The Rhythm of Life – 21 Questions that will Change Your Life – Question #16: Can You Be Whole Again? 

“Welcome back to 21 questions that will change your life.

Question #16 is about being whole. So many aspects of life and society try to break us up into little bits so it is critically important that we look at ourselves as a whole person on a daily basis.

Question #16 is… In what ways does your lifestyle promote (or detract from) your physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being? Reflect on each of the four aspects of the human person: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.

Today’s question is… In what ways does your lifestyle promote (or detract from) your physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being?”


The Rhythm of Life – 21 Questions that will Change Your Life – Question #11: Will Your Life Be Different? 

“Welcome back to 21 questions that will change your life.

Question #11 is about envisioning your future. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the present and past that we forget to glance down the path and see where we are going.

Question #11 is… How do you want your life to be different one year from now? Imagine your life a year from now. If you stay on the path you are on, do you like where it will lead you to a year from now? What would you like to change about your life over the next 12 months? Think about the different aspects of life: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, material, financial, professional, adventure, legacy. Which of these areas do you want to focus on at this stage of your life?

Today’s question is… How do you want your life to be different one year from now?”


The Catechism in a Year – Day 16 – Senses of Scripture

Fr. Mike examines the two senses of Scripture: the literal sense and the spiritual sense. Together, we further unpack the meaning of the literal sense of Scripture and the three subdivisions of the spiritual sense: the allegorical, the moral, and the anagogical senses. Fr. Mike provides us with scriptural examples of each of the four senses for us to fully comprehend the richness of God’s Word. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 115-119.

Click on the link to play video: https://youtu.be/KlEbSJZLXH0


Not a Spiritual Person? Start Here!

Video Transcript: “The idea of developing a spiritual life can be intimidating. Daunting. But it needn’t be. People often ask how they can get started, so here are some thoughts…

A tree with deep roots can weather any storm. We all experience storms in our lives. It is not a question of whether or not we will experience another storm. That is not the question, but rather, when will the next storm be approaching? And when the storm arrives, it is too late for a tree to sink roots. When the storm arrives, it either has the roots or it does not.

I have been battered around in the storms of life in both scenarios. For some of life’s storms I was caught off guard and unprepared, and those storms damaged me significantly. But I have also encountered storms at times in my life when I was firmly committed to the daily routines of the spiritual life. These storms did nowhere near as much damage. The storms you have experienced in life have passed. You can do nothing to prepare for them or to change them. You may be still picking up the wreckage that those storms unleashed in your life.

There will be more storms in your life. I don’t know what and I don’t know when, but they will come for they are part of every person’s experience of life.

So begin to prepare today for the coming storms. Begin to develop deep roots by fostering a rich inner-life. Foster a rich inner-life by committing yourself to a daily routine of prayer and reflection.

I recommend three practices to ground your daily prayer and reflection:

1. The Prayer Process, which is explained in detail in the book I Heard God Laugh and the video series that accompanies it. It can also be found in the description below.

2. Daily Journaling, just write down whatever comes to your mind for a few minutes each day. Date your entries so you can come back to them over time and see how far you have come, how much you have grown.

3. Spiritual Reading, because books change our lives, because we become the books we read.

Why does it matter? Why is it important for each of us to establish a daily routine of prayer and reflection?

When Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, “I thirst.” In response to his desperate plea the soldiers gave him wine mixed with gall. This bitter combination would have only increased his dehydration and added to his misery.

I meet people every day who are crying out, “I thirst.” And the world gives them wine mixed with gall, which only increases their dehydration and adds to their misery.

We are each thirsty in our own ways today. You know your thirst, and I know mine. Your thirst may be different next week, and it may be the same. But the reality is our souls are thirsty. And we cannot satisfy a spiritual thirst with a worldly potion.

Dig The Well Before You Get Thirsty. I chose this title because our spiritual thirst is real and isn’t going away. Every day we are blessed to be on this earth, we will have a need to drink the living waters that God wants to freely give us. But we have to dig the well. How? By developing a daily practice of prayer and reflection. That’s how we dig the well. That’s how we gain access to the living water that Jesus spoke about.

Most people in our culture today are severely spiritually dehydrated. You may be in that place yourself. If you are, do not be discouraged, but don’t be a victim either. Start digging your well today. Find a quiet place, sit with God, and pour your heart out to him. He will comfort you in your afflictions and afflict you in your comfort. He will encourage you and challenge you, but most of all, he will love you. And his love and acceptance will hydrate your soul like never before.”


Minute Meditation – Spiritual Vaccination

We have all seen the rod of Asclepius, or its common variation, the caduceus, on medical insignia throughout the world. It was the symbol of this Greek god of healing, but is also found here in our First Reading from the book of Numbers (21:4–9). It is a single or double serpent winding around a pole, and we are not sure if the Greeks or the Hebrews had it first. But surely its meaning was a universal discovery that today we would perhaps call vaccination! In short, “the cause is also the cure”! Who would have thought? It seems to be true both medically and psychologically. At any rate, we have Moses prescribing such medicine to the complaining Hebrews in the desert, who were being bit by winged/fiery serpents. The meaning and healing symbol returns again in John’s Gospel on many levels, all of them significant. The recurring phrase is, “the lifted up one.” It has now become a rallying cry for the Jesus who was raised up on the cross and thus “vaccinated us against” doing the same (3:13 and 19:37). Jesus being “lifted up” is offered as a healing icon of love to all of history (12:32), and finally, as a victory sign of the final resurrection and ascension of all the human ones, as is prefigured in today’s account about the archetypal “Human One,” Jesus (8:28). This is powerful material, just as vaccinations always are. We have a Divine Medicine brought down to a small but potent dosage so we can handle it and it can handle us! That is what true spiritual symbols always do. Remember what we said earlier in Lent: Any direct contact with God is like contact with an electric wire—it burns you unless you have some good filters and a very humble humanity to receive it. No wonder so many Catholics and Orthodox never tired of hanging images of the crucified Jesus in their homes and in their churches. We needed to “lift up” and “gaze upon” the transformative image just as Moses first did in the desert. It can and did and will change many lives and much of history. 

— from the book Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent
by Richard Rohr, OFM, page 106

//Franciscan Media//