Guidelines

Talking about something helps. Just talking about it may not seem to have much power to change our life situation for the better, but words are all we have. Do not underrate or underestimate the positive effect of simply talking through something with a trusted other. My life can be viewed as a series of […]

One of our greatest and most constant searches is for personal peace. One reason we have difficulty gaining and maintaining peace is because we often misunderstand it. Peace is not a mere state of mind; it is a state of relationships. Hence, it is not something under our exclusive control. Peace is harmonious connection with […]

Hope is as breath to the soul. It instantly comforts and rejuvenates your inner being, so you can somehow go on when a minute ago you were wondering how you could do just that. Back in October of 2002, I led a group of men on my annual weekend “Men’s Prayer Retreat,” at New Melleray […]

Some things you just have to risk believing in. All the more so at perilous times such as these. You have to risk certain beliefs for the sake of the sanity and the security of your soul. One essential belief is that, no matter what you are going through, no matter what you are dealing […]

At some level, we are all servants. Perhaps we are all here to be of service, to make some difference in the lives of others. Whom do you serve? God? Yourself? Family? Friends? Neighbors? Community? If you determined your wealth not by money and possessions, but by the cumulative service you have rendered to others […]

The common cold of the soul just may be irritability. Or so a group of us determined during a recent meeting. To be like the common cold, it has to be readily “catchable” by others. And what is more catchable than another’s irritation? It is easier to catch than the horrific Covid virus. Irritation spoils […]