Through Jesus Christ, we are invited into the flow of God's energy running through this universe. Moving into that good current doesn't require us to work harder, serve more, or first get our stuff together. Stepping into this current simply requires surrender -...
Spiritual transformation always includes a usually disconcerting reorientation. Change happens, but transformation is always a process of letting go, living in the confusing, shadowy space for a while, and eventually being spit up on a new and unexpected shore. You...
People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
Remind us that the joy you giveis not in attaining but in releasingnot in storing but in letting gonot in getting everything we want butin giving all that we haveso that everyonemay be filled with good things.
Shifting from a self-centered focus to a more God-centered focus is terribly hard. I think we've gone wrong by assuming that such a radical movement can be achieved simply by setting our jaw and saying one or two prayers of relinquishment. Letting go isn't one step,...
Change can force a transformation. Spiritual transformation always includes a usually disconcerting reorientation. It can either help people to find a new meaning, or it can force people to close down and turn slowly bitter. The difference is determined precisely by...
Seasons of waiting are seasons of contemplation—of quietness and resting in God, of letting go, of self-yielding. They are times when we watch and listen with the eyes and ears of our heart. Advent, more than any other liturgical season, is about this kind of...
How this dying [to self] occurs varies greatly from person to person: for some, it may involve an inrushing of the Spirit, for others a severe life crisis, for others a long, gradual journey. But in any case, the central movement in dying is a handing over, a...
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
Christianity is about water: “Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” It’s about baptism, for God’s sake. It’s about full immersion, about falling into something elemental and wet. Most of what we do in worldly life is geared toward our staying dry, looking...