My Friend the Friar

Send us Fan Mail Intimacy sounds soft until you realize it can be the difference between a living faith and a life that runs on spiritual autopilot. I sit down with my friend the Friar, Father Stephen Sanchez, a Discalced Carmelite priest, to ask a deceptively simple question: what is intimacy, really, and does it matter for salvation? We unpack intimacy as “the meeting of two interiorities” a shared exchange of the inner life that includes trust, transparency, and the courage to be seen. Th...

Send us Fan Mail We start half-awake on coffee and end up talking about why the “same weeds” keep coming back in our spiritual life. We use Saint John of the Cross to make sense of confession, suffering, purification, and what union with God actually asks of us. • a garden as an image for recurring sin and lingering roots • temptation as the same weakness rather than the same act • confession of devotion as real healing grace • prudence and temperance against scrupulosity an...

Send us Fan Mail We connect what we believe about the human person made in God’s image to what we do at the altar, from the Bible’s earliest sacrifices to the Eucharist. We push past ritual fights and “do-it-my-way” spirituality to recover worship as a real encounter with Christ that demands love of God and neighbor. • Christian anthropology as the foundation for worship and liturgy • worship as awe before the Creator and reserved to God alone • the human desire for transcen...

Send us Fan Mail We trace a living map of Christian anthropology, from Imago Dei and dignity to mercy, worship, and stewardship in a tech-shaped world. Along the way we ask how baptismal grace can form our daily choices and make our communities more humane. • why naming Christian anthropology matters now • Imago Dei as the source of un-losable dignity • Augustine’s restless heart and the human longing for God • Jesus as model for seeing and treating others • baptismal grace as power for dail...

Send us Fan Mail We trace Brother Lawrence’s path from wounded soldier to humble Carmelite cook and explore how he learned to make prayer and work one seamless act of love. We share his hard decade of scruples, his breakthrough into peace, and practical ways to cultivate tenderness for Christ in daily tasks. • Brother Lawrence’s early life, war wounds, and spiritual awakening • Entering Carmel as a lay brother and serving in a large kitchen • Ten years of interior struggle and the turn to pe...