The Center for contemplative practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
Month: February 2021
LENTEN CONVERSION: the most difficult choice you will ever make
The title of this blog is not my own, but the topic of Bishop Robert Barron’s YouTube Sunday sermon this week. I recommend that you subscribe to his YouTube channel. I find that my Lectio Divina meditations are informed by my latest experiences, grounded,… Continue Reading “LENTEN CONVERSION: the most difficult choice you will ever make”
LENTEN CONVERSION: FOR BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW
Lent is a profound time of introspection and conversion. Introspection, in that we must re-measure ourselves against the one command Christ left us: to love one another as he has loved us. Christ alone can make all things new in the heavens and on… Continue Reading “LENTEN CONVERSION: FOR BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW”
LENTEN CONVERSION: jUST oNE CHANGE
Lent is a time of reassessment and change. We move from our false self, imprinted with the effects of Original Sin to being free from the hostage to death. During your time of profound reflection in Lent, here are some thoughts I had from… Continue Reading “LENTEN CONVERSION: jUST oNE CHANGE”
LENTEN CONVERSION: conversio morae
Lent is a period of reflection, a purification of all those false attitudes and ways of thinking that will keep me from realizing the importance of the Resurrection of Christ and its implications for me as I search for God each day. Lent is… Continue Reading “LENTEN CONVERSION: conversio morae”
LENTEN CONVERSION: don’t squabble over who should give
During Lent, I try to use Lectio Divina as a way to become a more penitential person, being more humble and obedient to the will of God each day. One of my Lectio meditations (not at the level of contemplation) is on the subject… Continue Reading “LENTEN CONVERSION: don’t squabble over who should give”
THE ART OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
One of the concepts that help me to grow in the capacity of Christ in my heart is that of the Church. I use to think of the Church as being a body of rules and prescriptions that I had to believe in order… Continue Reading “THE ART OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE”
the genesis effect
The first chapters of the Book of Genesis provide the opening written statement of what it means to be human. The oral traditions handed down through centuries surely took on characteristics of their own as different cultures and diverse authors reflected on their human… Continue Reading “the genesis effect”
LAY CISTERCIAN CONTINUITY
During one of our Gathering Days of Lay Cistercians at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (www.trappist.net), one of our members asked the question about the difficulty of keeping to a schedule to do Cistercian practices. The question also plagues me and how… Continue Reading “LAY CISTERCIAN CONTINUITY”
WHY YOUR CENTER IS CENTRAL TO CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
Everyone has a center of their life. It is that one principle, that one value upon which all others find their support. Granted that your center as a twenty-year-old may not be the one you have when you are sixty, but you will have… Continue Reading “WHY YOUR CENTER IS CENTRAL TO CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE”
FACING FIVE EITHER/OR DILEMMAS
Yogi Berra’s supposed saying, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it,” is witty but perhaps a wise description of choices we all must make if we try to be contemplative in our practice. We live in the temporal time of… Continue Reading “FACING FIVE EITHER/OR DILEMMAS”
IF I WERE THE DEVIL
What would you do to the current political debacle if you were the Devil? I would convince the United States that political parties are a new religion, that hatred of personality replaces public policy, that revenge and calumny substitutes for civility and cooperation, that… Continue Reading “IF I WERE THE DEVIL”
A LAY CISTERCIAN SEEKS GOD ONE DAY AT A TIME
Hello once more. As I seek God every day as I am and where I am, I came across these resources that you might find of interest. I keep asking myself the increasingly complex question of “How does all of this fit together?” My… Continue Reading “A LAY CISTERCIAN SEEKS GOD ONE DAY AT A TIME”
Four BRICK WALLS THAT CHALLENGE MY SEEKING GOD
In my most recent Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5), I thought about the barriers that keep me from having in me the mind of Christ Jesus. As I begin to be more self-aware of the spiritual universe around me, new revelations seem to pop up… Continue Reading “Four BRICK WALLS THAT CHALLENGE MY SEEKING GOD”
THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF LENT
Lent is a season of preparation and reflection. We are asked, as Church Universal, to prepare our minds and hearts for the Christ Principle. Before each momentous event in the life of Christ, we must prepare and reflect on how we have become what… Continue Reading “THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF LENT”
LENTEN PENANCE: A LAY CISTERCIAN REFLECTS ON CAPACITAS DEI, DENYING ONESELF TO MAKE ROOM FOR CHRIST EACH DAY
If you hear his voice, says the Psalms, harden not your hearts. Lent is upon us once again. It pops up yearly as we trudge down that path of choices we call life. As described in this clip of Harry Potter and the… Continue Reading “LENTEN PENANCE: A LAY CISTERCIAN REFLECTS ON CAPACITAS DEI, DENYING ONESELF TO MAKE ROOM FOR CHRIST EACH DAY”
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