Soul Seeing

Michael Leach and friends write about seeing God, the world and ourselves with the eye of the soul. Each column is a spiritual reflection on the beauty that hides behind appearances and the peace that is beyond all understanding.

Ivory plaque of the prophet Joel, seventh century (Wikimedia Commons/Marie-Lan Nguyen)

My 90-year-old mother falls, caught in the eye of apocalypse

by Alice Camille

Jun 11, 2019

Soul Seeing: My mother reads the prophet Joel after dark. She's had a bad fall and worse scare. Joel suddenly makes sense. Her kingdom is collapsing; her children at the gates.

Thank you, Jean Vanier, for teaching me to see

by Dani Clark

May 28, 2019

Soul Seeing: I lived with the core members and finally, finally understood who Jesus was because the friends you invited to share your life with starting in 1964, the friends you kept inviting, the friends who could not walk or could not speak, they taught me to see beyond the surface, where Jesus dwells.

What's God got to do with it?

by Mark Etling

May 14, 2019

Soul Seeing: The mystery of suffering. Everyone wants to know: What's God got to do with it? Job has something to tell us. Far from being the good man who suffers patiently, Job is angry, depressed and bitter about the terrible things that have befallen him.

The Beatitudes in the Age of Me First

by William O'Malley

Apr 30, 2019

Soul Seeing: Even the best of us read Luke's Beatitudes with exactly the same literalist predisposition as the modern Me Firster who finds them ludicrous.

Columns ›

My 90-year-old mother falls, caught in the eye of apocalypse

Thank you, Jean Vanier, for teaching me to see

What's God got to do with it?

The Beatitudes in the Age of Me First

Like Paul, I was knocked off my horse and blinded

Deserve's got nothin' to do with it

Praying hands are begging hands

I saw Christ on the southern border

At 69, I still find grace and God on the basketball court

A simple story of a life well-lived

Gospel's poor widow is homeless in Vermont

Love leads to suffering, but we take the risk to love because we must

At Christmas, it's not the money that counts

Under a 2-foot-tall tree, I played out the drama of Jesus' coming

Jesus loved imperfect people

My pilgrimage to 365 churches on five continents in 365 days

Breaking up is hard to do

My immediate reaction was to back down

There's a baby in this bath water, and we must save her

God is the ocean in which we all swim

Bishop Morrie resigns from diocese amid tears

This is why it's divine

Ambition becomes quiet passion for life

Blessed are you achievers, blessed are you duds

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