An image and memory from a recent walk, a poem of reflection and shadow for a mid-winter day... Walking through the woods near the lake at the end of a warm winter’s day the sun so near the horizon that it sends its golden carpet unfurling recklessly across the earth, I catch myself walking beside me. …
Tag: Nature
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… …
As I write this, St. Louis is in the midst of a winter snowfall that could leave somewhere between 6-12 inches of snow on the ground. It’s beautiful and all that, but I’m not amused. Just a week ago, I spent several hours of an unseasonably warm day walking the grounds of one of our region’s storied treasures — the Missouri Botanical Garden. Here's a photo essay of my visit. …
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. …
Beauty, as the English poet David Whyte writes above, is the “harvest of presence,” it is the reward for sitting still and waiting for something to show up, of being so present in a moment that a finch is not just a finch but a reminder that God is at work in the world. …
Pondering, at least it seems for me, is a most appropriate approach and primer to a life of prayer. When we can arise each morning and listen for the sound of our favorite bird and then connect it to the movement of God in our lives, we are certainly on to something mystical and yet very real. …
Sometimes, the quiet we seek is not mere silence. Rather, it is silence enough to hear a whisper, the voice of God calling out to us in the sounds of the earth. For this sunny, warming Sunday morning, I offer a poem about what we can hear if we dare silence ourselves. …
“Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.” Wendell Berry I am deciding to “be joyful” today, even though the facts — the words and the images swirling around me — can be a bit disheartening. I am deciding that only I get to choose what creates my state of mind and my attitude toward the world. …
Last night I had the good fortune to attend a lecture at Washington University (where I work) by Father Michael Perry, the American Franciscan friar who is the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor. Sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, Fr. Perry spoke on this theme: "What Do Francis of Assisi and Francis of Buenos Aires Have in Common? A 'Franciscan' Perspective on the Common Good." My write-up here is by no means …