“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 […]
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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 […]
MOVIE NIGHT: A Lesson in Prayer from “Little Big Man”
Near the end of Little Big Man, the 1970 film with Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Chief Dan George, the aged medicine man—who has survived the massacre at Wounded Knee and seen victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn—prepares to die. On a high, lonely mountain he sings and dances before the god he […]
TRUST GOD, THE DIVINE ARTIST
The artist stands a full hour in the clearing, staring at the aspen trees. Her keen eyes trace the form of the trunks, feeling the way they curve back from the center; she explores the knots and crevasses, memorizing the patterns and colors of the bark. Later, she will sketch the tree from memory, then […]
A WINDOW INTO HEAVEN & THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
It’s one thing to know something in your head. It’s quite another to feel it in your bones. I had that experience recently in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Dr. Edward Sri, who led our pilgrimage, had told us in advance what to expect: the grand central basilica, built over the graves of early Christians; […]
STOP KEEPING SCORE! True love is not 50-50
“Everything is 50-50 in our marriage,” a friend told me. “That’s why it works.” I cringed, not knowing how to respond. Clearly she was proud of the way she and her husband shared things equally, down to the daily chores. But 50-50 isn’t just equal; it’s divisive. By which I mean you have to divide […]
YOU’VE BEEN CHOSEN . . . NOW WHAT?
I’ve been thinking of Matthias this week, Matthias who was chosen in Acts 1 to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle. When someone’s a traitor to the cause, then kills himself, the matter of filling that spot is a sober one. Imagine today, being part of a movement and one of your own puts out […]
A MOTHER’S DAY GREETING FROM ST. PAUL
Reading the end of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, the part where he lists everyone he wants to greet, I was struck by verse 13: “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine” (NABRE). Is that one woman or two? The English Standard Version, while not as literal, gets across what […]
DON’T BE AFRAID: Jesus is with you!
One week after Easter, I can totally relate to the disciples. They are huddled behind locked doors, afraid of what the Jews might do to them. They must be still in shock from the crucifixion, even though they’ve been hearing that Jesus has risen. He’s not with them in the same way that he used […]
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