Faith & Life Inspirational Message

                 I was fascinated by a recent essay I read by Jeannine Gramick.   I did not know who she was until recently when I realized she has been getting quite a bit of publicity because Pope Francis wrote to congratulate her on fifty years work with the LBGTQ community.   Obviously, our society’s discussion of that issue has changed remarkably over the years.   As one who is older too, it is easy to recall how differently people talked about sexuality in earlier decades.               It does not really matter that Gramick is a nun, except for her to be doing this work within the Catholic context made her own life tricky and, at times, miserable.   She was told not to do that work, so basically she was estranged from her own church community.   Because she felt like God was calling her to it, she felt she could not do otherwis...

                 I lead a regular group which focuses on contemplative living.   What we want to do is to live our lives spiritually at a deeper level.   We recognize this desire is shared by many people and there are countless resources that can help us in this venture.   There is a huge treasury of saints and spiritual women and men, many of whom wrote extensively about their spiritual lives.   It is easy to get advice.   These days the internet can provide all kinds of “how to’s” and “what to do” suggestions.   I appreciate this and try to make use of some of those resources.             That said, I am also quite grateful simply to gather with some folks who have the same interest as I do.   We want to live life at a deeper spiritual level.   We recognize there are no magical formulas or sure advice that automatically ma...

            The title for this inspirational piece comes from the pen of recently sainted, San Salvadoran Archbishop, Oscar Romero.  On October 14, 2018 Romero was made a saint of the Church.  Pope Francis proclaimed the Central American churchman and theologian to be holy.  I am not sure what that all means to my Catholic friends.  Quakers don’t have saints in the same way the Roman Catholic Church proclaims and publicizes them.  I admit I am glad the Church does celebrate the sanctity of certain women and men.         Just because Quakers don’t proclaim certain folks to be saints does not mean I am against them!  As I just said, I am glad we have them.  It means I can borrow a saint and make him or her my saint, too.  I certainly have done this with figures from the past---people like Sts. Augustine, Francis, Theresa and others.  As I understand it, a saint does not have to ju...

            In Alan Jones’ wonderful book, Soul Making , we are given a chapter that deals with illusion.   Jones is the now-retired Dean of the Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco and a personal friend.   When I discovered this book, which is now dated, I was so engaged and helped by Jones’ reflections on faith, theology and our spiritual journey.   I still find it very helpful.   I have even used it in one of my college classes, but I am not sure students find it as helpful.   Sometimes, I think it is because much of what Jones does is for people a little further along in life.               In a chapter entitled, “The Fiftieth Gate,” Jones shares a story from the Jewish sage, Ellie Weisel.   Essentially, it is a story about a young disciple who is ardent in his studies, but is undisciplined.   At one point, he leaves his teacher and rabbi and runs off o...

       I have debated about dealing with the recent issue swirling about the issue about baptism within the Roman Catholic Church.   It concerns a story coming out of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix about baptism.   That story has caused a firestorm of controversy for the Catholics of that area and around the country.   Of course, I am not Catholic; I am a lifelong Quaker.   I like to hang out with Catholics.   I have done some fairly serious reading and some writing about sacraments, but I also realize I have no right to offer Catholicism any advice on how they should understand or practice baptism.               I had decided not to comment until I read a recent article by Kimberly Roland, whom I do not know.   Reading her bio reveals that she is a “cradle Catholic” and a native of the Phoenix Diocese.   She is also vice president of Innovation and Entrepreneur Programs...

            I was part of a group meeting recently in which the concern was how to take our message to the larger community.   The community in this case could mean the immediate area or city…maybe even the whole country or the whole world.   In some circles “it” has been called evangelism---convincing folks of the gospel message.   Sometimes the goal in evangelism can be cynically seen as an attempt to get people to think exactly like you do.   After all, if you think you have the truth and are right, why should not everyone think just like you did?   If they don’t, that would mean they are wrong!             The group I was part of was not thinking about “it” in those terms.   However, maybe I am kidding myself and my group was only thinking about evangelism in a more benign fashion.   Perhaps they only lacked the courage to be as bold in proclaiming the messa...

       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---mayb...