Author Archives: Jonas

Praying with the Earth

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Jonas

The ageless mountains are full of your glory the vast seas swell with your might the shining skies expand beyond our imagining so we pause to praise we wait in wonder we listen to learn of the mountain glory within … Continue reading →

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“Everything That Rises Must Converge”

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Jonas

Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) was a writer whose Catholic faith deeply informed her fiction, and no thinker influenced her more than Teilhard de Chardin. Afflicted with lupus, an autoimmune disease that led to her early death, she found comfort in Teilhard’s … Continue reading →

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“The sacred place where life begins”

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Jonas

Indigenous peoples around the world have for centuries been considered inferior, both racially and culturally, to people of European ancestry. This has certainly been true in the US which has an awful history of systematic violence toward Native Americans by … Continue reading →

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Learning to see

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Jonas

In November 2016, I attended a retreat at the Garrison Institute, a renovated former Capuchin Monastery in a scenic setting by the Hudson River. Presentations by Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk and priest, provided a contemplative approach to exploring the … Continue reading →

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It’s all about seeing

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Jonas

Teilhard’s The Human Phenomenon (previous translation title The Phenomenon of Man) begins with the following prologue: These pages represent an effort to see and to show what the human being becomes, what the human being requires, if placed wholly and completely in the … Continue reading →

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Praying with Teilhard de Chardin

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Jonas

One of 28 titles in the Companions for the Journey series published by Saint Mary’s Press, Praying with Teilhard de Chardin by James W. Skehan, SJ, offers both an excellent introductory essay about Teilhard’s life and accomplishments and a way to engage … Continue reading →

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Cynthia Bourgeault on Teilhard

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Jonas

In 2016, Cynthia Bourgeault offered a five week online course on Teilhard via the Spirituality & Practice website (a wonderful resource, I should add). Titled “Teilhard for Our Times,” the course provided an introduction to the main themes of Teilhard’s thought. … Continue reading →

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The Peace of Wild Things

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Jonas

Wendell Berry (1934- ), farmer, environmentalist, author of poems, novels, short stories, and essays, resides near his birth place in Kentucky. His poetry often reveals his deep reverence for the earth, like in the following example. The Peace of Wild … Continue reading →

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The Avowal

Posted on April 3, 2018 by Jonas

A year before her death, Denise Levertov published two slim collections of her poetry, each volume with a particular focus or theme. In the Foreword to the volume devoted to a selection of her religious poems, she explains: Included here … Continue reading →

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Compositions based on climate data

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Jonas

So much about climate change is communicated by numbers and graphs (e.g., rising temperatures, increasing carbon dioxide levels, etc.), and often illustrated by alarming visual evidence in photos and videos. But the human spirit can be engaged on many levels. … Continue reading →

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