At MMOC’s Fall Conference on the cost of violence, information will be provided by BeSMART (besmartforkids.org), an organization dedicated to teaching safe gun storage.  Their campaign was launched in 2015 to ...

The Peace & Justice Ministry of MMOC will be presenting a two-part program entitled “The Cost of Violence – Stories Seldom Heard” later this year. One of the featured speakers on September 28th will be Jessica Woolbright, LCSW, Executive Director of Saint Martha’s, A Ministry of...

Centering Prayer is a countercultural act, probably nowhere more so than in the United States. It is part of our cultural fabric to prize doers, the ones who take initiative, who make things happen, who perform above ...

In preparation for MMOC’s Fall Conference “The Cost of Violence:  Stories Seldom Heard” on September 28 and October 19, Food for Thought columns will feature organizations presenting on their mission and focus.  Marian McCord, co-founder and ...

One of the fundamental principles of contemplative practice and contemplative living is that God is only ever truly found in...

Richard Rohr offers a prayer practice based on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Many have described prayer as bringing our thinking down into our heart. Next time a resentment, negativity, or ...

The silence and detachment from thoughts required for Centering Prayer are not to facilitate a lack of attention, but rather to allow us to redirect our attention. By not allowing our attention to be engaged in the normal flurry of passing thoughts, we are finally free to devote the kind of deep attention it takes to ...

Today we share again n astounding bit of poetry from Meister Eckhart (1260–1327), the wonderful German Dominican ...

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Mt12:7 The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date of June11th, 2024, for David Hosier. David was sentenced to death for the 2009 murder of Angela Gilpin in Jefferson City. This is Missouri’s second execution of ...

Throughout the last several weekly bulletins, we have addressed areas of peace and justice ministry.  This week we focus on Sharing the Message:  preaching and education.  The U.S. Conference of...

Scientist and theologian Ilia Delio describes the Holy Spirit as fire and extends an invitation to “let go into God’s loving embrace” through contemplative practice: Real fire is destructive; throw yourself into a fire and you will be...

How many of us feel our hearts burning as we view the devastations of war in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, and other areas of the world on the news? Do we feel helpless when...

At its core, Centering Prayer is an individual practice, as each practitioner grows in welcoming and detaching from the present moment as it comes. Though we are always in the presence of God, contemplative practice opens us to more consciously and...

The Peace and Justice ministry at MMOC is co- sponsoring a virtual course: Discovering Catholic Social Teaching--A Transformative Journey. There will be four sessions led by Leyden Revelo-Krull, a member of...

Author David G. Banner describes how children can enlighten our understanding of contemplative prayer: Contemplative prayer is the...

Praise God! Laudate Deum! Pope Francis gave us this sequel exhortation to Laudato Si! in October 2023 out of dire concern that “the world in which we live is...

“While centering prayer is done privately most of the time, a weekly sharing of the experience in a small group has proven to be very supportive, as well as a means of continuing education.  The weekly meeting also serves as...

Do you know how plastic impacts climate change?  In a paper published in 2023 by Kayla Vasarhelyi, an honors student studying Ecology at the University of Colorado, we get some answers.  The following...

To be “Easter people” is to be, starting now, eternally brought to new life by the Source of life, love, energy, and vision that is God. But our new life, just like the new life of Jesus, is brought about as the culmination of the Paschal Mystery played out in us. We ourselves are...

“Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves, or as a mere setting in which we live. We are a part of nature”.                                                                            Pope Francis The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. Earth Day is ...