“The Art of Pausing”
The Art of Pausing is a fascinating little book. The subtitle is Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed. I thought, those words “overworked and overwhelmed” is how I feel at times. How about you? The book is essentially a collection of 99 haikus written by three authors “who inhabit very different worlds.” Brother Paul Quentin […]
The Geauga Faith Rescue Mission
Two weeks ago, I attended the annual fund-raiser for the Geauga Faith Rescue Mission. This organization, founded in 2014, is a non-profit, faith-based housing program for men and women that provides a “safe and structured living environment while assisting our residents into stability.” It opened its men’s shelter in Chardon in November 2022. Early on, […]
When Have You Felt Set Free?
Have you ever felt like a bird in a cage? If so, have you ever felt set free from your cage? I suggest you reflect on this experience in your life. To help you do that, here are some examples from my own life when I felt set free. Some go way back. Learning to […]
We Are Part of God’s Landscape
In the book of Genesis, there are two creation stories. In chapter 1, God spends the first five days of creation fashioning the sun and moon, plants and animals. On the sixth day, God creates more animals–including human beings saying “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness. Let them (both male […]
Five Quotations from Five Books
I was going over some notes I took from a few books I’ve read over the years. I thought I would share five of these quotations with you today. “Autumn” Appropriately, we’ll begin with a description of autumn by Joyce Rupp from the book The Circle of Life co-authored with Macrina Wiederkehr. You might want […]
Excellence in Architecture–and in Life
Once I was reading an article on architects. (I enjoy reading articles on things I know little or nothing about!) In it, the author was trying to discover what distiguished the really good architects from the medicore ones. Her conclusion? It was not the fact that good architects did things right the first time. No, […]
The Wisdom of John Muir
John Muir has many descriptive titles. He’s been called a naturalist, author, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, environmental philosopher, inventor, mountaineer, co-founder of the Sierra Club, and Father of our National Parks. His biographer Steven Holmes, added another title: the patron saint of 20th Century American environmental activity. So, who was this extraordinary man? John Muir (1838-1914) […]
“What Are You Doing Here?”
Recently I was reflecting on the story of the prophet Elijah hiding in the cave. You are probably familiar with the story. Elijah is running for his life. He has angered the “wicked” queen Jezabel, and she has sent her henchmen to find him and kill him (1 Kings: 19:1-18). Shortly after crawling exhaustedly into […]
Do You Have Any Pet Scapegoats?
(Introduction: September 28 is World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The Church has celebrated this day since 1914. That’s 111 years! I wrote this reflection not with that day in mind. But after I wrote it, I realized the words below are indirectly related to this day, a day on which the Church calls us […]
Little Kernels of Spiritual Nourishment
As you know, I read alot. Besides reading scripture everyday, I also pray with small periodicals that nourish my prayer–such as Living Faith, Living with Christ, and Give Us This Day. In addition, I always have several books by my reading/prayer chair. Often I come across little kernels of nourishment, a sentence or two, that […]