Living Grace

Sitting here on my balcony with a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean Sea, I am overwhelmed with beauty and its capacity to fill us with unexplainable wonder. My first impulse is to want to share this beauty with everyone, because it is the nature of beauty to move...

It is 2:30 in the morning. Everyone is asleep, the villa is quiet, and I am alone with myself except for the wind blowing through the open window. I watch the random thoughts dancing across the screen of my mind; they are nothing more than the ego’s machinations. Yet,...

Whether we are talking about slave holders or Nazi guards, it is very easy to look at these historical figures and say we would never participate in such atrocities. However, even a sliver of humility would cause us to pause before making such self-righteous...

Monday: What was true for Francis is true for us. In modern America, most of us enjoy a level of material wealth that only the nobility experienced in the past. Yet, we are experiencing an epidemic of depression, anxiety, and addiction. We have been created to...

Part of what has made the ego such a dominant factor in our individual and collective lives is fear and pain. When we are disconnected from God and our own souls, we are unable to cope effectively with life’s challenges, especially when it comes to suffering. When we...

As I wrote yesterday, the ego needs constant stimulation in order to maintain a sense of identity. One of its greatest tricks is the pendulum-swing of grandiosity and self-disdain: I am wonderful, special, and worthy of adoration, or I am a horrible person, the worst...