Why I Do What I Do — An Advent Reflection

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Daniel J. Miller

E-mman-u-el [ ih-man-yoo-uhl ] from Hebrew ʿimmānū'ēl “God is with us” I was listening the other day to an interview with Chris Herren who is in his mid-forties. He’s a humble, insightful, and articulate man. And he’s doing such Read more [...]

Reaching Out, Pulled from Within — A Lament

Posted on December 5, 2023 by Daniel J. Miller

~ After Listening to an interview with Nick Cave and while reading his book Faith, Hope, and Carnage. Does it get better? Does it get better? Does it get better? Does it get better? Does it get better? Does it get better? ⊕ Does it ever Read more [...]

The Blessed Tension—When Suffering and Beauty Kiss

Posted on November 15, 2023 by Daniel J. Miller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMxd_XwsKsw Beauty will save the world. ~ Dostoevsky Alexander Solzhenitsyn also wrestled with this line in his 1970 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and we're lucky to be privy to his chain of thought here: "One Read more [...]

When the Heart Breaks

Posted on October 8, 2022 by Daniel J. Miller

There are three kinds of heartbreak. The first is when the heart is broken open by the enchantment, grandeur, and mystery of all reality. The second is when the heart is broken open by the unjust, tragic, or unbearably sorrowful experiences of living; Read more [...]

From Complacency to Courage

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Daniel J. Miller

As the world knows, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was detained this past week in Tehran, Iran by the "morality police" for allegedly wearing her hijab too loosely in violation of strictures demanding women in public wear the Islamic headscarves. Read more [...]

In Memoriam

Posted on July 7, 2022 by Daniel J. Miller

The photo above with me and the dog (the dog is on the right) is from my 1977 post-college hitchhiking trip around the US of A to the tune of 17,000 miles with JT as the soundtrack—"Take to the highway won't you lend me your name. . . " Way more Read more [...]

A Saying that Needs to be Laid to Rest

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Daniel J. Miller

“There, but for the grace of God, go I.” This is a seemingly harmless and ubiquitous saying that turns up in the case of close calls and near miss tragedies, slipping off the tongue with the intention of crediting God for the prevention of the speaker's Read more [...]

THE DREAM TEAM: My Starting Five ~ 5. Joy

Posted on June 26, 2022 by Daniel J. Miller

Suppose your spiritual life was a ball team. Who would be your starting five? CLICK on any of the five below. 1. LOVE 2. WONDER 3. GRATEFULNESS 4. COMPASSION 5. JOY There is only one real blasphemy: the refusal of joy. ~ Paul Rudnick Your Read more [...]

Find Your Own Calcutta ~ Two Life-Lines:

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Daniel J. Miller

Today's Life-Lines are a follow-up to my post on June 10, 2022, on COMPASSION. I link compassion immediately with intimacy. Compassion is the ability to vitally imagine what it is like to be an other, the force that makes a bridge from the island of Read more [...]

The Coming of Your Bones

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Daniel J. Miller

Yesterday, I posted a reflection on compassion which I believe is a constitutive element of any authentic spirituality. I told a story about when I was in college and on the receiving end of a simple but profound act of compassionate presence. At Read more [...]

The Sacred Braid

Helping Persons and Communities Weave Lives of Spiritual Depth.

Tag Archives: Suffering