The 14th-century Franciscan theologian Peter Auriol once wrote:
The sun spreads the brightness of its rays completely throughout the air; if then, a chamber faces the sun, and yet is not found radiant on the inside, the cause must be an impediment like a wall or the closing of the windows.
The chamber represents the human heart, and the sun represents divine love. Auriol’s point is that God’s love is completely generous and, like the sun, shines on us all. God holds nothing back; rather, we get in our own way and create obstacles to being transformed by God’s grace. We close the windows of our hearts, or worse, build walls around ourselves to prevent the light from entering. Today we might add to Auriol’s analogy that destructive social institutions and cultural patterns can also pose an obstacle to people experiencing the full transformative power of God’s love. The goal of the spiritual life is to open the windows of our hearts and remove any obstacles that may be in the way to let God’s light fill us.
Just as God’s love illumines our hearts, the task of Christian theology is to shed light on the mysteries of faith in Christ. I created this newsletter, Window Light, to share my passion for Catholic and ecumenical theology, to provide helpful insights, commentaries, and reports from the field for those engaged in theology and ministry, and to provide a Catholic theological perspective on current events. And finally I hope that, in some small way, my words can help you overcome the spiritual obstacles in your life and let God’s light more freely shine through the window.
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Who am I?
I am a Catholic theologian, author, speaker and educator. For seventeen years, I have been a professor of theology, most recently at Marymount University. I am the author of Interrupting Capitalism: Catholic Social Thought and the Economy (Oxford, 2018) and The Origins of War: A Catholic Perspective (Georgetown, 2011), as well as numerous essays and articles. I have been published in America Magazine, Church Life Journal, Commonweal, and Public Discourse, and in the past I regularly blogged at Catholic Moral Theology and the Political Theology Network. I have also given interviews for a variety of radio shows and podcasts.
I also currently serve as a volunteer representative for the United States Conference of Bishops (USCCB) at the Faith and Order Convening Tables, the ecumenical theological dialogue of the National Council of Churches (NCC). In the past, I have also been involved in parish ministry, and I am happy to give talks or lead discussions for parish or diocesan groups, in person or online.
