The newest pixar movie, Soul, raises the question about each person’s purpose. It deals especially with the question many of us ask ourselves, “what if I choose the wrong thing?”
Posts in Spirituality
Inauguration Day: A Prayer for Transition
Today is Inauguration Day. So much has happened leading up to this day that we offer this moment to God, to bless, to protect, and to guide this day into the way of peace. Pray with us today as our country takes time to transition and change.
What Dr. King and St. Ignatius Taught Me About Discernment and Anti-Racism
How reading Where Do We Go From Here? by Dr. King helped me understand Ignatian Spirituality and anti-racism.
I Am a Mere Disciple and This Is How I Know
What is discipleship? What is mere discipleship? The opening line of my newest poem, “Mere Discipleship,” says that “mere discipleship sheds easy excuses, burns hot and bright,” and that line is just the beginning of unpacking a process of following Christ. Are you a disciple? Are you a mere disciple? How do you know? Pray with me in today’s reflection and discover how I uncover that I am a mere disciple.
For the Love of a Patient After My Own Heart
I arrived early to be an earwitness to the night shift’s report to the dayshift. I admired how the nurse with whom I was to work that day seamlessly received the report that I could only, at best, make half sense of. Knowledge decanted from the mind of one nurse to the next distilling indispensable bits from any distasteful dregs about the previous night. The final tipoff from the drained night-nurse was her impression that our heart transplant patient would soon begin to recover consciousness as the effect of the heavy drugs diminished. It turns out this night would be about two hearts.
Goals Set the World on Fire: Messi Nets 644
Messi recently scored his 644th goal for Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona. That goal overcame the record for “most goals for a single club,” formerly held by soccer legend, Pelé. Jesuit soccer fanatic, Ian Peoples, thinks that’s a milestone worth celebrating.
About Family Therapy, the Christmas Creche, and Being Molded Deeply Into God’s Divine Embrace
Imagine it’s Christmas morning again. You reach into your stocking and pull out a hefty lump of clay with directions attached. You’re to make clay figures of the most important people in your life and arrange them in a way that represents each person’s personality and role in the group dynamic. What does the scene reveal? Christopher Alt reflects on a family therapy technique, the Nativity, and allowing ourselves to be molded more deeply into God’s divine embrace.
I Saw Love Reveal Itself in Vocations and Baptisms
Seven of my Jesuit brothers and I were ordained as deacons on September 20th. I’m helping out at a great parish in South Boston and have been incredibly grateful to dive head first into ordained ministry. I love preaching, assisting at Mass, and chatting with parishioners. But the baptisms have been the highlight.
What 7th Graders Taught Me About Prayer
I might be exhausted from the pandemic, or frustrated that I can’t control a math class, or anxious about the election, but that all pales in comparison to everyone I’m praying for. What my students have taught me, though, is that behind this faux-humility is my false belief that I can probably resolve my exhaustion or frustration or anxiety by myself. My students have taught me so much about prayer. Read and reflect with me about wisdom that can arise from seventh graders.
How God and Grace Will Find Me this Holiday Season
Perhaps, like me, you are discerning how you should spend your holidays? You are praying and asking God to show you how to be present to your loved ones and still keep them safe. As I pray with all my anger, frustration, loneliness, and hunger for loved ones this holiday season, I am reminded that God often provides for us in ways we don’t expect or even necessarily want.