Beatitudes Blog
Faltering Is Not Failure In Faith: A Maundy Thursday Meditation
Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and...
Blessed Poverty and Knowing Christ
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven....Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Mt 5:3, 6). Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount – and all his teachings in Matthew, for that matter – with this...
Jesus Versus Belief In a Just World
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). Psychology of Victim-Blaming and Belief in a Just World In the 1960s, a young psychologist-in-training named Melvin Lerner noticed that many who worked with him to help psychiatric patients tended to...
Temptations of the Beloved
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God....Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:8, 10). Read Luke 4:1-13 At his birth thirty years before, angels roused shepherds and rushed them to see the...
Joseph’s Forgiveness After the Long Loneliness
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.... Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:7, 9). As colorful as his famous coat, Joseph’s story keeps us on the edge of our seats like none other in scripture. The long...
Seeing Angels Takes Heart
On preparing your heart to see and hear as Isaiah did.
When Forgiveness Is Hard
Hope in the struggle to forgive
Choosing Goodness with No Reward in Sight
As we remember the famous Archbishop Desmond Tutu, let us listen as he remembers one little known who inspired him.
Mary’s Son
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). Mary remembered old, wizened Simeon with hair coming out of every pore, bone-bent, hunched, and creeping toward Joseph and Mary's son like a spider. With childlike delight in his crinkled eyes, he...
Mourner, Reclaim Christmas
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). Healing processes are not pretty until the end. For example, a cut on the hand takes you through pain, bleeding, scabbing, and scarring before it clears up. Grief, too, goes through awkward or...
The Kingdom You Had All Along
Searching for something or someone to complete you? You’re surprisingly warm…
Agape Love: When Others Fail To Give Back
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10). In my work as a psychotherapist, I hear a steady refrain or bass line in a minor key: "I give, someone else takes, and I receive less in return." Some...
As a psychotherapist and spiritual director, I bring well-honed insight and skill to these posts; yet, my vulnerability plays a more important part, for more than advice from experts, serious people of faith need resonance with fellow travelers.
In my writing and in your reading and comments, may we face our challenges in God’s compassionate presence rather than in a private dressing room where we try in vain to make ourselves presentable to God at an appointed meeting. God meets us where we are.
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