In preparing to commemorate the Resurrection, we should, rather than pursue a private line to God, be asking some very public questions about our personal life choices, such as what we buy, how we vote, how simply we live, our sense of solidarity with others. Cusco, city of the Inca gods, is perched on a plateau of the Peruvian Andes. The people of the city, ever ready to party, will soon be celebrating Easter with gusto. They are […]
In my pastoral experience a common cry from those seeking a fuller life concerns the inbuilt sense of inferiority and the fear of being judged. That is why we pretend; tell lies; it is why we try to impress in a thousand ways; it lies at the heart of our untold misery and even tragedy. Whether in the least competitive of small communities, or at the heady heights of political or religious power, you will […]
People are surprised at the extent of the choice they have about the direction of each day’s living, leading to profound satisfaction or disillusion. With God’s power in us, we are all blessed with the grace of choosing our way of being in the world. We do not have to be victims of what happens to us; instead we are blessed with the power of discerning our demons as disguised occasions of grace. But we […]
As priests what are we doing when we bless? Are we actually making something holy, adding on something that was missing, spiritually disinfecting a merely natural object? Or are we revealing hidden richness, divining a wellspring of sacred presence, already secure below the surface of everything? Is that not the true meaning of Incarnation? Is consecrated ground more sacred than the kitchen floor burnished and blessed by the feet of the families who played and […]
In my pastoral experience a common cry from those seeking a fuller life concerns the inbuilt sense of inferiority and the fear of being judged. That is why we pretend; tell lies; it is why we try to impress in a thousand ways; it lies at the heart of our untold misery and even tragedy. Whether in the least competitive of small communities, or at the heady heights of political or religious power, you will […]
People are surprised at the extent of the choice they have about the direction of each day’s living, leading to profound satisfaction or disillusion. With God’s power in us, we are all blessed with the grace of choosing our way of being in the world. We do not have to be victims of what happens to us; instead we are blessed with the power of discerning our demons as disguised occasions of grace. But we […]
As priests what are we doing when we bless? Are we actually making something holy, adding on something that was missing, spiritually disinfecting a merely natural object? Or are we revealing hidden richness, divining a wellspring of sacred presence, already secure below the surface of everything? Is that not the true meaning of Incarnation? Is consecrated ground more sacred than the kitchen floor burnished and blessed by the feet of the families who played and […]
Everything about us reaches out to be loved and to love, to become the other. We long for intimacy. We are born for it. We are drawn and driven by this original and persistent desire of our being. Astonishingly, we are already encompassed by this ultimate and unique embrace – but we will not, dare not or cannot believe it. We risk staying stuck too long in the trappings of routine religion. Beyond our familiar […]
We met under a shower of bird notes Fifty years passed, love’s moment in a world of servitude to time. She was young; I kissed with my eyes closed and opened them on her wrinkles. From A Marriage by RS Thomas Tucked away in some part of our soul there will be a precious memory of a season of love. It may have been in our childhood, our teenage years or last August, but […]
In one of her striking reflections Annie Dillard described how we would behave at Mass if we understood its full impact. We would strap ourselves to our seats, wear protective headgear, and be utterly attentive to the earth-shaking import of what was happening around us. We have many ways, she was pointing out, of avoiding what we would rather not face. And so we argue over translations, rubrics and rites. We distract ourselves with the […]