I'm a dialogue-oriented roman catholic christian and live and operate, like many others, in the triangle of private life, work and parish. Some persons from the past inspire me by the way they lived and believed. Among them can be mentioned Dr. Edith Stein (1891-1942), Therese Martin (1873-1897) and Francis of Assisi (ca. 1181-1226). I like Francis and Therese for their insistence on simplicity in living and believing. Dr. Edith Stein (a former assistant of Edmund Husserl ) is a point of reference for me as a philosopher who united in her quest for truth her intellectual and religious talent. She was killed in Auschwitz.

As a spiritual counsellor / roman-catholic lay chaplain, I offer guidance and give care to patients who try to sustain their humanity during their episode of illnes and suffering in the environment of the hospital. My spiritual source to do this is the work of Jesus of Nazaret, who gave back to the sick and poor their true human face. In the video below I tell something about spirituality in my work (Dutch).

In every spirituality, the connection between life and prayer is important. A book about this subject that I've found very useful is this one by Gleb Kaleda (1922 - 1994). This paper (from a greek orthodox perspective) is also interesting. A proven way to nourish the connection between life and prayer is to pray the so called 'hours' (Dutch: 'getijden'); an every day changing collection of psalms, prayers and readings from prophetic, apostolic and other spiritual authors, to be recited and read basicly at dawn and at sunset. A video about praying the hours you can watch here (52 minutes, in french. I like especially the contribution of miss Aurore Collet. The practical part starts at 29:50). My tables of daily bible readings for the hours you can find here. Besides this, I read the bible 'privately' according to a schedule your can find here. I try to live simple and have a flexitarian diet. Most of time, I use the IWVL-psalter (Dutch) or the King James Psalter (English). A prayer kneeler, constructed according to this plan, helps me to stay in prayer during prayer time.