I’m exhausted from suffering. The worst part is that no one is doing it to me. I am the cause of my own misery. It’s not intentional. I get an idea, it becomes an obsession, and then I impulsively act on that obsession until I hit a wall or run out of steam. Either…
Listening to God’s quiet voice is not easy. It’s made even harder when we are surrounded by the loud voices of a world that wants us to conform to its opinions, values, and standards. If we are not careful, the intrusive voices of the world, whether real or imagined, will begin to rule us,…
What do you do when you have been afraid of the same thing for forty years? What if that thing is a person? What if that person is someone you love? One of, if not my biggest, spiritual struggles, is discerning the answer to these very questions. I pray almost daily for God to…
When I took my daughter and her cousins to the playground a few days ago, I let them play for about an hour and a half while I read my book on the bench. They were having a good time with each other, just being kids, and I was having a good time watching…
My ego is a raging storm that I cannot control. The harder I try, the more it overwhelms me. There are brief moments when it seems like I have tamed it, when it appears as if I have held the rains and winds at bay. But then the calm subsides, the storm overtake me,…
My wife and I have been married for over fifteen years and it has taken the entirety of those fifteen years just to begin to learn how to let someone love me. I thank God for the fact that she is not only faithful, but persistent. She has never given up on me and…
So much of what we call prayer is about being present to the presence of God. This is true whether it is petitionary prayer, intercessory prayer, contemplative prayer, centering prayer, or ritualistic prayer like praying the rosary. When we pray, we place ourselves in the presence of God and, through whatever method we happen…
In his fifth Rule for the Discernment of Spirits, St Ignatius of Loyola states, “In times of desolation, never make a change.” In other words, when you don’t feel God’s presence in your life, continue doing the things you did when you did feel his presence in your life. Don’t make rash or hasty…
I walked my daughter and her cousins to the playground this afternoon. While they played, I sat on a bench and read Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality by Ronald Rolheiser, a book that my advisor recommended I read prior to starting my master’s degree this coming fall. As I read, they…
As I walked into my home tonight, carrying in a bag of groceries after taking my wife’s car to get a tire changed, I looked down and noticed the freshly cut grass. Something about it struck me and made me pause. It was strangely beautiful and breathtaking, at least in this moment. I then…