The temptation in the face of a tragedy like the one in Boston yesterday is to give in to the understandable sense of helplessness that attends such acts of violence and cowardice. It’s understandable because, in fact, there is very little we can do. Few of us can fly to Boston to comfort...
Request for Prayer
posted by DJL
We’ve talked a lot about prayer in recent weeks on this space. I learned a lot from those conversations and am grateful for them. One of the things I learned, and continue to learn, frankly, is that it’s important not just to pray, but also to ask others to pray for you, as by honoring...
Prayer as Connection and Communion
posted by DJL
A few weeks ago we had a great discussion about prayer. What it is, what we believe about it, what we don’t understand, what we do, how we practice it, and more. I learned a lot from it and am still mulling it over. Shortly after that, I came upon this interview with Richard Rohr. Richard is a Franciscan monk and author of numerous books, including the recent Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life and Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self. I really appreciated Richard’s view that prayer can be anything – anything done in a state of communion and connection. Communion and connection with God, with others, and...
Faith Beyond Belief
posted by DJL
This is one of the most moving video’s I’ve seen in recent months. Like Wright’s Law, it’s moving because it tells the truth: it tells the truth about how hard life can be; it tells the truth about how important faith is; it tells the truth about the power of love. Here’s the short...
What Is Prayer, Continued
posted by DJL
Thank you. This is my first, last, and most essential response to the comments and conversation over the last week in response to my question and post about prayer. One reader emailed to ask who my mentors in prayer have been. I answer that it was first and foremost my parents, but as I thought about it later I also realized very recently it has also been all of you, as I have learned so much about prayer over the last week. Thank you. To honor those comments and respond out of a sense of gratitude to the conversation as it has taken shape, I thought I’d share a few of the things that I’ve learned and have been thinking about in the last...