Carl McColman's Blog, page 5

The God who is Love and the Death of Christ: A Contemplative Reflection

Allen, who is a reader of this blog, recently sent me a thoughtful email; here are some excerpts from what he wrote:

I have a profound connection with the teachings of Jesus, yet I struggle with certain aspects of Christian fundamentalism, particularly the exclusivity that sometimes accompanies it… For me, life seems to be about recognizing that we’re all essentially “children of God,” each of us being eternal spiritual beings. It feels like we’ve forgotten this truth and the journey is about re...

Julian of Norwich and the Non-binary God

In the middle ages — 1373, to be exact — an obscure English woman got sick, and while she was ill, experienced visions of God, Christ, Mary, and heaven. We know about her because she described her mystical visions in what became the first book written in the English language by a woman. We don’t know her name, but she was affiliated with the Church of St. Julian in the village of Norwich, so we refer to her as Julian of Norwich. Today, Julian is considered one of the greatest of the medieval Chr...

The Difference Between Apophatic and Kataphatic Spirituality

Many years ago, my very first spiritual director recommended a book to me; she suggested that I read Gerald May’s 1982 classic: Will and Spirit: A Contemplative Psychology. I did, and it remains one of my favorite books on the psychology of contemplation.

Among many other treasures that I gleaned from this book, it introduced me to two Greek words that I would run into again and again during my years of exploration into mystical and contemplative spirituality. The words kataphatic (also spelled ...

Encountering Silence: An Interview with Writer and Teacher Marilyn McEntyre

What is the relationship between language and silence? Between words and truth-telling? How can we foster a more truly contemplative relationship with the way we speak to one another? These are the kinds of questions that informed this episode of Encountering Silence, in which Carl, Cassidy and Kevin welcome author and spiritual teacher Marilyn McEntyre for a conversation informed by her mindful writing on topics such as language, peacemaking, and authenticity.

Marilyn McEntyre is an award-win...

From Mythology to Mysticism: A New Way to Think About Lectio Divina

If you have been reading this blog (or participating in Christian contemplative practices) for a while, no doubt you are familiar with Lectio Divina. If not, you can see a post I wrote about it by clicking here.

The classic four-step model of lectio divina — lectio/reading, meditatio/reflection, oratio/response, and contemplatio/rest, has stood the test of time and is now considered a core practice of contemplative spirituality, at least within Christianity (in a way, lectio divina is the core c...

The Fruit of the Spirit… and the Fraught Words that Divide Us

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things… if we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23, 25)

The fruit of the Spirit, listed by the Apostle Paul in the fifth chapter of Galatians, is one of my favorite of New Testament passages. I see it as equal to the Beatitudes in terms of establishing a concise statement of what a transformed spi...

Upcoming Events: In New York, Maryland, and Online

Friends, just want to make sure everyone is aware of a few upcoming events I have on the calendar. Join me for a retreat and a book signing in New York, or for a day of reflection in Maryland; and if you can’t meet me in those locations, join me online.

Here’s what’s coming up…

— April 25 (Online event): Teaming up with my friends Alice Camille and Paul Boudreau for a conversation / mini-online-retreat on the Psalms in the light of contemporary music and poetry. Sponsored by the Rock Hill Orator...

The Relationship Between Meditation, Mysticism and Contemplation

A long-term reader and patron of this blog recently wrote to me this message:

Just what is a contemplative person or for that matter tradition? Is a Christian mystic by definition a contemplative or is a contemplative a possible subset? Or turn that around……is a Christian contemplative by definition a mystic or is a mystic a subset? I think that for years I may have thought that because I engaged with a 20 min. sit each day ( 2 or 3 sits on a good day) that I was engaged with a contemplative lif...

The Pilgrim as Interspiritual Archetype

A little while back I wrote a blog post called “Five Approaches to Interspirituality.” In this post, I compare interspiritual practice to having a relationship with more than one country (such as the USA and England). People can have different ways of relating to more than one country, and I pose five such “ways,” comparing spirituality to being a tourist, an immigrant, an ambassador, and so forth.

At the end of that post, I pose this question:

Certainly there are other ways to engage with a fai...

Where to Rest Your Awareness in Centering Prayer

A reader of this blog recently wrote this question to me:

I’ve read and listened to Fr. Thomas Keating quite a bit but am still a little confused regarding where my mind is supposed to be during my Centering Prayer practice. I understand that we are to use the sacred word as a symbol of intention to accept the presence and action of God, however, I get tripped up over where my awareness is supposed to rest. Am I supposed to sit with open awareness AND with the sense that God is present or am I s...