Carl McColman's Blog, page 77
June 8, 2012
Body and Blood, Indeed
L'Arche Logo
Yesterday was the feast of Corpus Christi — the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. To celebrate, the Episcopal Cathedral of Saint Philip in Atlanta hosted a very special Eucharist indeed. This week the cities of Atlanta and Decatur are hosting the 2012 International Gathering of L’Arche — the federation of communities founded by Jean Vanier (and lovingly written about by Henri Nouwen) in which persons with intellectual disabilities and non-disabled volunteers and assistants...
June 6, 2012
Mary, Martha, and Meister Eckhart
The story of Mary and Martha of Bethany — where Martha is busy serving the guests while Mary sits with Jesus, leading to the point where Martha complains about her sister not helping out with all the work that needs to be done, only to have Jesus defend Mary for choosing “the better part” (Luke 10:38-42) — has long been regarded as a story about how the contemplative life is “higher” than the active life. The Cloud of Unknowing forcefully makes this traditional argument. But in her book The S...
June 5, 2012
Patheos x 2
Last week I never got around to posting a link to my Patheos column here at my blog, so this week you get two links. Both are continuing my exploration of Cistercian spirituality, a topic that I imagine I will continue to examine at Patheos for at least a few weeks to come. So here you go:
Beyond Merton: Exploring the Riches of Cistercian Literature—A surprising number of Cistercian authors, from the past and the present, have contributed to the literature of contemplative spirituality.
June 4, 2012
Before We Face the Monkey Mind
A reader has written to me with the following question:
I make my living as a psychotherapist & most of my work is spiritually oriented counseling with Christians. I have long been trying to introduce clients to contemplation through encouraging brief periods of silence, solitude and openness (15-20 min). I also taught an introductory course through my church. Finally, I am preparing to lecture other therapists on using contemplation in therapy.
As I have tried to introduce others we always dea...
June 1, 2012
My Topics at the Wild Goose Festival
It’s only three weeks until the second annual East CoastWild Goose Festival! I hope you’re making plans to be there — it will be three days of amazing teaching, music, art, and worship, built around the themes of spirituality, art and justice. To learn more about the festival (which takes place in North Caroline June 21-14) and to purchase advance tickets, visit www.wildgoosefestival.org.
The schedule is still subject to change, but it looks like I will be speaking Saturday evening and Sunday...
May 26, 2012
The Desert and the Dark Night
Spirituality and Pastoral Care
In the Christian tradition, there are two symbols which recur frequently in the literature of contemplative prayer: the symbols of Desert and of Dark Night. The Desert symbol spans the spiritual history of the people of God from Abraham’s movement into unknown territory, through the wanderings in the wilderness, the desert movement of the early church, to Charles de Foucauld and the revival of desert spirituality in the twentieth century. It stands for the realit...
May 25, 2012
Something of the Leisure of Eternity
The Spiritual Life
The action of those whose lives are given to the Spirit has in it something of the leisure of Eternity; and because of this, they achieve far more than those whose lives are enslaved by the rush and hurry, the unceasing tick-tick of the world. Otherwise we tend to forget that God, Who is greater than our heart, is greater than our job too.
— Evelyn Underhill, The Spiritual Life
I know I get caught up in the deadline syndrome: I have to get something done by a certain date or i...
May 24, 2012
Reading and Recognition
The Silent Cry
The Greek word for “reading” means to have renewed cognition, to re-cognize. To read texts of mysticism is to have renewed cognition of one’s self, of a being that is buried under rubble. Thus, the discovery of the mystical tradition also sets free one’s own forgotten experience.
— Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance
In The Wisdom Jesus, Cynthia Bourgeault describes Jesus “as a recognition event.” In Jesus we recognize ourselves, but we also recognize God. Re...
May 23, 2012
Cistercian Spirituality, Anyone?
My latest installment of the Let the Earth Keep Silence column is now live at Patheos: it’s called Cistercian Spirituality 101.
As always, I hope you’ll click on the link and take a look. And if you find it interesting, or would like to see more columns devoted to Cistercian spirituality, please say so (i.e., leave a comment, either here or there). I’m thinking it might be fun to write a series of columns on the Cistercian Charisms — but only if enough folks seem to be interested in the topic....
May 22, 2012
Discovering the Celtic Experience (Evening at Emory Course)
This post is especially for my friends in the metro Atlanta area…
I’m pleased to announce that Emory Continuing Education is bringing back a class I haven’t taught in several years: Discovering the Celtic Experience. Here’s the blurb for the class from the Emory website:
Evening at Emory: Discovering the Celtic Experience
Come explore the rich traditions of Celtic history, art, music, spirituality and wisdom. Through storytelling, audio-visual presentations and lively discussions, discover the s...
