About Cate MacDonald
I am a 27-year-old spiritual director at the Institute for Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology. Like many people in my stage of life, I am trying to figure out how to build a meaningful life out of the ridiculous hubbub that is Southern California. I am deeply interested in people, spirituality, family, community, and hospitality, both emotional and physical. Professionally speaking (and I use that term very loosely), I am a spiritual director, teacher, writer, and graduate student recruiter at Biola University. I believe that each breath we draw is evidence of mercy and grace and endeavor to live accordingly. And I love to cook.
One Thing
Sitting in class with Dr. Coe was always different. Different from other teachers, different from the same class last week, different from anything we’d done before. And yet there’s one …
On Treasures
I hate my ipod. It’s slow and quirky. It’s storage capacity is embarrassingly low by today’s standards, and so it is constantly making me decide what I may feel like …
New Year, New You, If Only: Reflections On Old Resolutions
Does anyone actually believe in the power of New Year’s resolutions? Sometimes I think they are simply a reminder of how much we desire change, and, given our propensity for …
No White Flags
There are times in my life when retreat seems the best option. I don’t mean peaceful, quiet, necessary spiritual retreat, but the retreat of the defeated army, slinking away from …
The Chaos Curve: Writers Block and the Ever-Writing Woman
I’m beginning to realize that the writers’ block I struggle with comes, not from a lack of ideas, but from being absolutely tired of my own output. Modern life, or …
To Laugh at Death
Yesterday I had the misfortune of having to go shopping for costume elements, which included looking for rubber snakes. Side note: Kids these days just don’t seem to be interested …
The Chaos Curve: Part I
A meditation originally written for The Twenty Pieces Project I’ve noticed that I tend to self-reform in waves, waves usually started by an awareness of overwhelming chaos that grows gradually …
On False Simplicity
The following is a meditation written for The Twenty Pieces Project. Julie Barrios and I founded The Twenty Pieces Project as a way to challenge ourselves and our readers in the art of dressing simply …
Growing up, Kyle Strobel knew all the "right" answers. The Christianity he experienced in the church was reduced to theological precepts and moral codes. He tried typical spiritual growth formulas but faith remained stagnant, even stale. Sound familiar?
In Journey with Jesus, spiritual director Larry Warner guides us through the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius similarly to the way he's been leading people through them in person.