Faith & Life Inspirational Message

Recently I heard a friend use a phrase that deeply struck me.   I don’t actually remember the context and I don’t remember anything else he said.   But that phrase lingered long after I heard it.   It really was a phrase---not even a sentence.   The phrase simply says, “to make heaven on earth.”   Since I have no clue what he was talking about, I am going to make the phrase my own and develop it in ways that make sense to me.             I am going to take it in two contexts.   One context is overtly spiritual.   The other context is to use it as a phrase that makes some sense, but actually has nothing to do with religion or spirituality.   This might be the way you would hear the phrase in contemporary culture, much like swearing might use God-language, but have no real reference to God.               The first way this phrase ...

In yesterday’s inspirational piece I commented over of the most recent issue of The Merton Seasonal .   That is a quarterly publication by the International Thomas Merton Society, which continues to spread the message of the late twentieth century monk, Thomas Merton.   Although Merton died in 1968, his writings, poetry and photographs still speak to the spiritual seeker of the twenty-first century.            That recent volume had a wonderful drawing on the front cover by my friend and Ursuline nun, Sister Donna Kristoff.   Beneath the drawing are a few words from my favorite book of Merton’s, namely, New Seeds of Contemplation .   The words fit the drawing, upon which I commented yesterday.   In this piece I would like to ponder Merton’s words.            Thomas Merton said, “As we go about the world everything we meet and everything we see and hear and t...

Recently I heard a friend use a phrase that deeply struck me.   I don’t actually remember the context and I don’t remember anything else he said.   But that phrase lingered long after I heard it.   It really was a phrase---not even a sentence.   The phrase simply says, “to make heaven on earth.”   Since I have no clue what he was talking about, I am going to make the phrase my own and develop it in ways that make sense to me.             I am going to take it in two contexts.   One context is overtly spiritual.   The other context is to use it as a phrase that makes some sense, but actually has nothing to do with religion or spirituality.   This might be the way you would hear the phrase in contemporary culture, much like swearing might use God-language, but have no real reference to God.                The first way this p...