I’m so happy to share this segment from a recent episode of the PBS News Hour with you. It features the monks of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit — the…
Category: Spirituality
A Meditation on the Spirituality of Healing (A Patreon Sneak Peek)
A note from Carl: Friends, I am currently writing a manuscript that I am calling Meditations on the Christian Mysteries. I’ve identified fifty-two key themes, wisdom teachings, and mystical principles…
Many Paths, One Way: Balancing Religious Commitment with Spiritual Diversity
A reader, who chooses to remain anonymous, posed the following question: “a world shaped by peace and harmony among the people of all positive paths.” Are they all the way…
James Martin: Learning to Pray
“Everyone can pray” is the hopeful and helpful opening message of Learning to Pray, the new book from bestselling Jesuit author James Martin. But he knows that many people don’t…
How My Surrogate Grandmother Introduced Me to Silence
When I was a small boy, there was a lady named Mrs. Frazier who lived across the street from my home. Mrs. Frazier and her husband were a bit older…
How do I choose a contemplative lay order? And do I have to be Catholic to do so?
A reader recently wrote to me: Dear Carl, I grew up as a Protestant, but as I’ve journeyed into Contemplative Christianity over the last while I’ve become more amenable to Roman…
The Prayer of Recollection: A Classic Mystical Practice as Taught by Evelyn Underhill
Contemplative spirituality has its own jargon, and this “language of prayer” evolves over time. Nowadays you’ll find students of the mystical path speaking about meditation, nonduality, mindfulness and heightened consciousness,…
Why “Nobody’s Perfect” is Such Good News
Nobody’s perfect. It’s such a bit of folk wisdom that it just rolls off our tongue. But do we believe it? Do we accept the imperfections in ourselves — or…
Balancing Faith in the Word with a Scholarly Understanding of the Bible
Sometimes, people grow up in conservative churches where the Bible is often read in a very literal or fundamentalist way. Such persons might go on to study at a college…
Two New Podcasts, One Existing Podcast, and a Youtube Channel for You to Explore
Dear friends, I’m excited to announce that I have launched two new podcasts. Each one will be oriented toward exploring mystical spirituality — one in a more “learning about” sense,…
Need Help? Ask the Angels
Today, September 29, is the Feast Day for the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. It’s traditionally known as “Michaelmas” and in the Episcopal Church it’s called the Feast of St….
The Challenges of Spiritual Simplicity
One of the most attractive, although challenging, qualities of the Cistercian charism is simplicity. It’s a principle immediately apparent in Cistercian architecture: the monasteries and churches of the Cistercian order,…