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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]