We are pleased to present below all posts archived in 'March 2003'. If you still can't find what you are looking for, try using the search box.
A couple of years ago, I attended a six-day retreat given by Robert Michel, an Oblate colleague and a highly sought-after spiritual mentor. His approach was disarming. Most of us are forever looking for something novel, at the cutting edge, outside the box, something complex, but what he offered was stunningly simple and down-to-earth.
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One of the responsibilities of being an adult is that of praying for the world. Like the high priests of old, we need to offer up prayers daily for others. Indeed, we are all priests, ordained by the oils of Baptism and consecrated by the burdens of life that have given us wrinkles and grey hair.
Jan Walgrave once commented that our present culture constitutes a virtual conspiracy against the interior life. He wasn't suggesting that somewhere there is a deliberate force that is consciously scheming to keep us from interiority and prayer, but rather that an accidental flowing-together of forces and circumstances in history are making it difficult for us to live the examined life.
One classical definition of prayer defines it this way: "Prayer is lifting mind and heart to God."
Twenty years ago, the renowned Scripture scholar, Raymond Brown, gave a series of lectures to an ecumenical audience on how the various New Testament writers understood the Church that Jesus left us. Reflecting on how the evangelist John understood the Church, he said: