Discovering Fire (Again): The Innovation of Love
Although I took the bare minimum of science and math courses in both high school and college, I am in these elder days a bit of a science geek. And by that I don’t mean that I understand the underpinnings and the “math” of science as much as I relish and pore over each new…
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Considering Holy Week
Photo by Steve Givens This coming week, we are beckoned by liturgy, scripture and prayer to slow down and more fully consider the final days, hours, minutes and moments of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. As Fr. Joe Tetlow, SJ has written, “These are terrible events, and we are keeping a death watch.” For in…
Celebrating 40 Years of Living Faith
This past weekend, I helped lead a retreat celebrating the 40th anniversary of the daily devotional Living Faith at the Marianist Retreat and Conference Center just outside St. Louis. I know that many of you are familiar with Living Faith and its impact. I am grateful for my long affiliation with Living Faith, having been…
Remembering Our Belovedness
Lent is a solemn time. We are called to fast, pray, and give to others our time, talent and treasure. We are asked to walk beside Jesus as he makes his way toward the cross. It’s a time of remembering what’s often called our “salvation history,” the story of God’s plan to save humanity from…
Step by Step: The Journey of Lent
Lent is a journey and, what’s more, it’s a pilgrimage. And a pilgrimage, according to writer Paul Elie, “is a journey undertaken in the light of a story.” As we enter more fully into this season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we are called to ask ourselves and reflect on a simple question: What’s the…
Hey, Death: No Hard Feelings
On this last Sunday before many Christians around the world begin the six-week observance of lent, we are being challenged to consider one of the core reasons for this season of repentance and prayer: To remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return. For is there any relationship in our lives more…
Stepping Out of the Boat and Into a Bolder Lent
Last week, I was reading and praying with the story of Jesus walking on the surface of the Sea of Galilee, as found in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 14:22-33). It’s a well-known, frequently illustrated story, and one that I have been reading and trying to imagine since I was a child. The rough, roiling waves and…
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Money, Money Everywhere and Not a Buck to Spend
Here’s a question for you: What’s a bar with no name in the middle of nowhere with approximately 90,000 one-dollar bills stapled to its ceiling and walls really worth? The past two weeks, Sue and I have been escaping the Midwest winter cold in the Florida Keys. Saturday, after a week in Key West, we…
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What’s in Your Suitcase?
In an interview this morning on CBS Sunday Morning (always a part of my Sunday morning routine before I head off to church), veteran actor Steve Guttenberg told of his harrowing and narrow escape from his Los Angeles-area neighborhood that was hit hard by the Palisades wildfire, leaving desolation in its wake. Putting himself in…
What You Did For the Least of These
In 2018, I was asked to write a chapter in a book by a group of Living Faith writers called, “Scripture Passages that Changed My Life.” In reflecting back on my life, I landed pretty quickly on the teaching of Jesus that culminates in Matthew 25:40 — “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did…
A Song of Hope and Peace for the New Year
from left, Phil Cooper, Steve Givens and John Caravelli Happy New Year’s to all of you who take the time to read my posts from time to time or visit my website. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to engage in this ministry of creativity and sharing of the good news of God’s love…
Are You Ready for Christmas?
This is the question, it seems, that we hear most often this time of year, and it has many meanings and intents. When I was a kid back in the ‘60s, it meant: Are you excited for the presents you’ll be getting? I was always ready for that. (see photo below, circa 1975!) Now, it…
An Advent Collection: The Word is Still Becoming Flesh
This past weekend, I helped lead an Advent Retreat at the Marianist Retreat and Conference Center just outside St. Louis. It was the eighth time leading this annual event (taking a year off for COVID in 2020) with my friends and colleagues Lucia Signorelli and Fr. Tom Santen. The title of the retreat was, “The…
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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,…