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Talking About The Faith Path
- Author Mark Dohle
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Trial by Fire
St. Ignatius also teaches that while we are under a storm, we are being purified by fire,
and the Lord does not speak. Instead, He gives us the grace to remain faithful to
what He had told us previously. Therefore, during the storm, do not make
changes in your life. Hold firm...
The Struggle with Our Thoughts
One does not arrive at virtue except through knowledge of self and
knowledge of Me, which knowledge is more perfectly acquired
in the time of temptation, because then man knows himself to be nothing,
being unable to lift off himself the pains and...
Addictions, anxiety, intelligence and the NDE
There is a saying “talk is cheap” and it is very true. For me to talk of ‘trusting God’ no matter how bleak things get is easy to expand on, but not so easy when I am in the midst of some inner turmoil, or worse, an inner void. While it is true that...
In Times of Trial
In times of trial, we are vulnerable to temptations that promise
to resolve our problems. Like the Israelites in the desert, we
are tempted to return to Egypt. It seemed better for them to
be slaves than to persevere in the adverse conditions
of the desert. To go forward...
The reason behind so many NDE’s
There was a man here this week who is wheelchair bound. He has been coming every year for 25 years and is well known. We talked for a few minutes the other night and he related to me that 17 years ago he was in an automobile accident and was dead for 9...
"When we have nothing left but God, we discover that God is enough.
A few years ago I saw a picture online of a man standing on a dock looking down at the water and the caption said
"when we have nothing left but God, we discover that God is enough." In my own life I have found that statement...
The world our heart dwells in
So, the “Prodigal son” is by himself, alone, bereft of friends, hungry and literally living in a pig-sty. Who knows how long he has been away from his family and probably never thought about them, or when he did, it was perhaps in mockery and disdain. Being...
Monastic life and the Holy Spirit
(the struggle with evil)
Chapter talk 2018
The Good Zeal Of Monks (The Rule Of St. Benedict – Chapter 72)
Just as there is a wicked zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal which separates
from evil and leads to...
Crying Out to God
Psalm 51 is a powerful prayer of repentance for this stage of the Path. In this prayer, we beg the Lord to have mercy upon
us and to cleanse us from all our sins. We cry out to God to create a clean heart in us, making it whiter than snow.
The Love Crucified Community. The...
Deep Roots
Sins are like weeds: we may cut the leaves, but as long as the roots remain, more leaves will soon come up. We must dig deep and pull out the entire root system—the hidden part that thrives beneath the surface. Many times, in confession, we give the Lord only the visible sins (the...
The Gift of Stubbornness
The call that I received thirty years ago, a call to which I did not know how to respond, or to which
I found myself unable to respond fully. There were too many obstacles in me, too many infected wounds,
still waiting for the healing that had to come through the...
The Monastic Struggle
'Man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God' (Jms. 1:20
(Chapter talk)
We must, with God's help, eradicate the deadly poison of the demon of anger from the depths of our souls.
So long as he dwells in our hearts and blinds the eyes of the heart with his...
So where is our hope?
You do not comprehend pain. You do not comprehend that through the love of God you need to accept pain and endure it. Every human being will experience it to a lesser or greater measure. But with peace in the soul and in a state of grace, hope exists: this is My Son, God...
Prayer Life
As a species, we tend to overthink certain areas in our lives that are very important. One’s life of prayer can be one such topic. When talking with some retreatants they often want to find ‘one way’ to pray. For instance, “Centering Prayer”, the rosary, or some other form of...
Aging, community, and grace
Living in an aging community is something that takes getting used to. Perhaps something I will never be able to feel comfortable with. I keep thinking I am younger, but there is truth to that. I believe that we are all young when we are by ourselves. I believe it was...
Long Hard Journey
Prayer keeps us open to the Spirit. The Spirit seeks to heal and lead us to life; we all have an infinite capacity to grow, to learn to love to have a relationship with the Infinite, the lover of our souls. Either life is an open-ended affair, or it is a dead end, when we...
The Challenge
Accept the Challenge I am Facing.
It may become my greatest gift. -Gail B.
When life runs smoothly, I tend to become less focused and alert to what is happening inside me. Perhaps when things are ‘just so’, I fall into a sort of half-sleep: routine can be soothing and numbing. If...
Walking On Thin Ice
Walking The spiritual life is not about ‘dressing up’, though it can often be that for a while. No, our seeking after the Infinite, is, in fact, a ‘dressing-down’. It is about falling through the cracks in the ice, that thin layer that hides the often-brutal unconscious from...
Do Not Be Discouraged
“Why do you grow weary of doing good to others?
Am I not in them? Would you ever grow weary of helping
Me if I were near you? You would help Me joyously, lovingly.
You would say, ‘Is there anything else you would like, dear Master?
Does that please you?’
Bossis...
This is an interview that Sandy and I were part of a few years ago. She had a powerful NDE, and well I was just the monk who was there with her being part of the conversation.. I think I took up too much...