Forgiveness, ignorance and redemption We pray it every day. “…Forgive us as we forgive those who…” But too often, the routinized words fall from my lips and disappear into the petty details of the day’s tasks. I know well the essential correlation between forgiveness and redemption in my own life and therefore I’ve written about […]
Forgiveness, Ignorance and Redemption Read More »
He rides into Jerusalem: Palm Sunday He rides into Jerusalem amidst lavish, unrestrained, almost unanimous exaltation. Slowly-on the colt of a donkey. So many details here, in this story. Why a colt? So that a fully grown adult male on the colt prefigures the excruciating burden He will soon carry? To assure that these faces,
He rides into Jerusalem: Palm Sunday Read More »
Lenten Greetings from Texas Right, after twenty years in the west: eighteen in Nevada and a year and a half in California, we’ve moved to Texas. Precisely like every other major event in my life, this was not in the plan but an astonishing surprise, because, for me, it feels like returning home to Texas.
Lenten Greetings from Texas: Have A Joyous Lent Read More »
Most of us are settling for Bette Midler’s God. “I think most of us are settling for Bette Midler’s God.” It was a terrific headline. Hardly what anyone expects a priest to say when starting his homily on a Bible passage. Fr. Chris Kanowitz, smiled at the cognitive dissonance apparent in the expressions of each of
Most of Us Are Settling for Bette Midler’s God. Read More »
No man can tame the tongue I should probably title this one “Part Two” because it’s inadvertently a continuation of the article that posted last Sunday on the epistle of James. The daily reading for Saturday February 19th’s Christian liturgy was again, St. James. The phrase, “No man can tame the tongue” shouted at me. And impelled
No Man Can Tame the Tongue Read More »
Catholics and Bonhoeffer’s cheap grace Because I am outspoken about being Catholic, in the early years following my conversion, I frequently entered into conversation with those who no longer attend Mass. Almost always, the first few reasons were ideologic: “I disagree with the Church on abortion, birth control, homosexuality, and the church’s refusal to ordain
Catholics and Bonhoeffer’s Cheap Grace Read More »
For such a time as this (Esther’s Song) Until I met and became friends with Linda Hardy, I’d never heard of Marty Goetz. But once she told me about his music- the psalms put to the music in his head, I listened to many of them, often more than a few times. One day, while discussing our mutual
For Such a Time As This- Esther’s Song Read More »
In the Belly of the Whale: Jonah, The Reluctant Prophet. We’ve all been there. Alone. In the dark. Terrified. In the belly of the whale: Jonah, the reluctant prophet. Just four chapters long, the book of Jonah seems at first to be just another fantastic Bible story. Surely a wild tale, of course it’s allegory, right? And
In the Belly of the Whale: Jonah, The Reluctant Prophet Read More »
The devolution of rights into structural sin. It’s a mouthtful, I know. Certainly for me the phrase, the “devolution of rights into structural sin”, is a heady one. Until reading a piece by Jeffrey Mirus, I’d never heard of structural sin. And yet only a second or two of thought recalls the events of 9/11/01. Twenty
The Devolution of Rights Into Structural Sin Read More »
Once Again: Reflections On George Bailey and It’s A Wonderful Life. This past Wednesday evening, John and I tuned into It’s A Wonderful Life . Although I wrote a piece on this film back in August, seeing it again impels another. Most of the film is composed of Clarence, George Bailey’s guardian angel, being schooled in George’s
Reflections on George Bailey- It’s A Wonderful Life Read More »