Posted on by Michael J. Cunningham

The Inward and the Outward

Meister Eckhart was a priest, mystic, and theologian in the late Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Century. He was, as many preachers of his time, not always accepted by his peers and found himself the subject of the Church’s inquisition process. Today, many centuries later, his work is seen for the far-reaching insights which are perhaps even more relevant today. One of his many famous sermons focuses on the issue of “inward and outer work.” Here, he talks of the struggle we all can relate to, how do we resolve the conflict between the inner life and closeness to God, and our outer life and its relation to the world. 

In his own words: 

“Suppose a man should withdraw into himself with all his powers,

outward and inward, then when he is in that condition there is in him

no image or motive, and he is without any activity within or without.

Then he should well observe whether there is any inclination toward

anything. But if a man is not drawn to any work and does not want to

undertake anything, then he should force himself into some activity,

whether inward or outward (for a man should not be satisfied with

anything, however good it may seem or be) so that, when he finds

himself oppressed or constrained, it may appear rather that that man

is worked rather than that he works; thus he may learn to co-operate with

his God.”

So much of us have a segmented prayer life, times we allocate for dedicated prayer, and then the time when everything else fills the “prayer void.” What Meister Eckhart invites us to here is to remove “our agenda or our will” from the top of our activities. It is where our need for a result dominates the conversation, the work, the task, whatever that may be. This does not mean we remove our gifts and skills from the process, but instead we gradually erase a firm and thickly drawn line between our will and that of God. When Eckhart says “that man is worked, rather than he works”, we are gradually blending the two worlds of our outer and inner; then our soul becomes permeated with the will of God, as God “works us” rather than us trying to work Him. 

He also notes later in that sermon, 

“But if the outward work tends to destroy the inward, one should follow

the inward. But if both can be as one, that is best, then one is cooperating

with God.”

Following the inward also, funnily enough, is totally in line with scripture. Following the inward will always be basked in the warmth of love, and therefore leads us into the peace of Christ we all seek. Those who have it, or have felt it, know what a gift it is. 

And while Eckhart encourages us towards the inner, it is the world where our outer is most visible; at work, at home, in community, in leisure, while helping others or just being creative, we will feel the results. 

For Eckhart wants us to explore the God which we know is present in all. Eckhart invites us to ditch our ego and selfish agendas to ensure we stay in the room with Him forever. 

The Inward and the Outward 

Here I go again,

The agenda is on the billboard of my mind,

Some added in giant type, readable to all,

Others less so, needing eyeglasses to perceive. 

The dual nature of what dominates creates my to-do list for each moment,

Cluttering and countering the peace which fills the background,

Wanting to obscure and wash away my agenda.

Leaving no room for anything.

Save the work and peace which resides within. 

Reflection, image and poem Copyright 2025 Michael J. Cunningham OFS

Posted on by Michael J. Cunningham

The Ripples of Being

The Ripples of Being

The Ripples of Being by Michael Cunningham

Here in the morning light, as traffic hums beyond the window and coffee drips into the pot, we might consider what the mystics knew: that emptiness teems with possibility. A man named Meister Eckhart once spoke of a desert within the divine, though he might just as well have been describing the space between heartbeats, between breaths, between the moment we reach for another person and the moment our fingers touch.

Sarah stands at her kitchen window, washing dishes. She doesn’t know – how could she? – that her small kindness yesterday (a dollar pressed into a homeless woman’s palm, along with a smile that said I see you) has already begun its journey through the world. The woman bought coffee and spoke to the barista with renewed dignity, who then carried that moment of grace home to her son.

We are, all of us, living in Julian of Norwich’s hazelnut. The entire universe contained in something so small you could close your fist around it. Scientists would later call this quantum entanglement, this way, everything touches everything else, but the mystics (like Julian) always knew. They understood how a prayer whispered in a desert cave might emerge as a song in a Manhattan apartment centuries later.

Look closely at your hands. Really look at them. Teresa of Avilia once said these were the only hands God had now – yours, mine, the barista’s, the homeless woman’s. Divine love wearing human skin, though we forget this most days, caught up in mortgage payments, grocery lists, and whether we remembered to feed the cat.

What would Thomas Merton say if he could see us now, each of us walking around “shining like the sun” while staring at our phones? We are more necessary than we imagine. More beautiful. Even now, as you read these words, something shifts in the universe. A quantum of consciousness changes state. A letter forms on the tongue of someone you’ll never meet in a language you don’t speak, carrying forward some essential part of you.

We live in a world of invisible threads. See how they glisten in the morning light, strung between buildings, between centuries, between hearts. Every act of kindness a stone dropped in still water, the ripples moving outward forever. Every moment of presence a seed planted in soil we cannot see.

Walk gently then, through your ordinary Tuesday. Let the mystics whisper their secrets in your ear: that nothing is truly separate, that love moves like light through the universe, that even your smallest gestures participate in the great dance of being. You’ll never know all the lives you’ve touched, all the stories you’ve entered. That’s part of the mystery too – this holy unknowing, this faithful continuing on.

Tonight, someone will dream a dream that began in the corner of your smile. Tomorrow, a child will find courage in the echo of your laughter. We are all just walking each other home, as Rumi said, though the path spirals through time and space in ways we cannot follow.

Remember this, as you finish your coffee, as you step out into the world: you are necessary. Your presence matters. The universe bends itself around your being in ways no equation can capture. Live with this awareness, if you can. Love with this generosity. Move through your days knowing that each moment ripples outward into infinity, carrying your light forward into futures you cannot imagine but somehow, mysteriously, help to create.

Copyright 2025 Michael J. Cunningham

Posted on by Michael J. Cunningham

On Becoming Love

On Becoming Love

We often use the term God is Love. Many scripture references will call this to our attention. Here is one that always touches my heart:

“We have recognized for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. “
1 John 4:16 – New Jerusalem Bible

This quote also points out something that always resonates with me: there is no daylight between God and Love, something which may of the Church’s doctors have pointed on their spiritual journeys.

John Duns Scotus (a Franciscan priest and theologian) made this clear in his teachings not long after the formation of the order. He preached that because of this knowledge, “God is love”, that it, therefore flows that we understand something in our own lives. “If it not of love, it is not from God.”

This straightforward phrase was revolutionary at the time. When many were preaching our faith based on fear and retribution if we did not follow the law, obscuring the primary facts and reasons for the Passion of Christ and its effect on our lives. That God (the Father) gave His Son to us as a gift. And this gift has remained with us always (Matthew 28:20). The gifts we use to make His love, expressed through us in the Body of Christ, came to us at Pentecost and we need to continue to exercise them with love always in the forefront of our thoughts, words and actions.

This is easier said than done. And so we struggle. However, the remembrance of “God is Love” and the fact that we are the instruments of His incarnation (we remain in Him as He remains in us) can keep us mindful of this love.

This coming week, I would suggest we can think of ourselves becoming love. The more we imbibe the love God gives us each day, each breath, each heartbeat, each morsel of food, each sip of water, all remind us of this love. All we need to do is exhale His love, walk His path, swallow His desires for us, and we can become aware of this love in a different way.

A way beyond gratitude, beyond requests, beyond thankfulness. It is how we exercise this love by letting it Go. Go out into the world. Go into our every thought. Go into the words we speak. Go into listening compassionately instead of judging.

Let us become love on our journey, as the love implanted grows and spills out in our lives.

On Becoming Love

I saw Him again today,

In the gratitude which I felt within,

Like a warm soup had flooded my interior,

On a cold winter day.

Peace, should not be a buzz,

But this time it was,

I could feel it in there,

Love spilling out inside me,

Uncontrollably,

I feel it in my arms,

My flushed face,

Warmly it ran down my legs,

Speechless, I say my silent thank you.

For this mystery. This grace.

So is this what it really is to love?

To feel the pain of a homeless person,

To see the smile on the face … who I smiled at for no other reason.

Than she was my sister.


To see the love in my family,

Expressed in so many unspoken ways,

And those who have become my family,

In a unity we seek but seldom talk of,

Of nations united. United as one.

One, single, state of belonging.

The Body of Christ.

So, now what to do.

This love is beyond understanding,

But I have knowledge of it now.

I don’t just feel it.

I am it.

Not because I own it.

But because it owns me.

Not because I say it,

But because I can only act through it.

Not because I preach it,

But because I carry it, carefully and humbly.

Not because.

It just is.

So, here it is.

My desire is met.

God is there.

I am there.


Waiting for more. And demanding nothing.

Posted on by Michael J. Cunningham · 4 Comments

Winners and Losers

There is much talk these days about winners and losers. Very shortly, as we move into the space after the 5th November 2024 election, many will feel one way or the other—perhaps as many as half of the nation if polls are to be believed.

So, where does that leave us? After we become losers, or at least as much of the world defines them, we can reflect while the others around us (the winners) rejoice. However, this process does little to heal the divisions or positions that separated us in the first place.  So, are there truly winners and losers? Of course, we have all been on both sides of these coins. 

Often, the determination for winning or losing may be reasonably straightforward. We lost the soccer game. I came in last, not first. We were runners-up. However, these events don’t define our lives, at least not with any permanence.  We can recover from these results, train harder, learn new skills, and try again for a different result next time. 

But how do we process winning or losing? Everyone knows the expression “a sore loser,” and sometimes, a winner can rub the result in your face, being somewhat ungracious in victory. 

Winning does not guarantee a permanent state for the victor except perhaps, for wars. And even then, that can change, of course. So, we can consider winning or losing, for that matter, to be a temporary state of affairs. A place along the a journey if you like. However, we can consider it another way. If we think of winning and losing as a culminating activity it can fill a room full of trophies (in our mind at least) and the losses as obstacles, fences or walls to overcome in the future. In either case, we are likely to suffer from reaffirmation and the wins or loses start to become a part of who we are. This is because we have not “processed” what happened. Losing a contest for playing music may be a call to improve, and actually help your musical career. On the other hand, being ridiculed for your first failed public speaking event (might be in the elementary classroom) could scar you for a while. So what is all this winning and losing about then. 

Well, in society, particularly Western society, we like to think of ourselves as winners and losers. This makes us a proper noun. Embodying what is, in fact, just a result of a particular excursion in life. A waypoint, milestone, marker if you will. Thinking about the winning and losing in this category, places the results in a journey. A journey which is much bigger than any one result along the way. 

There is a hilarious character in an old BBC comedy called “Dad’s Army”. This army is comprised of men who are either too old or infirm in some way to join the regular army during World War II. It is a comedy that might be considered not so politically correct today, but it talks to the issue of cumulating disasters. Each time something fails, or there is a bad result in anything, a Scottish elderly soldier declares in a strong accent, “We’re doomed! We doomed!” Fraser, the soldier is always looking for negative affirmation, to the point that he is a walking “loser” looking for places to confirm his status. 

While this is a comedic tool for the writers of this program, it also illustrates how quickly we can become what others say we are: winners or losers. It takes work to dig ourselves out of a hole when we are criticized, more so than any chest-beating or beaming smile that results from a “win.” 

The bottom line here is we are not either winners or losers; we are. We just are. 

Taking a less tribal approach to determining who is right or wrong, left or right, black or white, will help us see who we truly are. We are humanity. It is up to us to be human and embody some of the characteristics that make us a part of the common good. Compassion, love, and hospitality would be a place to start. And if that’s too complex for us, then let us remember that the famous Franciscan Friar, John Duns Scotus quoted many years ago. “If it is not of love, then it is not of God.” 

Land and Sky by Michael J. Cunningham

Reflection and image Copyright 2024 Michael J. Cunningham OFS

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Harmony and the Dolphin

HARMONY, THE DOLPHIN AND OTHER CRAZY IDEAS 

Harmony is a word that I wish I could hear a little more about. Excuse the pun. Harmony is a word, of course, that has its roots in music. Chords and notes that seem to go together often have a progression that seems to be made to be a part of the same tapestry. We usually notice something musically by its lack of harmony versus the tell-take signs of “that sounds wrong or bad.” 

Workplaces that have harmony in them are also noticeable. When a team is working for the common good of the operation, it is clear they are in some form of harmony, often beyond teamwork. They want to make the experience of being with them seamless and enjoyable—something we all should or do seek. 

While music is one place where the obvious connection is made, harmony is an underrated and underutilized noun in both language and practical application. I think this is because we know that when someone or something is living or working in harmony, something much more powerful is going on than teamwork, cooperation, and collaboration. When something is harmonized, it doesn’t seem like it’s merely together; it is palpable. There is something right about it. Correct, like a well-blended smoothie, it is something in itself. Dolphins were in this headline for a reason. They seem to be in harmony with each other in their community, known as pods. They swim together, and it always seems like they rehearsed their movements, even when random. Now that’s harmony. 

They talk to each other, each with a different voice, but the pod has its own voice. Its own harmony. When a pod member is sick, others help try to make the one with the illness recover. Now that’s harmony. There do not seem to be outsiders in the pod. That’s harmony. And they collaborate well with humans, even when we are not always their best friends. That’s harmony without a grudge. 

Dolphins are known to be fun-loving creatures that are very intelligent. They don’t seem to use their intelligence against others in the pod. That’s harmony. 

In the Christian tradition, as the dolphin was and is considered friendly towards man, it became a symbol of love and tenderness as early as the 2nd Century. There is so much to like about dolphins: they are swift, joyful, compassionate, intelligent, generous, and protective. There are other reasons that they are viewed as powerful but harmonious creatures in Native American tradition, and, despite seemingly always being joyful, they are assumed to be wise because of their caring behavior. 

So, why do I have to look at another intelligent but not human creature to find a bastion of harmony in behavior that seems dialed in? Certainly, dolphins are not as advanced as humans, but are we more advanced when we seem to be more content separating ourselves from each other and have difficulty having dialog with each other, let alone living harmoniously together? This is something to ponder. 

Perhaps harmony should be a bigger goal in our everyday lives. We should not just tolerate another person’s behavior but actively try to ” get along” better with our fellow humans. Harmony seems an unattainable goal in many regards, yet unless sometimes sets out to try and make it happen, others will never see the goal; let alone attain it. 

Harmony may be out there on a hope-filled scale, right at the end of it, way past indifference, dialog, conversation, agreement or teamwork. It is the orchestra which  like each other as well as the music they are playing. The family which jokes and laughs over the supper table. The team that is still friends when the loser. The lover who still loves the one who rejected them. 

Just like the dolphin that turns its tail when it needs to change direction, we need to see that any direction may be the road that should be taken. Regardless of the humble pie that needs to be eaten, the apologies or the forgiveness required.

Harmony, after all, is worth fighting for. And the most splendid harmony is with ourselves, God, and each other. 

Image and Reflection Copyright 2024, Michael J. Cunningham OFS