Cowley Landing
Cowley Magazine – The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord's Prayer
The prayer that Jesus taught is a simple, supremely effective tool to slice away anything in us that is not humble or sincere. It is the best, most straightforward antidote to all our articulate spiritual nonsense. Over time, it makes us real.
This resource dives deep into one of the treasures of the Christian tradition: the Lord’s Prayer. With a mix of reflections written by Brothers and meditation prompts for you to answer, this is a resource to deepen your own prayer life or to share in a group. We hope you’ll join us in reflecting on the prayer that Jesus taught, and experience firsthand its power to make us real.
Interactive Lord's Prayer
Selected Articles
Being an Answer to Jesus’ Prayer
“Jesus here regards his disciples not as his servants, but as his friends. They are his peers. They share the same prayer. He doesn’t say, “My Father,” or “Your Father.” He says, “Our Father.””
Remember the Words He Taught You
“Many of us are wearied by the changes and the uncertainty of our civil lives, our political communities. I certainly am. But we can take heart, and pray together for the coming of God’s kingdom; it is a hope, big and sturdy enough for us all.”
Our Daily Bread
“We all have needs. We all have hungers. And I think that by identifying them, and in recognizing how these needs affect us physically, we can begin to recapture something of the immediacy and materiality of praying for our daily bread.”
God Loves Humans
“If forgiveness is one of the most powerful forces for redemption in the Christian faith, unforgiveness is one of the most powerful forces for destruction. Unforgiveness hardens the heart. It magnifies a perceived offense to the point where we can no longer appreciate a person’s value because all we see is how they have grieved us. No wonder the petition about forgiveness – “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” – sits at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer.”
Prayer with Substance
“It is quite easy to heap up empty phrases. In such moments, what hope do we have? For me, it is the Lord’s Prayer.”
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
“The Lord’s Prayer unites us, makes us and shapes us into a communion, a community, a commonwealth, where none are left out, left behind, or left alone. In an age of self-interest, taking responsibility for the well-being of another, especially if they are not like us, is a radical act.”
Cowley Magazine – Community
Cowley Magazine - Community
What does it mean to belong? This issue of Cowley investigates how we claim and form our identity in community with others. The Brothers of SSJE ask what it means to be Christian, how community can transform us, and how the Sacraments of the Church hone who we are becoming in Christ.
Selected Articles
“It is humbling to know and feel that we belong: that the threads of our being are woven into a fabric so much bigger than we can comprehend, and all for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.”
“The notion of being knit together in communion and fellowship has begun to take on new meaning in the light of my spiritual quest during this pandemic time.”
“Through faith we can come to know again the original blessing of belonging to God and recover that divine contentment which is God’s desire for us.”
“We hope that in reflecting further on the topic of belonging, you will find it meaningful to share in discussing these questions with others.”
Cowley Magazine – Challenge
Cowley Magazine - Challenge
How does God engage with us? This issue of Cowley magazine discovers God’s engagement in places we might not think to look: a childhood stutter; the calling of sickness; the heartbreaking challenge of climate grief. The SSJE Brothers invite us to explore the many ways God that engages us, even – perhaps especially – in the challenges we face.
Selected Articles
“These have indeed been challenging times for all of us, but when we review those challenges calmly, dispassionately, dutifully, we may discover that God’s invitation lies within.”
“Here, at the intersection of pain and hope, we find the place from which we all, like flowers, can turn toward the light.”
“It may sound crazy to say that I am grateful to God for my stutter, but it is true. Looking back at my life, I can see how God has engaged with me through the challenges I faced.”
“As we struggle, we shall become more and more the person God created us to be.”
“The spiritual skill of discernment enables us not only to resist the lure of those voices that would distract and distance us from God, but also to perceive directly God’s engagement with us in the circumstances of our lives as we navigate the many decisions that crop up along our way.”
“What if the awakening of our conscience to profound new layers of the world’s pain is a sign – not of God’s absence, but of the Spirit of God excavating strata of our personhood and our collective attention that we are now called to engage? And what if the path of grief thus sensed could become a sober and conscious choice – claimed and lived, come what may, as the cost of our full becoming?”
“Think about the struggles that you are facing right now. How might you embrace them as the place of God’s engagement with you? How is God calling to you through them?”
Cowley Magazine – Credo
Cowley Magazine - Credo
What does it mean to believe? This issue of Cowley magazine explores this timeless question though Scripture, spiritual practice, the Catechism, mystery, and the arts. However you experience and express your belief, one thing becomes clear: Faith and belief are verbs.
Selected Articles
“By inviting you to explore what it means to believe, it is our hope that you will be more “ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).”
“Believing is an action we do, not a noun that we possess. As a verb, believing not only demands something from us, but also involves a relationship with someone else in whom we trust.”
“The whole of scripture is a gift from God. Though it can be daunting and challenging, engaging with the Old Testament as a wellspring of prayer can illumine truths about God, the Church, and ourselves, in ways we may never expect.”
“The Catechism provides a way into a prayerful and faithful pondering of and responding to ultimate questions in religious belief.”
“We have been given the gift of life, all of which we are invited to practice in God’s presence.”
“We invite you to plunge deeper into your own assumptions about what it means to believe. Use these questions to spur your reflection & prayer, or in conversation with others.”
Cowley Magazine – Fall 2021
Cowley Magazine - Fall 2021
What does Christian hospitality look like now, and what can it teach us in its forms both old and new? In the fall issue of Cowley, the Brothers of SSJE consider how hospitality has been shaken and reshaped by the pandemic. Hospitality might look like an invitation to sit down at table with those who are other; sharing a safe space for grief; being someone else's guest; readiness to go where God is calling next; or a reminder that we all have a home in the household of God.
Explore the online magazine, view selected articles below, or download a PDF.
“As we have shifted our ministry of hospitality online, our hope is that some of the markers which we value, and you cherish, are just as tangible as they are when you are here in person.”
“Christian hospitality can transcend social interaction of the worldly sort in all kinds of wordless ways, and do so in a way that plants the seeds of the gospel deeply in the soul.”
“The invitation of the table can invite us beyond our boundaries. To share food is an experience of being one with another. This opens a possibility to find commonality with those with whom we might disagree. To sit at table with others is to experience the humanity that we share, even with those whom we might consider as ‘other.’”
“So, what might hospitality look like after Covid? It will be shaped by – and need to respond to – grief, loss, trauma, and dislocation. It will have the power to change, convert, and challenge us in ways we cannot now even begin to imagine. It will be rooted in hope and prayer. It will befriend death. And through it, we will continue to meet the Risen Christ, present in all who come to us, bringing us his promised ‘Peace.’”
“I am a better host than guest. It’s easier for me to give than receive. A lesson I keep learning is that we are all God’s guests, especially in what appears to be our home.”
“The doors of God’s very home have been flung open for us, and we have been welcomed with open arms of love: ‘Mi casa es su casa’!”
“For many, this season of enforced isolation – or at least of change in work or schooling – has suddenly brought into clearer focus a sense of values: What do I actually want to do with my life? How do I want to live? And why?”
Listen in on the full conversation, or read an excerpt.
Cowley Magazine – Summer 2021
Cowley Magazine - Summer 2021
This issue of Cowley is devoted to the connected dynamics of power, authority, and obedience. As the pandemic has unmasked many inequalities in society, we have seen and experienced what happens when the balance between power and empowerment, authority and authoritarianism results in division and dominance rather than reconciliation and cooperation. It is our hope that these reflections, rooted in our monastic tradition of obedience, will help in some small way as we practice the art of listening to one another deeply, and with open hearts and minds.
Explore the online magazine, view selected articles below, or download a PDF.
“It is not an accident that this issue of Cowley is devoted to these connected dynamics of power, authority, and obedience. Nor do I believe that it is an accident that, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, these issues have been thrust onto center stage.”
“My experience of church people is that we are sometimes more afraid of our own power than we are at risk of becoming Machiavellian.”
“I went through thousands of moments like that in my early days as a Postulant: long moments of waiting for someone with authority to swoop in and tell me exactly what to do. It took me a long time to realize that was not the way authority was exercised at SSJE.”
“Each one of us lives in various circles of society, whether they be our family, our community, or our place of work, and I bet that each one of us can think of at least one person who annoys or irritates us, and whom we sometimes wish would just simply go away! If we are trying to follow Jesus Christ, our challenge is to use the power that we have been given to build up community and not break it down, to learn how to live with the other rather than trying to exclude them and wishing they would just disappear.”
“In virtually every page of the Bible, there is a supernatural manifestation of power, the intervention or infusion of God’s power in everyday life. And yet, power, without an acknowledgment of its source and its end, is simply privilege unrecognized by the beholder but patently obvious to the dispossessed. Howard Thurman writes, “too often the weight of the Christian movement has been on the side of the strong and the powerful, and against the weak and oppressed – this, despite the gospel.” Consider Jesus’ promise of power.”
“I’d like to offer here a collection of some of the teachings from our Rule of Life which have most struck and stayed with me over decades of living and learning with this text. Of all its many topics, the Rule is particularly rich in its teachings navigating the challenges and rewards of life in community. These teachings point the way ahead for all of us who are trying to live together in recognition of the fact that we are bound to one another by Christ’s loving authority.”
Cowley Magazine – Winter 2021
Cowley Magazine - Winter 2021
We invite you to explore the Winter 2021 issue of Cowley Magazine, which takes up the topic of Incarnation in the Digital Age. We hope that, in these pages, you will experience the many ways that God is moving among us as we pray alone, gather online, long for communion, and even experience God's absence.
Explore the online magazine, view selected articles below, or download a PDF.
“We long for the day when we can safely reopen the Guesthouse and Chapel, and welcome you back to share with us in this holy place. In the meantime, know how grateful we are for your abiding friendship. We pray for you constantly.”
“The same longing and affection expressed by Paul in his letter arose in me upon seeing Brother Curtis’ and Todd’s warm smiles and hearing their heartfelt expressions of love for all of us FSJ members, who appeared as tiny passport-sized photos on the screen. In the ancient world, a letter conveyed the personal presence of the one who sent it; and so too I certainly felt Curtis’ and Todd’s presence through this electronic medium.”
“I know what it’s like to struggle in prayer: alone, before I came into community; and even now, in community, in light of the current circumstances. At this time, when so many Christians have found themselves in unchosen isolation, it’s helpful to delve into the Church’s theological understanding of what it means to pray alone, especially by venturing outside our own time and place to understand very different perspectives from our own.”
“Over the last months we may have been cut off from the eucharistic life of the Church, but God Emmanuel has still been with us. God’s invitation to discover our place as baptized members of the Body of Christ has still been offered. God’s gift of hope has still been drawing us deeper into the very heart of God. And, God has set other tables before us, and has fed us in wonderful and surprising ways.”
“If the feeling of absence in our lives has anything to do with the purposes of God, growth will be its gift, but not in a way we can predict or even recognize. This has been the experience of many saints, whose patient endurance through the night of God’s felt absence has catalyzed their growth, not in fondness but in holiness.”
“Play is not an activity but a state of mind core to our biology. Play and creativity naturally open nonlinear ways to discover and express ourselves in prayer, and to hear God. It is not all nice and positive. Play helps express pain and sputtering emotions, without having to speak. Praying with playful movement and other arts is something anybody can do. This is healing for the weary, worn, and grieving.”
Fall Cowley: Answering God’s Call
We invite you to explore the Fall 2020 issue of Cowley Magazine, which takes up the topic of Answering God’s Call. We hope that, in these pages, you will discover an underlying wisdom which you can adopt as you make your own prudent and wise decisions in the uncertain, challenging days and months ahead.
Explore the online magazine, view selected articles, or download a PDF.
We’d love to know your thoughts about this issue of Cowley. Leave a comment here.
Cowley Magazine – Fall 2020
Cowley Magazine - Fall 2020
We invite you to explore the Fall 2020 issue of Cowley Magazine, which takes up the topic of Answering God's Call. We hope that, in these pages, you will discover an underlying wisdom which you can adopt as you make your own prudent and wise decisions in the uncertain, challenging days and months ahead.
Explore the online magazine, view selected articles below, or download a PDF.
When we feel paralyzed, when we feel impotent, when we feel stuck, what is God’s call to us?
Meaning-making happens in the context of life as it is – not as it was, or could be, or as we may think it should be, but in life as it is.
We need God and other people to reveal to us the invitation or opportunity embedded in each of today’s stark challenges.
I had a really wonderful day with God in this community yesterday; let’s do it again today.
Renewing Our Foundations: Cowley Summer 2020
Renewing Our Foundations: Cowley Magazine - Summer 2020
We invite you to explore the Summer 2020 issue of Cowley Magazine, which takes up the topic of Renewing Our Foundations. We Brothers want to share a few of the realizations – lessons and challenges – that have come out of this past year of reflection together. We hope that some of what we’ve gleaned from this year will prove helpful to you as you tackle continuity and change within your own communities, large and small.
Explore the online magazine, view selected articles below, or download a PDF.
The ancient tradition of the Church reminds us that when it is impossible to be present at a celebration of the Eucharist, and to receive Holy Communion, the desire to be united to Christ in the Sacrament is enough for God to grant all the spiritual benefits of Communion. What follows is a way for individuals, or small groups to open themselves up to the graces of Holy Communion and the blessing of God.
Our brotherhood – as a particular manifestation of the body of Christ – is not static but continuously adapting, renewing, and affirming the charism given our predecessors.
We need to know our histories; to drink deeply enough that we are refreshed, but not so deeply as to become bloated and unable to move.
Far from being the traditional imitators of bygone days, we are to be “men of the present moment and its life.” What does the present moment invite?
Listening is one of the most important gifts we can give to ourselves and to others.
Each generation must interpret the tradition so that it speaks a living Word.
I listened, I watched, I tried to help out when I could, but above all else I learned.
Renewing Our Foundations: Cowley Magazine – Summer 2020 We invite you to explore the Summer 2020 issue of Cowley Magazine, which takes up the topic of Renewing Our Foundations. We Brothers want to share a few of the realizations – lessons and challenges – that have come out of this past year of reflection together.…