Contemplative in the Mud started twelve years ago today. The blog has only been active for about half that time, there being a six-year interruption from July 2017 to 2023—but I didn’t stop thinking even when I wasn’t posting. From the beginning, what I wanted to create was a space where Christian contemplation is discussed …
Category Archives: What this blog is about
What Will Our Lent be Dedicated to?
I asked the good Jesus that we may partake of Lent as and with him: these forty days in the desert, given by him solely to contemplation. What could be the activity of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in his most holy soul, in this human rest, in this solitude? Our Lent will not …
Year in Review 2023
This was a big year for Contemplative in the Mud. For one thing, the blog restarted. After six years of inactivity (did you miss me?), I picked things up where they left off. All the same influences are here. Yet it’s also fair, I think, to say that this is not just CitM but rather …
How Times Change…
In the past week, there have been three significant things appear in the news cycle that I couldn’t imagine neglecting on this blog. Earlier in the week, there was the meeting of Pope Francis with the Little Sisters of Jesus. Later in the week, there was the new apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum and its contemplative …
Closing Reflections on the Season of Creation
Last week entailed an almost frenetic rate of production: a translation of an 8000-word chapter given by Pope Francis to the priests of the Diocese of Rome; my 2000th post, dedicated to a summative reflection on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Christian contemplation in its four main forms; a lengthy book review for …
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Relaunching Contemplative in the Mud
It’s been a long time, but Contemplative in the Mud is coming back. Same mission, new era. A lot has happened in the intervening years, and I’m sure some of that will come out in future posts. But this isn’t a biographical blog, so never will I enter into details just for the sake of …
Five Years
This blog has been going for five years now. Hopefully in that time I’ve learned how to write better. (Some of the first posts are dreadful in terms of style.) In that time, I’ve met many people thanks to this blog, and I’m very glad for that. It is important to “go to heaven together …
Responding to Criticism: The Radical Newness of the Gospel and “Meditation Techniques”
After I published my most recent commentary on the differences between Christian contemplation and various non-Christian “mystical” techniques, at least one reader contacted me to express disappointment that I have softened my stance on these latter techniques and diluted the Gospel. It was claimed that I had compromised Christianity by “permitting” other meditation techniques; it …
Quotes Month
As usual, July is quotes month. All quotes, all month. No interfering thoughts from my own head. Think of it as my own asceticism. ^_^ After all, as John of the Cross says, To love is the labour to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God. Asceticism is required. So …
July is Quotes Month
Just like last year, I’m going to dedicate July to quotes. Usually I try to alternate between various types of material (book reviews, poems, quotes, longer writings of mine, videos, and so on). For one month I’ll cut this down to just quotes. It means I’m quiet, and other voices are speaking. This is a …
Contemplative in the Mud 