The tie that binds all of the practices in this series on Growing with Intention together is their shared presupposition that growing spiritually involves growing in awareness — being able to see, accept, and integrate more about ourselves and the world around us. While the first four practices we've looked at — transcendent spiritual experiences, … Continue reading Growing with Intention: Making the Unconscious Conscious
This week, the West looked on in horror as the Taliban advanced into Kabul with shocking speed; in just a few days, it seemed, two decades of nation-building was being undone. It was a sad reminder that the world is a violent place, filled with injustice and tyrannies of all kinds. And it seems that … Continue reading The Armour of God: A Reflection on Ephesians 6.10-20
One theme that has recurred in my Sunday reflections over the past few months is the idea that we receive grace as a gift from God, but inasmuch as that grace is at work in us, we will also give grace to others. As I wrote in November: Grace is a gift but it isn't … Continue reading Growing with Intention: Value Metabolism
Today, August 15, is an ancient feast day that remembers the end of the earthly life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. As such, it represents a wonderful opportunity to eulogize this incredible woman, whom God chose to be the human agent of the Incarnation — the mother of the Son of God — and … Continue reading By Blood & By Grace: A Reflection on the Feast of St Mary
The great physicist Niels Bohr famously wrote: “The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.” This is an idea that I have come to appreciate more and more over the years: The opposites of so many basic values are not falsehoods, but equally profound values. … Continue reading Growing with Intention: Positive-Positive Polarities, or, Dialectical Epistemology
Matthew Root 