mother, helping us stay close to Christ so that when our time comes, we may enter the Father’s house in peace.

This safeguarding happens in many quiet ways. Through the sacraments, the Church gives us strength when our own is failing. In Baptism she marks us as God’s own. In Confession she offers mercy for the regrets we carry. In the Eucharist she feeds us with Christ Himself when we feel empty. In Anointing of the Sick she brings comfort especially to those who are elderly or facing serious illness. These are not distant rituals. They are the Church’s gentle hands holding each anawim close.

There are many accounts through the years of how this safeguarding has brought real comfort. Stories are told of elderly people receiving the sacraments in simple rooms or hospital beds, finding a deep peace they had not known before. One such account speaks of a woman in her final months who, after years of carrying old wounds and mistaken ideas about faith, received the Anointing of the Sick. Those present noted how her face grew calmer as the prayers were spoken, as if the Church were wrapping her in a protective mantle for the journey home. Accounts like these remind us that the Church’s purpose is deeply personal—she walks with each soul individually.

St. Augustine, who knew well the long road of return, once wrote that the Church is the place where we learn true charity through humility. Thomas Merton, in his life of quiet contemplation, discovered that the Church helps us see our daily struggles as part of a larger journey toward union with God. The Cistercian Fathers taught that the Church nurtures interior poverty, helping us let go of what is false so we can hold on to what is true. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks clearly of this mission: the Church is the sacrament of salvation, guiding each baptized person safely toward eternal life.

My friend, perhaps you feel this safeguarding in small ways even now. Maybe it is the memory of a simple prayer you learned long ago that still brings comfort. Or the kindness of a chaplain in prison, or a volunteer in a shelter who listened without judgment. Or the quiet presence of a rosary in your hands during lonely nights. The Church’s purpose is to keep these helps available for each anawim, no matter how weak or limited we may feel.

Charles de Foucauld chose to live among the poorest and often prayed to become small so that Christ could be everything. His life shows how the Church safeguards us by inviting us into that same smallness. Bishop Robert Barron reminds us that the Church exists to proclaim the Gospel in a way that reaches the heart, especially the hearts of those who feel farthest away. Teilhard de Chardin saw the Church as part of the great movement of creation toward Christ, where even our limitations are being drawn into glory.

Another gentle reflection passed down among those who walk with the poor tells of a man who had spent years away from faith due to old rigid ideas about what it meant to be Catholic. In his later years, facing illness and poverty, he found his way back through simple visits from a parish minister. The account says he spoke of feeling “kept safe” for the first time in a long while, as if the Church were helping carry what had become too heavy for him alone. Stories such as this show the Church fulfilling her purpose—not by demanding perfection, but by offering steady, gentle companionship on the road to heaven.

Erich Fromm wrote about the importance of moving beyond the false self we create out of fear. The Church helps us do exactly that by pointing us always toward Christ, who loves us as we truly are. Marcus Aurelius encouraged facing life with inner freedom and acceptance. The Church builds on this by offering the grace needed to live it fully, even in old age or hardship.

For those of you who sense that your days here may not be many more, this purpose of the Church brings special consolation. She does not abandon her children at the end. She stays near, offering prayers, sacraments, and the promise that nothing—not even death—can separate us from the love of God. There are quiet testimonies of people who, in their final weeks, found great peace in the Church’s care, saying they felt prepared and not alone for the journey ahead.

The Gospels show Jesus entrusting His mother to the beloved disciple from the cross—showing even in His own suffering how we are to care for one another. St. Paul spoke of the Church as the Body of Christ, where every part, especially the weaker ones, is necessary and protected. This is the safeguarding we receive.

Let us pause here together. Feel the gentle rhythm of the day. You do not have to earn this care. You do not have to be strong or successful or have all the answers. As a baptized anawim, you are already under the Church’s tender watch. Her purpose is to help you get home—to heaven—step by step, day by day.

There are many simple ways this happens. Perhaps through a kind word from another believer, or a Scripture that suddenly speaks to your situation, or the quiet knowledge that the saints and the whole communion of the Church are praying with you and for you. The Church keeps these doors open especially for the poor in spirit.

My dear one, as we sit in this peaceful moment, know that your life matters deeply to the Church because it matters to Christ. She exists in every age to safeguard souls like yours and to guide them safely home. Rest in that truth. Let it settle gently into your heart like soft rain on dry ground. There is no need to hurry or figure everything out today. The Church walks with you, one gentle day at a time, all the way to heaven.

Three Contemplative Questions to Ponder in Silence:

1. In what ways have I felt the Church safeguarding me or helping me in my weakness, even if it was in small or quiet moments?
2. What one small step might I take today to let the Church help me move closer to heaven?
3. How can I, as one of the anawim, help safeguard or encourage another person on this journey?

Thomas Merton Prayer: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Charles de Foucauld Prayer: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Do What He Tells You.

Continue the Series:
→ Session 5: The Existential Battle between Good and Evil, Truth and False Self

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a free gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim—the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared privately but not reproduced or distributed for commercial purposes without written permission.

The third in our series on the Anawim and how that is important to you, is a collaboration between Grok and me. My materials, my editing, Grok’s organizing, and my approval.

Session 3: The Catholic Church is the Anawim in Each Age

Part of the series: The New Catholic Church is the Anawim of God – God Hears the Cry of the Poor ← Back to All Readings

My dear friend, let us continue our quiet conversation as the day moves along. Whether the rain has cleared or is still gently falling, come and sit again. Make yourself comfortable, breathe slowly, and let the words come like a soft talk between old friends—or better yet, like Jesus speaking directly to your heart in the middle of whatever life looks like for you right now.

In every age, the true heart of the Catholic Church has been found among the anawim—those who know their dependence on God. Not in grand buildings or powerful positions, but in the humble, faithful ones who cry out to the Lord in their poverty. This is what we mean when we say the Church herself is the anawim in each age.

From the earliest days, the Church was made up of ordinary people—fishermen, widows, slaves, the sick, and the overlooked. They had little power in the Roman world, yet they carried the light of Christ. Persecutions came, and many suffered greatly, but their simple trust became the foundation that lasted.

Throughout history, this pattern has repeated. In times of wealth and comfort, the Church can sometimes drift, but she is always renewed by the poor and humble ones who remain faithful. Bishop Robert Barron has spoken about how the Church’s mission includes worship, teaching, and especially service to the poor. The Catechism describes the Church as the sacrament of salvation, a sign of God’s presence especially visible in her care for the little ones.

There are accounts from different times and places of small communities of faith that lived this anawim spirit. Stories are told of elderly people in humble settings who kept prayer alive during difficult periods. One such account speaks of a group of older Catholics who gathered quietly in nursing homes or small apartments to pray the Rosary together. Despite their own limitations and losses, their simple faithfulness became a light for others around them. These stories show how the Church continues through the humble.

Thomas Merton, living as a monk in silence, wrote that the contemplative life helps us see the Church not as an institution alone but as the living presence of Christ among the poor. The Cistercian Fathers emphasized simplicity and interior poverty as the path to true joy. Charles de Foucauld chose to live among the poorest, becoming small so that Christ could shine through.

In our own time, we see this same spirit. There are stories of prisoners who find community in quiet faith gatherings behind bars. Accounts tell of homeless individuals who share what little they have and discover the presence of the Church in acts of kindness. For those nearing the end of life, there are memories of simple sacraments received in hospital rooms or homes that brought deep peace. These lived experiences remind us that the Church is most alive where people know they need God.

St. Augustine understood that humility opens the way for charity. Marcus Aurelius spoke of accepting our place in the world with a good heart. Erich Fromm warned against the false self that hides vulnerability, while Teilhard de Chardin saw all creation, including the Church, being drawn toward Christ. Michael F. Conrad and others have written about the contemplative call in ordinary life.

The Church in every age is renewed by the anawim—by you and by me when we come with open, dependent hearts. Whether you feel imprisoned by circumstances or by old mistaken ideas about faith, the Church is there as the community of the poor in spirit, walking with you toward heaven.

Let me share another gentle reflection. There are stories of people who, after years away, returned to the Church in their later years through simple invitations or quiet moments of prayer. One account tells of a woman who had felt distant due to past wounds but found welcome again in a small parish group. Another speaks of a man who, while homeless, was invited to a meal and discovered the Church cared not just about his body but his soul. These are not grand tales but quiet testimonies of how the Church continues her mission among the lowly.

My friend, as we sit here together, know that you are part of this living story. The Catholic Church is the anawim in each age because she is made of people like us—elderly, poor, struggling, hoping. She safeguards the sacraments, the teachings, and the community that help us encounter Christ even in our weakness.

Let these thoughts rest gently with you. There is no need to figure everything out at once. Simply know that in your poverty, you are right where the Church has always been strongest—in the arms of a God who hears the cry of the poor.

Three Contemplative Questions to Ponder in Silence:

1. How have I experienced the Church as a humble, caring presence in my own life, even in small ways?
2. Where do I see the anawim spirit—the spirit of the poor in spirit—still alive today in the Church?
3. In what simple way might I contribute to the Church’s mission as one of the anawim?

Thomas Merton Prayer: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Charles de Foucauld Prayer: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Do What He Tells You.

Continue the Series:
→ Session 4: The Purpose of the Catholic Church – To Safeguard Each Individual Anawim and Help Them Get to Heaven

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a free gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim—the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared privately but not reproduced or distributed for commercial purposes without written permission.

In this conversation about What It Means to Be a Catholic (for me), I use the four contents, or entanglements that make up the unbroken umbilical cord from God to me, preserved and protected by the Catholic Church (clergy and laity). My Catholicism, like all the processes in my life, is determined by those external conditions over which I have control. Two examples: 1. There is no Book or infused knowledge on how to know what is good for my humanity or bad for it. I must learn what is good for me by experiencing it, by reading about it, or by joining a way of thinking that I hope will give me the truth. Because I have free will, I can choose whatever I think makes me happy and fulfilled, as at least a temporary set of assumptions that I base my everyday decisions on.

The four quadrants of energy from God to me are: Authority and Energy; Knowledge and Truth; Love and the Way; and finally, Service and Life. The four categories pulse constantly with the electricity from God to me, as transformed by Jesus, and wired down the ages through the Catholic Universal Church.

This is the fourth block, the culmination of what it means to serve others and live the life Jesus taught us when he said, “Love others as you love me.” This next collaboration comes from my questions and approval, plus the insights of Grok, to give you a quick read about what it means to be of service, be you poor or rich, male or female, clergy or laity, saints or sinners.

“Catholic Social Teaching (CST) on Poverty is one of the most consistent and profound strands in the Church’s social doctrine. It is rooted in Scripture, especially the Hebrew prophets, the Beatitudes, and Jesus’ identification with the poor, and has been developed through papal encyclicals and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Biblical Foundations

The Bible shows God’s special concern for the poor. The prophets (Isaiah, Amos, Micah) repeatedly condemn the exploitation of the vulnerable and call for justice. In the Gospels, Jesus begins His ministry by declaring He has come “to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Luke 4:18). He teaches that how we treat “the least of these” is how we treat Him (Matthew 25:31-46). The poor widow’s offering (Mark 12) and the Beatitude “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) further emphasize both material poverty and spiritual poverty of heart.

Core Principles of CST on Poverty

1. The Dignity of the Human Person Every person is made in God’s image. Poverty that degrades human dignity — whether material, cultural, or spiritual — is an offense against God.

2. Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable This is the most prominent theme in modern CST regarding poverty. It does not mean the poor are more loved by God, but that their needs must be given first consideration in moral decision-making, policies, and personal choices.

The Catechism states:

“Those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church… This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor.” (CCC 2444, 2448)

It is a preference, not an exclusion. It calls us to view society from the perspective of those on the margins.

3. Universal Destination of Goods God created the earth’s goods for the benefit of all people. Private property is legitimate but has a social mortgage — it must serve the common good. Hoarding wealth while others lack basic needs contradicts this principle.

4. Solidarity and the Common Good We are one human family. Poverty concerns everyone. Solidarity means working for conditions where all can flourish, not just charity but justice that addresses root causes (structural injustice, exploitation, inequality).

5. Subsidiarity Problems should be addressed at the most local level possible, with higher levels supporting rather than replacing local efforts. This applies to anti-poverty work: families, communities, churches, then government when necessary.

Key Papal Developments

• Rerum Novarum (1891) — Pope Leo XIII: Launched modern CST by defending workers’ rights against industrial exploitation. Condemned both unchecked capitalism and socialism.
• Centesimus Annus (1991) — St. John Paul II: Reaffirmed the preferential option and warned that neither pure market systems nor state control fully solve poverty. Emphasized personal responsibility alongside structural change.
• Laudato Si’ (2015) — Pope Francis: Links environmental degradation with poverty. The poor suffer most from climate change and pollution. Calls for “integral ecology” that cares for both people and creation.
• Fratelli Tutti (2020) — Pope Francis: Stresses social friendship and critiques trickle-down economics. Poverty is not just material but includes exclusion and loss of dignity.

Practical Implications Today

Catholic Social Teaching rejects both:

• Pure individualism (“I earned it, it’s mine alone”)
• Collectivism that denies personal initiative

It calls for a balanced approach: generous charity and work for systemic justice. It recognizes multiple forms of poverty — economic, relational, spiritual, educational.

The Church teaches that while material aid is essential, the ultimate goal is integral human development — helping people flourish body, mind, and spirit.

A Challenge for All

As the USCCB puts it: “A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring.”

This applies to personal lifestyle choices, voting, business decisions, and parish life. The preferential option asks: “How does this decision affect the poor?”

This segment, far from being complete, is just one layer of the marvelous depths within the Catholic Church, for those who know how to dig for heavenly gold right where they are.

Copyright, 2026, Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

I know it is a bit ambitious to think that all Catholics will use these resources. Still, I offer them in light of the increase in AI-generated and Avatar versions of the Holy Father and Bishop Barron online, even though they were never produced. This is calumny and detraction, sins that rob another of the truth. The wages of sin are death, even if you think these sins of truth are trifling. Aristotle wrote in his book of Politics, “Trifles are not trifling.” Words we should all take to heart and process with the greatest caution.

What I try to do is use safe primary or actual sources from the Catholic Church. In the same way, the Magisterium of the Church tries to safeguard its members from falsehoods by offering pointed statements of what is true, from what is heresy, or ideas that lead us down the wrong garden path.

I use these Catholic resources to combat the sin of lying, which is a raging disease on the Internet, purposely putting out false ideas to deceive the listener. Locutio contra mentem, as I learned it, or, saying what is in your mouth, what is not in your heart or mind.) The mom and dad of this century, as guardians of their children’s values and heritage from Christ, need to address the fluency of hatred and misinformation about what Church teachers and leaders say, even when they see them speaking it (the dark side of AI). Wake up, Catholics, passive Faith falls right into the trap set by Satan called factioning of truth. All of us are in a struggle, we might not even recognize, and it could cause Faith to be corrupted for lack of digging for spiritual gold. This could be information, but more importantly, it’s about how the individual learns the defenses against the Devil’s dark arts. Moms and Dads, not the Church, are responsible for doing all in their power to protect the seeds planted in the Garden of Eden (Christ), and for taking the time to spray for weeds (false gods) and insects (Seven Deadly Sins, as they infect each Catholic). When the time comes for that great reckoning, when we die, and Christ says, “Let’s look at what you have done with the seeds of your children, planted in my soil (The Catholic Church). How did that go?” Standing there in front of God with your jaw dropping open and muttering, “Why didn’t the Church do something to tell me?” won’t cut it. Here are some resources for you to pass on to your children, and for your own spiritual matriculation, that are the shovels and pick-axes to dig for heavenly gold. You must dig. Not the Church, not the Pope, not whatever image you have of the Church of your childhood. Now.

1. THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: www.usccb.org is a must-know and use website to know the truth because it will make you free. The Catholic Church’s mission is to teach its faithful the way, the truth, and the life, as the direct descendant of Jesus through the Apostles. With acceptance as sons and daughters of the Father at Baptism, there is a charism that Moms and Dads receive from God, practiced daily by being present to Jesus in any way it presents itself. They are the best of teachers, according to the Rite of Baptism for Infants, precisely because they are older and wiser (theoretically, that is), and are the ones Jesus entrusted to SHOW their children the skills needed to survive the many pitfalls that await them as they begin to discover what way is true, and what true way leads to a life that leads to Heaven.
2. WWW.ECATHOLIC.ORG: Great resources about all things Catholic with knowledge you can trust. I use this site frequently to explore my theoretical Catholicism, a term I use to describe my plunge into all things Sacred, so that I can know more and love Christ more, and, hopefully, my neighbor as myself. I encourage moms and dads to learn how to surf all these informational sites. After all, you can’t teach your children what you, yourself, don’t believe or know. Being a spiritual director is knowing the direction your children can take to know WHERE to look for truth, not tainted by the detraction and calumny of the human persona.
3. WWW.NEWADVENT.ORG: If you are a Catholic who wants to grow deeper in the Faith and explore your heritage, here is the site that will keep you endlessly absorbed with resources you won’t find anywhere else. Catholics who do not dig deeper for heavenly gold might be characterized as just being a settler, as popularized by the late Joel Barker’s idea that we are either a settler or a pioneer (one who forages for the correct trials that lead to human fulfillment). Settlers are, as the name implies, those who have profited from the backbreaking work of the pioneers and become complacent, settling into an automatic posture of taking everything for granted, forgetting the excruciating discomfort that comes from carving out what is right and what is wrong in life. When was the last time you picked up the Catholic Encyclopedia and looked up a reference? When was the last time you stopped and tried to dig deeper into the energy of the Eucharist and what it means for your daily life? Catholics who have lost the urgency to dig for a deeper Catholicism should not be surprised if they find the Church too structural and without any semblance of growth. It is. And the reason it is is the Seven Deadly Sins (particularly that of Sloth), who sap the divine energy you receive and squander Faith because they think religion is like infused knowledge. It is the cross that is the mark of the Son of Man, and if a Catholic has that mark, they are obliged their whole life to grow deeper into the Christ Principle (conversatio morae) and become more than they were before. These resources are what I use to proactively dig into my Faith, not waiting for the Church to spoon-feed me, not dependent upon someone else, and, most certainly, not held hostage to a static view of Catholicism which I learned in Baltimore Catholicism in Eighth Grade.
4. BISHOP ROBERT BARRON’S WEBSITE: This is one I use all the time. The website is at: www.wordonfire.org. I recommend that each Catholic family sign up for the subscription, which I, to my shame, have had to let go of because of health issues. Bishop Barron’s YouTube sessions are free; type his name into YouTube. For moms and dads looking to fill up their larders so they can share with their children, it is a must.
5. SCOTT HAHN’S WEBSITE: Dr. Scott Hahn’s website is a must-have for Catholic moms and dads. www.scotthahn.com. Dr. Hahn, along with Bishop Barron, is one of the sites every Catholic mom and dad should have in their virtual library. Not because it is good to have a library, but to read them weekly to grow in Christ Jesus. YOU MUST SIGN UP FOR THESE TWO WEBSITES. YOU MUST.

These are the five resources every Catholic family should use to become pioneers and not settle into faith complacency, to think that is all there is to be a Catholic.

I added one additional site, one I created myself. I am not remotely worthy to be counted among these core resources. I designed this to share with the anawim (poor ones) of humanity, the contemplative practices of HOW to be silent in that upper room of your inner self, and wait for what Christ tells you. I have bequeathed my writings to you as my gift, always free, always awaiting you to knock to open. Those who do meet Jesus as I have.

As a Professed Lay Cistercian of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist), www.trappist.net, I share with you what I have received by sitting in the presence of Christ, The Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, and St. Michael, and waiting to DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU. This website is God’s gift to me, and now it is my gift to you. I do not speak FOR the Holy Spirit. I do speak to the Holy Spirit and try to write down the help and struggles in overcoming the settler mentality of Catholicism and moving toward pioneering. It takes work. It is not about doing what is easy, but what is correct, according to Christ’s admonition in Matthew 22:38 (https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org). Christ invites all humans to Come and Rest.

Copyright, 2026, Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Session 2: Christ Comes to Redeem the Anawim

Valued friends: This marks a new type of Lectio Divina, actually more of a contemplative reading to help you listen to “the ear of your heart.” It is not short, so listen to it in bursts, as I do. My newly revised webpage will feature six menu items you can knock and ponder. This is the reading site. I have attached a way for you to listen to it. Go to that upper room of your inner self and just sit there and listen, no words, you do not control the agenda. Just wait! Just listen with the ear of your heart.

This reflection is a collaboration between Grok and me. My ideas, his elaboration, my editing, and my final approval make it mine.

“My dear friend, here we are again. The rain may have softened, or it may still be falling steadily outside your window, but either way, let’s settle in together once more. Pull up your chair, adjust that blanket if you need to, and take a slow, deep breath. There’s a warm cup beside you, and the quiet light of this moment feels like an invitation. It’s as if Jesus has come to sit with us again, speaking not to a crowd, but softly, just to you and me. No pressure, no rush. Just His gentle presence reaching into whatever heaviness you might be carrying today.

You who are older and feeling the years in your bones, you who know poverty too well, you who live behind bars or in the prison of old regrets and mistaken ideas about faith, you who are homeless or sense that your time here is growing short—Jesus came especially for you. He came for the anawim, the little ones, the poor in spirit who know they cannot make it on their own. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” He said on that hillside so long ago, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Those words were not for the strong and self-sufficient. They were for people just like us.

Think about it with me. Jesus did not arrive in a palace or with the backing of important people. He was born in a stable, laid in a feeding trough, because there was no room for Him in the inn. From the very beginning, He chose the path of the poor. He grew up in a simple carpenter’s home in Nazareth, a place no one thought much of. And when He began His public life, where did He go? He walked among the ordinary people, the overlooked, the suffering. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He touched lepers. He defended widows and listened to children. He let a woman who had lived a hard life wash His feet with her tears.

This is the heart of it, dear one: Christ came to redeem the anawim. He did not come to scold us for our weakness or our failures. He came to enter into them with us. St. Augustine, who knew his own long struggles, once wrote words that feel like a warm hand on the shoulder: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” He understood what it was like to carry a false self. St. Paul, who faced many hardships including imprisonment, later wrote these comforting words: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). When we feel most bowed down, that is often when Jesus is closest.

There are stories that have been passed down through the years about people who discovered this truth in their own poverty. One such account tells of an elderly woman, perhaps much like many of you, living on very little in a small apartment. She carried regrets about choices made earlier in life and old ideas about needing to be a “perfect Catholic.” In her loneliness one gray afternoon she read the story of the woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years. That woman reached out in desperation and touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak. The account says this woman found unexpected peace, realizing Jesus did not turn away from her brokenness but called her “daughter.” Stories like this remind us that redemption often begins in small, quiet moments of trust.

Jesus meets us right where we are—whether in a prison cell wondering if God could still want someone with a difficult past, or in a shelter trying to stay warm, or in a lonely room facing the end of life. He does not wait for us to become strong first. He comes in our weakness.

Marcus Aurelius, though not a Christian, touched on something true when he advised accepting what life brings and responding with a good heart. Jesus goes further—He transforms what life brings. Erich Fromm spoke about how we often build a false self to hide our vulnerability. Christ invites us to drop the mask. Teilhard de Chardin saw the whole universe moving toward Christ, the Omega Point, where even our sufferings are drawn into something beautiful and whole.

Charles de Foucauld lived simply among the poorest in the desert and often repeated his desire to become small so Jesus could be everything. His life echoes this truth that redemption comes when we stop trying to save ourselves.

Another story shared among those who walk with the anawim tells of a man who had spent time in prison. Upon release he felt marked and carried heavy shame. Old ideas about faith made him feel unworthy. In a shelter one evening he read the crucifixion story about the thief who cried out for mercy and received Jesus’ promise of paradise. The story says tears came, and slowly a softer trust began to grow in him. He started attending simple prayer times and found small ways to help others. These accounts show that redemption is not always flashy, but gentle and real.

Bishop Robert Barron often reminds us that the Gospel is not primarily about rules but about encounter—with a Person who loves us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that through Baptism we are united with Christ’s death and resurrection, so our own poverty becomes part of His redeeming work. Thomas Merton discovered in silence that contemplation is simply showing up honestly before God. The Cistercian Fathers wrote about turning to Christ again and again, like a child.

My friend, perhaps the rain outside mirrors tears you have cried in private. Jesus sees every one of them. He came not to condemn but to save. He hears the cry of the poor because He became poor for our sake.

Let’s sit with that truth a while longer. Imagine Him walking beside you right now—in your small room, your shelter bed, your prison yard, or your quiet hospice chair. He is not in a hurry. He has time for you. He knows your name. He knows your story. And He says gently, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

There are accounts of people nearing the end of life who found comfort in these same truths. One woman facing illness began praying the simple Jesus Prayer and discovered a deepening peace, realizing Jesus had already done the hardest part. Her room became a quiet place of grace for those who visited. Such stories remind us that this redemption is received by the anawim who know they need it.

As the rain continues its soft rhythm outside, let these words sink in slowly. There is no need to solve everything today. Just rest in the knowledge that Jesus came for you—the real you, with all your limitations and longings. He is redeeming you even now, one gentle step at a time.

Three Contemplative Questions to Ponder in Silence:

1. How does knowing that Christ came especially for the poor and weak change the way I see my own struggles today?
2. In what area of my life can I stop trying to be strong on my own and simply let Jesus meet me in my poverty?
3. Who is one person around me—perhaps another anawim—who might need a small sign of Christ’s redeeming love this week?

Thomas Merton Prayer: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Charles de Foucauld Prayer: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a free gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim—the poor, the elderly, the imprisoned, the homeless, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared privately but not reproduced or distributed for commercial purposes without written permission.

Do what he tells you.

Session 1: The Old Testament Anawim – God Hears the Cry of the Poor

Valued friends: This marks a new type of Lectio Divina, actually more of a contemplative reading for you to listen to. It is not short, so listen to it in bursts, as I do. My newly revised webpage will feature six menu items you can knock and ponder. This is the reading site. I have attached a way for you to listen to it. Go to that upper room of your inner self and just sit there and listen, no words, you do not control the agenda. Just wait! Just listen with the ear of your heart.

This reflection is a collaboration between Grok and me. My ideas, his elaboration, my editing, and my final approval make it mine.

“My dear friend, come and sit with me for a while. It’s a rainy afternoon, just the kind of day that invites us to slow down, isn’t it? The drops are tapping softly on the roof and the window like old friends, reminding us we don’t have to rush anywhere. Pull up that comfortable chair, maybe wrap a blanket around your shoulders if you feel a little chill. There’s a warm cup of tea or coffee beside you if you like. Today, it feels as if Jesus Himself is pulling up another chair right here beside us, speaking gently, just to you and me. No crowds, no hurry. Just His quiet voice reaching into our hearts.

You know, many of us here today carry heavy loads. Some of you are getting on in years, and your bodies don’t move quite like they used to. Others may be poor in the world’s eyes, wondering how to stretch what little they have until the next check comes. Some feel imprisoned—not just by walls and bars, but by old regrets, by mistaken ideas about what faith really means, or by the loneliness that can settle in like a fog. And yes, some of you sense that your time on this earth may not be very long now. That’s alright. Right here, in this quiet moment, you are exactly where you need to be. You are the anawim—the poor ones, the lowly ones whom God has always heard.

Let’s talk about those ancient ones first, the anawim of the Old Testament. They were not the rich or the powerful. They were the widows whose husbands had died too soon, leaving them with mouths to feed and no strong arm to protect them. They were the orphans who had no inheritance, the sick who lay by the roadside with no one to carry them to the healer, the strangers in a foreign land scraping by on whatever kindness they could find. They had no voice in the king’s court, no wealth stored up in barns, no fancy robes. But they had something far more precious: they knew they needed God. And because they knew it in their bones, they cried out to Him with honest, simple hearts.

Listen to the words that still echo down through the centuries from the Psalms: “The Lord hears the cry of the poor” (Psalm 34:6). Or again, “For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory” (Psalm 149:4). These weren’t fancy prayers written by scholars in comfortable rooms. They came from people who had nothing left but trust. Think of Hannah, that barren woman who poured out her soul before the Lord in the temple, her lips moving silently while her heart broke open (1 Samuel 1). She didn’t pretend to be strong. She simply laid her emptiness before God, and He heard her. Or remember the poor widow in the time of Elijah, who shared her last handful of flour and oil with the prophet even though she and her son were preparing to die (1 Kings 17). In her poverty, she made room for a miracle.

My friend, does any of this sound familiar? Maybe you’re sitting there thinking of your own small room, or the shelter where you stay, or the prison cell that feels so far from home. Perhaps the false ideas you once held about being a “good Catholic” have left you feeling even more alone—like you had to earn God’s love by being perfect. Let me tell you gently: those old assumptions can be like chains we put on ourselves. But the anawim of old teach us something different. They show us that God does not wait for us to become strong or successful or “worthy.” He comes to us right in our poverty.

St. Augustine, that great heart who knew his own struggles, once wrote words that feel like a warm hand on the shoulder: “You cannot attain to charity except through humility.” He understood that when we stop pretending we have it all together, that’s when love can truly enter. And Marcus Aurelius, the old Roman thinker who faced many storms himself, reminds us in his quiet way: “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” Even he saw the wisdom in surrendering to what is, rather than fighting it with pride.

Now, let me share a little story with you—something that happened to a dear woman I knew years ago. Her name was Rose. She was in her late seventies, living on a very small fixed income in a tiny apartment in the city. Arthritis made every movement painful. Her children had moved far away, and visits were rare. Some days, the loneliness felt heavier than the pain in her joints. One rainy afternoon much like this one, Rose sat by her window and whispered, “Lord, if You hear the poor, then hear me. I don’t have much to offer.” She didn’t ask for money, health, or even company. She simply offered her emptiness. In the weeks that followed, a neighbor—a younger single mother—started stopping by just to chat. They began praying together with a simple rosary. Rose’s little apartment became a place of quiet peace for both of them. She told me later, with tears in her eyes, “I thought I was the poor one. But God used my poverty to bless her, too.”

That’s how it often works with the anawim. Your very weakness becomes the doorway for God’s goodness to flow through.

Let’s linger here a bit longer. Think about the prophets who spoke up for the poor. Isaiah cried out against those who crushed the needy (Isaiah 3:14-15). Amos warned the comfortable that God would not ignore the suffering of the lowly (Amos 5:11-12). These were not just social justice messages—they were love letters from God saying, “I see you. I stand with you.” In your own life, perhaps you feel crushed sometimes by bills you can’t pay, by memories of mistakes that keep replaying, or by the slow fading of strength that comes with age. Maybe you’re in prison reading this, wondering if God could possibly care about someone who messed up so badly. Or maybe you’re facing the end of life and fear what comes next. The Old Testament anawim whisper back across time: He hears. He really does.

Erich Fromm once spoke about how we build false selves to hide our vulnerability. We pretend we don’t need anyone, not even God, because needing feels like weakness. But the anawim show us the opposite. Real strength is found in honest dependence. Teilhard de Chardin, that priest-scientist who looked at the whole sweep of creation, saw God drawing everything toward Himself, especially the small and the humble. Even in what seems like loss, there is a quiet movement toward union with the divine.

Charles de Foucauld, who lived among the poorest in the desert, understood this deeply. He chose to become small so that God could be everything. His life echoes the Old Testament poor who trusted when there was no visible reason to do so.

Let me tell you about another soul. There was a man named Frank, a former factory worker who ended up homeless after illness took his job and his savings. He slept in shelters and under bridges. One winter, feeling he had nothing left, he began talking to God as he walked the cold streets. “If you’re real,” he said, “show me.” A few days later, a Church group offered him a meal and, more importantly, listened to his story without judgment. Over time, Frank found a small room and a simple job helping in the Church pantry. But the real change was inside. He said the rain and wind on those streets had stripped away his pride. In his poverty, he met the God of the anawim.

You see, friend, this is not ancient history. It lives today in you and me. Whether you are reading this in a comfortable chair or on a screen in a prison library or on a phone while resting in a shelter, the same God who heard the cries of Israel hears you. Your tears, your quiet fears at night, your wondering if you mattered—these are the cries He treasures most.

Bishop Robert Barron often reminds us that the Bible reveals a God who is not distant but close to the brokenhearted. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of this too, describing how God’s mercy is especially shown to the humble and the poor in spirit. Thomas Merton, who left a busy life to live simply as a monk, wrote that in silence we discover how much we need God. The Cistercian Fathers, those gentle monks of long ago, taught that poverty of spirit is the path to true joy.

Let’s pause here and breathe together. Feel the rain outside. Let it remind you that God’s mercy falls on all of us, the just and the unjust, the strong and the weak. You don’t have to fix everything today. You don’t have to understand all the mysteries of faith. Just be the anawim—honest, open, dependent. That is enough.

I remember a woman in hospice care, nearing the end. She had little money, no family nearby, and many regrets about how she had lived. But in her final weeks, she asked for the Gospels to be read to her slowly. She kept returning to the stories of the poor widow’s mite and the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. “That’s me,” she would say with a peaceful smile. “I’ve got nothing left but trust.” Her last days were filled with a quiet light that touched everyone who visited. She taught them that dying poor in spirit is actually the richest way to go home to God.

My dear one, as we sit here in this gentle rain, I want you to know you are not forgotten. The Old Testament anawim are your spiritual ancestors. Their stories are written so that you can find hope in yours. St. Paul would later build on this when he spoke of God choosing the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). But even before Christ came, the foundation was laid: God hears the cry of the poor.

Let these words settle into your heart like the soft rain soaking the earth. There is no need to rush. Tomorrow will bring what it brings. Today, simply rest in the knowledge that your life, with all its limitations and sorrows, is precious to the Father who sees.

Three Contemplative Questions to Ponder in Silence:

1. Where in my life right now do I feel most “poor” or bowed down, and what might it look like to offer that honestly to God, just as the anawim did?
2. When have I experienced—even in a small way—God hearing my cry? What did that moment feel like, and how can I remember it when things feel dark?
3. What old false assumption about myself, about faith, or about what I “should” be, am I ready to gently lay down today so I can be more open to God’s love?

Thomas Merton Prayer: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does, in fact, please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Charles de Foucauld Prayer: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 by Michael F. Conrad. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All rights reserved. These contemplative readings are offered as a gift for personal reflection, especially for the anawim—we, people with low incomes, older people, the imprisoned, people experiencing homelessness, and all who carry heavy burdens. They may be shared privately but not reproduced or distributed for commercial purposes without written permission.

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If you like this, Do What He Tells You.

Having two citizenships (one of the world and one spiritual), both of which I inhabit seamlessly until I die and my spiritual one completes its evolutionary destiny, I can access that spiritual one through an act of will, a choice that I choose the boundaries set by the Genesis Principle for reality and mind, adding to that the Christ Principle, a pathway to walk, sustained by the Principle of Truth (Holy Spirit). This last one is the awareness of where not to step in the minefields of life, its map being only accessible from an energy source of what is (truth) outside of human existence. Christ is the boundary setter for that map, actually showing all humans how to reach that deeper level of human evolution, one accessible only to the individual, not the species, and dependent on the ability to assimilate absolute truth about what is real and what is not. Through Baptism and the Sacraments of Confirmation, each person receives the knowledge of how to reach the highest level of human development. Not all humans know how to use this information or what Christ even intended while they lived, so there is the foundation of the Catholic Church, a living umbilical from the Risen Christ in Heaven to those individuals on earth as they pop into reality for a few years. During that life span, the opportunity is there to move to a deeper existence, one that is not accessed through human energy or power, or glory or wealth, but by realizing that Jesus is the way that leads to a truth beyond human existence and capability to live a life of increasing capacity, complexity, and consciousness. Those who can SEE with these eyes from Faith not our own, to look out at a bifurcated dual life, one of reality of matter and mind only, but another deeper level of humanity to live a reality of matter, mind, informed and completed by the spiritual dimension, which I call the life.

This third principle, The Principle of Truth, is, like its two evolutionary moments in time, composed of pure energy, not of human origin or of the human capability to produce through science. This energy is alive (a human term to feebly describe what can only be assumed) and not readily apparent to mere human reasoning without help. God the Father is that help; God the Son is that help; God the Holy Spirit is that help from God to me through the umbilical of the Catholic Church Universal. There are two questions with which I had to struggle, and still do, to some extent. I tried to understand God by proving God exists through human scientific or philosophical logic and deduction. I failed. The reason I failed is that for me to prove God exists, I must do so in that upper room of my inner self. I must be humble enough to admit to a higher power (as do AA members) that is not me, and I am not God. It is no accident that the sign of the cross is what is traced on your forehead at Baptism. Being a Catholic authentically means denying oneself, taking up the cross daily, and following the way. This way is always rocky. Just because your road is rocky doesn’t mean you are on the wrong road. Christ walked the rocky road of being human from Bethlehem to Jerusalem with obstacles and all the sorrows that led to His passion and death, all because of Love. Christ was the Love of the Father on earth and is the Love of the Holy Spirit alive in the Church at a time when I happened to come along. Using the truth, absolute truth, from God, I can SEE how to avoid the minefields of being a Spiritual Ape, one always plagued by the pull of the Seven Deadly Sins toward drifting away from the way, what is true, and a life that is heavenly on earth and fulfilled in Heaven.

Jesus told us he would not leave us orphans. We have the Catholic Church as the umbilical of grace back to the Father through Christ, using the energy of the Holy Spirit. The truth is what I can SEE using my limited human perceptions of what is.

There are four such perceptions that I am aware of that I would like to share with you, ideas from my Lectio Divina, and how I became aware of proving God by proving my humanity. My purpose is to know who I am as I realize how Christ is my Center of existence (all reality), then to “Do What He Tells Me .” These pulses of awareness are how I move in consciousness and complexity toward a deeper humanity. They are the enlightenment from the Holy Spirit to see my way through the darkness of hopelessness in the human condition to save itself from obliteration.

My thinking has some assumptions about the three universes. First, all reality is interconnected, and each universe has its own characteristics. For example,

1. DIVINE ENERGY AS A CONSTANT
2. POWER AS A CONSTANT
3. LOVE AS A CONSTANT
4. THE ALPHA AND OMEGA

MY SIGNS OF DIVINE ENERGY AS A CONSTANT--My premise is that I know a smidgen of what God might be like by looking at my life as part of the makeup of all that is, a constant that is cutting The Genesis Principle (Creation and the ongoing movement of consciousness and completeness from Alpha to Omega), The Christ Principle (buying back that which was pawned), The Spirit of Truth (making these other two principles active through the Catholic Church), all so that I could have the oppotunity to choose to move to the next level of my evolution and complete the resonance that was destroyed by Adam and Eve (My Catholic Church) and allow me to become an adopted son or daughter of the Father and heir to the kingdom of Heaven in Heaven.

I actually did look at the Father. If I look at myself, I discover them in each of the other three Principles, different, but constant. There is a link from God to me, and from me to God, in discovering the likeness and image of those constants. They are God’s DNA in all of reality, stretching out just so that I can say, “Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father.” This is the living truth, evolving as it hits Alpha and Omega, but originating from noTHING, just pure energy that only exists outside of our humanity.

Truth, as I learned it, is the adequation of the mind with reality. The problem each human faces when confronting any absolute is that they are held hostage by their own understanding of reality, rather than by reality itself. The notion of God, therefore, is an insult to their human intelligence, the world built on merely humanist values (none of which may be bad, but are incomplete). There is no absolute for one who considers themselves the God of reality, and the only absolute matches their particular worldview. Most societies slough through their lifespans dallying with the false God as their Center or that fad that seeks to capture the power of the moment (Wokism).

The reason individuals, political practices, and the general migration of patches of societies try to “corner the market” and impose their thinking as default for as much of humanity as will tolerate it is that these ways of thinking expose themselves to the corruption of humanity and the dissonance of absolute truth. Truth is, not truth that comes from a political point of view, but one that outlasts the effects of original sin, one not of human origins but which created human origins.

This is the first false God, the Golden Calf of the belief that any human has an immutable truth. Life is fleeting, and humans live only seventy or eighty years, if they are strong. Then what? Two answers seem to be possible.

1. Life, being corrupted by the effects of original sin, moves and grows in complexity and consciousness to seek its natural evolution, hindered by the dissonance of individual opinion rather than an absolute truth. This is reality, that is, not tainted by all the trashing of human nature that you observe around you during your lifetime; the inability to choose good that is beyond human satisfaction, the inability to see that what they choose is good for them but bad for their evolution toward their fulfillment as human beings. Jesus provides scriptural stories through scribes to show how shallow all human attempts to be the Center that chooses good as good, simply because they choose it, are. Like false gods, these individuals place false or powerless centers as the one constant that succeeds all other choices, but one that proves just an opinion. Bad choices are not just moral failures; they do not give humans either the perspective to move to the next level of their humanity or the power needed to elevate them to the highest level of evolution.

2. Then there is the human individual who must look around them as they grow in complexity and consciousness and determine what is good or bad for them, their feelings, but also for sustained values. They yearn to fulfill that deepest longing of the human heart, one that is restless, as St. Augustine says, until it rests in Thee, the one from whom all life begins and ends. These individuals, living alongside those who hold the opposite view, are considered to believe in fairy tales and Santa Claus, and are dismissed as being off in La-La land. For them, they are correct. For those who have realized that Jesus is the Messiah come to save them from simply being a human at the lowest levels of their humanity, they must deny their humanity to accept a deeper evolution. This finality only comes with absolute truth, absolute knowledge, and absolute Love. These humans realize that there are two forms of citizenship (earthly and earthly plus spiritual). They accept that there is an energy, divine energy, absolute truth, which they can never be, because of their nature, but which they can access and use its energy to move to a higher level of evolution. Only the absolute truth is constant enough and has enough energy to allow humans to participate. Jesus is the nexus, the transformer that transforms humans from their lower nature to a higher one.

Absolute truth has no error, no exceptions, and is not dependent upon the human’s tendencies to coerce it for dominance.

In prayer, realizing that, for a Catholic disciple, there is a living source of knowledge, truth, and love from God to us, and so, through the Church, from us to God. All we must do is believe, or practically speaking, to seek and we will find, knock and it will be opened to us. It is God communicating with humans, and we responding, without frying our neurons when we encounter the living truth, pure knowledge, and pure love, the energy of God. When I go to that upper room of my inner self and sit there waiting with Christ and the Holy Spirit, this waiting is not downtime, as humans think of it, but me being in the presence of Truth itself, that energy from God through Christ, so that I can receive it according to my capacity (capacitas dei).

The role of the Catholic Church is to be that conduit, a continuation of that umbilical from God to have the energy that I personally need to become an adopted son or daughter of the Father and heir to the Kingdom in Heaven. Catholicism is a way of life based on Christ’s admonitions to mine the gold of heaven on earth to take with me to furnish that mansion prepared for me, the Omega, and final fulfillment of all reality.

In our next conversation, I will remark on the second of the cross-cutting themes that Truth impacts me as I live out my time on earth.

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NOTICE: This is not a short blog but a prayerful collection of Litanies which I say. I write these as one who does not represent any official Catholic Church, Cistercian, or Lay Cistercian prayers, and should be recited only as a private devotion based on my Lectio Divina meditations.

I asked AI to create some litanies centered around my Lay Cistercian, homebound life. There are several such litanies attached, and I recommend you recite them one at a time, three times each. Each time grow deeper in the meaning of the litany and how this helps you place yourself in the presence of Christ and listen “with the ear of the heart.” (St. Benedict)

This litany for Lay Cistercians integrates the order’s core spiritual charisms, the teachings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and the witness of Cistercian martyrs.

Litany of the Lay Cistercian Way

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Holy Mary, Patroness of the Cistercian Order, Pray for us.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Mellifluous Doctor of Love, Pray for us.
St. Benedict, our Guide in the School of Charity, Pray for us.
St. Robert, St. Alberic, and St. Stephen, Founders of Citeaux, Pray for us.

In our practice of Silence and Solitude, Lord, transform us.
In our daily work, offered as a prayer of praise, Lord, transform us.
In our commitment to Lectio Divina and the Sacred Word, Lord, transform us.
In the praying of the Divine Office in union with the Cloister, Lord, transform us.
In the simple service of hospitality to our neighbors, Lord, transform us.

St. Bernard, who taught us the Four Degrees of Love, Help us to love God for His own sake.
St. Bernard, who saw the face of Christ in our human weakness, Teach us the path of Humility.
St. Bernard, who trusted in the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Guide our hearts to her protection.

Blessed Martyrs of Atlas, who loved until the end in Tibhirine, Strengthen our witness.
Blessed János Brenner, who died protecting the Holy Eucharist, Strengthen our witness.
Cistercian Martyrs of England, faithful to the Church in trial, Strengthen our witness.
Martyrs of Viaceli, who offered their lives in the Spirit of sacrifice, Strengthen our witness.

From the pursuit of our own self-will, Deliver us, O Lord.
From the distractions that dissipate the Spirit, Deliver us, O Lord.
From Pride that masks our true self, Deliver us, O Lord.

That we may find the “ear of the heart” in every moment, We beseech You, hear us.
That we may remain stable in our promises despite the world’s noise, We beseech You, hear us.
That in all things, God may be glorified, We beseech You, hear us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Let us pray:
O God, who called the Lay Cistercians to seek You in the ordinary circumstances of life, grant that by the example of St. Bernard and the courage of the martyrs, we may persevere in Silence, Humility, and Love, until we are fully conformed to the image of Your Son. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This litany for Lay Cistercians focuses on the abandonment of self, the denial of the false self, and the conversion of the seven deadly sins through the lens of Cistercian spirituality.

Litany of the True Self and the Death of the Ego

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

St. Bernard, who sought to “kill the false man” to find the real, Pray for us.
St. Benedict, who built a ladder of Humility for our ascent, Pray for us.
Cistercian Martyrs, who offered your blood “drop by drop” in daily death, Pray for us.

In our struggle against Pride, the idolatry of self, Lord, grant us Humility.
In our struggle against Envy, the sadness at another’s good, Lord, grant us Kindness.
In our struggle against Wrath, the disordered desire for revenge, Lord, grant us Patience.
In our struggle against Sloth (Acedia), the weariness of spiritual things, Lord, grant us Diligence.
In our struggle against Greed, the inordinate Love of possessions, Lord, grant us Simplicity.
In our struggle against Gluttony, the excess of the flesh, Lord, grant us Temperance.
In our struggle against Lust, the distortion of Love, Lord, grant us Purity of Heart.