From the category archives:
Over the weekend, I went to Petsmart and brought home a new betta, in part because the betta that survived last month’s move from Princeton to Baltimore seemed lonely. I know I’m not making this up because he has been building big bubble nests, much bigger than the bubble nests he built right after the [...]
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I was driving to the grocery store the other day when the public radio network offered a story about motorcycle gangs, their initiation rituals, crimes and other things that make my safety-conscious self recoil. I listened with one ear as I parked my car. As I walked into the lobby of the grocery store, I [...]
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Moving right along. Where was I? The 5:30 PM liturgy on Friday. I had finally settled down in a back pew when an usher’s tap on my shoulder launched me into full-bodied Uh-oh Mode. What did I do? What didn’t I do? I’m convinced this reaction is the result of having watched “The Trouble With [...]
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Just when I’m almost certain that church-the-building is one of the last places I’ll encounter God’s grace, I receive evidence to the contrary. Being a mystic* type, I’m okay with having my assumptions about church and faith challenged empirically. This is what happened when I got into gear for the 5:30 PM liturgy on Friday. [...]
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God doesn’t move, we do. I’ve heard this aphorism for years and am currently experiencing this bit of wisdom big time. God doesn’t move, but I did — and I mean this quite literally. Was it just last week or the previous one that movers arrived to load and transport all my stuff? I can’t [...]
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The notion that the spiritual life is a journey is so common that it’s a platitude. I’ve worked for years in Catholic publishing. I’ve seen dozens of book covers depicting paths: rugged paths in the forest, manicured paths in lovely parks, paths over bridges, paths up mountains, paths across the desert. But the cliche isn’t [...]
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A while ago I decided to stop trying to make big changes. They were too hard. I thought I’d concentrate on making small changes, but much of the time this was even harder. The big changes were things like writing a novel, learning how to play the piano and design web pages, become a master [...]
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In the US on Sunday, we will celebrate Mother’s Day. I have been thinking of my mother a lot lately, maybe because this is only my second Mother’s Day without her. Her long battle with Alzheimer’s had a terrible beauty to it, her fight for reality and her letting go and trusting. Sometimes I wish [...]
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My parish did something different with the foot washing ceremony last Holy Thursday. Instead of the priest washing the feet of twelve parishioners (often twelve men), everyone in the congregation had their feet washed and washed others’ feet. You sat down at the basin and had your feet washed. Then you put your socks and [...]
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This Lent, says Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, take the time to “bother.” He points out that the people who angered Jesus were people like the two guys who ignored the wounded man in the parable of the Good Samaritan. These are people who didn’t bother to love. He goes on: So this Lent, instead of [...]
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