Believe it or not, Lent is just over two weeks away. Which means it is time to select your Lenten book for devotional reading. Lent is a time for prayer,…
Everyone is Called to Union with God
About ten years ago I had a conversation with an elderly Trappist monk about the book I was writing — a book on Christian mysticism. Hearing that it was intended to…
Contemplating the Trinity
The heart of Christian spirituality is the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. This is the ancient wisdom teaching that God is one God, in three persons: Father/Creator, Son/Redeemer, and Spirit/Sanctifier….
Happy Birthday, Evelyn Underhill
December 6 is Evelyn Underhill’s birthday, born this day in 1875. Not only did she go on to become one of the most important Christian mystics of the 20th century,…
Support Anamchara through Patreon
Readers like you make this website possible. Anamchara — an online resource for the exploration of Christian and interfaith mysticism, contemplative living, and silent prayer — includes a blog, a…
Twelve Insightful Quotations from the Great Christian Mystics
Note: the following quotations are excerpted from The Little Book of Christian Mysticism which features over three hundred quotations of the mystics, from Biblical times to the present day. Seek…
How to Find a Mystical Teacher, Part Two
This post is a sequel to my post from last week called How to Find a Mystical Teacher. The person who originally wrote to me, responding to that post, in…
How to Find a Mystical Teacher
A reader sent me this message the other day: I am loving your book, Christian Mystics, as I read it. I, myself, am tending to that life, and I have…
The Future of This Blog
Hello friends! I hope 2017 has been good to you. This year I’ve survived two tropical storms (an unnamed one when we were vacationing in Florida in June, and then…
Five Elements of a Daily Contemplative Practice — and Four Principles for Cultivating Your Practice
Recently a reader of this blog posted this question: Just curious Carl — what does your typical schedule look like? How do you put it all together? I think the larger question here…
Why Experience Is Not the Foundation of (All) Spirituality
I’ve been reading a book by William A. Barry, a Jesuit priest who is an authority on spiritual direction. The book, Finding God in All Things, is a companion to the Spiritual…
What to do When Contemplative Prayer Leads to Sadness
A reader, who has asked to remain anonymous, writes: I have been practicing centering prayer for about 3 years. It took me a while, but I stuck with it and…