A friend of silence
When I read this quote on Gerry Straub’s blog attributed to Mother Teresa I was struck by its similarity to a quote that I recently posted fromThomas Merton. I know how much my own growing longing for silence means to…
A snowy evening
Last night my wife left for an overnight with our daughter. The mission for them is Christmas shopping. Whenever I ask my wife what she’d like for Christmas, the answer is, “don’t buy me any clothes,” or “I don’t need…
Gratefulness
Today is my birthday and I’m fortunate to have so many friends with whom to celebrate. Birthdays are events for looking forward and sometimes looking back. Today I did a little of each as I wondered how much longer I…
Deep peace
Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m very happy to be celebrating another year of life. This weekend I was able to join my mother, my wife and two children for a basketball game and dinner. It was great to be…
Marian blue
Tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It’s a holy day and in my earlier life it was a holiday. I’ve often thought of the coincidence of my birthday with the holy day. Even in my early…
Gift of Solitude
I owe this quote to Gerry Straub’s blog. I keep coming back to Thomas Merton. Today more than ever we need to recognize that the gift of solitude is not ordered to the acquisition of strange contemplative powers, but first…
The Shack
On Sunday I noticed that Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM was reading a new book. It had a curious title, “The Shack.” He said, “I want to talk about it at our fraternity meeting.” He gave the book a strong endorsement…
No reality fits an ideology
This came by way of Gerry Straub’s blog and like much I’ve read of Anthony de Mello it is right on target. Ideology from left, right, center, or whatever all miss the point. As soon as you look at the…
Mountain Madonna
The topic today at our Secular Franciscan meeting was Mary. There was a lot of sharing and discussion among our members. I said that this painting was one of my favorites and Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM our spiritual assistant knew…
Advent
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Today we begin the journey to Bethlehem once again. Later I’ll drive to Mt. Irenaeus for Mass and then our monthly Secular Franciscan meeting. This will be my first meeting since May. I’ve…