Carl McColman's Blog, page 28
November 9, 2020
What Contemplatives Think of Their Prayer Practice (and What We Can Do To Grow in Prayer)
Over the years I’ve had the privilege to speak to many people who practice, or are interested in practicing, Christian forms of silent prayer. Since I myself practice Centering Prayer, I’m thinking primarily about Centering Prayer practitioners, but I imagine that the issues we’re going to look at are equally common among people who practice other methods of silent or interior prayer, like the Jesus Prayer, or Christian Meditation, or the Prayer of Quiet.
Sometimes people confide in me that they...
November 3, 2020
In Silent Prayer, We Let Thoughts Go… Even Holy Thoughts?
A reader writes,
Hi Carl. I have a question that I can never find a clear answer to. In Zen meditation, one is to sit silently, and if thoughts come into your head, let them just drift away rather than focus on them, etc. “A flying bird leaves no trace.” I understand all that. Now, how does silent prayer differ from that? Yes, I don’t want to focus on monkey-mind thoughts of work, money, the bad weather, whatever. Let those simply drift away. But what about thoughts of God, Jesus, Mary and Josep...
October 31, 2020
Help Santa Out: Seven Books to Give to Anyone Interested in Learning About Christian Mysticism
Okay, friends, I know we haven’t even made it to All Saint’s yet, but Christmas is less than two months away.
If you’re new to my blog, I write about Christian spirituality and contemplation. And I’m a bit of an evangelist about it — I want more people to learn about Christian spirituality (whether or not they go to church or even identify as “Christian”). I’m not trying to convert people, but I am convinced that contemplative and mystical spirituality offers a healthy and holistic alternative t...
October 30, 2020
Contemplative Wisdom from Evelyn Underhill, Martin Laird and Julian of Norwich
Contemplative Outreach Atlanta has just finished their first online 5-Day Retreat. Historically this retreat took place each year at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit; I’ve been a participant on the retreat, and it’s been a wonderful experience. This year, with the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the retreat was moved to a Zoom format. The organizer of the retreat, Maggie Winfrey, asked me to lead three sessions of Centering Prayer over the course of the retreat and to provide a read...
October 26, 2020
Nine Books for Exploring Franciscan Spirituality
This past weekend I conducted a retreat on Franciscan spirituality for the Rock Hill Oratory Center for Spirituality in South Carolina. Franciscan spirituality is such a delight, so of course I enjoyed both designing and leading this retreat.
I promised the retreatants that I would provide a list of recommended books on the subject of Franciscan spirituality. Once I drew up the list, I figured it was worth posting here — so here it is. Enjoy!
Ian Morgan Cron, Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale —...
October 24, 2020
Get Kindle Versions of My Books for as Low as 99¢! (Limited Time Offer)
Friends, three of my books are currently on sale as Kindle e-books in the USA. Act now for a chance to get these books at a deep discount. These prices are accurate as of October 24, 2020 — no guarantees as for how long these sale prices will last (If you’re outside the USA, my apologies — but check the Amazon website for your country, you never know when a book might be on sale).
The Big Book of Christian Mysticism is available on sale for only 99¢! If you’re interested in exploring the mystic...
October 23, 2020
Why “Nobody’s Perfect” is Such Good News
Nobody’s perfect. It’s such a bit of folk wisdom that it just rolls off our tongue.
But do we believe it? Do we accept the imperfections in ourselves — or others — or do we get caught up in judgment, when faced with something we don’t like or of which we disapprove?
Jesus said, “Do not judge,” but I confess: sometimes I do. And often, the person I’m the hardest on is myself.
One of the privileges of the work that I do is that I’ve gotten to know a number of monks, nuns, priests and other clergy-...
October 18, 2020
A Dream and a Book (How I Learned About Christian Mysticism)
For episode 2 of my new podcast, Schola Mystica, I tell a brief story about how I first learned about Christian mysticism, beginning with a dream I had shortly after graduating from high school; a conversation with a trusted friend to try to make sense of that dream, and a book that friend recommended to me: Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism: The Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness.
You can subscribe to the podcast through Apple, Google, Podchaser, TuneIn, or Stitcher. It’s also availab...
October 15, 2020
Some Journal Entries from A Young Aspiring Contemplative
I’ve been refurbishing my office over the past few months, and so one of the tasks I’ve taken on is reviewing my old journals. Most of them I’m content to simply leave tucked away in the corner of the closet where they’ve been sitting for a while.
But the other day I came across a journal I kept from November 1985 to December 1986. I was 24 when I began it, and had just turned 26 when I wrote the last entry. So basically, a record of my 25th year. At the time, I was learning the basics of contem...
October 13, 2020
Balancing Faith in the Word with a Scholarly Understanding of the Bible
Sometimes, people grow up in conservative churches where the Bible is often read in a very literal or fundamentalist way. Such persons might go on to study at a college or university where they are exposed to a more scholarly, historical-critical way of reading the Bible. This usually feels more informed and honest than the fundamentalist approach to the Bible — but often it seems that something can be lost when we transition from reading the Bible literally to reading it in a more scholarly way...
