I woke up early and made my way to the kitchen in darkness so deep I could feel it. The soft light that usually glows in the hallway was out. I inched my way along, afraid of knocking into something or falling down. I felt rather than saw the corner, and turning it my eye […]
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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 […]
DOES JESUS REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Kanye West, Meet Zacchaeus
Jesus “keeps on taking me to new levels, … that we didn’t even imagine before. […] God’s always had a plan for me.” That was the outspoken rapper Kanye West, preaching from the “new level” of a coach seat on a jet bound for LA, where he talked to Late Late Show host James Cordon […]
IT’S YOUR CHOICE TO REJOICE
My mom had a no-fail way of dealing with grumpy, complaining, mopey kids: she’d send us to our rooms with one command: “come out when you’re ready to be happy!” Typically I would stomp off full of whatever grievance I was nursing, only to come out soon after, having laid it aside. Not that the […]
SHINE YOUR LIGHT – BANISH THE DARKNESS
Night fell gradually, so slowly that we didn’t notice it was coming. People of all ages had flocked to the field for AbbeyFest, an annual day-long celebration of family, faith, and music. As the light waned, so did the guitars. The songs became softer, more worshipful. And as the last rays of sun disappeared, someone […]
GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO FRUITFULNESS—WHATEVER IT LOOKS LIKE NOW
We rounded the corner of our house after being away for a while and gasped. Tire tracks churned through the yard. Piles of rocks and flagstones, uprooted from the old terrace, lay everywhere. The back yard was a rough sea of mud and debris. “My garden!” was all I could think. Everything from lilies to […]
HOW WE CAN CARRY OUR CROSSES
Friday the 13th seems an appropriate day to be heading into Saturday’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It brings to mind another Friday, the one that we call “good” — although it must have seemed anything but “good” to the disciples who witnessed it. But here is the glory of the Cross: […]
ALWAYS LOOK OUT FOR NUMBER ONE (Who’s Number One?)
“Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God….” (Ruth 1:16) These words have been sung at countless weddings – but they were first said not by a bride but by someone who turned her back on the sensible option […]
THE ABC’S OF READING ST. PAUL—and an example to encourage you
I wouldn’t call St. Paul the master of the tweet. It would take three full tweets, in fact, to cover 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 — and that’s one of his shorter quotables. But it’s definitely worth sending out to your friends, if only they’ll pause long enough to take it in: “Blessed be the God and […]
ARE YOU LISTENING? GOD WANTS TO SPEAK
I was five and we were vacationing on Lantau island. Today an airport crowns the Hong Kong mountain. Back then, it hosted scores of families seeking respite from the summer heat. The tiny cabins were separated from the main peak, where we took meals at a common dining room, by a “saddle”: a flat, grassy […]
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