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Abrasive Rhetoric
A couple of years ago, I was at a conference on social justice. The final speaker was a very impassioned young man and after his talk several of us gathered
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Masculine Spirituality
This is not an easy time within which to know what it means to be a man. I am not referring here to the classical philosophical quandary: “What does it
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Sex As Sacrament
A Catholic journalist recently commented that the world will begin to take the church seriously when it talks about sex if the church, first of all, affirms what it should
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The Struggle for Wholeness
Contemporary spirituality tends to identify holiness with wholeness. Given that theology has always affirmed that grace builds on nature, that equation is, if taken correctly, good algebra. What is less
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Prophecy II
Second of a two-part series Contrary to most popular thought, a prophet does not foretell the future and is not necessarily a chronic protestor. A prophet is someone who speaks
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Prophecy
First of a two-part series Paul Simon ends his famous song, The Sound of Silence, with the phrase: “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and
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Prayer Life Needs Rhythm, Ritual
It’s no secret that it’s hard to sustain daily prayer. The reason for this is not always as obvious or deep as some would make it. Why do we find
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Won’t Someone Please Stop Me?
Some years ago, Judith Viorst wrote a book of poems entitled: How did I get to be 40 & other atrocities. One of the poems, “Self-Improvement Program,” reads like this:
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We Need A Heart With Many Rooms
To come to peace as a human being is not a simple task. We aren’t simple. Our hearts and minds are pathologically complex and pull us in many directions all
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Death Washes Things Clean
When I was a child, as part of our family prayer, we used to pray for a happy death. In my young mind, I spontaneously associated a happy death with