“Didn’t we feel on fire?” (Easter Morning on the Emmaus Road)

[From Eugene Peterson’s The Message]

That same day [the morning of the Resurrection] two of them were walking to the village of Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognize who he was.

 He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”

Digging Deeper for Lent, Week 6: Fixed-Hour Prayer

Prayer means many different things to different people, and there are many kinds of prayer. Let us say, for our purposes, that to pray is to address oneself to Deity. For most Christians, this is a practice in which they engage at least occasionally; for many, it is part of their daily routine.

At times, prayer may flow out of what one is reading, or out of one’s life circumstances. At times, our hearts are beyond the ability to form our own words. At such times it is good to have the words of others as a guide, as we discussed in Week 2, Puritan Prayers. We are exhorted to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) and many of us find that very hard at the best of times.

How might we better incorporate prayer into our daily routine?

Digging Deeper for Lent, Week 3: Books for Spiritual Formation

This Lenten season, I’m taking a moment in this mid-week slot to recommend resources for spiritual growth. Previous suggestions have included a news periodical with a Christian worldview, and a collection of prayers written hundreds of years ago.

Today I turn to my favorite medium, books–real, hold-in-your-hand books. I have three from my personal library in front of me; each offers a somewhat different approach to spiritual formation.

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The most recent addition is by an author I have enjoyed in the past, John Ortberg. His 2010 book, The Me I Want To Be, is written with his signature blend of pithy anecdote, biblical insight and practical teaching points, complete with helpful call-out frames (or whole pages) which provide overview or outline of his main points. Its design is eye-catching and its format makes it very readable.

Pope Francis calls abortion “horrific”; decries “throwaway culture”

Surprise, surprise: Pope Francis and the Catholic Church are still wholly against abortion, in all instances.

Huh. Who knew?

Well, apart from everyone other than the liberal MSM wishful-thinkers and their dwindling number of readers.

The REAL Gift of Love at Christmas, …and all year ’round

Even though Christmas DAY has passed, we are still celebrating the Christmas SEASON. 

But if you were to ask a random group of people what they “love” about Christmas (the day AND the season), you’d probably get answers ranging from giving/receiving gifts, to time off from work, to spending time with family.

And while those things can certainly be gratifying, there’s no question that they are also ephemeral by their very nature:

• Your ‘shake weight‘ now resides in the back of a closet somewhere, waiting for the day when you “get around to using it…”,
• You DID go back to work, …or you will soon,
• And the family, eventually, puts away the Christmas decorations, and goes back to the daily and weekly routines.

Yet there IS one Christmas gift which never loses its beauty, and is the greatest “gift” of all time:

God’s gift of His Son.

Actually, Suffering is PROOF of God’s Existence….

Got your attention, didn’t I?

I just watched a Prager University video featuring Professor Peter Kreeft of Boston College. Professor Kreeft happens to be one of my favorite philosophy/logic/theology writers, so I was happy to watch his brief lecture.

I think you’ll appreciate it, too:

Persecution is to be Expected

A Muslim man shoots two Egyptian Coptic Christians at point-blank range, then cuts off their hands and heads.  That must have happened…this week in Cairo?

No. Back in February.

In Buena Vista, New Jersey.

Granted, the Christians were recent immigrants…after all, most of the violence is confined to Egypt–isn’t it?

Except–since January, there have been killings in these African countries, too: Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, and Tanzania. At ChristianPersecution.info, you can find 19 articles since April of this year about persecution against African Christians. 

Monique David: There will be much to miss about Pope Benedict

A beautiful post on our soon-to-be former Pope, courtesy of Monique David in Canada’s ‘National Post‘.