I’ve been reading Sister Ilia Delio’s Memoir, Birth of a Dancing Star, the last few days and in looking at her community blog for Omega Center I came upon this article called, The Pandemic Mirror. It’s an invitation to think differently about our lives and especially in light of the Corona virus. I encourage you … Read more
So begins the vigil service on Holy Saturday in most Roman Catholic churches. For most of the last twenty years I have joined dozens of others at Mount Irenaeus for the Easter Vigil service. It is one of my favorite liturgies in the church year. It is full of readings that remind of the creation … Read more
This essay by Sister Ilio Delio, OSF resonates for me. We have entered a new age that has been thrust upon us. The cry of various religious leaders to forego social distancing to meet as we once did invites a further spread of the pandemic. Last night my cousin asked if I had received communion … Read more
This year is very different from any in my memory. For most of the last twenty years I have celebrated the Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper at Mount Irenaeus along with several dozen or more people who came for dinner and stayed for the liturgy. However different tonight’s liturgy was, it is still one of … Read more
Almost everyday for much of my life I’ve had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for my lunch. It’s a taste I acquired in elementary school at St. Pius X in Delevan, New York. Back then the bread was white and the jelly was almost always grape. Later in life while working at Franklinville Central School … Read more
Today my alma mater, St. Bonaventure University live streamed Palm Sunday Services. In the midst of this pandemic Fr. Ross Chamberland, OFM and Alice Miller Nation of University Ministries provide us with the liturgy.
This is an article I wrote last month about my friend Br. Joseph Kotula OFM and his work on the southern border of the United States with immigrants and displaced people. It’s a story that isn’t told often enough in the the press. Source: Working for Those at the Border — from Arizona and New … Read more
Tomorrow Pope Francis is calling on people everywhere to join him in prayer at 6:00 PM which is 12:00 noon in the Eastern United States. Like his prayer on Wednesday morning of this week the focus is on the Coronavirus pandemic. Wednesday morning I happened to wake up just three minutes before 6:00 AM and … Read more
Tomorrow Pope Francis invites us to pray for the world. I’m joining this effort and maybe you will too. There is no hope that without divine intervention millions will perish in this pandemic. Can a mass prayer avert catastrophe? Is it worth trying? I think so. The pope will be praying at noon at the … Read more
It’s Sunday night and we’ve just finished dinner. The sun is beginning to set in the west. It was a beautiful day despite the pandemic and fear that grips the world around us. I’m listening to Taize. If you’re not familiar Taize is a Christian ecumenical community founded in France in 1940 during the second … Read more
