Lessons from a Celtic Saint

Our culture here in the United States is so over-heated, so noisy, so busy, that we often make decisions impulsively and without reflection.

We often drive ourselves to exhaustion, and forget why in the world we might be doing what we are doing.

We think of hospitality in odd ways?either refusing the stranger completely, or thinking in a thoroughly romantic way that we need to welcome every single person at any time.

St. Cuthbert?s life, though remote in time from us, teaches us the deep human need to allow for rest, replenishing quiet, communion with the natural world and the time to simply catch up to ourselves. ...

by Mary Earle
from "St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne"

He was once a person who inspired strong feelings in almost everyone who knew his name and reputation. If you were at all culturally, spiritually, or politically aware in the 1960s, 70s, or 80s, you either loved or hated Daniel Berrigan. ...

Father Berrigan represents a time thirty and forty years ago when the left and right became clearly defined for the first time.

He represents the beginning of a divisive period in our history that continues today.

The red and blue states, the conservatives and the liberals, and all sorts of labels that are used to define us began in earnest with the radicalizing actions of many in the 1960s and 70s.

Today, it will take activists with a different set of goals to bring the sort of change that our society needs. ...

by Jon Sweeney
from "A Spiritual Lightning Rod Turns 85"

I had just begun to discover the great contemplative writers of the Christian tradition.

I loved the call to "be still and know" and the experience of God's presence in silence and solitude. I looked forward to morning meditations and times of retreats.

All this changed, however, when I found myself the mother of two young sons and the coordinator of religious education at our local church.

When I'd rise early for prayer, little feet would come running in for breakfast. When I'd arrive early at work for a time of reflection, the telephone would start to ring.

Like most people I tended to separate my prayer life from the other parts of my life.

I was very far from the wisdom of Thomas Merton who said, "What I do is live. How I pray is breathe." ...

by Sylvia Maddox
from "Recognizing God's Presence in Our Every Experience"