Spiritual Experience & Disciplines Archives - Page 15 of 84

Memento Mori: Remember You Are Going to Die

March 1, 2023

“Keep death before one’s eyes daily.” —Rule of St. Benedict On a chilly November evening, there wasn’t much for a 6-year-old to do in a small three-room apartment five flights above Bronx streets. So I sat on the sofa, gazing at the torchiere lamp. The

Died: Christian Atsu, Ghana Soccer Star who Praised God in Everything

February 21, 2023

Christian Atsu kicked his last goal on February 5. He ran up to the soccer ball and slammed it with his deft left foot, shooting it past 10 opposing players and a goalie in the fifth minute of extra time. The ball found the back

More than thoughts and candles

February 16, 2023

It certainly wasn’t the first deadly shooting on one of our college campuses, but this one just happened to be the college campus I know best. On Monday night, while I was taking my nine-year-old to a Hornets game for his birthday, my phone erupted

Ten Ways Mother Mary is a Mother to Us

February 16, 2023

Saint Therese of Lisieux, a young Carmelite saint who died at the tender age of 24 years, loved the Blessed Virgin Mary very much and she was known to have said: “It is true that Our Lady is Queen of Heaven and earth, but at

Nigeria’s newest cardinal shares secret behind the highest Mass attendance in the world

February 14, 2023

After Nigeria was recognized as having the highest Mass attendance in the world, the African nation’s youngest cardinal has shared some of the secrets behind his country’s vibrant sacramental life. A recent study found that 94% of Nigeria’s 30 million Catholics say they attend Mass at least

From Here to Eternity

February 9, 2023

Few things challenge our tranquility and provoke a sense of existential dread more profoundly than the thought of death. If all we have striven for – all we have learned and experienced, everyone we have loved – simply comes to nothing, is there any point

Learning to do nothing: The art of sacred silence

February 9, 2023

“All of man’s misfortune comes from one thing, which is not knowing how to sit quietly in a room.” Blaise Pascal, who offers this insight, also notes in his Pensées that we fear silence more than anything else and seek constant distraction. No one in the past

Catholic Social Teaching and the Two-Party System: Pro-Life Democrat Dan Lipinski on Pope Leo XIII, Partisanship and His New Teaching Role

February 8, 2023

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois, a Catholic, is both taking on a new challenge and returning to his roots as the new Pope Leo XIII Fellow on Social Thought at the University of Dallas. Lipinski served eight terms in Congress as a pro-life Democrat

The Five Foundations for Discernment On the Path to God’s Peace

February 7, 2023

I have struggled many times with aridity in prayer. I didn’t even know the term aridity until I stumbled across it and my eyes were opened to this common spiritual challenge. When I became Catholic, I experienced a rapid healing — in particular through the writings

What the Sacraments Really Are

February 1, 2023

Too many times we are trapped by our metaphors, and I’d like to try and dilate our vision by coming at the idea of sacraments from a couple of angles. The metaphor operating for most people about sacraments is that they “contain grace.” Containers are