Spirituality
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(click for larger image) From John Paul II’s Redemptoris Mater: When Elizabeth greeted her young kinswoman coming from Nazareth, Mary replied with the Magnificat. In her greeting, Elizabeth first called Mary “blessed” because of “the fruit of her womb,” and then she called her “blessed” because of her faith (cf. Lk. 1:42, 45). These two Read more
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Neat slideshow at Christianity Today of hymnals from around the world. Read more
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Calvinist Richard Mouw reflects on our communion with the saints. Read more
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In lieu of our weekly community group/Bible study, we attended the Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Ascension last night. Lovely as usual. The guest preacher was the Rev. Charles Hefling, a professor of theology at BC and editor of the Anglican Theological Review. Fr. Hefling asked: why did Jesus leave? I have to Read more
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Heavenly Father, your Holy Spirit gives breath to all living things; renew us by this same Spirit, that we may learn to respect what you have given and care for what you have made, through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Andrew Linzey This prayer from Andrew Linzey nicely encapsulates the themes of a genuine Christian Read more
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This book I’m reading by Stephen Cottrell is really terrific. It’s part theology, part mediation, part devotional, and incorporates a section on Christian practice into each chapter, connecting the meditation on Christ’s cross with Lenten practices like fasting, almsgiving, Bible reading, prayer, etc. (which really are just Christian practices). He takes the passion according to Read more
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Continuing with the Holy Week theme, Pontifications has posted an excerpt from then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity that seems quite opposed to the traditional idea of vicarious atonement: In the Bible the Cross does not appear as part of a mechanism of injured right; on the contrary, in the Bible the Cross is quite the Read more
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As today is the (transferred) Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts on the talk given by Bishop Steven Charleston on Marian devotion at our parish adult education forum yesterday. First of all, Bp. Charleston seemed like a really interesting person. He’s a Choctaw Indian who was Read more
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Since last fall I’ve been helping to facilitate a small community group that meets about once a week primarily to study the Bible (we typically read and discuss the Gospel lesson for the upcoming Sunday), pray and socialize. I guess it’s a “small group” in the parlance of evangelicalism. Anyway, one of the things I Read more
A Thinking Reed 