Oblate Formation 
Posts concerning Oblate and Novice formation. These include articles which are also applicable to most Christians, whether Oblate or not. Additional articles on instruction of various parts of the Rule can be found under that category.
Top Ten Reasons “Burn a Qur’an Day” is Anti-Biblical
It goes against the Bible’s teaching to “let your conversation always be full of grace.” (Colossians 4:6) It goes against the Bible’s teaching to “love your neighbor.” (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39) It goes against the Bible’s teaching to “love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:43) It goes against the Bible’s teaching to “do unto others as you… Read More ›
Facebook feeds narcissism, survey says
A national study fresh out of SDSU is confirming that Generation Y really is Generation Me. The jaw-dropping conclusion? 57% of young people believe their generation uses social networking sites for self-promotion, narcissism and attention seeking. Jean Twenge, an SDSU Psychology Professor and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, collaborated… Read More ›
What Do You Weep For?
Evagrius of Ponticus, one of the early desert monastics, counseled young monastics: “First pray for the gift of tears, to soften by compunction the inherent hardness of your soul.” And fifteen centuries later, George Eliot wrote, too, “The beginning of compunction is the beginning of new life.” The point is clear: Weeping is a very… Read More ›
The Artist and Monk Are One
If, indeed, truth is beauty and beauty truth, then the monastic and the artist are one. Monasticism, in fact, cultivates the artistic spirit. Basic to monasticism are the very qualities art demands of the artist: silence, contemplation, discernment of spirits, community and humility. Basic to art are the very qualities demanded of the monastic: single-mindedness,… Read More ›
Absurdity
When I was young, I came upon the quote: “life is absurd”. I am pretty sure it was from Camus, for I spent some time in my middle twenties reading him extensively, for a year or so. I think I kind of got it, yet as I get older this quote has become more and… Read More ›
What Do You Have Time For?
One of the obsessive concerns of contemporary society is speed. Everything we produce we produce to go faster than the ones before it. Planes go faster than the speed of sound, though no one cares. Computer upgrades costing hundreds of dollars are downloaded every day to take milliseconds off the operating speeds of the versions… Read More ›
Turning Point
Choices are very important, for they give directions to out lives and allow focus to result. Moments of choice are important for without them life can become something meaningless, leading nowhere, just endless cycles of the same. Important as our choices are, they also cause other avenues that could have been chosen to be put… Read More ›
“Keeping Friends” and Social Isolation
This is part two of a selection from Finding Happiness, Monastic Steps for a Fulfilling Life by Abbot Christopher Jamison. Click here to read part one. There is one disturbing fact that goes against the flow of this youthful view of happiness: in Britain and America, suicide rates among adults have been falling in recent… Read More ›
Keeping Friends in Today’s Culture
[With] the younger generation, …. Happiness is achieved by having not only a circle of friends but also the technology that enables constant communication with them. Text messages and mobile phone calls, emails and social networking websites, these are essential parts of this friendship culture. As well as holding friends together, this personal communications technology… Read More ›
Prayer must open heart and mind to God
Sydney, Australia, Jul 30, 2010 / 04:02 am (CNA).- Prayer is more than talking to God, but more specifically the opening of our heart and mind to God, Cardinal George Pell wrote in a reflection on prayer for his weekly newspaper column. In an essay in The Sunday Telegraph of Sydney, the cardinal emphasized that… Read More ›