Know Rest for the Weary
“Never wake a sleeping bear!” says Aunt Margaret. “Or Aunt Grace!” pipes in then two-year old Zippy, wise beyond her years. I am not a morning person. I’ve often joked that the answer to “When does human life begin?” is…
Bumper Cars: Let Him Drive
In each of the last several years, at the beginning of Advent, God has given me a theme for the upcoming year. One year the theme was “receiving”; another was “silence.” Each has been a theme that God developed powerfully…
Not From Me But For Me
Peter began to say to Jesus, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children…
Night Vision: A Reflection on the Transfiguration
I often receive images in prayer, but that night in prayer group they were different. Usually, the images were personal—if not for me, then for someone else with me. They were usually something to encourage or inspire, or perhaps (gently)…
Love in All the Wrong Places: On Leaving Behind the “Land of Transactions”
C.S. Lewis once wrote that God “whispers in our pleasures, but shouts in our pain.” Years ago, l was living a “season of shouting”—when I was wrestling with deep spiritual longing and angst, but not yet recognizing God’s voice in…
So Close: The Breath of God
It happened so quickly that I didn’t have to time to be afraid. It was so sudden that there wasn’t even time for her Grandparents, watching from the balcony above, to cry out. We had been swimming—or more accurately, Zippy…
The Lie of Lack
The women on both sides of my family loved to play cards. My grandmother and my aunt introduced me to all sorts of fun games. Most of them I’ve forgotten, but I do remember that my favorite was War, and…
Light-Bearing Angel
Agatha Christie is best known as a writer of mysteries, particularly those featuring detectives Hercules Poirot and Miss Marple. She has been called the Queen of Crime, and was even awarded the more official title of Dame of the British…
Blessed Is She Who Believed
As a child I loved Holy Saturday. It was a day of Much Anticipation. The more sad and somber liturgies were completed, as was the long Lent and the fasting of Good Friday. Night would bring the wonderful Easter Vigil.…
Patron for the Pandemic
About six years ago I was sitting on the beach with my friend Monica when I had a startling idea. “Why is there no 24-hour adoration chapel in Manhattan?” Surely a city which hosts eight million people on any given…
