Jon M. Sweeney

St. Benedict’s Rule instructed young monks to read “in a low voice” while doing their reading in order to build their memory stores. Until the modern era, spiritual reading meant speaking the words aloud. I talk about this and many other things in my book that publishes December 1. @stmartinspress

Join us tonight on Zoom: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

For many years now, one of my spiritual practices has been to say "yes" when asked to do something. For whatever reasons, my default is usually "no." So- Yes.

A young friend recently taught me when and how to use "slaps" (roughly equivalent to “cool!”) and every time I say it in the presence of my 15-year-old she's irritated to no end. It slaps.

Important for these days. From “Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness and Light”

A religion without mystics is a philosophy. -Pope Francis

Quick getaway for final camp night of the year.

Browsing my shelves. Graham Greene’s 2nd novel, just 2000 copies printed, and then never reprinted by author demand.

A tough day. Just hugging a potato, you know, like you do.

My wife says that when I eat Twizzlers, I’m basically freebasing sugar. So that’s bad then.

High school volleyball playoff have begun. This is high school volleyball humor.

New Meister Eckhart, publishing on December 7! And here's Part Three (from the Contents page) . . .

The skies have lately been clear, lots of stars, and darker nights. I'm loving it.

Fact about publishing: Conservatives purchase more books (magazines, newsletters, substacks) than liberals. WAY more. That's why conservative publishers always seem stronger. Because they are. And that's why center-oriented publishers often take a conservative turn: because that's where the money is

I’m trying to remember this, and these days it isn’t easy. (From “Meister Eckhart’s Book of the Heart”)

Very cool e-course upcoming from S&P led by my friend Christine Valters Paintner. www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/cou...

Forgetting can be a form of grace.

Give us this day our daily bread

I love this line from a review in the TLS of a learned atheist’s new book “In this account, humans conceived the idea of God only to grow clever enough to realize that it is baseless.”

I’m with them.

I think this is a deleted scene from Paul Schrader’s ‘First Reformed.’

This happened in our town over the weekend. Mother and cubs are fine. www.mynbc5.com/article/bear...

63 days until the winter solstice. I actually love the dark days of December.

Custodial workers in airports are saints of the 21st-century

“The world pursues us into the desert and seeks to win us back. If we have anything in us belonging to the world, the world has a claim on us.” -Thomas Merton A Course in Desert Spirituality

When you are empty From ‘Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness and Light’

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. EB White

A recent reprint of the 1980 cult classic, which I have a copy of at home. This one was picked up by my daughter, a public librarian, at a librarians’ conference in Nebraska today. And I asked her to find the Phyllis Tickle poem!

Depiction of the Fifth Crusade by Benedictine historian Matthew Paris. This is what St. Francis walked into when he went to see the Sultan.

Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, pray for us.

Robert Burns called the Song of Songs "the smuttiest sang that e'er was sung." High praise from a poet who would know! Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermons on the Song of Songs is the 12th and final classic discussed in my new book—which publishes on Dec. 1 @stmartinspress.bsky.social

A reminder. From 'Meister Eckhart’s Book of Secrets'

From @thetls.bsky.social As it should be.

From the ad in the new NYRofBooks. I was development editor on this project a couple years ago. I can tell you it’s terrific—if you’re interested in faith, Chicago, or Gospel music in the 20th century.

I've probably read this poem 100 times, but when the world seems particularly gone to hell, it still brings me to tears.

Milwaukeeans, come see us 2 months from tomorrow. Jon M. Sweeney, author of A Year with the Classics and Meister Eckhart Fri, 12/11/2026 - 6:30pm Place: Boswell Book Company 2559 N Downer Ave Milwaukee, WI 53211-4242

"Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce; they should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position." #TheWestWing

A sincere and open heart #MeisterEckhart From “Meister Eckhart’s Book of Secrets”📚🙏

We are apple pressing the old-fashioned way

I missed an animal blessing this year. I'll always remember the year I chatted with a woman who brought her hedgehog. "I've seen parrots and bunnies," I said, "but never a hedgehog at one of these." "This was really good for him," she said, "because he's had a really tough year." Even hedgehogs.

Come this weekend for the fall foliage but also to hear my wife give the annual Rabbi Reichert Bible Talk in Ripton, VT. (Reichert was Robert Frost's Jewish pal.) Details below. www.riptonhistoric.org/events/rabbi...

"There is something ironically old-fashioned about this debut book by one of the U.S.’s most innovative rabbis." www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews...

I came across this edition of Thomas Merton's "The Living Bread" years ago. As you can see, it was once in the library at MIT, on reserve for undergrads doing "Humanities Religious Reading." An odd choice, this particular book, at a place like MIT, but testament to the popularity of Merton in 1956.

Join us in Fonda, NY this Saturday. Saint Francis of Assisi and Nicholas Black Elk

Arrivals. Fabulous! I love Charles Lamb. The most complete book ever published on Elia. But there is a problem: it’s $300, which is crazy.

My sophisticated summary of this week's Torah portion: Am I my brother’s keeper? Yes. And Methusaleh may have lived 969 years, but I'm sure he couldn’t pee for the last 800.

She's reading one book, and there’s another on the table waiting for her, and the archangel saying, excuse me, if I could have your attention for a moment.

Hell is not to love anymore. -Georges Bernanos Diary of a Country Priest

Poverello, pray for us.

Shame on all of them. Religion and spirituality publishing at its greedy worst.

Here are some livestreaming Transitus services tonight -- 3 options in different time zones. A great opportunity to join other Franciscans in marking the 800th anniversary of the passing of Saint Francis. friars.us/article/2026...