Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions by Gerald May
A Different Christianity by Robin Amis; originally published by State University of New York , Albany1995; currently published by Praxis Institute Press, Chicago 2003
Job and the Mystery of Suffering by Richard Rohr
Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament; Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Powers That Determine Human Existence; Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination by Walter Wink
On the High Road to Surrender by Frances J. Roberts
Prayer: Finding the Hearts True Home by Richard Foster
The Book of Mystical Chapters: Meditations on The Soul.s Ascent from the Early Church Fathers; Translated by John Anthony McGugkin; published by Shambala Press2003
The Forgotten Desert Mothers by Laura Swan; published by Paulist Press 2001
The Jesus Sutras by Martin Palmer; The Ballantine Publishing Company 2001
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky
The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell
The Road Less Traveled & Further Along the Road Less Traveled & People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck

I received the following from a friend who has known me for almost 20 years:

Terming your self “The Practical Mystic” is very descriptive. I once described you as being perhaps the most spiritual person I knew and yet grounded in the realities of human life. I certainly have seen evidence of the gifts of the spirit in you.

I do have some questions that might also be of interest to visitors to your web site: I wonder how the spiritual gifts described in the Bible fit in with being a Christian mystic? Are some of them integral to the Christian mystic or are they independent? Also, how have you proceeded to develop your relationship with God and enhance your sense of His presence – is meditation the central method or other means?

I would encourage you to write on the practice of Christian meditation. (Some are practicing transcendental meditation: they open their minds and souls without being specific about the spirit they seek, a practice I consider dangerous.)

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The Eastern Orthodox prayer book directs the disciple to pray Psalm 51 (Psalm 50 in the Orthodox Bible) daily. This is the prayer of David asking for forgiveness when he woke up to his sinful and abusing behavior towards Bathsheba and her husband. Rape, murder, arrogance of power – sins most respond to with utter horror and calls for life in prison if not the death penalty. And this from God’s beloved chosen king.

I’ve been praying this psalm daily for about four months now. It never seems to get old to me. Each time I read it, speak it, meditate upon it, it reaches to someplace deeper.
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I was at my sixth silent retreat in four years. Three days of not speaking and only deep listening in prayer. This is the first time I have been able to keep the silence – no calls on my cell phone to the outside world. No attempts at conversation. No taking notes. I got a peek at the depths of God’s love

An older gentleman sat down across from me at luncheon. We acknowledged each others presence with a nod. Small sayings from the lecture portion of the retreat were scattered around the table. We took turns looking at each one.

He began to weep in silence as he read one contrasting the experience of self-acceptance in the light of God’s grace versus the experience of inadequacy, fear, greed and control in the spaces of life called our ego. I watched him weep and wanted to comfort him. The silence required me to only silently expand my heart to him.
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From The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky “The mystery of the divine Being, which is the distinction between the one nature and the persons, is graven upon humanity, called to participate in the life of the Holy Trinity. The two poles of human being – nature and persons – find their fullness the one in unity with the other in absolute diversity; for each person is united to God according to the mode which is proper to him alone.”

I’ve been observing a very stately elderly East Indian gentleman in our apartment complex. Whenever I go for a walk, I wave to him. It always seemd to me that he wasn’t sure how to respond. After several months of this, I decided to introduce myself. He was outside his apartment in a long dress coat, and dress hat bouncing a tennis ball against the garage door. I asked if he needed a partner. Fortunately for me, he said no (I can’t play tennis to save my life). However, we ended up talking for almost an hour. It seems he imigrated to this country from Bangledesh about 20 years ago. He has a degree in history from a University in India. Our conversation covered many topics but came in the end to our current political situation. He is convinced that our president is mentally ill and for this he has compassion. He is very worried about our future. He went on at length about the history of leadership and the ability to put one’s followers above oneself as a sign of successful leadership. He spoke of Alexander the Great and Ghandi among others.
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About a month ago I met a lovely lady in church. I remarked to her that she looked very nice that day. She told me she was 92. I said she didn’t look a day over 75. I spoke the truth. I asked her what her secret was – Oil of Olay perhaps? She proceeded to tell me that she did facial exercises to keep her face looking young and promised to teach them to me. So there we were in the ladies room after church yesterday and she teaches me two exercises. The first one involves thrusting ones bottom chin out and holding for a count of 10. As I practiced she advised me to notice how this lifted the bosom and built muscles to support the breasts. I kept a straight face…for about 10 seconds. The next exercise involved holding the upper lip down and grimacing to build up the face muscles. Equally amusing but no bosom lifting on that one. As my mother would say, “I met the most interesting woman…” May I look so good at 92.

One of the most frequent things I heard my mother say was “I met the most interesting person.” I seem to have inherited both her curiosity and ability. On Saturday night, we went to a free concert in a former church in the middle of Pennsylvania. The call it the Old Lynn church. No longer used for worship, it has become a place for free folk concerts. The group Four Shillings Short was wonderful but even more interesting was the couple next to us. They looked to be about 70 and were RV’ers from Virginia. They met each other just after WWII when she was hitch-hiking in NYC in a snow storm. She was a city person and he was a German-born US soldier who learned to speak English from his Louisiana Army unit. I never head anyone speak Cajun with a German accent. He gratefulness for our country and his patriotism to it was heartwarming. He didn’t appreciate the anti-war lyrics of the singers but his Democratic NYC wife did!