Archive for November 2019

If five persons gather during a grief support session, how many persons are sitting around the table? I have the privilege of leading grief support groups for nine weekly sessions. On the last day participants seem reluctant to leave. They feel it had been good to be together in a circle of acceptance and understanding.…

I’ve heard retired persons say that when they wake up, they wonder what day it is. They’ve lost the Monday through Friday routine when it makes a great deal of difference whether the coffee maker is plugged in and the trash sits on the curb. Each day of the seven-day week is significant and as…

Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, said, “We do not have to be saviours of the world! We are simply human beings, enfolded in weakness and in hope, called together to change our world one heart at a time.” As church attendance shrinks, there is something we can do: invite one person at a time.…

While I put effort into staying focused on the Mass, the effort escapes into a menagerie of thoughts: solving problems, outlining my day, and smiling at the baby in the next pew, Realizing I have no attention on the Mystery before me, I focus again only to become distracted the next second. Etty Hillesum claims…

Imagine driving between two walls of fire, almost impenetrable smoke hiding the road whose destination is far from certain. Engulfed in fear and impending disaster, how does one function? Watching the California fires and hearing of their ferocity, I think of these persons whose terror is beyond my imagining. Henri Nouwen writes, “As we feel…

Parker J. Palmer wrote: “The marvelous thing about learning from a story is that a story never ends, so our learning from it need not end either.”  Whether the story’s last line is “And they lived happily ever after” or the main character rides off into the sunset, stories live on inside me. No day…