Read. Pray. Write.

We wait for our adult kids. And we rely on the Father, who understands. After all,. we also were wayward prodigals once, living for our whims.

"It was not until I lost my hearing that I started learning to listen ."

Love of neighbor requires holding our tongue and not correcting others, says Catherine of Sienna and this month's author.

Ancient poet, Rumi, encourages us to accept all emotions as bearers of wisdom.

Tears can be holy water if we are brave enough to share our grief and joy and ecstasy and despair with others.

Pray & Read about PilgrimageTraditional Divine Reading Meditation and the Journey It Inspired

By Jean P. Kelly

I was 2,400 miles away from the urgency, assault, and angst of my home, standing on my tippy-toes and a stool to reach the relics of a man who had inspired a pilgrimage. I sought nearness not to bone or blood like early Christians who traveled to sacred geographies of martyrs, but rather to spines on a top shelf at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. The writer who inspired my journey is deceased but not a saint—not yet, at least.In the self-proclaimed “City of Books,” it was a bit disappointing to find only a shelf-and-a-third dedicated to a native son. But when I spotted a binding with the words “lean stories of spiritual substance,” I reached for it. I had done enough homework to know exactly what I’d find inside: honest, humorous, poignant, and sometimes breathless tributes to the “little things that were not little”—spouses, children, parents, friends, faith, and God; the author’s love for them; his love for the world; and, always, his joy.“Pilgrimage is a symbol of life,” Pope Francis once wrote. “It makes us imagine that life is about walking, it is a walk. A soul that doesn’t walk . . . through life seeking God and for the Holy Spirit to move from within, is a soul that ends up in mediocrity and spiritual poverty. Please: do not stand still in life!”Amid the bookshelves, I said a prayer of thanksgiving for both my journey and this destination: physical nearness to the spiritual witness of a faithful writer, Brian Doyle. Continue Reading This article also appears in the October 2022 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 87, No. 10, pages 17-19).

About the Author

Jean Kelly believes in the power of stories, both hers and others, to give hope, build faith, and improve communities. That is why she considers herself “a lectio-divina evangelista” who teaches how spiritual reading is sometimes the only prayer that works, especially in times of desperation. The ancient practice has saved her from several destructive and co-dependent relationships by offering easy access to peace of mind. She is a novice of St. Meinrad Archabbey, on the path to becoming a Third Order Benedictine Oblate.

Two spiritual seekers—one a Trappist monk and the other a journalist—ponder the universal questions about the meant of life through death, concluding “The amount we love is perhaps the only true measure of a life well-lived.”

About the Author & Text

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Judith Valente is a former religion reporter for PBS-TV and staff writer for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. She is also a poet and author How to Live: What The Rule of St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning and Community and vice president of the International Thomas Merton Society.  Paul Quenon was a novice under Thomas Merton and has been a monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani for more than 60 years. He is the author of nine books of poetry and “In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk’s Memoir.”  He is co-author with Judith Valente of “The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed.”  

“Jesus’ arms open wide on the cross show that no one is excluded from his love and his mercy—not even the greatest sinner.” A meditation on Pope Francis’s teaching that God exists in our lives as steadfast, endless love. 

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About the Author & Text

Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is author of On Love, Winner of an Illumination Book Awards Silver Medal.

Ignatian spirituality teaches that those on the pathway to love find strength for the journey in a very undramatic and almost unnoticeable way: building up habits of freedom focused on the good of others. Learn more in this reading by the author of Habits of Freedom: 5 Ignation Tools for Clearing Your Mind and Resting Daily in the Lord, Fr. Michael Collins, SJ.

Purchase this title from an independent bookseller.Write: Journal about this meditation.

About the Guest & Text

Fr. Christopher Collins, SJ, is vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. He is also author of Three Moments of the Day and The Word Made Love. He regularly gives retreats around the country based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola..

Thomas Merton reminds us that “True encounter with Christ liberates something in us, a power we did not know we had, a hope.”  

About the Guest & Text

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a Cistercian monk known as Fr. Luis at the Abbey of Gethsamani. Many esteem him as a spiritual master, a brilliant writer, and a man who never shied from engaging issues of his day as part of his quest for God and for human solidarity. Since his death, many volumes by him have been published, including five volumes of his letters and seven of his personal journals. According to present count, more than 60 titles of Merton’s writings are in print in English, not including the numerous doctoral dissertations and books about the man, his life, and his writings.

Write: Inspired by this meditation, write a prayer poem.