Talking About The Faith Path

The Emmaus and Damascus event There is the Emmaus experience that many Christians have. The story in the New Testament is an interesting one. Two men, followers of Jesus, walking away from Jerusalem, leaving behind a life that was filled with hope in their expectations about Jesus and what they...

Bittersweet (written about 15 years ago) Sometimes when I awake in the middle of the night, and can’t go back to sleep, memories often rise to the surface, that I usually don’t revert to in my normal waking life. I guess when just awakening, and lying there doing nothing, allows thoughts from...

Praying when anxious “We get anxious more with imaginations than actuality.” ― Abhijit Naskar When I was a bit younger, I would often grapple with anger, which would frequently rise like a torpedo, and simply try to sink me. I guess that made me very cognizant of the power of the unconscious...

Feast of St. Benedict 2021 “It is time now for us to rise from sleep.” ― St. Benedict, Rule of St. Benedict Being awake and staying awake is not as easy as it sounds. We all have callings in life. Or ‘vocations’ if you will. Married life, single life, religious life, monastic life, and the...

A Woman Prophet (This an older piece that wrote in 2016) One of the brothers asked me to drive him to the International airport to pick up a monastic guest. He has never been there and does not know the city too well, so I was glad to do it. It was also the one day a month that the community...

Malchus, a Life Turned Upside Down in an Instant The chief priests had come for Christ with a detachment of soldiers. They were about to haul him away, but Peter tried to show his loyalty to his master. He was probably aiming to kill but because he was merely a fisherman, he may not have had a...

The Gate of Bone “The worst prison would be a closed heart.” ― Pope John Paul II For many people, dreams are important indicators of what they need to do to deepen their walk with the Lord. Some dreams present a choice that is important, imperative, and must be made with full awareness. I had...

A poisoned dagger Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create.--Pope John Paul II Violence comes under many guises. It is easy to come up with a good reason for doing just about anything. We can confront someone with the truth, not to help them, but...

On Doubt (Feast of St. Thomas) A faith without some doubts is like a human body with no antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask the hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of...

The threads of our lives (Journaling) Sometimes when I think of God, the image of a weaver comes into my mind. Then I imagine an infinite number of threads being brought together to make some sort of tapestry. All kinds of threads; some thick, others so thin that you can barely see them, some...

Anxiety and Depression- A Spiritual Rx (Br. Mark) -----Below are some notes for the retreat giving this weekend. It was a good group and they were easy to interact with. I was nervous before giving this retreat, it was the first time for me dealing with this subject, so I hope that I did not...

What we are called to do To be loving can be a struggle with many failures, yet that is what we are called to do, to love, and show mercy-BrMD

On Stormy Waters To look to Jesus on the stormy waters is the road to inner freedom from the tyranny of the ego.-BrMD

Expanding heart Our hearts in Christ expand eternally, leading us to learn how to love as Jesus does, one step at a time-Br.MD

Like Peter, We Need To Get Out of the Boat Your subjective dispositions do not impede the action of My grace in your soul. Learn, then, to trust in Me to do the things that you cannot do of yourself, and allow Me to work in you secretly, in a manner perceptible A Benedictine Monk. In Sinu...

Br. Callistus JUNE NEWSLETTER Monastery Retreat House Newsletter June 2021 Life at the Monastery “Although the life of a person is in a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. You have to trust God.” — Pope Francis Hello Dear Friends...

Uneasiness in prayer You think that your inability to pray without distractions is an obstacle to My grace. Were that so, I would not have been able to sanctify a great number of those whom My Church honors as saints. Distractions, when they are not entertained willfully, are no obstacle to My...

He who sees into the depths (Yet I Keep on Truckin) If love is the greatest spiritual gift, then it would seem that if Christians want to be healers of hearts and souls, then we should pray for this gift, greater even than miracles, which can be flashy and then forgotten in time. However, to...

Inattention towards faith We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr. We can lose something valuable by inattention or carelessness; these are actual choices. In order to keep what is precious alive and vibrant, it must be worked for. Be it...

The struggle with self It is a true honor to meet the many people who come to the Monastery to make a retreat and to be able to share and learn from them. I have yet to meet a man or a woman who is not going through some sort of deep interior struggle. Some may not always know that until they...