Category: Spirituality
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Go Forth, New Grasshoppers!
As it happened, on a rather glorious day a young man was tending to his garden and enjoying the radiance of creatures he encountered, both great and small. Suddenly two young grasshoppers appeared to him upon a divine mirror of Creation. They bore such a splendid emerald green-gold color. Though not the most pleasant looking…
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O, Brother Spider
I’ve left my home, brother spider. Don’t spin your web and block the way.For I’m going to my beloved, and distractions tempt me go astray. Small yet frightening you are,and are you poisonous too?Please don’t block the way brother;come, let me go through.I broke your web on accident, oh no: I am sorry if I…
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A prayer of combustion
Praise be to you, my Lord, through Brother Fire. He illuminates the night with joy;his beauty is robust and strong. I see embers on wood combust into fireby breath and wind of life. Divine Master,have mercy on me. I see embers of my heart combust into fireby breath and wind of prayer. Divine Master, have…
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The Dog, Butterfly, and Owl
One day, as Dog was walking around his big green yard, a Butterfly landed on his nose. Dog squinted. “Hello friend,” Dog said. “How are you today?” Butterfly fluttered her wings nervously. “Hello. I am not feeling so well today. My friends and I must travel a great distance and we fear the Great Owl…
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A Theology for the Homeless (from a Philosophy for Dogs)
In graduate school, I wrote a master’s philosophy thesis on the concept of animal souls, ethics, psychology, and other related things. One of the most outstanding things I discovered during the writing process is that many philosophical and theological authorities attest to psychological continuity between humans and non-human animals. (Yes, even Aquinas! [i]). Basically, what…
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Reflections of Season & Saint: Christmas and the Feast of St. Stephen
When I was young, I didn’t enjoy Christmas time much. Like many kids, receiving gifts, soaking in whatever feelings of nostalgia and comfort, and (and this could probably go without saying) having time off from school, were all things quite welcomed by me. But other things that I assume a lot of people cherish about…
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Calling of Devotion: Discerning the Charisms of Franciscan Spirituality
Introduction My wife and I have been discerning a call to religious life — that is to say, we’re currently discerning a call to a religious and spiritual way of life in one of the Church’s Third Orders. Before my wife and I married, we discerned the possibility of a religious and spiritual way of…
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