“Mom, Mom, Mom.” I hear this mantra often. Balancing family life and a career is challenging, and sometimes I just want silence. Not any silence, but a silence that requires absolutely no follow-up. A few years ago, I signed up for a silent retreat. I approached the retreat like a spiritual vacation: a little rest,…
How to Take a Personal Prayer Retreat
A personal prayer retreat is a choice to cut yourself off from the world for a time in order to be with God. I recommend every Christian, including laity, take a two-night prayer retreat at least once a year. This is not always feasible and, if you are unaccustomed to praying for more than an…
Bless Me, for I Have Sinned
What I was really asking God for was relief, happiness, help, healing, strength, and understanding.
St. Joseph and the Virtues of Silence
Saint Joseph was the head of the holy family and an indispensable figure in sacred history. Yet one of the most striking qualities of Joseph in the gospels is his silence.
Book Review: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (Commemorative Edition) by Eugene Peterson. Intervarsity Press, 2024. “Spiritual formation.” “discipleship.” “Christian living.” One can walk into a Christian bookstore and find plenty of glossy covers promising secrets to growth in forty days, seven steps, three keys, or one weird trick Paul forgot…
Taizé: Brother Roger’s Vision of Christian Unity
Taizé is the name of a small village in France, which is home to a monastic community of ecumenical Christian brothers and hosts many thousands of pilgrims from all denominations who visit each year. When these pilgrims return to their homes, they carry with them the spirit of Taizé, expressed in song, silence, and a…
Green is for Growth: The Color of Ordinary Time
In most Anglican churches, you will see the color green during the season of Ordinary Time. It appears in green clergy vestments, in green fabrics on the altar and pulpit, and sometimes in green hangings or other adornments. You might even choose to wear green on occasion (no obligation to do so!). This green represents…
Beyond Lent: Spiritual Disciplines for the Whole Year
For Anglicans and other liturgical Christians, Lent is the time we set aside each year to focus on the spiritual disciplines of prayer, repentance, almsgiving, and fasting. In the weeks leading up to Lent, it is not uncommon to encounter folks criticizing the Lenten practices as unbiblical. Typically, the criticism is that we should not…
46 Theses on Lectio Divina
There are many excellent books on Lectio Divina, the sacred reading of Scripture. The problem with these books is that they are books—long and easily divorced from the actual contemplative practice. Instead, I offer a list of 46 “theses” or “chapters” on Lectio Divina. Each thesis is short, distilling thoughts and quotations into a single…
What is the Anglican Rosary?
For over a thousand years, people of faith have used various methods to keep track of their prayers. The Rosary actually finds its roots in the British Isles. The first Christians to use beads with their prayers were in the Irish community of St. Colomba in the ninth century. Though the practice of using stones…
Stepping into Silence
Stepping into a rhythm of silence is counterintuitive to everything we practice in our society, but it has many gifts to impart.
A Rule of Life: What It Is and How to Make One
What is a Rule of Life? Monks living in community live by a common Rule. Benedictine monks, for instance, live by the Rule of St. Benedict. The Rule governs every element of a monk’s life: when they sleep, work, pray, and eat, as well as how they work out community issues, etc. Oblates of monasteries—lay…
