Mother Teresa did not start out as Mother Teresa. 

For 20 years, “Sister Teresa” was a teacher and school administrator in a middle class school in Calcutta with a religious community called the Sisters of Loretto. 

Daily she walked by people dying in the streets and starving for food – and love. One day, she went on her day off to bring them comfort. Then she did this for a few hours every week. She couldn’t help the millions of suffering people in Calcutta. But she could help a few each week.

As a Carmelite nun in the 1500s, St. Teresa of Avila lived an extremely disciplined and penitential life. But she also recognized there was a time for “partridge” – a feasting delicacy of the time. 

Macarius, one of the pillars of early Christian monasticism was once approached by a younger monk who sought his guidance: "Abba, how should I pray?" Abba Macarius took the young monk to a well in the desert, drew some water and…

Community and family life is hard. I don’t care who you are.

One time in the monastery, I was particularly struggling with one brother for…

From the time I entered the monastery, questions and doubts about my call to the monastery often surfaced in my mind like wood down a river. How could I be patient with these random monks I never chose to live with?

During a layover while returning from a 30-day silent retreat in a hermitage nestled in the Colorado mountains, I stopped and stood still as hundreds of people swirled around me, rushing to…