Spirituality

Four offerings for your Good Friday

Steve · April 10, 2020 · 3 Comments

Greetings, friends and readers. Today I offer you four resources for prayer and reflection on this Good Friday.

The first is the conclusion of my seven-part video series on the Seven Last Words of Jesus. If you missed any of them, they are all available here on my blog, of course. Today’s message is from the gospel of Luke and gives us Jesus’ last words to his father at the very moment of his death.

“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Luke 23: 44-46

Next up is a short poem and image for reflection, another in the daily series I have been offering during this time of the pandemic.

Below is a new music video for an older song, composed back in 2002 with my friend and collaborator, Phil Cooper, “Consider the Nails.”

Finally, if you’re available this afternoon at 3 p.m. (Central Time), I will be presenting “Crossroads: Stations of the Cross for a Time of Change” on Facebook Live from the Marianist Retreat and Conference Center, just outside of St. Louis. If you want to join in and pray with us live (or view it afterwards at your leisure), you can find the Center’s Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/retreatschangelives/

Blessed Triduum and a Happy Easter to you all!

Steve

The Seven Last Words: It is Finished. (Plus a thought for Holy Thursday)

Steve · April 9, 2020 · Leave a Comment

The Seven Last Words, Day 6: Today’s message is one of two Jesus speaks at the very moment of death. His work is finished, but he is not…

“It is finished.” John 19:30

The Seven Last Words: I Thirst

Steve · April 8, 2020 · 2 Comments

The Seven Last Words, Day 5: Today, we see Jesus experiencing a common and most human need. He is thirsty.

“I thirst.” John 19:28-29

**Another thought for the day: Count your blessings. They remain.**

The Seven Last Words: Why have you forsaken me?

Steve · April 7, 2020 · Leave a Comment

The Seven Last Words, Day 4: Today, we hear Jesus cry out from the cross in pain and anguish and bewilderment.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33-34

Learning to Ponder in the Age of Social Media

Steve · February 16, 2020 · 2 Comments

This originally appeared as a “Faith Perspectives” column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on February 13, 2020.

In an age when impersonal communication happens at lightning-fast speeds and with often very little thought or time given to the responses we make other than the very first — and often the most vitriolic — thought that enters our heads, we might all be wise to consider the time-tested virtues of pondering.

Pondering is not merely thinking or daydreaming or simply observing. It’s the work of paying attention and being open, of connecting the facts of the situation with a greater sense of presence, of recognition of the small within the whole, of finding meaning and perhaps even God in the things and actions of the Earth and of our own lives. All that doesn’t come easy at a time when we can tell someone hundreds or thousands of miles away exactly what we think of their inane idea 30 seconds after they post it and ten seconds after we have formed a response in our gut and before it has spent even a fleeting moment in our conscience minds. Such willingness on our part to slow down and ponder takes intention.