Online retreat

Steve Bogner has a great link to an online retreat. I’m hoping that you vist both Steve’s blog and this retreat. It was through a virtual visit to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert that my own life was changed a dozen or more years ago. Technorati Tags:online retreat, spiritual

Is all life sacred?

“Captured combatants and civilians who find themselves under the authority of the adverse party are entitled to respect for their life, their dignity, their personal rights and their political, religious and other convictions. They must be protected against all acts of violence or reprisal. They are entitled to exchange news with their families and receive … Read more

Anniversary

Today marks my one year anniversary of surviving a pulmonary embolism. A year ago my future was very uncertain. I was reading Psalm 91 in a hospital bed at the nearby Olean General Hospital. I had great medical and nursing care. I met a number of great people who don’t get enough credit who acting … Read more

Words only when necessary

St. Francis is supposed to have said, “Preach the Gospel everyday and only use words when necessary.” At work today a couple of co-workers were having a discussion over who was “saved” and who wasn’t based on their particular doctrinal understanding. One is a Roman Catholic and the other a Baptist. The Baptist person was … Read more

Getting the word out

Today I received an email from Russell Testa, the Animator for Peace, Justice and the Integrity of Creation for Holy Name Province. The subject of Russ’s email was the growing tragedy in Darfur. I don’t know much about Darfur and the genocide, but I do know that it isn’t getting much coverage here because we … Read more

Change

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world — that is the myth of the “atomic age” — as in being able to remake ourselves.–Mahatma Gandhi That seems a pessimistic assessment to an idealist like me but maybe that’s all we can really expect is incremental change … Read more

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog site at WordPress.com. Thanks for visiting. I’m considering moving here from Blogger. I’ve been with Blogger for nearly two years and well maybe it’s time for a change.

Reliable fiction

One of my daily exercises is watching the Colbert Report. Comedy Central makes no claim about its accuracy. The only difference between cable news and the Daily Show and The Colbert Report is that the latter two shows are billed as entertainment. The substance is approximately the same. If you didn’t a chance to see … Read more

Moral fantasy

“Hence it becomes more and more difficult to estimate the morality of an act leading to war because it is more and more difficult to know precisely what is going on. Not only is war increasingly a matter for pure specialists operating with fantastically complex machinery, but above all there is the question of absolute … Read more

Thorn in the flesh

Tonight was the second consecutive Sunday that I’ve been at the compline at Abbey of the Genesee. I’ve been coming to the abbey for nearly 28 years now and with increasing frequency in the past two years. I first went to the bread store just to enjoy the heavenly aroma of fresh baked “Monk’s Bread.” … Read more