Today is the first Sunday of the month when we share guest posts from people living and teaching the Contemplative and/or Celtic Christian way around the world. One of the beautiful things about the internet is that people doing amazing things in isolated parts of the world can learn from one another and grow together. … Continue reading Monkey Mind: Christian Mindfulness and the Eternal Now →

Celtic cosmology has often been cyclical rather than linear. The pre-Christian myths of the Celtic people do not have an account of the origins of the universe or the end of time. That changed when Christianity came on the scene as there was a clear beginning and clear end to the Biblical narrative. Yet, there … Continue reading Apokatastasis: An Alternative Doctrine to Hell →

When discussing the way in which we are saved by the incarnation, Eriugena adds a striking commentary. Not only, he asserts, were humans saved by the incarnation, but indeed through humanity all of creation was redeemed. Eriugena taught that humanity is the midpoint of all creation, we are the focal point of the universe. This … Continue reading The Universe Inside You: An Advent Reflection →

There is an ancient Celtic belief, taught to us by Eriugena, that salvation happened primarily through the incarnation rather than the crucifixion. It was the bringing together of heaven and earth, spirit and matter, creator and creation, that healed the world. Jesus is the celestial physician, the healer of the material universe, and he came … Continue reading We Are Saved by the Incarnation →

In the contemporary Western church today there is a great emphasis in the cataphatic theology of God. Many modern songs used in church make bold declarations of who God is, and some of the modern charismatic responsive statements are the same, for example when the leader proclaims ‘God is good’ a common response is ‘all … Continue reading The Path to God Leads to Nothing →

Eriugena taught that the Word made flesh is continually being spoken by God in two ways, through the Bible and through creatures. When Eriugena talks about creatures he means anything which has been created, not just little furry critters. Eriugena taught that we come from God and will one day return to God, as it is with all creatures.

Today is the first Sunday of the month when we share guest posts from people living and teaching the Contemplative and/or Celtic Christian way around the world. One of the beautiful things about the internet is that people doing amazing things in isolated parts of the world can learn from one another and grow together. … Continue reading The Full Meaning of the Incarnation →

There are countless religious traditions throughout the world but one practice which seems to be part of all of them (or at least most) is the art of fasting. Religious people on every continent have traditions of fasting. It is part of the Abrahamic religions, the Eastern religions, and indigenous religions around the world. It … Continue reading The Art of Fasting →

The Celtic tradition offers two very different, but in the end interdependent, reasons to take up ascetic practices. Besides being a gymnasium of the soul as I described in my previous article, Training For Holiness, it is also an act of solidarity with the suffering of the world. This is well expressed in the Homily … Continue reading Asceticism as an Act of Solidarity →

In the Christian mystical tradition there is an ancient way of understanding God by means of negation. This is often called apophatic theology. The most famous of the Christian mystics who teach this path of unknowing is Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. This way of understanding God and contemplative prayer came into the Western Christian tradition through … Continue reading God is Nothing →