Reflections

Given that our prayers typically include asking God for something we want and asking God to keep away from us something we do not want, to reverse direction and instead ask for something contrary to what we want or ask God to bring to us whatever we might want to...

The cliché “prayer changes things,” while containing a measure of truth, unfortunately inspires more misunderstanding than anything else. It invites one who prays to believe that whatever words he says, whatever she asks for, will somehow impact the course of events...

While on a vacation in Hawaii some years ago, we rose early one morning to watch the sun come up over the ocean. For what seemed the longest time, we could see light approaching on the horizon even though the sun itself had not actually appeared. Darkness does not...

The season of Advent brings scripture readings of changes in the landscape, of the earth shifting so that valleys are filled and mountains are levelled and twisting roads are made straight. Further changes come among the creatures of the earth, with traditional animal...

I said to my soul, be still, and let the darkness come upon you Which shall be the darkness of God. ~ T. S. Eliot Perhaps because we have so many images of God that are filled with light—heavenly light, the light of goodness and truth, the experience of being...

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing. Wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing. There is yet faith: But the faith and the hope and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for...

A portion of the Catholic mass includes a back-and-forth between the priest and the people in which a call is issued to give thanks because “it is our duty and our salvation, always to give thanks.” That being thankful is a duty makes sense, as we are instructed early...

Much has been written about how and when we receive answers to our prayers, as though prayer is primarily about asking for something and then waiting to get it. With this understanding of prayer, our consumer habits inevitably take over as we expect to have our...

There is no one, at any time or in any place, who does not experience distractions when praying. All sorts of disconnected thoughts and emotions sweep through the one praying, kidnapping focus and intention, often for the entire prayer time. While batting away such...