Praying with the Senses a la St. Ignatius

When I give talks on the Bible or on prayer, I usually encourage people to try praying with all five senses. St. Ignatius recommended this way of bringing the Gospel stories to life and using them as a springboard for prayer. As an example, I unpack the story of the healing of Bartimaeus from Mark […]

What’s in the Name Jesus?

When someone calls me Catherine, I don’t like it. My name is Kathleen. We are sensitive about our names because they stand for us. I wonder how the Savior feels when we call him Jesus. He and his people spoke  Aramaic, which has no “J” sound.  His name would have been Yeshua, a common Jewish […]

The Jesus Prayer: A Means to Encounter God

On retreat I found myself praying the Jesus Prayer as I crocheted a baby blanket. The words fell in sync with my stitches: “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We inherited this prayer from the desert fathers of the fourth or fifth century. People today still treasure it as a way […]

Mantras like the Jesus Prayer: Default Prayers

In an operating room awaiting surgery, I found myself praying, “Even though I walk through the valley of death, you are with me!” After I came to I kept repeating, “The Lord is my shepherd” all night. In the morning I remarked to a nurse that the machine next to my bed that sounded like […]