And I Will Give Them One Heart, and Put a New Spirit Within Them

Part IV in a Series by Pseudo-Ermatinger 

Women Picking Olives, Vangogh, 1889

The way to the Holy Mountain of the Divine Father is a path trod by prayer.  If one ascends through prayer, they will find themselves ascending through the cloud of unknowing that veils the summit from prying eyes (cfr.  Job 28:12-28; Isa 45:3; 1 Cor 2:9).  There beyond they […]

By |February 4th, 2022|Categories: Pseudo-Ermatinger, Spiritual Growth|

St. Augustine, What if I Don’t Feel Like Praying?

Question 007

What if I don’t feel drawn to prayer?

Are you not drawn? Pray, then, that you might be drawn to him. It is urgent to overcome sentimentalism in our relationship with God.  There is no sea so deep as the thoughts of God, who makes evil men to flourish and the good to suffer…it is upon that deep, in […]

By |February 2nd, 2022|Categories: Spiritual Growth, St. Augustine on Prayer|

St. Augustine, Is the Life of Prayer Worth It?

Question 006

Where is all of this leading?

We shall have God as our common object of vision, as our common possession, our common peace,   For whatever he gives us now, he shall be to us in place of his present gifts.  He shall be our full and perfect peace… Our joy, our peace, our rest, the end of our troubles, is none but […]

By |January 30th, 2022|Categories: Spiritual Combat, St. Augustine on Prayer|

At the East of the Garden of Eden God Placed the Cherubim, and a Flaming Sword To Guard the Way

Part III in a Series by Pseudo-Ermatinger 

The space shuttle Challenger lifts off from the Complex 39A launch pad, National Archives, 1983.

The soul’s journey towards the divine may travel outward from herself, might propel herself outward and upward under her own power, her own ingenuity, her own vainglory.  To be sure, the powers of man, of body, mind, […]

By |January 28th, 2022|Categories: Pseudo-Ermatinger, Spiritual Growth|

Spiritual Retreats Need Piety and Modesty


Originally Published at TAN Direction

A charitable young man, a former parishioner of mine, heard that I was stuck in quarantine. He texted me, indicating that he had just finished a weekend retreat, was in the neighborhood, and could drop off some victuals for his reclusive ex-pastor.

Not only was I moved by his kindness, I wanted to know more about his retreat. He was respectfully silent […]

By |January 28th, 2022|Categories: Spiritual Growth, TAN Direction|
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