Faith & Life Inspirational Message

Recently I read a short piece by Miriam Williams, whom I am told is a writer from Kentucky living in Philadelphia.  I don’t know much else about her, but I found the essay interesting.  The title of her piece asked the question, “Does love have its limits?”  Quickly thinking about this, my response was mixed.  I realized that in theory I wanted to say no: love does not have limits.  We can think of Jesus or other spiritual giants and feel secure in this answer.  But then, the realistic, practical side of me kicked in.  Of course in theory there are no limits to love, but practically speaking my love and that of most people is limited.  That is why I believe most of us are in the process of growing in love.  We are not there yet, but we can make progress.  This is hopeful.  In fact, anything less than growing in love may doom us and our culture and communities to bad things.  If we don’t grow in love, I don’t know how we will ev...

To use a title like, “Road to God,” might seem fairly arrogant.  If I were to see this title, I might think the author knows the road to God and is going to share the secret.  I can assure you this author does not know the road to God and I don’t have any secrets.  So at least I am not arrogant!  In fact on this issue, I am incredibly humble.  I would like to learn something about that road so I could begin the journey.     This topic arose as I was preparing for a class.  One of the ongoing joys in teaching spirituality is getting a chance to keep reading and thinking about something that is so personally important to me.  In fact, I might well claim spirituality is the most important thing in the world to me.  That is because I do think it offers insight and assistance in finding my way to God.  And to find my way there is to discover meaning and purpose for myself and, indeed, for the life we are can live.  That helps...

I have done a fair amount of writing with my business colleague on the classical virtues.  Some of these virtues, like courage and justice, are well-known.  People are comfortable using those words and think they know what courage or justice means.  And for the most part, they are right.  But there are a couple other virtues which are less likely to be known.  Prudence is one of these and temperance is the other one. Prudence is not a word that most of my college students know at all.  When I use that word, a blank stare comes over the faces.  Some time ago, my friend and I switched to call prudence “wisdom.”  That has helped, since most folks think they know what wisdom means.  But if you ask what is the difference between wisdom and knowledge, the answers are not always clear. When it comes to temperance, again most college students have no clue what that word means.  And if we are working with an older audience, temperance might mean ...

Discipline is at the heart of the spiritual journey.  This sounds like a throwaway line, but it is true.  People who desire to be spiritual, typically have to find and practice some kind of discipline.  Discipline is the means by which we practice the journey.  To be spiritual is not some trip with spiritual “highs” coming day after day.  No sane person should expect this to be the case.     Sane people know that good things do come our way.  But it is not like a daily trip to the ice cream store.  Some days there is ice cream.  And some days it is vegetables only!  So it is with the spiritual journey.  Some days it seems really easy to have a sense of God’s presence.  Other days, God seemingly does not show up.  Sometimes we have done nothing to welcome this visiting presence.  We become too busy or too distracted.  To keep on the journey requires some form of spiritual discipline.     O...

The title of this inspirational piece might be alarming to Christian fundamentalists and other dogmatic folk.  If so, I will simply say that I am on the side of my friend and Franciscan friar, Dan Horan.  Dan now writes a regular piece for a national Catholic publication.  Of course, when a new piece appears, I read it.  I like hearing what my friend has to say, the resources from which he draws and to appreciate what he is telling his Catholic audience, but others of us as well.  His latest piece appeared with this title: “The church is suffering from Holy Spirit atheism.”  Dan is audacious, if nothing else!     He begins the essay by turning to the famous twentieth century Jesuit, Karl Rahner.  Rahner was a key figure at Vatican II in the late 1950s and early 60s.  In 1967 he wrote an important book which he called, The Trinity.  Horan jumps right into that book and Rahner’s thought.  He quotes Rahner, who says, “Chris...

Sometimes I have to laugh at where inspirational ideas emerge.  Of course, there are the predictable places, like the Bible and spiritual literature.  Those are always sure bets.  But there are other, less obvious or, sometimes, totally serendipitous revelations that inherently beg for reflection.  Such is the one that came to me when I was reading about the 2019 winner of the Templeton Prize.     I have known about this prestigious prize for quite some time.  I know Sir John Templeton founded it in 1972.  He was an investor and philanthropist, who set up this foundation to honor someone typically doing work in science and spirituality.  Specifically, the prize honors someone “who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.”  It is quite the prize, since about $1.5 million comes to the winner!  The 2019 winner is Dartmouth College physics ...

Periodically, I have the chance to reread sections of Kathleen Norris’ book, The Cloister Walk.  The book first appeared in 1996.  I had read some of Norris’ work and was eager to read this book when it was published.  I knew it was based on her time spent at St. John’s Benedictine Abbey in Minnesota.  As one who also is a Benedictine oblate, I was excited to see what her reflected experience would be.  I was not disappointed the first time I read it and I delight every time I pick the book up to read parts of it again.     Recently, I had to read a chapter she entitles, “Learning to love: Benedictine Women on Celibacy and Relationship.”  I suspect many readers would never bother with this chapter because of the title.  I think their mistake would be focusing on the subtitle, Benedictine women, and quickly assume there would be nothing there for them.  Instead I was intrigued with the idea of “learning to love.”  Maybe it is ...

I have a number of publications I read on a regular basis.  That goes for some newspapers and other things like some religious publications.  For example, I have been reading The Christian Century for decades.  There are more academic publications like Spiritus , which is put out by the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, of which I am a member.  I also try to read things by other Christian groups and even in interfaith areas, in order that I might have a familiarity with what is going on in the world of religion.  It is amazing what I can learn and how just a little reading can prevent ignorance!     One thing I read regularly is the National Catholic Reporter (NCR).  I like to know what is current in the Catholic world within the USA.  Besides the number of Catholics in the world is so huge, I figure it is important to know what so many people are thinking.  Of course, there is not uniformity among every Catholic ar...

A periodical I regularly read has been asking fairly famous religious people to comment on a book they read in their younger years that were so formative.  They call this piece “Take and Read.”  Maybe it is because I am getting older, but I have found this fascinating for a couple reasons.  I am fascinated by the people the periodical has asked to share their story.  And of course, I am interested in the book the person chooses.  In a recent issue I was pleased to see the name of Gregory Baum and that his book of choice was Augustine’s Confessions .     I have never met Gregory Baum, but I have known about him since the 1970s.  I knew he was Canadian and taught in some universities in Toronto.  He has written extensively on the church in the world.  He has paid particular attention to social issues.  He has been involved in the ecumenical movement to which I was introduced in the late 60s.  I was a little surprised to se...

Most people who belong to the Abrahamic faith traditions---Jews, Christians and Muslims---know that prayer is foundational to their way of practicing that tradition.  No doubt, there is more in common in their approach to prayer than separates them.  Probably the biggest problem for adherents of all three faiths is the discrepancy between knowing they should pray and actually praying!  I know that is my normal downfall.  My problem is not lack of knowledge.  I would even say I am willing.  But too often I simply don’t pray.  I want to explore that.     If I had a mentor in prayer, it would be the Jewish theologian of the twentieth century, Abraham Joshua Heschel.  I never met Heschel, but wish I had.  He was born in Europe and left that continent in the midst of the Nazi disaster.  He landed finally in this country and ultimately had an amazing career teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.  Heschel w...

The word, innovation, is not used very much in the arena of religion and spirituality.  When I think about the language of religion during my growing up years and even years in higher education, I don’t recall folks encouraging me to be innovative.  Certainly, my graduate school professors and others hoped I would be creative.  In some sense that is the expectation when it comes to writing a dissertation.  I guess I was creative enough to get the Ph.D.!     I would grant there are many similarities between the words creative and innovative.  But I probably thought the language of innovation belonged more to the world of science and, especially to the world of business.  And I belonged to neither world, I thought.  I was wrong!  We all belong to the world of science.  We are part of evolution.  I might not even believe in evolution---as some religious fundamentalists do not---but I would argue they are part of evolution ...

I make use of Twitter for a number of different reasons.  One of the reasons is a chance to follow some people I know---or know about---and want to see what they are thinking.  One of the people I have read and know about is Barbara Brown Taylor.  I have read some of her books, but I don’t know her personally.  Maybe someday I will meet her.  I would welcome that.  Until then, I will read about her on Twitter and continue to read her books and occasionally use one in my class.     Recently, I saw a NPR interview of Taylor.  Essentially it is an account of her ordination as an Episcopal priest and ministry as a parish minister.  At some point, she then moved into college teaching at a small college in Georgia.  In the interview she talks about how satisfying her job as a parish priest was and how different and difficult transitioning to the college classroom was for her.     Taylor has done many of the things I ha...

I wonder if Jesus or the Buddha or any other beloved religious figure ever had a bad day?  Maybe bad day is too strong.  Maybe occasionally they just were not on top of their game?  If they were really human---and I believe they were---I can imagine some days they may have felt like they just didn’t have it that day.  “It” is always an interesting concept.  I am always intrigued when coaches talk about certain athletes just have “it.”  Sometimes I know exactly what they are talking about.  I suspect most of us have felt like some days we have “it.”  And some days we don’t.     I am confident I have had “it” as an athlete.  There have been times when I was speaking that I felt like I had it.  It is easy to assume that Jesus always had it.  And particularly when Gautama became enlightened and was then known as the Buddha, surely he had it.  But I wonder.  I can’t believe they had “it” every waking moment and i...

One of the delights I have when I teach a class called, Modern Spiritual Paths, is to re-read my favorite Quaker book, namely, Thomas Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion .  First published in 1941, the book was one of two Quaker books in the twentieth century which sold a million copies.  I never had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Kelly, since he died right before I was born.  I was, however, friends with many folks who had known Kelly, one of whom was T. Canby Jones.  Canby had a long association with Wilmington College and was instrumental in naming one of the buildings there the Kelly Center.     Kelly taught at Earlham College in Indiana, where I spent many good years on the faculty.  And then he went on to teach at Hawaii and, finally, at Haverford College in suburban Philadelphia.  He was involved in working with Quakers in Germany in the 1930s and witnessed firsthand the rise to power of the Nazis.      If he had lived ...

One of the reasons I read quite a bit is to gain some awareness of things, to learn and to grow.  If I don’t learn anything new, I will probably grow little or not at all.  Perhaps this is exactly what some older folks do---grow not at all.  And sometimes, I am afraid that is the chosen path of some younger folks.  That is why I was so delighted to come across an article which described “New York Encounter.”  When I read that, I had no idea what was being described.     As I dove into the article, I realized the “Encounter” was an event sponsored by a Catholic group aiming for renewal.  The article painted this picture: “It is a kind of Catholic Woodstock without the sex and drugs…”  I am old enough to remember Woodstock, so this was a graphic description.  Seemingly the aim of the event is encounter younger folks---millennials, but welcoming baby boomers still on the lookout for meaning and purpose.  I read about the various e...

Once again, I have an opportunity to do a presentation on my old monk friend, Thomas Merton.  In some circles I have become known as “the guy who knows Merton.”  That is only partly true.  I have read quite a bit of Merton’s works and have included him in some of what I teach.  For many years I have been attracted to Merton because I find that he was a guy who seriously quested for meaning and purpose in life and found it in God.  And for much of his early life, that discovery of God was certainly not expected.     It didn’t matter to me that Merton turned out not only to discover God in his life, but that discovery took him to the hills of Kentucky and joining the fairly strict monastery at Gethsemani.  As a Quaker I knew almost nothing about Catholicism and absolutely nothing about monastics and monasteries.  In fact, I likely would have told you I had no interest in any of that stuff.  Of course, I was young and those were the ...

The title of this inspirational reflection was inspired by the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola.  Ignatius was born in 1491 in the north of Spain, the Basque part of that country.  Interestingly, Ignatius had an older brother who sailed with Christopher Columbus.  His own story begins in 1521 when he was a soldier fighting against a French invasion.  Ignatius was wounded.  He was taken back home to begin a long recovery process.     During that time, he read some significant books for his later life.  One of these books, the Life of Christ, had a profound effect on this Spanish soldier.  He began a transformational process that led him from chivalry to sanctity.  He became a pilgrim of the Spirit.  He spent nearly a year in the small town of Manresa.  He lodged considerable time in a cave, praying intently and taking notes.  These notes formed the nucleus of his famous Spiritual Exercises which has guided ...

Once a year a special day rolls around for everyone.  Once a year folks can celebrate their birthday.  The only exception is those people who were born during Leap Year.  But even they get their day once every four years.  Some people can’t wait for their birthdays.  Usually kids fall into this category.  Others proclaim every year that it comes, “I can’t believe I am as old as I am.”  I have heard people in their 20s say this and, of course, older people readily claim it.  We are all born on a particular day.  Even if mom’s labor begins late at night and it actually takes two days to deliver you into this world, you only get one day to call your birthday.  Even if you popped out exactly as the midnight clock was striking, someone besides you would decide which day you were born.  And once we get our day, it never changes.  Some birthdays are fun---real celebrations.  Other birthdays have a sad tone.  Of course it...

Someone who glances at the title of this inspirational piece might conclude I am writing about some kind of missionary work in Africa or some other far away country.  It might be concluded that I have decided to start saving lost souls, like I remember in some of the revival services I witnessed as a kid.  While that has not been the thrust of the myriad of pieces I have written heretofore, maybe I finally “got religion” and am now doing something worthwhile.     For the person who concludes this, I am going to be a serious disappointment.  While I do not put down the experience or commitment that underlies such a missionary effort somewhere else than home, it has not been my pathway.  I hope I would be obedient if God were to lead me that way, but so far that has not been my leading.  Instead, much of my ministry is done in the context of a college and with rather traditional-age students.  It is in that context I have strived to be obedie...