Listening to the Saints – Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle (part 2)

This is my second post on Teresa of Avila’s spiritual classic, The Interior Castle.  Read part one. The whole point of this work is to show the soul’s journey to God.  But this is no other-worldly, irrelevant spiritual mumbo-jumbo.  Teresa’s message is actually quite practical. She emphasizes that true perfection, the essence of what it [...]

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Listening to the Saints – Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle

“Let learned men, who have studied, do the writing; I am a stupid creature and don’t know what I am saying. There are more than enough books written on prayer already. For the love of God, let me get on with my spinning and go to choir and do my religious duties like the other [...]

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On Campus at Penn State Berks – Prayer at the Labyrinth

On a little-trafficked section of Penn State Berks is a huge concrete circle with what appears to be a maze painted on it.  Yet a maze it is not, for it is a labyrinth.  In a maze you can get lost, hit a dead end and have to try again.  A labyrinth, on the other [...]

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We Need New Heroes

Earlier this week Columbus Day was observed.  I did not notice until I saw we got no mail.  Once I confirmed that the post office was still in business, I remembered it was early October so it must be Columbus Day. Then yesterday I was reading Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.  It is a [...]

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I stink at praying (Listening to the Saints)

I stink at praying.  When I was a kid I was told that if you want to be a good Christian you need to pray, read the Bible and be involved in church.  The latter two were never really a problem for me.  But praying?  I knew I was supposed to pray so I would [...]

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Weekly Word – Persecution, stumbling blocks, spiritual death and us

(Every week, give or take, I send out a brief email to the students with some thoughts from Scripture and I offer it here also in case it may encourage anyone else who comes across it) Last evening we studied Matthew 18:1-14.  When Jesus tells his disciples to have faith like a child, he is [...]

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Summer in Thessalonica – I Miss You!

2:17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we wanted to come to you— certainly I, Paul, did, again and again— but Satan blocked our way. [...]

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