The devil’s favorite thing to do is turn us against each other. In Jesus’ parable of the weeds and the wheat the servants of a master find that the wheat field has lots and lots of weeds growing in it. They come to the master and say…

One of the most dangerous ways to spend your time is on how you think other people should behave and live their lives. It is not dangerous because you’ll die if you do it; it’s dangerous because…

There were two tall trees outside Etty’s window. They greeted her at the end of each day when she arrived home. The trees with their proud expansive branches and the jasmine with its delicate white flowers were…

The girl was 15 years old when her mother died. She was unspeakably devastated, sorrow became her name and fear her constant companion. I don’t know whose idea it was, but someone thought the girl should…

A perfectly healthy, athletic young man became very sick and was hospitalized for nearly two weeks. His doctors never did discover the…

Not long before he died Jesus said this to his friends, “You have power to retain the sins of others, and you have the power to forgive the sins of others.” I think that’s his best relationship advice.

The Israelites were mad at Moses, really mad, for something that was out of his control. They wanted him to produce water in the desert because they were darn near dying of thirst. He looked all around and…

The church is a school (when it’s at its best) in which we learn how to surrender ourselves, our souls and bodies entirely to God. 

Meditation is not necessary for salvation. You don’t have to meditate to have a good life or be a good person. The truth is silent prayer is…

Jesus disrupts all my partisan inclinations. Allegiances born of partisanship are governed by emotional attachment which is why a great many people can’t talk about politics without getting upset.

I tried to gossip with Teresa of Avila as we walked down the path. This person we both know had done something really foolish, and I wanted to tell Teresa about it because I thought she’d want to know. I don’t know why I thought that.

I told Thomas Kelly about my schedule as we walked along the path. I was proud and thought he’d be impressed. He said, “Gosh, you must be really important. Or maybe you’re trying to prove something?

I told Etty Hillesum that I was upset about a change that had been made as we walked along the path. She laughed and said, “Who isn’t?”

I told John of the Cross about my desire for inner peace as we walked along the path. He said, “The biggest obstacle to attaining inner peace is your desire for inner peace.”

“The only thing about which you should complain is that you do complain,” said Meister Eckhart to me as we walked along the path…

You can’t outrun love. That’s true. There is nowhere that God is not, and God is love, so it’s pretty simple math - you can’t outrun love. The best theological treatment of that fact can be found in…

In the depth of one’s own soul each of us is welcomed with the infinity of God’s own hospitality into the original union that is the source of all that is and ever will be…

If I think about my own story and all my missteps and misdeeds, then I think about all the history I’ve studied, I suddenly remember…

My working definition of love is: an outpouring of longing and affection that does not require, need, or want return…

To be born again from above means to let go of all control, to forget everything we know, and re-enter the sacred ignorance of childhood as creatures entirely directed by the love of Jesus. You cannot…