Chaplainmike

Merton Week: As if I were a different kind of being

Who can escape the secret desire to breathe a different atmosphere from the rest of men? • • • And now I am thinking of the disease which is spiritual pride. I am thinking of the peculiar unreality that gets into the hearts of the saints and eats their sanctity away before it is mature.Continue reading “Merton Week: As if I were a different kind of being”

Merton Week: The Place I Wish to Begin, the Well from Which I Wish to Draw

❅ Let me keep silence in this world, except in so far as God wills and in the way He wills it. • Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas

Sermon: Epiphany IV – It’s All About Blessing

SERMON: It’s All About Blessing When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will beContinue reading “Sermon: Epiphany IV – It’s All About Blessing”

Epiphany IV: Pic & Cantata of the Week

(Click on picture to see larger image) • • • EPIPHANY IV Bach Cantata BWV 14, “If God were not with us at this time” BWV 14 is one of the latest extant Bach cantatas we have, dating from Jan. 30, 1735. The text’s constantly recurring theme is the need of God′s protection against our enemies.Continue reading “Epiphany IV: Pic & Cantata of the Week”

Saturday Brunch, January 28, 2017

Hello, friends. Been a while. Chaplain Mike asked me to pinch hit for him this weekend. Ready to Ramb….? Wait… Okay, so we’re brunching now. Fine. I like brunch. Who doesn’t like brunch? Let’s do this thing! First on our plate: IT’S GROUNDHOG’S DAY!!! Well, almost. Definitely this week. And if you don’t love thatContinue reading “Saturday Brunch, January 28, 2017”

Fridays with Michael Spencer: January 27, 2017

From March 2008 A truly prominent, not-post anything blogger has put forward the following theory: Those who use the prefix “post” to describe themselves are claiming to be smarter than those who don’t. Example: A “post-modernist” is saying “I used to be mired in the darkness of modernism, but now, through my superior intellect, IContinue reading “Fridays with Michael Spencer: January 27, 2017”

Another Look: My Ambiguous Apologetic

I confess. I have no apologetic. There is no defending God. There is no proving his way is right. To do so would require that I understand God, that I can substantiate the claims of truth my faith calls me to hold. I can explain what I believe well enough. I can demonstrate to aContinue reading “Another Look: My Ambiguous Apologetic”

One of God’s Better Stories

I have to admit, I loved being a part of the story I posted yesterday. It was a great privilege to know Lenny and Frances, and their lives inspire me. I got a sense from the comments that we all feel admiration for people like them — folks who seem to model Jesus’ teachings aboutContinue reading “One of God’s Better Stories”

Frances and Lenny: When All That’s Left Is Love

Frances died last week. Her family all said she missed her husband Lenny since his death a few years ago, and would be happy to be at peace and reunited with him. Frances and Lenny were faithful Roman Catholic members of a city parish. At her funeral, the priest said Frances especially loved to shareContinue reading “Frances and Lenny: When All That’s Left Is Love”

Another Look: From a “Separatists Anonymous” meeting

Hi, my name is Mike, and I am a recovering separatist. [Hi, Mike!] My separatist life started when I had a spiritual awakening at the end of my senior year in high school. That “conversion” was to me like rounding a bend in the highway and driving straight into a blinding sun so bright that it washed outContinue reading “Another Look: From a “Separatists Anonymous” meeting”