I was talking to my youngest brother the other day… I am blown away by the philosophy out of which he serves as an EMT/Fire Dept. Lieutenant and from which he mentors those under him… maybe his approach, which I find so powerfully God-like, will challenge you as it does...
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” Jesus urges his disciples and us to stop, to rest, to recoup, to renew ourselves. God gave us the Sabbath Day to be a day of rest, for without it we become less human. I don’t mean just...
In his new encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis calls us to an “Integral Ecology” (10), a worldview that harmonizes all the dimensions of our existence: physical, biological, social, and spiritual. This harmony is essential if we are to attain the Joy of the Gospel to which the Pope urged us...
Root, branch and fruit Consider the miracle of a single seed, a seed so small you can barely see it, and yet containing within it the power to release life in the form of a great harvest or magnificent garden. After this long winter, the planting season is now underway....
Years ago, the Chad Mitchell Trio sang, “Oh, there’s rioting in Africa, starving in Spain; there are hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain. … the Arabs hate the Jews and the Jews hate the Arabs, and I don’t like anybody very much.” Unfortunately, our world is no better with...
The second reading of today’s (the 5th Sunday of Easter) Liturgy of the Word narrates the arrival of Saul (Paul) in Jerusalem and is met with fear by the disciples but with the help of Barnabas, he is able to speak of his experience of the Lord. We first met...
We don’t often get to experience what Jesus did over the span of a few days and we should really thank God for that. During His entry into Jerusalem, the people shout “Hosanna” and lay palm branches before him. Then as He is being accused falsely before a court, possibly...
The examen prayer, in two parts, is essential to Ignatian spirituality. The general examen is done spontaneously each evening by Christians when they review their day to recollect how they were or were not acting as Christ. A yardstick for review can be the “fruit of the Spirit, … love,...
Last Sunday we heard the Father say at the Transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” What did the apostles then, and we now, so resist hearing? In Mark 8:31 and 8:34-35, we read, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer much,...
Last Sunday we heard the Father say at the Transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” What did the apostles then, and we now, so resist hearing? In Mark 8:31 and 8:34-35, we read, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer much,...