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…
How Should A Christian Respond When a Friend Becomes Interested in Witchcraft and Magic?
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…
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…