Share Saint Francis of Assisi (1182 - 1226) is probably the most popular Christian saint. His radiant spirit is a beacon for those seeking a life of meaning and service. It does no good to put him on a pedestal; rather we should walk with St. Francis on the path of peace, openness, mysticism, poverty, reverence for nature, and love of animals. There are plenty of spiritual resources on his remarkable life and his spiritual practices. Photo Credit: Icon of St. Francis of Assisi by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM, available from Trinity Stores. To Name Thi...

Share Spanning two generations, The First Day of Peace shows how a taken-for-granted policy of "live and let live" can quickly crumble under the stresses of climate disasters. Only when it morphs into conscious acts of compassion can true peace prevail. Two communities of people — one on the mountain with access to river water and one in the valley with lake resources — leave each other alone until a severe drought strikes the land. Unwilling to share what little they have with each other, the two communities build hostility which later spills ...

Share Some books are written about interreligious understanding that come across sounding too sweet or simple, as if we everything boils down to each religion’s attempt to live by the Golden Rule. It’s not that simple. People of different religious traditions sometimes cannot marry, in fact, they may not even be allowed to shake hands in public. There are courtesies and customs to be learned, and learned from. Each religious tradition has its own ways of doing things — theologically, liturgically, in worship, in study, in service. There are sim...

Share “I offer descriptions of three ways of being with sameness that vary in their means of approaching differences: 1. Syncretism: the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought…. This blending of the belief systems and practices of two or more religions, such that a whole new religion (or at least a distinctly new sect of one of them) emerges, recognizes differences but incorporates them into a type of sameness. 2. Appropriation: the act of taking something for one’s own use, typically with...

Share Today is Guardian Angels Day, a special time to think about, appreciate, and give thanks to them for watching over us. In tribute to these messengers of grace, we have chosen to emphasize the thoughts of Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake in The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realms Where Science and Spirit Meet. In this bold volume, they reframe the work of guardian angels. They are convinced that the resacralization of the world is the Great Work of human beings and their guardian angels. To Name This Day: Book Excerpts From The Physics...

Share St Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897) was a French nun who died at the age of 24 of tuberculosis. She grew up in a very devout family, experienced "the Virgin of the Smile" during an illness, was converted at the age of 14, took a pilgrimage to Rome, and then entered the monastery in Lisieux, Carmel. She was known for her devotion to God, her plays and poems, and her battle with tuberculosis. As a teacher of the "Little Way," she was a pioneer of everyday spirituality as a path of faith in action. She was recently made a Doctor of the Church....

Share Jelaluddin Rumi was born on September 30, 1207, in Balkh, presently in Afghanistan. His family later migrated to Konya, Turkey, where he became a great religious teacher. His mystical poetry has been loved, recited, and sung for centuries in Islamic countries — Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey claim him as their own poet. He now has an equally large following in the West, recently being named the bestselling poet in America. In his day and in ours, his students are people from all traditions — Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and others...

If you asked Jason, a lighting designer at a high-end architecture firm, whether his emotions impact his work, he’d laugh. He’d tell you that what matters is his ability to turn a client’s vision for their office building into a design that is practical and aesthetically pleasing. His feelings have nothing to do with it. Ask Jason’s coworkers and you’ll hear a different story. They’ll tell you that his work with clients and coworkers is inconsistent. If he’s in a good mood, all goes well. But when he is angry or frustrated, his interactions suf...

“All sorrows are less with bread.”― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Sometimes, you just have to bake something. At least I do. Especially after a long news segment on very serious issues like the climate crisis and threats to democracy. When such big worries about the future threaten to undo me, I first pet the cat, assuring him that everything will be all right; then I march into the kitchen and begin throwing flour around. I don’t actually throw it, but it looks that way, given the mess I make. We all have these odd little rituals and spiritual ...

Share This autumn holiday of thanksgiving celebrates the fruit harvest and commemorates wayfarers' booths built by the Israelites during their years of wilderness wandering. In the “dark cold and the empty desolation,” God’s presence was closer than ever. To observe this festival, Jews create a small annex to their homes where they meet with friends, drink wine, and eat ripe fruits. The flimsy annex, taken down at week's end, and the fruits, which will spoil if not eaten, are reminders of the beauty of things that do not last. Here's how Rabbi ...

Meditate With Me! As someone with minor ADHD and an extremely creative mind that refuses to ever be still, I often have to use meditation for self discipline, to keep myself on track, to stop myself from going completely AWOL. I’m the type of person who’ll be doing one thing (such as writing this article) and then out of nowhere I’ll suddenly decide that actually I should be doing something completely crazy like going for a swim in Lake Ontario. Needless to say, it’s very important for me to actively encourage myself to be self disciplined. Aut...

Share Born in the Lu state of China around 551 B.C.E. during a period of moral decline, Confucius brought to his society a vitally needed moral renaissance that to this day inspires us to practice harmonious and just living. Accounts of his childhood vary, but what is known for sure is that he became a multi-faceted teacher, politican, and philosopher. His sayings and dialogues — collected into Analects by his students after his death — revived the values of self-discipline and benevolence. His birthday falls on the 27th day of the eighth lunar...

Adobe Stock/ Egoitz A common saying in mindfulness is, you can’t pour from an empty cup. It means that we cannot show up at our best—for ourselves or others—if we’re physically, emotionally, or energetically drained. What needs to come first is self-care and self-compassion. This guided meditation is an opportunity to recharge and recenter so you can then go about the rest of your day with a full cup.  12 Minute Meditation: A Guided Visualization Meditation to Fill Your Cup with Carrington Kernodle Epperson To get started, I ask that you find a...

Share We first see Chris skateboarding past his elementary school, his long, curly hair blowing in the wind. He's got a big smile on his face. But teasing can crumble self-esteem even in a strong child. The kids at school laugh, stare, and call Chris' hair "girly". He gets some reassurance from his mother but, still unsure, decides to check out the mirror: "And then, right there, a woman appeared.It was kind of wild and a little weird!" This woman, an African queen version of a fairy godmother, explains that in a faraway land, he'd look just li...

Share This book is designed for Christians who have left their churches behind, disappointed in their religious leaders and their institutions. Author Matthias Roberts is one of them — having grown up in a rigid form of Christianity (including homeschool and a Christian college) and left it behind. His analysis is informed by his training as a psychotherapist who's an expert in trauma and recovery. Like any good therapist, Roberts encourages his clients (or readers) to work through their problems, talk about their experiences, and find construc...

Share “My faith now tells me that breeze is the breath of a God who looks nothing like what I thought God should look like. This God doesn’t recognize 'in' groups and 'out' groups and doesn’t help buttress walls between people. This God invites us to take apart the ways we define and prove our worthiness. “This God, as Jesus told us, is love. “Perhaps it’s the warm breath of God that makes us worthy. “Perhaps it’s this breath that gives us life and identity, an identity that invites us to love because God has loved us first. Loved us with the k...

Written by Michael J Dougherty, originally published on Medium. I felt the angry dog’s presence first around 2012. It lived in my Thai Town apartment’s elevator, or so I thought, and every time I left my place and waited for the elevator doors to open, I was struck frozen with the feeling the angry dog would be there, and it would spring from its muscular haunches and tear into my neck. The angry dog, I discovered, never came out of the elevator, but the specter of it hung over me for years, as absolute as my skin. Days, weeks, months, and year...

Share For today’s Muslim population, thought to be about 1.9 billion people, Mawlid al-Nabi is a day to celebrate the birth of the prophet Muhammad and his role in their religion. When Muhammad was about forty years old (around 609 or 610 CE), he began to habitually withdraw to a cave to meditate in seclusion. On one such occasion, the angel Gabriel came to him and informed him that he was a messenger prophet and that he had been chosen by God to receive His word. Through Gabriel, God transmitted revelations of His word to Muhammad orally as we...

This practice involves labelling our emotions as they surface. Labelling emotions accurately means going beyond recognizing when anger or fear is present—There are many flavors of anger, for example, such as annoyance, rage, resentment, and aggravation. Finding the right label can give you the same feeling as hitting a tennis ball on the sweet spot of your racket—it just clicks. Sometimes emotions can feel threatening and there may be a fear that they might swallow us up or overwhelm us. As real as this threat might feel, it’s usually irrationa...

Share Image Credit: Will Counts/Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Hazel Massery, the young woman screaming at Elizabeth Eckford in this picture, later had a change of heart, becoming a peace activist and social worker. The end of racial segregation of schools began with the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling in 1954, that said separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. In 1955, the Supreme Court ordered that schools be desegregated "with all deliberate speed." In many places, this change came about peacefully or with minimal...