The Center for Contemplative Practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
Month: May 2024
WHO SETS THE BOUNDARIES FOR HUMAN BEHAVIOR?
As I look out at what is going on in the transactions of human events around me, doing so with my unique set of skills peculiar to me (you have your own set), I can’t help but think that human beings are adrift in… Continue Reading “WHO SETS THE BOUNDARIES FOR HUMAN BEHAVIOR?”
BOUNDARIES TO BEING HUMAN: Exploring tantalizing possibilities of “What If” ideas.
Try as I might, I can’t rid myself of the wish I made to the Holy Spirit about ten years ago when, in a fit of haughtiness and exuberance, I bragged to the same Holy Spirit, whom I had considered a friend and now… Continue Reading “BOUNDARIES TO BEING HUMAN: Exploring tantalizing possibilities of “What If” ideas.”
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS HUMANS ASK ABOUT THE CORE QUESTIONS OF BEING HUMAN– Part I
I know; I am undoubtedly the only one with such esoteric thoughts. I must ask for your indulgence because these questions come from pondering the three innate but unresolved issues each human faces that may or may not be answered. The three innate questions… Continue Reading “FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS HUMANS ASK ABOUT THE CORE QUESTIONS OF BEING HUMAN– Part I”
THE TIP OF THE SPEAR OF WHERE MY HUMANITY SLICES THROUGH REALITY– Part II
This blog is part of a series about The Mystic Hero, the absolute cutting edge of my humanity, as it confronts and then slices through each NOW moment to carve out what is meaningful to me or is to be sloughed off and relegated… Continue Reading “THE TIP OF THE SPEAR OF WHERE MY HUMANITY SLICES THROUGH REALITY– Part II”
WHERE DOES GOOD AND EVIL LIVE?
In one of my more esoteric moments, when I try to wiggle past all the experiences and knowledge I have gained in a lifetime of trying to push through the limits of what I think my mental capacity is, like an astrophysicist who strains… Continue Reading “WHERE DOES GOOD AND EVIL LIVE?”
HOW DO I KNOW THAT CHRIST IS REAL AND NOT A FANTASY?
How do I know Christ lives in me and is not some fantasy of my imagination? If I make up my blogs and books about my Lectio Divina experiences of being in the presence of the Holy Spirit and just listen with the “ear… Continue Reading “HOW DO I KNOW THAT CHRIST IS REAL AND NOT A FANTASY?”
TEN WAYS I WON’T BE HELD HOSTAGE TO MY HUMANITY.
Good as humans are, original sin is the condition into which I am born, the imperfection of having to figure out what is right and wrong (knowledge of the tree of good and evil in Genesis 2-3), and the strength to be able to… Continue Reading “TEN WAYS I WON’T BE HELD HOSTAGE TO MY HUMANITY.”
THE MARTYRDOM OF ORDINARY LIVING: The high cost of fidelity.
There is nothing as deflating to being human as to realize that you have been duped by the very organizational thought processes you harbored and assumed were true. As an observer of reality around me, particularly as it pertains to the Catholic Church, I… Continue Reading “THE MARTYRDOM OF ORDINARY LIVING: The high cost of fidelity.”
NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF CONVERSIO MORAE.
For a novice, Lay Cistercian, such as myself, moving as I have down the tumultuous labyrinth of what is good or bad for me, the term “Conversio Morae” is at the center of my every conscious moment. Along with the companion habit, “Capacitas Dei,”… Continue Reading “NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF CONVERSIO MORAE.”
THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: PARADIGM SHIFTS THAT ADD DEPTH OF MEANING TO MY VIEW OF REALITY
This is a reposting of a previous blog. It is substantially long for a blog because it is a chapter from my book, The Christ Principle. I add it here because of its importance to my reflections about my humanity. This is a very… Continue Reading “THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: PARADIGM SHIFTS THAT ADD DEPTH OF MEANING TO MY VIEW OF REALITY”
MRS. MURPHY KNOWS
I can remember the Sun slicing through the gigantic, three-foot-thick, sandstone window openings of our Second Theology class in Sacramental Theology on the first floor of the Major Theology section at Saint Meinrad School of Theology. At the blackboard was the late Father Aiden… Continue Reading “MRS. MURPHY KNOWS”
CHRIST AS MYSTIC HERO: The Longing of the Human Mind and Heart for Resonance.
NB: This is a long blog because I made the mistake of telling the Holy Spirit to hit me with more than my consciousness could assimilate. I thought I was a big boy. I now know that I am a Toddler. “That in all… Continue Reading “CHRIST AS MYSTIC HERO: The Longing of the Human Mind and Heart for Resonance.”
CAPACITAS DEI: Transformational Spirituality in the School of Love.
I am not the same person as a Lay Cistercian, as I was when I began that incredible journey from what I considered myself to be a reasonably pious Catholic to what I am now. As St. Benedict rightly writes in his RB 4:42-43,… Continue Reading “CAPACITAS DEI: Transformational Spirituality in the School of Love.”
FIVE LEVELS OF DEPTHS IN MEDITATION.
I have often read the phrase, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” In my twenties, full of vim, vigor, and myself, I read and promptly sloughed off this passage from John 14 as “read and just as quickly forgotten.” Like almost… Continue Reading “FIVE LEVELS OF DEPTHS IN MEDITATION.”
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