When trees are bare in Winter, have you noticed how every branch is a replica of the entire tree? The poplar extends long, thin fingers. The oak stretches out sturdy wood, and the apple tree has knotty extensions of itself. It’s as though the tree begets its own shape again and again as it grows. Read more
No more New Year resolutions for me! The failure rate is too high. The only resolution I kept, was giving up smoking in 1976, and that was more about health than the dare. These days, I’m aware that our measurements of time are our way of managing incarnation on earth. We place a grid over Read more
The Hound of Heaven who drove me into the church, also led me to the right priest for instruction, dear Monsignor Tottman, who gave me the structure that was missing in my enthusiasm. While I waffled on about the spiritual experience, he smiled kindly and said. “I’m a bread and butter man, myself.” He showed Read more
The life journey on this earth, is also one of spiritual growth, and we know that tension is a requirement. Growth through the tension of opposite states, is a condition of nature. Let us think about that for a moment. At this time of the year, we see trees bursting into leaf. The smooth branch Read more
Sometimes we see life on earth as teetering between consistency and chaos; and yet really, the teachings of life are about neither. They’re about contradictions. We recognize this as paradox; but we don’t always see the tension between opposing states as being necessary for our spiritual development. I guess I’m trying to say that in Read more
While former Catholic strongholds like Boston and Philadelphia are closing churches and schools, Catholic numbers are booming in the Bible Belt states of the southern United States, a mainly Protestant area. Atlanta diocese has seen its number of registered parishioners grow from nearly 322,000 in 2002 to one million in 2012. Charleston has expanded by Read more
Pope Francis has described the Second Vatican Council as “a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit” and said “stubborn” Catholics should not resist the Spirit as it pushes the Church forward. “We want to put the Holy Spirit to sleep,” the Pontiff said. “We want to ‘tame’ the Holy Spirit. And that doesn’t work, because Read more