Annotated List of Archived Videos

Here is a page that offers not just a list of already posted videos, but brief descriptions of them.

000 – Welcome & Overview

001 – Statement #1 of Purpose of In the Midst of Our Storms (IMOS)

I wish to promote the real presence of worshippers to God, self, and others. This kind of “conscious” participation would be characterized by clarity & lucidity & transparency. One way to speak of that has to do with something Jesuit theologian, Karl Rahner, said, “In the days ahead, you will either be a mystic (one who has experience God in the depths) or you won’t be anything at all.”

002 – Statement #2 of Purpose of IMOS

I wish to promote the real presence of worshipers to God, self, and others. This kind of “conscious” participation would be characterized by clarity & lucidity & transparency. A second image I use comes from the life of St. Benedict. He established communities that were regarded as sane places in the midst of an insane world. Perhaps this can serve as an image of the Church & the liturgy.

003 – Statement #3 of Purpose of IMOS

As human beings, as worshipers, as persons in relation to one another, we really only have one way of being present to others. I believe the liturgy calls us to be really present to the Real Presence. How? I suggest that it has to do with living with less and less pretense. See what you think, what you feel, what you discover here. –roc,sj

004 – Statement #4 of Purpose of IMOS

Liturgical catechesis has, for the most part, focused on what we need to know and understand. I promote an integration between intellect & emotion and left brain & right brain “In the Midst of Our Storms.”

005 – Concerning Adult Discipleship

I apologize for being a tad harsh in my judgment about adult Christians. However, this raises the question about the criteria we use to name them such. I propose that an adult disciple would lead from her weakness, know her status as a beloved sinner, rely on God’s help, and have a special care for the poor. Something like that. Please note your reactions. –roc,sj

006 – Origins of IMOS

The God-given gift of having some facility with languages early in my life encountered suffering and boredom and led me to seek an adequate translation of both scripture and liturgy. Can the liturgy speak to the real lives of adults who suffer? who are bored? Here’s a brief story of what led me to write in the first place.

007 – The Case of the “Interested Listener”

No, not a Perry Mason episode. Really. It has to do with our relationship to the Word we hear precisely as those who are ‘interested’ in protecting our way of life and preserving our very identity! How might this reality affect our presence to Christ in liturgy?

008 – A Proposal of Counter-Intuitive Proportions

I comment on a quotation from Annie Dillard most often used to confirm the view that we don[t get what’s going on at Mass: “If we only knew the Mystery we encounter in liturgy…” Well, here’s a second opinion…

010 – “A Good Question is the son of the Son of God”

A Good Question is…

Here are three of my many questions prompted by loss, disappointment, & disillusionment. The list is not exhaustive by any means. These three were among the first that became like small lamps in a dark wilderness. They jump-started me into exploring my inner life.

First question: “What’s in it for me?” “What do I get out of this?”

Second question: When hearing the Word proclaimed, “How do I like this?” “What do I want to say to Jesus?”

Third question: “So what?” “Who cares?”

011 – There is a Back Door to Hell / Self-Obsession

Self-Obsession is a closed system. Self-absorption means isolation. Spiritual narcissism is hell.

Do I end up promoting self-obsession by encouraging people to attend to their interior movements? My answer: I believe this approach uncovers what is already there on one’s life. Self-absorption? Hmmm… I have found that attentiveness to the breadth of my inner life has allowed to let surface that which has been present all along.

Is self-centeredness the final word? I have come to believe that Christ knows where to find the backdoor to such isolation (hell).  Let’s follow!

012 – Concerning “O Beauty Ever Ancient”

“Oh late have I loved you, oh late have I turned, turned from seeking you in creatures, fleeing grief and pain within…”

This song is more revelatory than autobiographical. Really. The prayer by St. Augustine is great in and of itself. My adaptation of his words into lyrics for this song certainly shapes what he said. Yet I believe it’s still true to Augustine’s original direction.

017 – St. Francis and the Leper

This legend of St. Francis of Assisi returned to me as I wrote “In the Midst of Our Storms.” On the one hand, it sums up one key direction of the spiritual life of each disciple. Embracing that which we find abhorrent in our own lives – and being embraced by Christ in that “place” – is vital to the growth of any follower of Jesus. On the other hand and at the very same time, it points disciples toward that same kind of relationship with any and all whom we find abhorrent. Can’t do one without the other. See what this video elicits from you.

018 – The Importance of Spiritual Companionship

I will soon begin a chapter-by-chapter study of my book (above!). One of the most important insights I have gained I share here now. Don’t attempt to delve into the mysteries of the inner life alone. Yes, this is what we do. “I can handle it!” “Got this one, boss!”

Rather than deepening one’s spiritual walk with Christ, one can only wander blind. Without a relationship that holds up the mirror to our eyes, we don’t really see ourselves. Without another whom we trust pointing us to the window, we simply see ‘the backsides of our eyeballs’. It’s the essence of spiritual solipsism. Or can it be possible that “I did it my way” is the perfect description of our journey with Christ?  Need I say more?

020 – The Burden of… Asymptotic Perfection (1)

High school math offers what could be a helpful metaphor to perfectionists – the lowly asymptote. Remember? It describes the movement of a line curving toward a perpendicular line, but never touching it. In a similar way, the goal of perfection in this life is an illusion.

021 – THe Burden of PerfectionisM Part Deux

“The opposite of seeking perfection is not laxity, the absolute horror of perfectionists, it is trust.”

Here I address the burden of perfectionism a second time since it seems to affect so many folks today. It involves an aversion to living in tension between the ideal and the real and a rejection of the incompleteness of life. God bless all who are weighed down by such a burden.

022 – The Burden of Perfectionism Part the Third

I found another potentially helpful metaphor for perfectionists in journey from Dante’s Divine Comedy – the part where Virgil leads Dante to the depths of the Inferno (hell) and then into the Purgatorio. You will be surprised.

(Coming)  023 – The Burden of Perfectionism Part IV