I will admit to being heartbroken to find that some of my Catholic brothers and sisters are unwilling to say, in the wake of the Orlando tragedy, that they extend their condolences specifically toward the LGBTQ community. Fr. James Martin has been one of the prominent exceptions. I have been blessed to spend a lot of […]
At the Christian school we could get ourselves whacked three times with a paddle if we were caught with cassette tapes of secular music. We could also get paddled if we said mean things about someone or if we sassed a teacher. Heck, we could seemingly get paddled for just about anything. Some kids, like […]
Text: Luke 22 and 23 I don’t usually write out my homilies. Today, I did. Well, some of it. We have read these long passages from the Gospel of Luke that seek to give an orderly account of what happened at the arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus. What becomes clear is that, […]
In my first post about the Jesus Prayer, I focused on the “bodily” dimensions of my practice of the Prayer. This second post will touch on the choices I’ve made regarding the physical items I use. The reason for this post is simple: I had to reach my conclusions largely through trial and error and extensive research. […]
These posts assume at least passing familiarity with the prayer practice known as The Jesus Prayer. It is an ancient form of prayer which, while more popular in the Christian East, is also practiced somewhat widely in the West and is commended in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 2668). Those unfamiliar with the prayer […]
Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” — Acts 3:6 Even in college, there was gym class, a fact that disappointed and angered me to no end. Since a Physical Education credit was necessary for graduation […]
You never know what God’s going to use. You can assume he’s going to use everything. A long while ago, I was out watching one of my son’s soccer games. I was standing next to a guy I’d known for a few years. I’ll call him Scott. We were talking about this or that the […]
One of the commitments I’ve made in the last year or so is that if someone asks for prayer, I write it down on a sheet of paper. I pray through that list every night during Evening Prayer. Most people, I’ll admit, don’t get a lot of individual attention unless I know that something in particular is […]
So, here’s the first thing: I’ve never felt so blessed and so utterly unimportant as I did in the moments when I was baptizing Lala. You understand in an instant, if you’re paying attention, why it is that John the Baptist is so frequently portrayed as pointing to Jesus. Really, anyone can baptize. You can […]
For the last many months, I’ve been afraid that, if I called my spiritual director, Fr. Joe, he’d be angry that I hadn’t been in touch. Boy, was I wrong. I felt so relieved when he greeted me like a long lost friend, with nothing but a sense of joy and pleasure at my arrival. […]
Mark Shiner 