Carl McColman's Blog, page 21

Cindy Lou Harrington (1953-2021)

Friends, I am sad to have learned of the passing of our dear friend Cindy Lou Harrington. If you have read Eternal Heart you met Cindy Lou on page 59. She was my daughter Rhiannon’s teacher for many years, but in addition to her work as a special educator she also had a career as a singer-songwriter; she released several albums and was a regular in the Atlanta country music scene for many years. Several of her songs were written out of her experience working with kids with special needs, includi...

Do the Ten Commandments Still Matter?

N.B. Today’s post is a meditation on the Ten Commandments that I wrote for the people who support this blog through Patreon. I’m sharing this particular post with the public because I hope it will spark reflection and dialogue. Eventually every post I share with patrons will eventually be published, but if you’d like to be the first to see much of my new writing, then I hope you’ll consider becoming a supporter today. Click here to visit Patreon.

Meditations on the Christian Mysteries, Chapter 3...

Two Online Retreat Options for October: Celtic Wisdom and the Spirituality of Tolkien and Lewis!

Hi friends, just want to make sure everyone is aware of two upcoming retreats I am doing online. If one or both of these topics appeal to you, I hope you’ll join me!

On October 22 and 23, the Rock Hill Oratory is sponsoring a retreat called “The Wisdom of the Christian Imagination” featuring insights from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I know fantasy isn’t everyone’s cuppa joe, but if you are like me and love to explore the dreamworlds of Narnia and Middle Earth, then please come...

In-Person Event: Praying with Thomas Merton and Ignatius of Loyola (July 15-17, 2022)

I’m so pleased to be returning to Ignatius House for my first in-person retreat since before the pandemic! I’ve been asked to revisit one of my most popular retreats, which pairs the spiritual wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola with the twentieth century mystic, Thomas Merton! Come to Ignatius House, a truly beautiful and restful oasis in the Atlanta metropolitan area, for this time of silence, prayer, and reflection. Hope to see you there!

Date/Time: July 15, 2022 @ 6:00 pm — July 17, 2022 @ 12:0...

The Cathedral Beyond the Forest (A Dream)

Last night I had this dream:

Fran and I were visiting friends who had a beautiful house out in the woods. The house was covered with natural wood paneling that hadn’t been painted, maybe only varnished, so the beauty of the wood was apparent. The house was surrounded on all sides by woods, like my old house north of Monteagle where I lived from 1990 to 1993. I don’t know who lived there, but they were friends. Fran and I were staying in a guest room that had windows that looked out into the beau...

In Person Event: Praying with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (July 8-10, 2022)

I am SO excited to be returning to Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY! I was honored to lead several online retreats for this monastic community during the pandemic; now, God willing, it will be a joy to return to the beautiful monastery on the Hudson River to lead a weekend of prayerful reflection on the wisdom of the Desert Mothers and Fathers. New York is beautiful in the summer — I hope I’ll see you there!

Date: July 8-10, 2022
Time: 5 PM Friday – Noon Sunday, Eastern Time (USA/Canada)
To...

All the Episodes of Encountering Silence in One Audio Player

The Encountering Silence podcast, which I co-host, is available through all the normal podcast channels, from Apple (iTunes) to Google to Spotify to Amazon. So please listen to it using your favorite podcasting service.

Alternatively, you can listen to it right here, using this handy little audio player. The most recent episode is featured at the top, but you can scroll down below to find any of the 136 episodes we’ve released. Check it out: you’ll find interviews with Martin Laird, Cynthia Bour...

Seven Years in Heaven

Yesterday — August 30, 2021 — marked the seventh anniversary of the 2014 passing of Fran’s and my daughter, Rhiannon. It was a stormy evening here in Atlanta, as we began to feel the wrath of Hurricane Ida. So Fran and I just grabbed carryout personal pizzas from Rhiannon’s favorite pizza joint, Uncle Maddio’s, and then came home and watched one of her favorite movies, Despicable Me. Even after all these years, the movie still charmed us.

If you have read Unteachable Lessons or Eternal Heart, yo...

Between Thomas Keating and Teilhard de Chardin: On Finding Your Own Personal Spiritual Style

Have you ever heard of the Enneagram or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? These are psychological tools that we can use to discover the unique characteristics of our personalities. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Naturally intuitive, or more concrete in your thinking? Do you like to make decisions, or prefer things open-ended? Would you describe yourself as a helper, an achiever, a peacemaker, or a reformer (to name just a few)?

These tools have become popular over the last forty years or s...

Online Event: Invitation to a Deeper Spiritual Life (Dates: January 10-February 7, 2022)

Columbia Theological Seminary has a splendid certificate program for spiritual formation, and this four-week online course is the introductory program for those who wish to participate. But even if you don’t want to commit to an in-depth spirituality certificate program, this course is a great way to explore the riches of Christian spirituality and to give yourself a way to “go deeper.” Carl McColman is one of three instructors for this program. If you’re interested, enroll soon — this is sure t...