When I was a teenager, I thought prayer was only private. When I prayed in private, it was a personal prayer between myself and God and saints. I sometimes wrestled with my prayers because I did not understand God’s love for me and felt uncomfortable accepting my...
How to Change Your Mind, the documentary miniseries now streaming on Netflix, is just the latest sign that the cultural landscape is shifting around psychedelics. Based on Michael Pollan’s New York Times bestselling book, the documentary was inspired by a recent...
How many will be saved? While some focus on questions about who goes to Heaven or Hell, Jesus reminds us to focus on our relationship with God. Brendan Gottshall, SJ, reflects in this week’s One-Minute Homily. Based on the readings for Sunday, August 21, 2022....
The following reflection is part of our “Jesuit 101” series, celebrating the Ignatian Year. This piece helps us to better understand the Jesuit Vows. To learn more, check out our explainer article: “Jesuit 101: Vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience.” Last summer, I...
Each year, Jesuits are required to go on an eight-day retreat. Generally, a Jesuit will have a handful of hourlong prayer periods meditating over a Scripture passage or a contemplation from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. With the exception of communal...
The world of my childhood was a very enchanted one, where the supernatural seemed ready to jump out at you around every corner. To the six-year-old me, it was a mysterious and scary place. It didn’t exactly help that the house that we lived in was purportedly haunted....
Any sport requires practice and discipline in order to get better. Prayer is the same way! Emmanuel Arenas, SJ, gives us some encouragement for developing our prayer lives in this week’s One-Minute Homily. Based on the readings for Sunday, August 14, 2022. What...
The following reflection is part of our “Jesuit 101” series, celebrating the Ignatian Year. This piece helps us to better understand the Jesuit Vows. To learn more, check out our explainer article: “Jesuit 101: Vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience.” “You like to...
One evening, during a relaxed dinner conversation with a friend and his family, the topic of dog meat came up. Tom’s brother had gotten sick while traveling through Southeast Asia and his illness was attributed to dog meat which purportedly overwhelmed the American...
This is the fifteenth installment of A Deacon’s Diary. In the fourteenth installment, Steve got ordained a priest! I. In the late afternoon, dimness and brightness play on the western windows of the church. The room is filled with a golden near-twilight and I’m glad...
