St. John of the Cross speaks about the activity of the will as much if not more than any of the other faculties of the human person. The other two are intellect and memory. But it is the will that …
During this Lenten season, and by focusing on a few important points in the scripture passage on the Samaritan Woman, Deacon Mark Danis uses the lense of contemplation to highlight the importance of coming to know the truth about ourselves …
So often in the spiritual journey, we can run into roadblocks. We can mistakenly perceive that we have gotten off course, and we might immediately seek to turn back to find the right path again.
If you feel as though you have reached a plateau in your prayer life, or after many years of active prayer, you feel as though you are suddenly stuck, it may be the Lord is calling you to a deeper …
What is like to enter into the 7th Dwelling Place? What was it like for St. Teresa? Then we turn to a discussion about spiritual marriage. We focus on what this experience/union with God was like for St. Teresa. These …
Deacon Mark Danis, OCDS, shares ways to prepare during Advent for the birth of our Lord. He provides suggestions specific for Secular Carmelites. This talk was given during a Holy Hour.
In the final rooms of the 6th Dwelling Place of the Interior Castle, St. Teresa teaches us about some special favors our Lord gives to prepare the soul with wedding garments for entrance into His Kingly Chambers, the Throne Room.
On the Solemnity of St. Teresa of Avila, Deacon Mark Danis gave an inspiring reflection. His focus was on the famous quote of St. Teresa: “You must have a very determined determination.”
There are more than 100 Discalced Secular Carmelites in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati—lay people who commit themselves to live as apostolic contemplatives, seeking interior silence and solitude amid their busy lives, professional careers, fami…
Prayer is the response of those who ‘feel’ God’s ‘pull’ and the gnawing emptiness at our center that hungers to be fed. It is both the “where” and the “when” of the prayer of recollection in whic…
Without life – God’s greatest gift to us – we simply would not be. But here we are, breathing, thinking, speaking, acting, hurting, laughing, fearing, and hoping. We pray because we are children of God and this is the way we develo…