Bože! A Grace Catholic Project
Posts Tagged ‘praxis’
Getting To Grips With The Bible
Not long ago I posted asking how we OC/IC types use the Bible – how does it fit into our praxis as individuals and as a community. This morning’s trawl uncovered this fun post at the Scriptorum which explored the little book “Mastering the English Bible” by James Gray. Gray was an early Dean of [...]
Praxis – Lent
Huw’s essay on Lenten praxis is well worth the read. Tweet
The Fast – What’s It All About Anyway?
It’s finally here – today is “clean monday”, the fast has begun. So here’s the question: what is “the fast” all about anyway? Athanasius writing in the fourth century said that a bit of moderate asceticism was useful for everyone – not just ascetics (read – monks, virgins, nuns and vowed widows). But the age [...]
One’s Own Little Paradise
For much of yesterday (Sunday) we pottered about in the garden. Thinning the leaf cover on the pond, watering, planting, picking, tidying. I spent the day intermitantly considering the connection between gardening and spirituality/devotion. Early reflections on Mary – for example, relied heavily on the image of the “enclosed garden” or Paradise. This was not [...]
A Missed Opportunity For Unanimity
I was stunned to discover this morning that according to this Pew Forum On Religion & Public Life study – barely a quarter of Christians in the US believe that the torture of terrorist suspects is never justified. Have I missed a basic tenet of Christian belief and praxis that says it is acceptable to [...]
Lent Midweek II – (belated) Integration
Consider for a moment what it is we “do” during Lent. Because of the fast, we consciously consider our diet, we adjust what we eat, we are increasingly aware of the ingredients – are they vegetarian or not. During Lent the discipline of the season shapes our daily life, it informs and refines our choices. [...]
Midweek – Lent I
Half way through the first week of lent the first stichera of Vespers points to Isa 58 and, reminds us of the purpose of the great fast. “While fasting with the body, brethren, let us also fast in spirit.” Sack cloth and ashes, surrendering chocolate and beer – too often the discipline of lent is [...]
The Spiritual Life – Backbone of Community?
Last week Lyngine commented: “I’m leaning towards the idea that it may hinge on teaching/helping individual clergy and laity to cultivate a strong, grounded spiritual life and how to sustain that as an OC/IC priest or lay person in the midst of isolation—ministry then flows from that—-if the strong spiritual/religious grounding isn’t there or can’t [...]
First Epistle to God
The Guardian’s Belief section on Monday (15 Dec) posed a rather fun – and interesting question: what would you say in a letter to God? The idea comes – it seems – from the fact that the post office in Jerusalem places all letters addressed to “God” in the Western Wall. How neat is that! [...]
The Struggle to Practice
This post from Velveteen Rabbi is wonderful – go read it! In it she talks about the competing “voices” that we encounter as we go about practicing faith. In her example she relates this necessary tension to the “mundane” practice of morning prayer. One says but this and that need to be done, and of [...]