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A Crisis Of Imagination
J. R. Tolkien, the famous novelist, was one of the persons who helped C.S. Lewis to accept Christianity. As a man of considerable imagination he was not one to easily
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1998 The Year of the Holy Spirit
For a great number of people the date, January 1, 2000, is of immense significance. They conceive of this date as, literally, something that comes along only once every thousand
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The Mysticism of the Crib
When Pablo Picasso was a young child, a huge fire broke out in the city where his family lived. A night of chaos followed with people rushing about the streets
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Wrestling With God
Some years ago, counseling a young nun who was trying to make sense of her struggle with religious life, I learned something about religious ambivalence. Her life embodied it. On
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Longing At The Centre
At the core of experience, at the centre of our hearts, there is longing. At every level, our being aches and we are full of tension. We give different names
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One of Isaiah’s Visions
In this life there is no such a thing as a clear cut, pure joy. Everything comes mixed. As Henri Nouwen once put it: Every bit of life is touched
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Purgative Embrace
“Let me be punished by a kiss.” That is a prayer Therese of Lisieux used to say. What a curious, paradoxical phrase! Few of us, I suspect, pray that way,
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Living Beyond Doubt
There is a story about St. Christopher, probably more legend than truth, which runs this way: As a youth, Christopher was gifted in every way, except faith. He was a
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No Exempt Areas
110697 One of the constants within the writings of the saints is the idea that spirituality and morality are all of one piece. Every area affects every other area and
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God as Victim
“And there shone on them in that dark hour a light that has never darkened; a white fire clinging to that group like an unearthly phosphorescence, blazing its track through