I almost missed my daughter’s birth. While my wife and I were preparing for this event, she decided that she wanted to experience it to the full and to avoid any possible ill effects on our daughter. So she decided not to have an epidural anesthetic, and she asked me Read more…
Read 2 Timothy 1:1-14. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the Read more…
Read 1 Timothy 6:6-19. There is great gain in Godliness combined with contentment. (1 Tim. 6:6) See also Ruysbroeck, The Sparkling Stone Joy and sorrow. Pain and elation. Heaven and hell. Why is life like that? Why is one moment ablaze with glory, every cloud, every leaf, every person a Read more…
Read Luke 16:1-13. Do you like to run? Do you love to get out there, pound the pavement, feel the wind in your hair, see the world flow by, breathe the fresh air, sweat away the stress of the day? Me neither. I know someone who doesn’t like to run. Read more…
In the 14th century, when Ruysbroeck lived, there was no doubt a great deal of illiteracy, especially if that is understood to mean the inability to read and write Latin, the language of the church. Therefore images and rituals were a significant component in worship. Churches had stained glass windows Read more…
Read Luke 14:25-33. Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26) So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (Luke Read more…
Jan van Ruysbroeck (or Ruusbroec; 1293 or 1294-1381) was a great fourteenth-century contemplative of the Low Countries. He wrote in the vernacular, middle Dutch, rather than Latin. He was a proponent of a “common” or mixed active and contemplative life. Of him, Evelyn Underhill said that “Ruusbroec is thought, by Read more…
Read Exodus 20:9-24 and Hebrews 12:18-29. When the Israelites were at Mt Sinai, Moses told them that the Lord would come down from the mountain in the sight of all the people. They were not to draw near: people and animals who touched the mountain were to be stoned or Read more…
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it Read more…
Read Luke 12:32-40. In fact, just read all of Luke 12 up to verse 40. Sell your possessions, and give alms. (Luke 12:33a) What drives you to do what you do? Why do you get up in the morning and go to work? Why do you get dressed and eat Read more…