This is why Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. This is why he taught that our neighbor is anyone in need. It’s why he told us to love the least of our brothers and sisters. Because that’s where he is and where we will most readily find him. Serving others is more than charity, more than good works, more than a quick foot washing. It’s a chance to meet Jesus face to face. …
Tag: faith
I am very close to beginning a new walk, as retirement from my position at the university looms large (target date: June 14). The question I hear most frequently, you might imagine, is “what are you going to do?” It will likely come as no surprise to those who know me if I say, “I have a plan.” …
Almost a year ago (March 31, 2018) I posted a reflection about “waiting” during Holy Week, and that post included a new song I composed and performed with my to musical partners, John Caravelli and Phil Cooper. A year later, we now have a video to go with the song, so I thought I would post it here. Sit with it, pray with it, let it be a reminder that God is present throughout all of our days and nights… …
I recently came across this line of poetry from the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda: “Everything is ceremony in the wild garden of childhood.” And, of course, that’s right. Take, for example, the pick-up games of some variation of baseball (fuzz ball, Indian ball, Wiffle® ball, cork ball, kickball, step ball) of my childhood in North St. Louis in the early ‘70s. …
My next “Faith Perspectives” column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch appeared just in time for Christmas, a reminder (quoting Pope Francis) that “Thou Shall Not Steal” is about more than just not taking what doesn’t belong to us. You can read my column below or online here: http://bit.ly/2rQMm6U …
He was walking through the autumn-thinned woods, a carpet of fallen yellow beneath his feet. He put one foot in front of the other, the walk more of an obligation to himself than anything else. Sometimes, he thought, he prayed while he walked, but today he could not gather the will. The woods were silent and empty, as was he. …
Choosing joy is not a call to blindness, to ignoring those things we would rather not see. Rather, it is a call to see our lives and world with new and joyful eyes of faith and then set out to help bring about real change, whether serving one person or helping to reform an institution in need of healing from the inside out. …
Like many, I was impatient and restless as a young person. My favorite prayer was something along the lines of, “That was fun. What’s next?” What I learned as I grew older was the importance of savoring the gift of the present and the little. …
As the Catholic Church faces its future and works to rebuild the faith and trust of its faithful, we all need to ask ourselves a question: Are we standing in the right place? …
Pope Francis recently acknowledged the “shame and repentance" of the Catholic Church's failure to act on decades of sexual abuse by clerics against our young people. He stated emphatically that the Church “showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them." Like many Catholics, I appreciate his words, but they are not enough. …