Epiphany: Augustine the Hippo

It may be a fool’s errand to try to summarize the most influential Christian thinker (after St. Paul) in a brief blog post, but I will attempt to do so nonetheless. Perhaps Simeon the Holy Fool will intervene on my behalf and help me. I actually just learned that Simeon the Holy Fool is the […]

Epiphany: Perpetua

I just read a brief article about Jared Loughner, the troubled 22-year-old who recently murdered 6 innocent bystanders in Tucson Arizona (including a 9-year-old girl). He had struggled with an addiction to hallucinogenic drugs; he had asserted dangerous political views and he believed that the end of the world was near. I read about Jared […]

Epiphany: Apophthegmata Patrum

After his parents died, 18-year-old Anthony heard Matthew 19:21 read in church and felt called to take literally Christ’s command to sell all his possessions and give to the poor. After selling all of his property and inheritance, he fled to the Egyptian desert to do battle with the demons who presumably lived there. He […]

Epiphany: Antony

On my way to a U2 concert in Las Vegas last fall, about an hour before entering the Mojave Desert, I drove by a sign for the St. Antony Monastery in Newberry Springs, CA. Because I was seeing U2 that night, I did not have time to stop by for a visit. And I […]

She Who Is Sophia

Two friends of mine (whom I actually introduced to one another) just gave birth to an adorable baby girl named Sofia. She’s even more beautiful than her beautiful name (which is saying a lot). As I was reflecting on her name, I remembered a book summary that I wrote seven years ago (!) on Elizabeth […]

Epiphany: St. Ambrose

A few years ago, I visited Genoa, Italy. If I had driven two hours north to Milan and then traveled about 1600 years into the past, I would have been under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of a honey-tongued anti-Arian preacher named Ambrose. The oldest of the four Latin Fathers,[1] this bishop played an enormous role in […]

Christmas with Chödrön XII

Chödrön: “We all have the inborn wisdom to create a wholesome, uplifted existence for ourselves and others. We can think beyond our little cocoon and try to help this troubled world. Not only will our friends and family benefit, but even our ‘enemies’ will reap the blessings of peace…If these teachings make sense to us, […]

Christmas with Chödrön XI

Chödrön: “There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs, and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are […]

Christmas with Chödrön X

This Christmas, a friend gave me The Pocket Pema Chödrön, which includes 108 brief insights from the books of the beloved Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön. I’m committing to blog on Chödrön’s wisdom for each of the twelve days of Christmas. Because the number 108 held such energy for me, I have decided to limit my reflections […]

Month: January 2011