Featured
Thanks for Stopping By
I’m glad you’re visiting my website. I’m Carl — and here’s a little bit about me. I am a writer, blogger, podcaster, spiritual director,...
Featured
Books by Carl McColman
What Richard Foster and Dallas Willard were to my generation – prime tour guides to the spiritual life – I hope and believe Carl McColman will be fo...
Featured
How to Support this Blog
Readers like you make this blog possible. When you make a pledge to support this blog, you not only have the satisfaction of knowing you are partnering with me ...
Hildegard’s Mystical Vision of the Trinity
Today is the feast day of the medieval mystic, saint, and Doctor of the Church, Hildegard of Bingen. She died on September 17, 1179. I previously wrote a column...
A Celtic Perspective on Abundance
A few days ago I posted the transcript of a talk I gave at a Celtic spirituality conference at Southern Illinois University, way back on May 1, 1999. Today̵...
Spirituality, Fantasy, and the Divine Imagination
On September 12 and 13, 2020, I directed an online retreat for the Monastery of the Holy Spirit on “the Spirituality of the Divine Imagination.” The...
What are the gifts of Celtic Spirituality for our age?
Here is a blast from the past: a talk I gave at a Celtic spirituality conference at Southern Illinois University, way back on May 1, 1999. Public speaking was s...
Seven Secrets of the Christian Mystics — That Everyone Should Know
I had a conversation with several members of my Patreon circle the other day. We talked about the kinds of challenges people face when it comes to learning abou...
Mystical Recital: Keren Dibbens-Wyatt’s Divine Prose-Poem
Some of the greatest mystics in history have written lyrical, imaginative poetry and prose in which they express the voice of God. From Catherine of Genoa’...
Mysticism, Esotericism, Exotericism, Occultism… Sorting Through the Spiritual Wilderness
A reader posted this recently on my Facebook feed: I have a question, have you covered the differences between exoteric vs. esoteric spirituality? thanks. huge ...
Eternal Heart: The Mystical Path to a Joyful Life (Pre-Order Now)
St. Augustine said that the human heart is restless until it rests in God. I certainly have a restless heart, and I suspect most people do. But what if the rest...
Imagination, Creativity and Spirituality (They Go Together Well)
Why did God give us the gift of imagination? If the idea of God giving us imagination puts you off, then why did evolution, or the universe, give it to us? It s...
Living in the Spirit of Contemplative Prayer
What does it mean to live a contemplative life? Especially for those of us who are not called to live in a monastery or some other form of intentional religious...
Contemplation When Things Seem Out of Control
A reader named Allen writes: With what is going on in the world, how do we as contemplatives take care of our spiritual health? I find it more challenging to si...
Five Key Words for Understanding Christian Mysticism
So often people will say to me, “I just don’t know what Christian mysticism is!” Which is perfectly understandable, since not only is mysticis...
Writing, Quoting, Creating: On the Use of Other People’s Words in the Midst of Your Own
Speaking to the Shalem Institute a few years back, Richard Rohr told an amusing story about a retreat he gave to the monks of Gethsemani Abbey (where Thomas Mer...
In Defense of Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a central tenet of Christian faith and practice. But what exactly is it? Is it an emotional process by which people are supposed to overcome hurt...
What Happens During Silent Prayer
Brother Elias Marechal, OCSO is a Trappist monk of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. He is the author of a luminous book on contemplative sp...