• Meditations

    Happy is the person who meditates on wisdom and reasons intelligently – Sirach 14:20

    How do we represent our religion? Just as a system, or as a glowing fire? – Fr. Alfred Delp SJ

    As with our biographies, most of these meditations may be downloaded for use as classroom material, campus ministry handouts, parish bulletin inserts, republication in newsletters or newspapers, or any other use other than in a book or anthrology. No fee is necessary, we ask only that the copyright at the end of each document be respected, including use of the URL.


     

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    The Great Conversation

    There is a common stereotype of life in the hereafter which…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

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    Down the Memory Hole

    On December 9, 1924 unidentified armed men invaded the Donskoy Monastery…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

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    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Priest

    During our historical research we sometimes find…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

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    All That Remains

    Dr. Paul Takashi Nagai was a Christian martyr more than once…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

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    A Young Saint in Isfahan

    When the Islamic Revolution began in Iran…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

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    Chiara Corbella Petrillo

    Here is a powerful video of a young woman who…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

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    Two Rows by the Sea

    In February 2015 the Islamic State murdered…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

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    A Warm Smoggy Sky

    Your church / has been attacked / by a suicide bomber…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)


     

    I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightning From the Sky

    This essay is named after a verse from the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus confirms to the seventy-two disciples their authority… more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)

    With thanks to Rod Dreher for inspiring the structure of this meditation, and for a couple of borrowed sentences.


     

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    The Wormwood Star

    A “hyper-selfish cat” listens to the confession of an old man…more

    (for a printable PDF version click here)