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.

Christ has no body on earth but yours

by Mark Etling

Jan 21, 2020

Soul Seeing: The Eucharist spurs us to respect and revere everything — ourselves, our neighbor, the Earth. The real presence is in us and through us and all around us.

An Israeli border policeman stands guard not far from Ramallah, West Bank, May 17, 2019, as Palestinians make their way to attend Friday prayer at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. (CNS/Reuters/Raneen Sawafts)

The gift of five No. 1 steel knitting needles

by Sue Stanton

Jan 7, 2020

Soul Seeing: Knitting has taught me about peace, the kind of peace that is intangible, but more real than a 20-foot-high concrete wall in Palestine, covered in the graffiti of despair and rage.

Let it snow, let it snow, let me see

by B.G. Kelley

Dec 31, 2019

Soul Seeing: Snow can engender a palpable inner peace; it can reawaken an innocence in us that gets lost — or at least misplaced — when we become adults, reason alone to embrace this uninvited guest, and recognize its lyric beauty.

The materialism of Santa Claus and the spirituality of Baby Jesus

by Leonardo Boff

Dec 17, 2019

Soul Seeing: No one spoke of the Baby Jesus who would come on the night of the Nativity to bring gifts for the children. His place had been taken by an old man, dressed in red, carrying a sack of gifts parents had bought.

Columns ›

Christ has no body on earth but yours

The gift of five No. 1 steel knitting needles

Let it snow, let it snow, let me see

The materialism of Santa Claus and the spirituality of Baby Jesus

I believe in love even when I do not feel it

Hope for creation never runs dry

Lazarus at our gate

God calls us to show up, be present

St. Francis, as well as a cat, helped me understand the souls of animals

Stopping to smell the flowers in East Africa

A voice from the past: 'That talk in your office changed my life'

St. Bernadette's rib opened something

Reflective writing's call is to pay attention, to be awake and aware

I'm breathing my way past the 'prison' of the internet

How do you get Mother Teresa to stop praying?

In the holiness of beauty, a glimpse of God shines through

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

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