thecenterforcontemplativepractice

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http://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.wordpress.org

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I am a Professed Lay Cistercian, retired from life, former US Army Chaplain, Ordained RC Priest (Laicized), who will spend whatever time He has left seeking God where I am and as I am so that I can move from self to God.

Posts by thecenterforcontemplativepractice:

• WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CATHOLIC: The neverending story.
• SAYINGS
• SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
• MAGISTER NOSTER PART I: TEN LESSONS JESUS GIVES YOUNG CHRISTIANS TO FOCUS ON HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN
• THE WONDER I FEEL IN THE PRESENCE OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
• FOUR LEVELS OF CHURCH: Keep my commands
• LECTIO DIVINA FRAGMENTS
• HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BE A LAY CISTERCIAN?
• LECTIO DIVINA FRAGMENTS: Original Sin
• STAGES OF CONTEMPLATION
• LECTIO DIVINA FRAGMENTS: What will heaven be like?
• TOP TEN FAVORITE: Photos
• THE THREE LANGUAGES I USE TO SIT NEXT TO GOD AND THRIVE
• RESOURCES THAT HELP LIFT MY MIND AND HEART TO GOD
• JESUS AND I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM: How does one communicate with God, who has divine nature?
• Lectio Divina Fragments: Three Principles emerging from The Divine Equation
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE TEMPLATE
• TEN PRACTICES THAT BRING FULFILLMENT TO ME AS A CATHOLIC
• 10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT HOW TO MOVE FROM SELF TO GOD
• I HAVE A GHOST WRITER
• TOP TEN MOVIE FAVORITES: A life at the movies.
• TWO TYPES OF CATHOLICISM: A Lay Cistercian looks at the duality of three new approaches to the Sacred.
• LECTIO DIVINA FRAGMENTS
• VISUAL LECTIO DIVINA: PART II
• VISUAL LECTIO DIVINA: Part 1
• WHAT ARE SOME CRITICISMS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?
• THE ART OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE: THE SIX QUESTIONS THAT HAVE ALTERED HOW I THINK ABOUT THE DIVINE NATURE OF GOD
• MY MASCULINE AND FEMININE PRAYER DIMENSIONS
• LAYERS OF LECTIO DIVINA
• IS HEAVEN DIFFERENT FOR EACH HUMAN?
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: From complexity to simplicity
• INTELLIGENT PROGRESSION: How time evolves using the Rule of Threes.
• PRACTICES THAT COME FROM CISTERCIAN MONASTIC PIETY
• WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN I SAY THAT CHRIST IS THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE?
• CORE RESOURCES: Contemplative Prayer
• THE MARTYRDOM OF THE ORDINARY: Paco’s Prayer
• THE PHENOMENON OF MAN: Background for The Christ Principle as Intelligent Progression.
• FIVE LIFE-CRITICAL SKILLS MOMS AND DADS MUST SHOW THEIR CHILDREN
• SWITCHING POLES I: Using The Christ Principle to row upstream in life
• INTELLIGENT DESIGN IV: Words that contain the power of transformation
• INTELLIGENT PROGRESSION V: Choices of God that have conquences
• INTELLIGENT PROGRESSION III: Peering deeper into the mist of the human condition
• ARE YOU WASTING YOUR GOOD TIME BY BELIEVING IN GOD?
• ANOTHER VIEW OF REALITY
• LECTIO DIVINA: Approaching an awareness of God using a new technique
• Trappist Movie
• INTELLIGENT PROGRESSION: The Stages of Human Fulfillment II
• PROPHESIES THAT ARE TRUE, SADLY.
• PROBING THE DEPTHS OF „NOW“
• IT IS A WASTE OF GOOD TIME TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
• DOCTOR MELLIFLUUS
• SLOW DOWN II
• USING THE HEGELIAN DIALECTIC TO UNSCRAMBLE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE
• FALSE QUESTIONS: Beware of these five bear traps in seeking God each day as a Lay Cistercian.
• GREGORIAN CHANT: The language of God
• THE SIXTY-SECOND CATHOLIC: Lectio Divina lite
• PRIMARY RESOURCES
• TEN EXCUSES HUMANS USE WHEN STANDING BEFORE THE THRONE OF THE LAMB
• INTELLIGENT PROGRESSION: Is The Christ Principle the Fulfillment of the Gamaliel Prediction?
• ABANDONMENT: A Lay Cistercian’s quest to love God with his whole mind, his whole heart, his whole strength, and his neighbor as himself.
• CHAPTER 4: DISTRACTIONS AND BAD THOUGHTS DURING CONTEMPLATION
• REVERSIO MORAE: Ten habits of highly successful people who regress deeper into their false selves.
• LEARNING HOW TO LOVE
• MY TOP TEN FAVORITE: Daily Sins and Failings
• FROM WEAK MINDS COME STRONG IRONY
• JUST BECAUSE YOUR ROAD IS ROCKY, DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE ON THE WRONG ROAD
• SPIRITUAL READING RECOMMENDATIONS
• WHAT DO YOU SEE?
• Leonardo DaVinci Drawing of Life
• SIMILI EST REGNUM COELORUM
• G. K. CHESTERTON RESOURCES
• DO YOU BELONG TO THE CULT OF MARY?
• SAINT CHARLES DE FOUCAULD
• CONVERSIO MORAE: Ten habits of highly successful people who move deeper into Christ Jesus.
• THE HUMAN RAMIFICATIONS OF VISIBILITY AND INVISIBILITY
• EVIL THOUGHTS
• FIRST STEPS AS A LAY CISTERCIAN
• MAGISTER NOSTER: God as Magister Noster
• THREE BATTLES YOU MUST FIGHT TO WIN
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: WHAT IS YOUR MEASURING STICK?
• WONDER IF… there is no god, no Jesus Christ, no holy spirit, no resurrection, no afterlife…
• BALANCE IN CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER: SLEEPING ON THE EDGE
• FIVE contemplative THOUGHTS IN SEARCH OF CLOSURE
• FERTILIZER FOR FAITH: The God of Second Chances
• ARE YOUR MOM AND DAD OR FAMILY MEMBERS IN HEAVEN?
• BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU READ: Does the Church teach that we should not seek to convert the Jews?
• SIX QUESTIONS YOU MUST ANSWER BEFORE YOU DIE, GRASSHOPPER.
• MAKE A PRIVATE RETREAT WITH THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE: Ten Aides to Mental Prayer
• MAKE A CONTEMPLATIVE RETREAT IN THE SILENCE OF YOUR HEART
• TRAPPIST BLOGS
• MARY STUART INSPIRED ME TO FIND A QUIET TRUTH
• THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT
• SEDUCED BY OUR WOUNDED NATURE
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSUMPTIONS
• THE LAST BLOG I EVER WRITE
• DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO
• LOVE: OUR MOST ILLUSIVE REALITY
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: Assumptions make us who we are as humans
• HOW BIG IS YOUR WORLD?
• LITURGY OF THE HOURS: Office of the Dead
• WISDOM FROM THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE US IN THE SIGN OF FAITH
• A LAY CISTERCIAN’S SAYINGS
• WHERE DOES GOOD OR EVIL ORIGINATE?
• FOR BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW
• IS AN ACTOR OR A SAINT A ROLE MODEL FOR WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN?
• WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ME TO BE A LAY CISTERCIAN?
• FIRECRACKER THOUGHTS
• THE HUMAN RAMIFICATIONS OF COSMIC YES AND NO STRINGS
• THE QUALITY OF FORGIVENESS
• WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU NEED TO ASK?
• CHAPTER 4: I USED TO LOOK DOWN ON THE BAPTIST CHURCH
• RESOURCES FOR THE CONTEMPLATIVE THINKER
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: The language of God
• WHAT IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE?
• THE ART OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
• WISDOM: The quest to find god
• CONVERSIO MORAE: Reaching maturity as a human
• THE CHIRST PRINCIPLE: LINKING THE VINE TO THE BRANCHES
• ARE YOU FULL OF HATRED?
• AND I WILL DRAW ALL PEOPLE TO MYSELF
• ARE YOU ROMAN CATHOLIC OR JUST A ROAMING CATHOLIC?
• SEVEN CONTEMPLATIVE HABITS OF A BROKEN-DOWN, OLD, LAY CISTERCIAN TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
• CONVERSIO MORAE: The habit of moving from my false self to my true self. With God’s energy, there is always deeper.
• THE SUBTLE SEDUCTION OF SACRED SCRIPTURES
• NON NOBIS, DOMINE, NON NOBIS
• THE INCORUPTIBILITY OF GOD:Like Father, Like Son.
• ARE YOU HALF A CATHOLIC?
• SATAN AND THE DEBAUCHERIES: The greatest sirens of all time.
• HUMILITY: The key to knowing, loving, and serving God in this life, and being happy with God forever in the next. (Baltimore Catechism, Question 6)
• THE TRUE COST OF BULLYING
• THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION: A penance of conversion.
• SHAME ON YOU
• St. Charles de Foucauld: God’s bloodhound
• KITTY GENOVESE AND THE UKRAINE
• A PUZZLE MORE COMPLEX THAN SUDOKU: CAN YOU SOLVE THE DIVINE EQUATION?
• LENT: A time to die
• WHAT IS THE MOST POWERFUL ENERGY IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE?
• IT’S ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE: What is hidden is most real.
• THE WAITING ROOM
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: We are what we choose.
• SIC TRANSEAT GLORIA MUNDI
• THE RAPE OF REASON AND FREE CHOICE
• THE CORRUPTION OF THE SPIRIT–Part II
• OF GODS AND MEN: A Celebration of Love
• LENTEN RESOURCES THAT WILL ASTOUND YOU
• FLANNERY O’CONNOR: GOD’S PIT BULL
• A HOLY SPIRIT DUMP OF ENERGY
• LAY CISTERCIAN LENTEN PRACTICES
• THE ABBOT’S TABLE
• LAY CISTERCIAN CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES: Custos Oculi
• PATIENTIA ATTINGIT OMNIA
• THOMISTIC INSTITUTE
• THE CORRUPTIBILITY OF THE SPIRIT: The effects on me as I live in a universe that is incorruptible, but I am corruptible.
• GOD’S VALENTINE’S DAY CARDS
• APPROACHING PROFOUND STILLNESS
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: THE CORRUPTION OF EVERYDAY LIVING
• VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL CONTEMPLATION
• ACT YOUR NATURE
• TOP RESOURCE WEBSITES FOR THE DIVINE EQUATION
• THE RULE OF THREES: THE POWER TO CHANGE UNIVERSES
• The Rule of Opposites
• THE PENITENTIAL LAY CISTERCIAN: Reparation for the cost of sin
• THE FALSE PROPOSITION THAT JUST WON’T DIE
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: Mapping the parameters of sacred space.
• WHAT IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE?
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: How deep is your prayer life?
• PENANCE AND THE PENITENTIAL PSALMS
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: How deep is your love?
• TEN MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS WITH MICHAEL LAST YEAR
• CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES: LINKING LECTIOS
• GOD’S DNA
• IS MARTIN LUTHER IN HEAVEN?
• GOD’S DNA: Six times God gave birth
• A WORLD WITHOUT GOD
• THE TABLE OF THE LORD: Being a penitent Lay Cistercian
• THE MARTYRDOM OF THE ORDINARY
• THE TABLE OF THE LORD
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: Rowing against the current of life
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: The enjoyment of the cross in the martyrdom of the ordinary.
• UP, READY TO FIRE!
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: The Center
• G.K. CHESTERTON: Orthodoxy
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: I am the sum of my life choices and how I learned from them.
• SIRACH: A Perfect Prayer As You Stand Vigil Before The Blessed Sacrament
• PROFOUND LISTENING: Conditions for listening to the Holy Spirit.
• PROFOUND LISTENING: How to listen with the „ear of the heart“.
• TEN SURE WAYS TO LOSE YOUR FAITH
• THOUGHTS WHILE FREEZING ON AN ICEBERG
• FIFTEEN WAYS THE DEVIL CAN SEDUCE YOU AND YOU WON’T EVEN SEE IT COMING
• LIVE LIFE ONE DROP AT A TIME
• SYNCHRONICITY WITH GOD
• A LAY CISTERCIAN REFLECTS ON LEVELS OF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
• THE FEAST OF ST. MICHAEL
• WHAT I SEE THAT I DON’T SEE
• WHAT DON’T YOU SEE?
• LITURGY OF THE HOURS: Levels of Spiritual Awareness
• THOUGHTS TO PONDER
• SPIRITUAL TRAINING AT THE PARACLETE GYM
• ONE STOP SHOP
• AUTHORS OF GREAT WISDOM
• ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
• DON’T GET CAUGHT PLAYING THE THREE GOD GAMES
• mis oraciones son tus oraciones
• SITES TO CHECK OUT
• DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT
• IT DOESN’T MATTER!
• ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION
• PILGRIMAGE TO THE HEART OF CHRIST
• the best contemplative streaming and youtube sites for 2021
• WHAT IS HELL LIKE, RIGHT NOW?
• the assumption of mary
• WHEN LOVE HURTS
• DO YOU STAND BEFORE THE MIRROR OF ERISED?
• SEEKING GOD EACH DAY: HOW FAITH IS RIPENED ON THE VINE
• TEN NEW IDEAS ABOUT THE MESSIAH FROM THE EDGE OF TIME
• DEEP DIVES INTO DIVINITY
• EVERYTHING IS LINKED TO EVERYTHING ELSE
• PAINTING WITH THE BRUSH OF CHRIST
• HOW TO BAKE A LAY CISTERCIAN?
• WHO MADE YOU POPE?
• traveling with the holy Spirit
• watching lucifer just for the hell of it
• LIFTING THE HEART AND MIND TO GOD USING ARCHITECTURE AND GREGORIAN CHANT
• READINGS FROM ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX
• the three principles of existence
• the christ imperatives
• WHERE IS EVERYBODY?
• HOW DO YOU ANSWER THIS?
• OBEDIENCE BY RELINQUISHING MY WILL TO A POWER OUTSIDE MYSELF: THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO SPIRITUAL RESONANCE
• LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS TO THE LORD
• CHAPTER 4: CONVERSION FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
• IT IS MERCY I SEEK, NOT SACRIFICE.
• ACCESSING THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH LECTIO DIVINA
• MY GOALS FROM NOW UNTIL FOREVER
• LECTIO DIVINA FOR AN EIGHT + YEAR OLD LAY CISTERCIAN
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: HOW AN END-USER USES THE FORMULA FOR FOREVER TO GROW FROM SELF TO GOD
• THE LITTLE THINGS ARE SOMETIMES HUGE
• MOMENTS WITH MICHAEL iii: HOLY SPIRIT DUMP
• MOMENTS WITH MICHAEL ii
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: THE PARADIGM OF THE TRINITY
• THE SIGN OF TRANSFORMATION
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: THE FORMULA FOR FOREVER
• CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE: Wresting with Boredom
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: Quidquid recIpitur ad modum recipientis recipitur.
• WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ORIGINAL SIN?
• THE BEST COMMENTARY ON OUR SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE U.S.
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: MEASURING REALITY IN THREE UNIVERSES
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: THE MATHEMATICS OF BEING
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: CAN YOU SOLVE IT?
• THE DIVINE EQUATION: OUR NEED FOR INTIMACY
• THE DIVINE EQUATION
• THOUGHTS FROM THE EDGE OF TIME
• EIGHT THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD TAKING ON HUMAN NATURE
• NOW, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?
• JOUSTING WITH JEALOUSY: THE WALL THAT YOU WON’T SEE COMING
• STARTING OVER
• THE JOSEPH FACTOR
• CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE IN NINETY SECONDS
• THE EFFECTS OF ORIGINAL SIN ON MY CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
• HUMILITY: FEAR OF THE LORD
• PERUSING THE OBITUARIES
• PERFECT UNION WITH GOD
• MOMENTS WITH ST. MICHAEL
• THE ART OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE: Waiting
• TAKE TIME TO BE ONE SENTENCE
• TAKE TIME TO READ TEN SENTENCES
• THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE: RESURRECTION MOMENT
• CREEPING TOWARDS THE PAROUSIA
• THE LITANY OF REDEMPTION
• THE JOY IN THE RESURRECTION
• LENTEN CONVERSION: Scariest scripture passage
• THE HERESY OF THE INDIVIDUAL
• LENTEN CONVERSION: IS YOUR JESUS PARANOID?
• LENTEN CONVERSION: Beware of the default of original sin
• LENTEN CONVERSION: FROM FACTIONS TO ONE LORD
• HERE ARE TEN TEMPTATIONS FROM SATAN I BET YOU NEVER SAW COMING.
• A LAY CISTERCIAN REFLECTS ON: MAKING AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE BEFORE RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
• LENTEN CONVERSION: THE PLACE WE CALL HELL IS LIKE…
• LENTEN CONVERSION: FEAR OF THE LORD
• LENTEN CONVERSION: WHO IS YOUR JESUS? AN END USER PAUSES TO REVIEW THE CONSEQUENCES OF BELIEVING OR NOT BELIEVING IN JESUS THE CHRIST.
• LENTEN CONVERSION: HOW LOVELY IS YOUR DWELLING PLACE, O LORD OF HOSTS
• WHISPERS FROM A CAVE
• LENTEN CONVERSION: iF TODAY YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEART
• LENTEN CONVERSION: IF YOU ARE NOT DILIGENT, YOU MAY LOSE YOUR FAITH
• LENTEN CONVERSION: the most difficult choice you will ever make
• LENTEN CONVERSION: FOR BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW
• LENTEN CONVERSION: jUST oNE CHANGE
• LENTEN CONVERSION: conversio morae
• LENTEN CONVERSION: don’t squabble over who should give
• THE ART OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
• the genesis effect
• LAY CISTERCIAN CONTINUITY
• WHY YOUR CENTER IS CENTRAL TO CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
• FACING FIVE EITHER/OR DILEMMAS
• IF I WERE THE DEVIL
• I AM BUT A DROP IN THE OCEAN OF ALL THAT IS
• A LAY CISTERCIAN SEEKS GOD ONE DAY AT A TIME
• Four BRICK WALLS THAT CHALLENGE MY SEEKING GOD
• THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF LENT
• LENTEN PENANCE: A LAY CISTERCIAN REFLECTS ON CAPACITAS DEI, DENYING ONESELF TO MAKE ROOM FOR CHRIST EACH DAY
• WHAT WAS JESUS‘ I.Q.?
• TEN NEW IDEAS I LEARNED ABOUT HEAVEN FROM THE EDGE OF TIME
• MY LECTIO DIVINA SCARED ME
• CONTEMPLATING contemplative prayer
• DON’T DROP YOUR BATON
• REFLECTIONS ON WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS YOUR RELIGION
• THE HABIT OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
• WONDER IF…
• WHAT DOES YOUR SPIRITUAL CLOSET LOOK LIKE?
• THE MATHEMATICS OF BEING
• MAKING ALL THINGS NEW
• THE FIVE GIFTS CHRIST GAVE ME ON MY BIRTHDAY.
• I DIDN’T SEE THAT ONE COMING
• THE POETRY OF BEING SILENT
• LITURGY OF THE HOURS FOR BEGINNERS (like myself)
• GOD IS PURE ENERGY
• THE ADVENT OF GOD
• FEELING JESUS IN SCRIPTURE
• MORE IS BETTER, OR IS IT?
• BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT WHEN YOU ARE SITTING ON THE EDGE OF YOUR BED AT 6:14 A.M. FOLLOWING YOUR MORNING OFFERING PRAYER.
• ST. JOHN OF GOD
• HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT FILLING UP HOLES?
• THE ART OF CONTEMLATIVE PRACTICE
• QUESTIONS IN SEARCH OF AN ANSWER
• WHOSE CHURCH IS IT?
• SEEKING GOD EVERY DAY
• ARE YOU GUILTY BECAUSE YOU CAN’T GO TO CHURCH?
• WAKING THE SPIRIT
• have you ever thought of…
• poetry in the silence and stillness of winter
• VOICES
• HOW TO PLAY IN GOD’S PLAYGROUND
• MONASTERY AND LAY CISTERCIAN PONDERINGS
• WHICH POLITICAL PARTY DO YOU TRUST THE MOST?
• LECTIO DIVINA: inching to forever
• conduct your own contemplative ten minute retreat
• YOU MUST SEE THIS WEBSITE
• TEN QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU VOTE
• SITES THAT HAVE HELPED ME THE MOST IN SEEKING GOD EVERY DAY
• make a virtual retreat at Our lady of the Holy spirit monastery
• THREE SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
• ON THE ENDURING INFLUENCE OF AIDAN KAVANAUGH, O.S.B.
• WHY IS THAT?
• god’s hall of fame
• TENACITY AND SINGLEMINDEDNESS
• SILENCE AND SOLITUDE: iT MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU THINK
• MUSIC TO LISTEN TO WHEN SITTING ON A PARK BENCH IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER LONGING FOR CHRIST
• What have you learned?
• vatican observatory
• WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?