Faith & Life Inspirational Message

I like it when I get an idea for these inspirational reflections when I wasn’t looking for one.  This happened to me recently when I was on a trip.  I had to travel to Pennsylvania for a meeting.  I did not expect anything new or different.  I have been to Pennsylvania many times.  I actually know the state fairly well.  I have lived both east and west of Pennsylvania.  I know eastern PA, as they call it.  Philadelphia is one of my favorite cities.  It is the center of American Quakerism.  I know the other end of the state, anchored by Pittsburgh.  I like to visit the Amish country of Pennsylvania.  I was even on a section of the interstate where there was no toll as I left Ohio to drive into the Quaker state.  So I entered Pennsylvania without slowing down.  And yet I noticed.  I suppose all states try to position their signs welcoming you to their state in a place where you are bound to see it.  And there was the sign telling me I was entering Pennsylvania.  “Welcome,” the sign signa

Recently I was at a gathering for worship and the congregation sang an opening hymn which I found moving.  It was soft and melodic.  I don’t always follow the words when the tune speaks deeply to me, but this time I sang along and let the words speak to me, too.  The music we used that morning did not indicate the source of the hymn.  I knew I wanted to write about it, but also knew I needed to give credit.  And so a little research yielded results.  The hymn is entitled, “We Are on Holy Ground.”  It is from an album published in 2009 with the title, “A Changed Heart,” by David Haas.  I did not know Haas, but a little more research unearthed some interesting information.  He was born in 1957 and writes contemporary Christian music, mostly for the Catholic liturgical communities.  He has studied both theology and music, which is revealed in the song I liked.  I have decided he is someone I hope to meet some day!  I would like to share the words from the refrain and some from the three s

What is life all about?  That is the central question Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits in the sixteenth century, wanted to address, according to Jesuit scholar David Fleming.  Fleming offers his own sense of what Ignatian spirituality brings to the table.  Fleming says, “Here is Ignatius’s answer: a vision of God for our hearts, not our minds.” (17)  Fleming tells us the answer to what life is all about is a vision.  It reminds me of the biblical passage, which tells us without vision a people perish.  That always seemed true to me.  And so it is I can agree with the sixteenth century Spanish saint.  Visions lead to life.  Visions typically are future tense.  While we might talk about visions we had in the past, they are just that.  They are relics of the past.  We may have accomplished that vision.  We may have fallen short.  It guided action for a while---maybe a long while.  A vision born of the past might still be relevant, but it is relevant only because there is still s

When I began teaching about contemplative spirituality, I was fortunate to find a book that has become key to the success of that venture.  The book, Essential Spirituality , by Roger Walsh helped me think about how I wanted to structure the class and, then, it offered a wealth of practice exercises to help students and me alike learn how to start to live contemplatively.  In that sense it is a very practical book.  Students routinely have told me that was one book they planned to keep.  Most of the time students unload books soon after a semester concludes!  I did not know about Walsh.  It turns out, he has an intriguing background.  He is Australian by birth and education, but now teaches at the University of California at Irvine.  He has a medical degree and a Ph.D.  Currently he is Professor of Psychiatry, Philosophy and Anthropology at Irvine.  I owe him a debt of gratitude for this helpful book.  The title of the book is given some more focus when we note the subtitle: The 7 Cent

Some books I have read and re-read.  Sometimes I will know the first time I am reading a book that I will come back to it.  Sometimes this happens because I use a book for a class.  The class goes well and I know part of the reason is the book was effective.  Either students really liked the book or it was a useful tool to do what I wanted to do in that particular class.  One such book for me is Kathleen Norris’ work, The Cloister Walk .  Originally published in 1996, the book seems as fresh with each new read as it did when I first worked my way through it.  While you can derive overall themes from the book, it reads much more like a journal, which in effect it is.  Norris spent several months on two different occasions at a Benedictine monastery in Minnesota.  Her book lifts up meditative reflections on her time and experience there.  Of course, Norris is not a nun.  She is not even Catholic, but what she learns from the monks, nuns and other Catholics reawakens her spiritual journey

I have been reading some material about St Ignatius of Loyola for an upcoming presentation.  Ignatius was a sixteenth century Spaniard who was the founder of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits.  I have had a general acquaintance with Ignatius for quite a while, but never spent too much time in details.    I learned to appreciate the Jesuits during my graduate school days.  A Jesuit seminary shared a campus with an Episcopal seminary very near my own seminary.  I learned that was one of the benefits of attending graduate school where there was a cluster of first-rate theological schools.  They all greatly benefited my own ecumenical development.  When you come from such a provincial background as I did, you need exposure and engagement with those who are different than you.  The Boston area did that for me.  Ignatius was born in northern Spain in 1491.  During his young adult years, he fought in some local wars and in 1521 was severely wounded in a battle with the French.

I appreciate it when the magazine for alums from my alma mater contains some interesting material I can use in my thinking and work today.  It makes me feel like I am still getting a return on my investment---read tuition dollars!  Arthur Brooks is Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at Harvard and a social scientist.  Interestingly, he teaches about love and happiness.  What a great job! I read an interview in which he reflected on the plight of our country, especially post-pandemic.  However, our problems go back further than the attack of the Covid bug.  The problems and the answers are rooted in our human nature and our human freedom, as I would put it.  And that makes them spiritual.  In effect, Brooks is saying our divisiveness is pretty bad right now---as bad as it has been for a long time. He pulls an interesting term from his academic discipline to describe this.  “Social scientists have measured bitter polarization...the way to measure that is through motive attrib

I have often dealt with the idea of purpose in many of my classes.  When I am dealing with spirituality, I am convinced one of the issues is having purpose in one’s life.  As I deal with students, I have the sense they know having a purpose is a good thing.  Obviously many of them do have a purpose.  But there are others who have not thought much about it.  They may have a borrowed purpose from their parents or maybe a coach or someone they admire.  They may have an implicit purpose, but have a hard time articulating it.  Often it occurs to me, younger folks may not have a clear sense of what a purpose really is.  Simply speaking, a purpose is the reason for something.  It can be the reason something exists.  It might be the reason something is done or, even, not done.  In short, purpose is the reason for being or doing something.  It is clear to me there are many different kinds of purposes.  There are very focused, short-term purposes.  For example, the purpose for studying hard is t

I’m sure when some folks see this title, they will assume I am going to be writing about scripture.  Probably that is because when they think about their faith, it is always about the Bible.  The Bible is the source for what they think and how they want to live.  I have no issues with that.  I can affirm that Jesus is indeed the Word become human and that via the Spirit, he is still with us.  While all this is true for me, I was not thinking about scripture when I typed the words of the title. Instead, I was thinking about common words---the normal language we all use on a day-to-day basis.  No doubt, this is tied to my ongoing intrigue with human communication.  Language certainly is a major form of that communication, but language is not the totality of all our communication.  We all know that a smile or frown also has a kind of power.  The non-verbal communication we all use is fascinating, too.  But right now, I want to focus on words.   I am content to focus on single words.  No n

I have spent a fair amount of time in my life acquiring some knowledge.  All human beings do.  That knowledge acquisition begins very early on.  We learn who are parents are and who are strangers.  We learn that saying thank you is a good thing to do.  We learn so much before we even go to school.  Indeed, psychologists tell us the first two or three years of life are key to brain development and development of healthy individuals. We head on to school and, for some of us, a very long time in school.  My parents thought I never was going to finish!  They had not even gone to college, so when I was entering in a PhD program, they had no real clue what I was doing.  It would have been one thing to head to medical school; that they understand.  But in religion?  What really was there to learn that was all that important!  I persevered and made it.  I never had regrets.  I learned a great deal about people, theology and things like that.  It opened doors that have given me wonderful opport

I enjoy teaching the material I teach.  I find it relevant to life and trust the students will discover the same thing for their life.  I am not confident that what I teach will help them get the kind of job they want.  But I am very confident they will not have a very meaningful life if they don’t start reflecting on the things I teach.  As most of us know, life is more than a job---more than even a career.  And even if we feel called to do what we do, simply doing that is not sufficient to the good life.  This is why one of the spiritual practices essential to the good life is to live virtuously.  The classical virtues---like love, courage, justice and the others---have been around a very long time.  They are aids to good relationships.  Without them, we will be heading for quicksand.  And so one of the practices I want students to work on is living a life of virtue.  If effect, this kind of life produces people of character.  And if we can do that, there will be fewer bad characters

Simply seeing the title of this inspirational piece could be a real turnoff.  Who wants to read about alienation and hate?  I hope to avoid both!  Any sane person should be against both of them.  If I am honest, however, I have at times felt some alienation and no doubt have hated, even though I know I am not supposed to hate anyone.  I also am guessing I am not alone on this confession.   I also don’t sit around thinking about topics like this.  But it came to me in a reading from the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s journals.  I am reading through some of Merton’s journals for a paper I am writing.  Merton did not write in his journal every day, but he wrote often.  And many times, the entry is substantial.  His journals have been edited and comprise a seven-volume series.   The entry I read comes from April 11, 1958.  It is not unusual for Merton to ramble in these journal entries.  This entry tells us that he spent some time visiting with the father of a son who was one of the mo

I do a fair amount of work that most folks would consider non-spiritual.  Much of that is done in the business world and some in the world of athletics.  Although I am not sure I can separate my spiritual self from my non-spiritual self.  I figure most of us are who we are.  We are not split between various selves.  But I do think we show different parts of our self, depending on our context.  I consider this to be pretty normal. Part of my focus in my “non-spiritual” work is on culture.  However, culture is a good example of the kind of thing that also has currency in the spiritual world.  For example, churches and mosques have their own culture.  Two Jewish synagogues are both Jewish, but they might feel very different, depending on the folks who attend and who lead the group.  It is well-known that Irish Catholics are not the same gang as Italians.  This is not strange so much as it is normal.   Cultures are how groups of people think, feel and act.  We bring our personalities to ou

I am grateful for continuing opportunities that come my way---usually because of some friends of mine.  Perhaps that is one of the ways grace works in our ordinary worlds.  One such opportunity for me was to participate in Grand Rounds at the Cleveland Clinic.  Grand Rounds is part of medical education---often seen as an important part of the residency program for doctors-to-be.   My daughter is a physician, so I know she has participated in this experience.  I must admit, I never thought I would.  However, the Cleveland Clinic was hosting a renowned Yale epidemiologist and was told he would be talking about the pandemic, which we all have suffered since Spring, 2020.  An epidemiologist is someone who studies the event, distribution and potential solution to various diseases.  As a discipline, it is especially concerned with public health issues.  I was intrigued and jumped at the chance. At first, the presenter put our most recent bout with the virus into historical perspective.  Our

Near the beginning of Brian Doyle’s wonderful book, Eight Whopping Lies, we find a great line that gives us the title of this inspirational piece.  Before getting to that, however, let me establish the context so that you will appreciate it when it comes.  Doyle’s book is a series of short thirty-eight essays.  They are extremely well-written.  It takes a few reads to begin getting used to his style.  The essay I want to use he simply entitles, “100th St.”  It opens innocently.  “ By chance I was in New York City seven months after September 11…” (3)  He adds, “…and I saw a moment that I shall turn over and over in my mind like a puzzle, like a koan, like a prism.”  Doyle continues to develop the essay.  He describes attending a conference, which bored him with its people and presentations.  He says he is “weary of it all, weary of being sermonized by pompous authority, weary of the cocksure and the arrogant and the tin-eared…”  So he went for a walk in Manhattan.  And he wound up in a

There are few things as important to being human than a sense of belonging.  I am sure psychologists have called it by various names and with various concepts, but I like the idea of belonging.  The opposite is just as clear: not belonging.  Not to belong means you have no part in the group, family or unit.  To belong means you are included.  You are part of the gang.  That truly is good news.  It may not be inherently a spiritual word, but at its core, it really is spiritual.   Belonging happens very early in life.  And its opposite, sadly, can happen just as early.  Erik Erikson, the famous psychoanalyst, said the first step in becoming human was learning to trust or mistrust.  Infants begin negotiating this developmental step long before they have language, etc.  Clearly, the mother is key to this process.  But father and other close family members play a big role, too.  I am just recently off the experience of watching grandkids come into my world.  It has been too long since my ow

Today’s inspirational piece is about the singer, Joan Baez.  I have never met Baez, even though we share the Quaker tradition.  I have long admired her for both her music and her ministry.  When I think about ministry, I do so in the Quaker sense of a wide and expansive ministry.  We do not limit that term to ordained ministers.  Rather everyone who claims to be spiritual---certainly in a Christian sense---has a ministry.  In Latin the term simply means to “serve.”  We are all called to be servants---to God and each other.  Baez has done this. She came back into my consciousness when I read a piece announcing that she will be honored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  Baez is now eighty years old and still going strong.  Colman McCarthy wrote this piece and acknowledged, “Her voice remains as pure as it was when the nation first heard it at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival.  Equally so, her commitment to nonviolence and human rights has been unwavering."  I was struck f

Many times when I begin to write something, I recall Parker Palmer’s opening words in his book, The Active Life .  Palmer says, “It is a mistake to imagine that writers are experts on the things they write about---at least, it is a mistake on my part!” (xi)  He continues by saying, “I write about things I am still wrestling with, things that are important to me but that I have not yet figured out.”  I think the same thing holds true for me.    The process of writing is basically the process for thinking.  It is equivalent to speaking.  I often tell students, I need to hear them or read something they write in order to know really what they are thinking.  I know first-hand how easy it is to be a passive reader.  I can pick up a piece of writing---be it a newspaper article or a chapter in a book---and read it passively.  From this I can generally tell someone about what I read.  In other words, I can describe some information from the piece.  But that does not mean I have thought much, o

In my usual broad range of reading---both some very light stuff as well as some academic---I ran across a wonderful little article by Mickey McGrath.  I don’t know McGrath, but was delighted to learn he lives in Camden, NJ where he is an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales.  Additionally, he “is an artist, author, retreat director, and art and faith tour guide,” as the biography informed me.  The title of the little article was, “Finding the body of Christ in different ‘spiritual communions.’”  When I saw that title, I figured it was going to be about communion in the Catholic tradition (since the periodical I was reading was Roman Catholic) and their relationship to Episcopalians, Methodists and the like.  As interested as I am in that topic (it was a focus of mine in graduate school), I discovered an even more interesting approach.  The setting was the pandemic.  McGrath opened by telling us about his experience helping with worship in the Cathedral in Camden by livestreaming the worship