Don

“We can know God easily so long as we do not feel it necessary to define Him.” Once having grasped this truth I began to see how natural knowing God became. The difficulty of the forced, of the artificial, of the mere assent to what other people say, of which the Caucasian to his credit … Read more

My Dad and Grandfather had lots of expressions and I’m indebted to them. They were the koans of my youth. One of them came to play again today after speaking with a colleague about some of our peers and whether they could master a simple operation. Gramps used to say, “some people are so dumb … Read more

Andrew Sullivan, some guy from the “Log Cabin Republicans, and two ministers are on the Larry King Show tonight discussing among other things the impact of the Foley Scandal on “purging” homosexuals from the Republican party. It must be near an election because the Republicans are attempting to divide the electorate with litmus tests and … Read more

May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being–Apache Blessing I got this today from Gratefulness.org. It was just what I needed. I began my day running four miles on the … Read more

Today at Mass at Mt. Irenaeus we emerged to full canonical status as a fraternity in the Secular Franciscan Order. Holy Peace Chapel was filled to overflowing with Secular Franciscans from a number of fraternities in Western and Central New York State. Emotions were at flood tide as we remembered those who had helped us … Read more

In 1944, the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s mother took him from Siberia to Moscow. They were among those who witnessed a procession of twenty-thousand German war prisoners marching through the streets of Moscow: The pavements swarmed with onlookers, cordoned off by soldiers and police. The crowd was mostly women — Russian women with hands roughened … Read more

I made a mistake in judgement today and further complicated it by not communicating with fellow Secular Franciscans. I had originally promised to bring a platter of Subway sub sandwiches to Mount Irenaeus for a luncheon today.  There was a communication error and I was the one at fault. I hope that I can make … Read more

Today is the 34th anniversary of my graduation from Great Lakes Naval Training Center. I was in the 13th Battalion and we graduated in at 1300 hours on the 13th of October in 1972. I was a draftee who joined the United States Navy rather than take my chances in the jungles of Vietnam. I … Read more

“Nothing is more like God than silence.” –Meister Eckhart. I’ve thought of this quote many times since reading it earlier this week in Albert Nolan’s “Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom.” I came from a time and a home where much emphasis was placed on wrote prayers, the Rosary, the Our Father or Lord’s … Read more

In reading Nolan’s work there is a lot of discussion of the importance of meditation and contemplation in the Spirituality of Jesus. The older I get the more important contemplation becomes to me. Churches and communities that emphasize busy-ness have no appeal to me. Meister Eckhart once said, “Nothing is more like God than silence.” … Read more