A Thanksgiving Relaunch
Fifteen years ago on Thanksgiving, I posted my first tentative blogpost on GivensCreative.com. That year, 2009, was still the early days of blogging and social media and much has changed in the ensuing years. Some of those changes have not been healthy and creative, of course, not to mention good for our souls, spirits, lives…
BOOK REVIEW: Leah Rampy’s “Earth and Soul”
Writer and retreat leader Leah Rampy pulls no punches in her new volume from Bold Story Press, “Earth and Soul: Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos.” The earth as we know it is in a dire predicament, from which there is no easy return or solution. We are living in “edge times,” on the threshold of climate…
Litany on the Perfect Timing of God
I was talking on the phone last week to my friend Dave in Texas, a retired hospital chaplain and now deacon and pastor of visitation at a Methodist Church. As “men of a certain age,” we have lots in common and were reflecting on those times in our lives when, despite all odds and seeming…
A Total Eclipse of the Heart
Once upon a time I was falling in loveNow I’m only falling apart.There’s nothing I can doA total eclipse of the heart.- Jim SteinmanOn April 8, a total solar eclipse made a diagonal cut across parts of Central and North America, with parts of 15 U.S. states within the path of totality. Here in St.…
Right in Front of Our Eyes
Once when I was a boy I was trying to find something — I don’t remember now what it was — but this thing ended up being right there on the table in front of me. My father laughed as he pointed it out to me and said, “If it had been a snake, it…
A Simple Gift: Coming ‘round right
In 1848, a Shaker elder named Joseph Brackett wrote an easy-to-learn-and-sing tune for his community called “Simple Gifts.” We all know it today because it has made its way into American (and Irish) culture, interpreted and recorded often by folksingers, church and school choirs, and even symphony orchestras. It evolved to become the Christian folk…
Book Review: “What Matters Most and Why: Living the Spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola,” by Jim Manney
Whether you’re an experienced and seasoned practitioner of Ignatian spirituality or a seeker looking for new ways to put your faith into practice, Jim Manney’s new book of daily “actionables” is going to be a welcome addition to your nightstand or prayer space. Manney, a former editor at Loyola Press and author of many books…
The Seeds of My Father’s Garden
“But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” (Matthew 13:9) My father’s garden wasn’t much by the standards of many gardens. It was situated on a small plot of land in the backyard of my North St. Louis home in the…
A Day and Night of Anticipation and Hope
Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year. As a child, although Christmas morning brought presents around the tree, it was Christmas Eve that brought the emotion. Christmas Eve is about expectation, hope and promise. Christmas Eve was the one night of the year that my sister, brother and I all slept…
Gathering Around the Fire
A Christmas Message and Video For two thousand years, Christians have gathered around fires, in churches and in their homes to retell the story of the Incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ. They have passed on the good news to each other — and especially to their children — that God decided He needed to…
A Post-Thanksgiving Call to Awareness and Gratitude
Dear friends, On this ordinary day just a few days past the American holiday of Thanksgiving, I write to share a reminder (in words and in the video below) that faith requires an ongoing commitment to this idea of Thanksgiving — to awareness and living with our eyes wide open to our blessings. Above all,…
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A Week of Indifference
I continued praying this past week with “Journey with Jesus,” Larry Warner’s guide through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. The theme was “indifference,” in the Ignatian sense of the word, so let’s begin there… — Although “indifference” is often used to speak of not caring about something or having a lack of passion,…
A Week of Challenge – Servanthood before Self
As I continued my way this week through “Journey with Jesus,” Larry Warner’s guide through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the theme was “service,” with Jesus set before us as role model. The grace I was told to pray for was the ability to own my role as one who serves others. Here…
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A Week of Reverence
I am slowly making my way through Larry Warner’s book, “Journey with Jesus,” yet another modern (and insightful) take on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. This past week, the theme was “reverence,” and over and over I was praying for the grace to be in awe of God. Here are a few thoughts…
Advent Retreat 2022: Cultivating a Listening Heart
For my friends in the Greater St. Louis area, I wanted to let you know about an advent retreat coming up soon, December 9-11, in case you’re interested in a quiet weekend away on the banks of the beautiful and meandering Meramec River in the northern reaches of the Ozarks — one of my favorite…
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An Invitation Home to Grace
In a few weeks I will begin another year of guiding another person through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. After a few weeks of “preparation days,” an introduction to this 500-year-old way of drawing closer to God, we will begin what is called “The First Week,” so named because the Exercises were originally…
Choosing the Better Part
I am up early this morning in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, where we’re visiting family. It’s about 4:30 as I begin to write this and I’m facing east, watching the sky grow orange at its base and ever brighter in its further reaches. The reservoir that lies about a football field away from the porch where…
Resting in Creation and in Love
A few weeks ago, Sue and I drove up the California coast from San Jose all the way up into Oregon. Along the way, we stood and walked and rested in the glory of God’s creation. The first half day of driving, north of San Francisco, it seemed like we were pulling into every single…
Let Me Easter in You
As spring comes to America’s Midwest, I am reminded of this reflection I wrote a couple of years ago for a group of spiritual directors. The conversations in it bounce back and forth between what I imagine the risen Christ might say to me and the common struggles of faith that spiritual directors often hear…
A Blessing for Prodigals (Like Us)
Yesterday, I presented a day-long retreat on the Parable of the Prodigal Son to a group of friends and alumni of the Aquinas Institute of Theology, where I received my training in spiritual direction and now serve as a trustee. I ended the day with this new prayer of blessing, a reminder of the four…
Merry Christmas, friends!
Just a short note today to say Merry Christmas and thank you for reading and commenting throughout the year. Enjoy this holy day, and remember it’s just the beginning…
A (Very) Short Story of Joseph of Nazareth
All in all, Joseph gets pretty short shrift in the Gospel Christmas narratives, and very little is said about him after that. He’s the quiet guy standing in the back by the shepherds and the sheep. We don’t know how long he lived but it seems clear that he did not live to see Jesus…
A Short (Thanksgiving) Story: Count Ten Birds
Although a little longer than some of my recent “(Very) Short Stories,” I offer you on this Thanksgiving Day a story of awareness, gratitude and friendship. Take some time today to look around, to count your blessings, and so say thank you to the Giver of all. Adam was up early again on a cool,…
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A (Very) Short Story: He Who Sings to Deer
At dusk, he walked the same paved path he walked just about every day through and around his suburban neighborhood. It was good for his health but boring. On most days he saw only the cookie cutter condos, the powerlines, and the comings and goings of the other neighbor-pilgrims who trod the same concrete. It…
Two Advent Opportunities for Spiritual Growth
Dear friends, readers and occasional visitors to my blog: As we look toward the beginning of Advent in just a few weeks, I wanted to make you aware of two advent retreat opportunities in which I am involved as a presenter and member of the retreat team. First, whether you are near me in the…
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Remembering Elders and Mentors
Tomorrow I leave to give a weeklong retreat to retired Marianist brothers and priests in a care facility in Dayton, Ohio, my first retreat since the pandemic began. This community of men, who will be joined at the retreat by some younger Marianists who live in the area, have been hit hard in the past…
Encounters with Jesus: Three Changed Men
Written below (and in the video at bottom…keep scrolling) are three short monologues written from the perspectives of three men whose encounters with Jesus surely changed their lives, or at least I imagine they did, for sometimes scripture tells us a part of the story and leaves the rest to our imaginations. In Matthew 7:31-37,…
Even Wind and Sea Obey
This morning, up early and sitting on my porch, I am watching my little piece of the world recover and dry out from a beating of rain and wind and lightning last night. We needed the rain, to be sure, but the wind, thunder and lightning were there for what effect? To remind us of…
The Lost Library: Fathers and Sons
“The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” Luke 2:40 The older I get, it seems, the more I want to look backwards, to see through the clouds of time and remember — even if imperfectly — the people and events that shaped me. It’s an…
Two Minutes: Step Aside with Me
NOTE: This post includes a video, which is not visible if you are reading this from an email notification. Click on the underlined title or the “Comment” button below to go to my website and see the entire post, including the video. Welcome to the next episode of “Two Minutes.” This week’s reflection features a…
Two Minutes: Mystery
Welcome to the first in a new occasional series of short video meditations called “Two Minutes.” As you might have already guessed, each of these will be just about two minutes in length and will invite you through image, words and music into a short period of prayer and reflection. I invite you to get…
Triduum: Saturday, Waiting for Something We Can’t Explain
After everything that happened and everything I witnessed, all I wanted to do was sleep, but I couldn’t. The day kept flashing through my mind…I heard his last words from the cross: “It is finished.” I saw the spear pierce his side and what looked like water and blood pour from him. I stayed close…
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Triduum: Friday, Facing the Fire
The teacher had been arrested in Gethsemane and brought here to the high priest. A few of his disciples followed but others snuck off into the night. I guess I could hardly blame them. So much happened so quickly and there was a growing mob calling for violence against him. I didn’t get it. Had…
Triduum: Thursday, an Upper Room
A number of years ago, when I was praying my way through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, I “met” someone in my prayer, and he made his way into my journals. He was a younger version of myself, maybe 12 or 14 years old, and for some reason he allowed me to see…
Going to the Well for All We Need
The story from John’s Gospel of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is just that it happened in the first place — that Jesus had this intimate, telling conversation with a non-Jewish woman, that he would ask for her help, that he would open up for her a new understanding of God. That he would offer to change her life. But obviously it’s a story for all of us, too…
Called to be “Poor in Spirit”
Artwork above courtesy of the artist, Steve Tadrick. It’s the first of the beatitudes. It comes easily to mind and rolls effortlessly off our tongues: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” But what exactly does it mean? Jesuit priest and author James Martin writes: “If you ask a practicing Christian if he should be charitable,…
Pope Francis’ encyclical a call for dialogue and compassion
This past October, Pope Francis signed his third encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” on the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, his inspiration and namesake. In this message, he spoke to the entire world — not just Catholics — reinforcing the ideas and teachings of Jesus about how imperative it is to care for one another.
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A (Very) Short Story: The Impossible Night
A (very) short story and a new song to guide you into a few moments of quiet contemplation in these days leading up to Christmas.
A (Very) Short Story: To See Thee More Clearly
By leaving behind what we think we most want, we open up the possibility of all we need and can only find in the stark beauty of right now.
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Advent 2020: Welcome to the ‘Demented Inn’
If during Advent we welcome Jesus and turn away the stranger at the door, we fail to live up to the promise of hope that we say stirs in us at Christmas. If we want to show the world the “true meaning of Christmas,” if we want to really “keep Christ in Christmas,” then we must let it find us loving and caring for each other.