Contemplative Practices
Imagining Moving Forward As We Face a Dual Pandemic
The country still coping with the COVID-19 pandemic is now reeling from the shocking murder of George Floyd. Another African American killed by the police. This horrific abuse of power has spurred both peaceful and violent protests throughout our country. In the midst of a pandemic and all the suffering, grief and anxiety it brings, …
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How Are You Living the Incarnation?
If we ever needed the Incarnation, we need it today. As the year draws to a close, I can’t help but feel sad and a bit fearful for our future. Something seems to be infecting us as a people. There seems to be a blindness and a deafness to see and hear each other as …
Make Thanksgiving Special, Take Time to Reflect
Perhaps, this year, Thanksgiving Day can be more than having a good meal, watching the football games or finding the best sales. Integrate into your plans a time to reflect on the key elements of the story of Thanksgiving. Let Thanksgiving Day really be a special day this year. One of the stories offered in …
Use the ‘Welcoming Prayer’ to let go and renew
As the leaves begin to change color and fall to the ground — sometimes when they are ready and other times prematurely by a blustery wind — I’m given to reflect on the mystery of letting go, so that new life can emerge. This desire has deepened in me this year. It is harder and …
Upgrading Our Operating System
As I sat to write this reflection, I was struck with how many significant things were happening these past days. Already, a host of Democrats have declared they will run for president, including an unprecedented number of women and persons of color. Their positions on issues are far different from the direction of those of …
Look at the US: What do You See?
As I sit down to write this it has been a couple of days since the shooting at the bar in Thousand Oaks, California, which occurred a little over a week after the shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh. Thousands of people, men, women and children continue to walk to our border to seek asylum. …
Climate Change Invites Taking Time
The wind has a bite in it. The air is crisp. Sun pours down through the tree branches, which are still clothed but now with a vibrant array of colors — gold, red, purple, orange, pink, magenta, blue and brown. A little later, these leaves will flutter to the ground and attract in a different …
Back to School, Back to Basics
It always amuses me that even though I haven’t been on a school schedule in years, I find that September signals a new start … the smell of new textbooks, pencils and crayons; donning a new school uniform; and a crisp breeze letting us know autumn is coming. With that new beginning often comes a …
The Clerical Church in Search of its Soul
It is difficult to find the words to capture what I feel as the report of the 18-month investigation of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Pennsylvania is revealed. The number of priests — more than 300 — and the number of children abused — over 1,000 — is staggering. In the victims’ testimonies, one …
We Need to Tell a New Story
As I write this it is one of those perfect Michigan summer mornings — temperature in high 70s, low humidity, sun shining and the flowers fully blooming in all their rich colors. One of the sisters with whom I live is our gardener, and she has created a most splendid banquet of myriad flowers whose …
A Soul-Searching Time as a Nation
These past weeks, a number of things have happened in the United States that signal to me we are entering a critical soul-searching time as a nation. We experienced the administration’s hardened position regarding those who are entering our country, even for those seeking asylum. For a time it included separating children from their parents …