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One Centering Prayer practitioner wrote to me in an online conversation, “In this information age of constant texting and tweets I think Centering Prayer is a very practical way to do ‘be still’ and surrender in God’s presence; it’s helped me to detach from negative thoughts and feelings…” This is a common assertion, one I’m sympathetic to. We certainly do have too much “noise” in our world–not just beeps and drum beats, but also texts and pop-ups and real-time videos. The over-abundance of sensory stimulation distracts us from focusing on God in prayer. How can we be free of such distracting thoughts? Continue reading at Is Centering Prayer Catholic?

watercolour  by Emanuel Franco Gómez, OCarm. (Manu) Oct. 15th is the Feast of St. Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus. I love this woman. Although she is a doctor of the Church and one of the three great 16th-century Spanish mystics (along with St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. John of the Cross), she is humourous as well as wise. St. Teresa of Avila is the real deal; holy, down to earth, humble and best of all extremely articulate.  Her  phrases are succinct, to the point yet those few words point to a deep, Divine wisdom. Since I cannot top St. Teresa, I will simply let her speak for herself. The first line of her autobiography is amusing.  “Having virtuous and God-fearing parents would have been enough for me to be good if I were not so wicked." After a donkey threw her into a cold river she said- “If this is how You treat Your frie nds, then it is no wonder You have so few of them.” You’ve gotta love that level of practicality and a