I’ve heard it said that the shofar (ram’s horn trumpet), with its curving shape, represents the way a repentant heart “bends” before the Lord in supplication. When it’s blown, it has a unique sound that can trumpet victory or a mournful wail. In the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah, today’s Jewish “Feast of Trumpets,” three types […]
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TAKING IN THE RESURRECTION: The Easter Octave
There’s always such a push to Easter, and then … what? I’m grateful to the ongoing pulse of the season, that reminds me there is more. In the liturgical cycle, Easter is a day and also an “octave.” Eight days of celebration, eight days of re-absorbing the message of the Resurrection: that because Jesus is […]
JESUS WAS TROUBLED … SO YOU NEED NOT BE
I woke up this morning troubled by many things: some are just wisps of bad dreams in the night, but others I must face. I turned, as is my habit, to the Scriptures of Morning Prayer[1] “Jesus was deeply troubled” jumped out at me. What does it mean to be troubled? The word is tarássō […]
JESUS IS CALLING. LISTEN TO HIM!
Above the altar hangs the risen Christ: not crucified, but suspended with the instrument of death behind him. His hands and feet are pierced but no nails hold him down. His arms are raised, stretched out to us who kneel below. His eyes are full of love. Meanwhile, I can’t stop looking up. It’s as […]
“HOW,” NOT “WHAT” — GETTING READY FOR LENT
The homily I remember best may also have been the shortest. It was Ash Wednesday morning, the early morning mass when everybody has to get to work and so there’s not a lot of time for extra details. The priest got right to the point: “The Gospel is from Matthew 6,” he said. “Jesus tells […]
FINDING JESUS AFTER CHRISTMAS: EPIPHANY
“For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” — Matthew 2:2b It’s a dull, gray day and there’s an emptiness around my heart, something I can’t quite name. Where is the child all the fuss was about? Where is Jesus? I wonder if the Church knew it might be […]
START THE NEW YEAR RIGHT: BUILD A BIBLE READING HABIT
How would your life be different if you read the Bible every day — or if you turned to it as often as you do your smartphone? Pope Francis asked that question and had this to say: “If we had the Word of God always in the heart, no temptation would be able to estrange […]
RECEIVING THE GAZE OF JESUS: an exercise in visio divina
Let’s “come into the Word” today by doing a little visio divina — reflecting on a painting of the Word-made-flesh. It’s getting close to Christmas, and I don’t know about you, but my brain is too full to read another thing. There is something about a quiet gaze that speaks to my heart right now. […]
FINDING NEW MEANING IN THE CHRISTMAS TREE
In the winter of 1510, the merchants of Riga, Latvia, hauled a tree into the center of the marketplace. They decorated it with roses, symbol of the Virgin Mary. They danced around the tree in celebration of the Christ-child’s birth, and then they set it alight in a blaze of glory. That was the first […]
REJOICE! HOW ABOUT A PRE-CHRISTMAS RE-BOOT?
Have you ever heard of “foreboding joy”? That’s what Brene Brown (in The Power of Vulnerability) calls it when we prepare for the worst even when things are at their best. Foreboding joy. I know it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but I’ll bet a lot of people feel something like it right now. […]
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