by Peter James | May 16, 2024 | St. Dominic
Entering an arranged marriage seems inconceivable to me. I’ll choose my own wife, thank you very much. Yet, in twelfth century Europe, the practice of arranged marriages was common, especially among nobles. In 1203, the King of Castile (now part of Spain) sent a...
by Peter James | May 15, 2024 | Meister Eckhart
One challenge in prayer is becoming attached to what we want God to do for us. While we dutifully pray “Thy will be done,” in truth, we have our hearts set on predetermined outcomes. We want all people to be healed and all circumstances to break in our...
by Peter James | May 14, 2024 | Thomas Merton
Napoleon Bonaparte entered his palace accompanied by an assortment of military officers. As they made their way through the gallery, a fourteen-year-old girl rushed forward, fell at the emperor’s feet, and clung to his legs from behind. “Mercy, sir, mercy...
by Peter James | May 13, 2024 | Mechthild of Magdeburg
If you were a woman in the thirteenth century who wanted to devote your life to God, you joined a convent. No other options were open to you. A group of women defied convention by choosing to live for God while rejecting the cloistered life. They didn’t take...
by Peter James | May 12, 2024 | Henry Van Dyke
Henry van Dyke (1852-1933) was a guest at the home of Augustus Garfield, president of Williams College in western Massachusetts, nestled in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. Henry was pastor of Brick Presbyterian Church in New York and visited the college as a...
