Christian contemplation thrown into the muddy highways of the world : encouragement : experiences : resources
On social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X) this past week, the quotes moved through consideration of the confidence we have in God, onto the places where that confidence is lived—first among the Communion of Saints, also for most of us, in Nazareth: Confidence is the form that grace takes in the poor one who tends towards God. …
Continue reading “Confidence, Off to the Side in Nazareth (Quotes Vol. 27)”
What is your mission? Ask me this or a similar question, and you’ll get an answer. The answer might make you think I’m crazy. It might make you ask, “And how exactly are you going to do that?” But an answer you’ll get. I won’t leave you hanging. What do I want to do in …
Continue reading “Contemplation and the Abuse Crisis: A Manifesto”
Trong khi anh đang chơi em nhìn nụ cười đẹp của anhvô hạn và vô cùng
Throughout the month of November, I have published nine posts—which have really been articles—on Marcel Văn and clerical abuse. Starting from a summary, exhausting but not exhaustive, of the abuse itself (Part 1), then moving through how Văn’s primary mission of “changing suffering into joy” is actually the face of spiritual resilience in the wake …
Continue reading “The Future Movement Marcel Văn Prepared For (Part 10)”
Nobody doubts that Marcel Văn saw himself as a spiritual little brother of Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. It’s pretty hard to miss. Thus, we find biographers speaking of a “life placed under the aegis of the ‘Little Flower’,” or “a sort of ideal double of himself” found by Văn in …
Continue reading “The Little Way after Clerical Abuse (Part 9)”
There are two special areas of intercession which pertain to Marcel Văn’s experience of clerical abuse. First, what comes out most clearly in Marcel’s writings is a requirement to intercede for priests—the abusers and potential abusers. Second, there is the intercession that Marcel undertakes for survivors themselves. In this article, I will talk about the …
Continue reading “The Intercession of Marcel Văn for Priests (Part 7)”
What soul given to Christian contemplation doesn’t like Eucharistic Adoration? On the surface of things, it would seem that the answer would be none! Adoration is silent prayer before Jesus in the Eucharist. The contemplative spirit loves Jesus. It loves silence. It loves silence with Jesus. Something in the contemplative soul must be drawn to …
Continue reading “Visiting all the Tabernacles of the World”
As I started to show in my last post, Marcel Văn has a robust spirituality of Nazareth. He understands this, at the basic level, to be a life of the ordinary, lived anywhere and everywhere, immersed in the lives of others, vivified from within by a certain hiddenness that generates spiritual fruitfulness beyond itself, with …
It is pretty much a commonplace around here that “Nazareth” is part of a contemplative spirituality lived in the world. Another commonplace would be the association of Charles de Foucauld with this theme. It is evidently not something he and his spiritual family have a monopoly on, though. One spiritual figure who gave a lot …
Continue reading “The Nazareth of Marcel Văn’s Conversations”
Pope Francis, please! I can barely keep up. It’s almost like you were just waiting for me to restart this blog, and now, all of a sudden, you are mercilessly flooding the news cycle with stuff about contemplation. But I’m not a news blogger! And let me tell you, it is not my second call …
Continue reading “Pope Francis’ Catechesis on Charles de Foucauld”
Contemplative in the Mud 