This week, we offer you the painting “An Attempt to Stability” by Indian artist Prayag Jadhav. What does it stir in you? How is the Holy Spirit calling you to respond?..

"Do not Judge and you will not be Judged. Do not Condemn and you will not be Condemned. Forgive and you will be Forgiven." ...

Jesus tells us that “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13) and challenges us, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn 13:34). He then lives out this kind of love ...

“Anyone, indeed, is our neighbor. Jesus’ parable (The Good Samaritan) is telling us ‘You do not have a neighbor. You make yourself someone’s neighbor.’” -Catholic Campaign for Human Development “All of us, at some time or another, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connects us as neighbors—in our own way, each of us is a giver and a receiver.” -Mr. Rogers...

Though Christianity has deep contemplative roots, contemplative insights and experiences can radically alter our concepts and perceptions of God to something beyond those typical to the Western Christian culture in which most of us were...

“To love is to will the good of another.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1766 (St. Thomas Aquinas)

According to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks (like the St. Louis Area Foodbank) and pantries, last year their network of over 200 food banks and meal programs sourced, received and distributed more than seven billion pounds of food. They hope to...

God’s mercy is freely given – perhaps the deepest meaning of the cross. The only “barrier” to God’s mercy is our willingness to allow, accept, and welcome it. Yet, this “barrier” proves significant to so many, who have misunderstood mercy as somehow a response to some intention or behavior on our part, rather than as intrinsic to the Triune God, whose very nature it is to pour forth in love. We who...

BeSMART, an organization that promotes awareness that secure gun storage—storing firearms unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition—can save children’s lives, is sponsoring SMART Week from August 25th to 29th. This is important because...

Centering Prayer is an apophatic form of prayer – prayer without the use of words and images. There are also cataphatic forms of prayer, which involve the use of words and images as part of the substance of prayer. Prayer forms such as Lectio Divina, the Rosary, and probably most other common prayers in recent history are ...

A Book Review For those wanting to enhance their spiritual awareness and response to the world we live in, I recommend “We Make the Road by Walking” by Brian D. McLaren. Brian is an author, speaker, activist and public theologian as well as...

The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN), honoring the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, quotes him as saying, “Just as the [people] of the world love and seek with such great diligence honors, fame, and esteem on earth—as the world teaches them—so those ...

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has recently addressed the passage of HR 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”. He lamented the failure of the law to help families in need and to change course on aspects of the bill that fail the poor and vulnerable, making ...

It is a testament to our incarnate nature that our spiritual lives and prayer practices impact our physical bodies. Anxiety and joy, spiritual wounds and healing a carried in the body – as the shallow breath of excitement, the sweaty palms of nervousness, and the ...

The chief dispositions of Centering Prayer and other contemplative practices are welcoming and detaching from all that we receive – without judgement, hesitation, or expectation. These dispositions do allow us to withstand the difficulties and celebrate the blessings of life without becoming bogged down in either, but welcoming and detachment represent so much more than spiritual self-help techniques. These two...

Pope Leo XIV used a newly added formulary of the Mass, “For the Care of Creation,” when celebrating Mass at the papal villa on July 9. This formulary selects prayers and readings that affirm the place of God’s creation in worship....

A newsletter from Feeding America provides a good summary of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Since 1981, this program has supplemented the diets of our neighbors with low incomes by providing them with ...

Blind Man’s Bluff I spend so much time Feeling around in the dark, Hoping that I will blunder Into the arms of God....

This year’s United Nations World Day Against Trafficking in Humans is July 30. The theme is “Human Trafficking is Organized Crime—End the Exploitation.” More and more victims are being trafficked every year across greater distances, with greater violence, for longer periods of time and for greater profit. Organized criminal networks are...

The use of the sacred word in Centering Prayer practice is designed to facilitate a comfort with detachment – a disposition of not possessing or clinging – by supporting the...