Making Room

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Daniel J. Miller

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he Read more [...]

Maybe the Emptiness

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Daniel J. Miller

Lent is to Easter what Advent is to Christmas: the tomb of death becomes the womb of life just as the darkness holds the unseen light. During Advent we hear from Isaiah (and it is echoed in Matthew) “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great Read more [...]

Lent: Making Room for . . .

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Daniel J. Miller

When I speak of the three time-honored spiritual practices of Lent – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – in terms of creating a vacancy, it is important to know that we do so not out of a spirit of sour-faced, self-deprivation, denigration, or punishment. Read more [...]

Lent: Season of Subtraction, Relinquishment, and Making Space

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Daniel J. Miller

As a tangible way of living out the call to conversion, the Christian community suggests three specific spiritual disciplines: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (sharing). As the image of the townspeople burning their gathered junk as part of spring cleaning Read more [...]

Holy Foolishness: Taking an Interest in the Not Me

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Daniel J. Miller

Yesterday I suggested the primary folly was the folly of God as revealed in the original creative act. As an action of freedom, it was oriented toward and done on behalf of the other. I also proposed that, for Christians, Jesus is the embodiment of this Read more [...]

Silence & Simplicity: On the Way to Solidarity

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Daniel J. Miller

Thomas Merton maintains that our salvation lies in silence because the way God chooses to be involves self-communicating love. This means not just that God communicates love but more so that the love God communicates is God’s very self, is God. So Read more [...]

Simplicity: The Art and Practice of Making Room

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Daniel J. Miller

I have been thinking about this month’s theme – practicing silence and simplicity – in light of Advent. The silence that is necessary for a listening heart is what allowed Mary not only to hear but to embrace and hold dear the truth of the blessed Read more [...]

The Sacred Braid

Helping Persons and Communities Weave Lives of Spiritual Depth.

Tag Archives: Creating Space