-
No Eyes to See: Pseudo-Dionysius and the Silence Beyond Understanding (Lectio Divina)
What if the silence that feels most like abandonment is actually something else entirely — a light too bright for us to bear? This reflection follows what happens when the words finally run out, and what waits for us on the other side of understanding.
-
Standing in Your Own Shadow: On the False Self, Desolation, and the Light That Remains (Lectio Divina)
The Holy Spirit, this post argues, does not cause our desolation — and does not withdraw when we fall into darkness. But if God’s love and light are never absent, what is the shadow? This reflection traces the logic of the false self as the one who turns away from the light and stands…
-
An Excess of Presence: On Spiritual Darkness and the Gift of God’s Grace (Lectio Divina)
Some days God feels farther away than others. The fog of spiritual dryness settles in, and the mirror through which we see his reflection grows dark and unpolished. In this Lectio Divina reflection, Robert Van Valkenburgh draws on Pseudo-Dionysius’s Mystical Theology and the Mary and Martha passage from Luke’s Gospel to explore what we…
-
The God Beyond Concepts: A Contemplative Journey into Sacred Silence (Lectio Divina)
What does it mean to have no concept of God? Drawing on Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and the centering prayer tradition of Thomas Keating, this Lectio Divina explores how relationship with God can deepen beyond concepts and experience can expand beyond belief — not replacing them, but fulfilling them. Through one transformative moment of contemplative…