The Gift of Music: “Clair de Lune”
Writer Kurt Vonnegut said the only proof he needed for the existence of God was music. Others have said that it is through music, perhaps more than anything else, that we get nearer to God. Victor Hugo maintained that “Music speaks what cannot be expressed. Music is the melody of the Soul.” And Poet Maya […]
My 80th Birthday
On September 16, 2024 I am completing my 80th “free trip” around the sun. In other words, I’m celebrating my 80th birthday. At noon. (Mom always said I arrived just in time for lunch!) This significant birthday fills me with awe and gratitude. It also makes me wonder, “How did I get so old–so fast?” […]
Come and See… Come and Be Seen
On August 24th we celebrated the feast of St. Bartholomew (Nathaniel), one of the apostles. The short gospel story for the feast always intrigues me (Jn. 1: 45-51). Philip has met Jesus and has accepted Jesus’ invitation to “Come follow me.” He runs off to find his friend Nathaniel and says, “We have found him […]
Hope Shows
The virtue of hope makes a difference in our lives. If we have hope, we will think and act differently from those who have little or no hope. The essence of hope is the firm conviction that a better world is possible. Hope is rooted in the promises of Jesus: “I am with you always… […]
15 Things Jesus Did NOT Say
Jesus said a lot of things in the Gospels. But sometimes we get so used to hearing or reading them, we can take them for granted. Or we can forget their “shock value.” One way to reclaim the power and significance of what Jesus said, is to rewrite some of his sayings. That’s what I’ve […]
What Writers Say about Writing
As most of you know, I love to write. In fact, I wrote my first “novel” in third grade. I wrote it by hand in a big red tablet with yellow pages. It was three pages long. But today I’m not going to talk about my writing. I’m going to share with you some things […]
The Greatest Temptation in the Wilderness
While I was on retreat two weeks ago, I meditated on Jesus’ temptations in the desert. All three synoptic gospels tell the story. For this meditation, I used a marvelous book a good friend recommended to me: Into the Mess & Other Jesus Stories by Debie Thomas, a columnist for The Christian Century. Thomas begins […]
The Prayers We Say During Mass
Many years ago, I had a retreat director who, at the beginning of every conference, read one of the prayers we say during Mass. Not the BIG prayers like the penitential rite, the Gloria, or the Eucharistic Prayers, but the small prayers–like the collect, the prayer over the offerings of the bread and wine, and […]
Meet Scout, “Just a Perfect Dog”
Ordinarily, it is people who adopt pets. But this is the story of a dog who adopted some people… Scout was a stray mutt staying at the county Animal Shelter in Bellaire, Michigan. The staff guessed he was about 10 years old and he had been abused. He had BB pellets in his jaw and […]
How Do We Become Holy? A Parable
Sometimes when we think of the word “holiness,” we picture a cloistered nun kneeling in chapel for prolonged hours, or St. Damien ministering to the lepers on Molokai, or St. Teresa of Kolkata tending to a dying man in the street. In other words, we tend to equate holiness with extraordinary religious practices, total selflessness, […]
