Pixabay.com The other day a car in front of me paused at a red light and I was suddenly angered to see the large sign on the hatchback window.  It read: “My loving family” (in lovely cursive calligraphy) and above the words were decals of two AR-15 rifles, one shot gun rifle and three handguns.  I... Continue Reading →

Ah summer!  My favorite season for exploring and embracing the thrill of wild growth near us and secret caverns built by trees bent with the ache of age and rocks haphazardly piled in sundry patterns resembling lintels and frameworks of inviting doorways.  Nearby, a frivolous creek, which feeds the Cuyahoga River leading to Lake Erie, slows down... Continue Reading →

Photo: Pixabay.com Lately I have been wondering why I find it difficult to focus on my contemplative prayer.  This is the prayer of simply being in the presence of God.  Usually I include mindful meditation, the technique of breathing deeply and asking the Spirit to make Itself known to me and I’m off to the... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com I seem unable to avoid thinking on the tragedy of Uvalde.  If I close my eyes, I can picture the children and teachers as they are terrorized.  I hear the screaming both inside the building and outside, children and parents sending primal screams into the universe begging, like the Greeks in classical literature, for mercy from... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com “The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control.”  Epictetus, Greek philosopher. “We can do this,” says Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and chief scientist for the... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com This is not the blog I intended to write in anticipation of Memorial Day, the day we honor the fallen of our wars who gave “the last full measure of devotion,” the day that springs summer into full swing, the day of memory. I could not write a serene reflection laced with joy and... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com Sometimes we can get depressed and overwhelmed with the disgust and evil surrounding us crackling our soul’s atmosphere like tremors of an advancing earthquake.  We fear what will happen next.  Who will be victimized?  Who will face unexpected terror?  I thought of this while listening to the news of the shooting in Buffalo, which... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com I get it. The way our world is spinning with chaos, division, hatred, and distrust we might wonder where God is. When you are confronted with the vacuum of nothingness which was once filled with a loving relationship, you question the existence of the God of love. Scott Hershowitz, professor of philosophy and law... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com First communion in the Catholic tradition is an event in which little seven-year olds get to receive the consecrated host for the first time. They have had several months of education bringing them to this moment where they learn that Jesus is truly coming to them in what adults call, ‘the Real Presence’, the... Continue Reading →

Pixabay.com A few years ago I made a retreat on the spirituality of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the brilliant Jesuit paleontologist whose work originally was censored by the Vatican for its progressive theme of the connection between science and theology. De Chardin wisely asked his secretary to hide his unpublished writings until after his death... Continue Reading →