As long-standing readers of this blog know, I have not always been a Catholic; I embraced Catholicism in 2004 after a Protestant upbringing and then about a seven-year stint in…
Author: Carl McColman
Soul Friend and Storyteller. Lay Cistercian, Centering Prayer Presenter, Author, Blogger, Podcaster, Speaker, Teacher, Retreat Leader.
The Politics of Silence
The other day, I posted this tweet: The Desert Father Abbot Pastor said, "Any trial whatever that comes to you can be conquered by silence." — Carl McColman (@CarlMcColman) July…
Celtic Monks Observed Three Lents Each Year — Perhaps We Should Too
This post originally appeared on Patheos. Follow this link to read it: Celtic Monks Observed Three Lents Each Year — Perhaps We Should Too
Mystery of the Missing Silence
To you, silence is praise, O God in Zion: and unto You shall the vow be fulfilled. ~ Psalm 65; Stone/Artscroll Translation Everyone knows that nuances and shades of meaning…
Holy Wells: “Icons” of Celtic Spirituality
In my last post I made several references to Holy Wells as thin places. From the Chalice Well in western England, to Tobernault in northwest Ireland, to countless wells throughout the Celtic…
Thin Places: Are they Celtic, pre-Celtic, or Universal?
I first heard of the notion of Thin Places the first time I visited Glendalough, the ancient monastery nestled in a glacial valley south of Dublin. We were there on…
Why Evelyn Underhill Remains Required Reading After Over 100 Years
A Book for All Time: Why Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism Still Matters For pretty much my entire adult life, if anyone would ask me who my favorite authors are, without hesitation…
A Christian Mystics Bibliography
In my books The Big Book of Christian Mysticism and Christian Mystics: 108 Seers, Saints and Sages, I suggest a number of books that anyone interested in learning more about Christian mysticism might enjoy….
Why I Still Recommend Verbum Software for Catholics… and for all Contemplatives
Two years ago this week, I wrote a glowing review of a Bible Software program called Verbum. Click here to read that review. Among other things, I said… I use…
“You Wrote Books About Paganism?!?”
The late Kenneth Leech used to tell the story about giving a lecture at a seminary in America on the topic of race relations, and afterwards a seminarian seemed surprised to…
Thoughts are to Contemplative Silence like a Monstrance is to the Host
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines contemplation like this: A form of wordless prayer in which mind and heart focus on God’s greatness and goodness in affective, loving adoration;…
Instructions on Prayer from a Trappist Monk
“I’m speechless,” remarked Brother Elias Marechal, OCSO, after a congregation of several hundred young evangelicals vigorously applauded his visit to their worship service last month. But then he quipped, “We don’t talk in…