First Entry in a Decade

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I just discovered that I've had a blog for the last ten years, a blog that began in 2002, and for which I managed to write a total of 26 words (see below). I think I will try and improve on that during the next decade. To be honest, I forgot about the blog after its first, rather terse and procrastinating entry. Even then it was incomplete.

Now it was a traditional Jesuit habit -- oh yes, I became a member of the Society of Jesus since I last wrote -- to write something every day, even if it is only for 10 minutes. I can't be sure that I will write every day, but I hereby commit to posting items that I think merit public sharing. I hope these are found to be fruitful. Was WYD Toronto really 10 years ago?


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Ten Secular Songs with Religious Themes

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While preparing songs for our retreats and coffee house ministries this summer, I have come across many by secular artists -- that is, musicians who don't self-categorize as belonging to genres of religious music -- which were nonetheless powerfully spiritual. This is my top ten list from past and present.
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One of the most-viewed posts here was called "Ten Secular Songs with Religious Themes" . Now, I'm not that person who scours the pop cultural landscape with a magnifying glass looking for oblique references to a latent Christianity. But I do believe that Christ is very much alive, and can be found in the remotest corners of humanity. Sometimes the profoundest truths are not in theology books but in the lyrics of the poets and the insights of artists. Four years later, I'd say it's time for a sequel. The following songs have in common a certain degree of popular acclaim, although not be familiar to all readers. They are, I submit, beautiful songs that point beyond the mundane, offering glimpses of the transcendent -- that is to say, of God who is beyond this material world, while nonetheless present in this life as well. They remind us that we will one day see God "face to face", and generally reflect the key dispositions of faith, hope and love t
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