Love and Loss

When Paul had finished speaking he knelt down and prayed with them all.  They were all weeping loudly as they threw their arms around him and kissed him, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would  never see his face again.  Then they escorted him to the ship. Acts 20: 36-38[read more]

Contemplation and Action

The Lord, your God, is in your midst, / a mighty savior; / He will rejoice over you with gladness, / and renew you in his love, / He will sing joyfully because of you, / as one sings at festivals. Zephaniah 3: 17-18 Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste[read more]

A Shared Inheritance

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.  He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.  He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to[read more]

Becoming Responsible

And when the Spirit comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation; sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. John 15: 8-11 Those[read more]

The Spirit of Truth

“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.  And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15: 26-27 Adrian van Kaam would say that “we are tradition through and through.”  By[read more]

Prosaic Contemplation

The past few nights I have been reading the concluding chapters of Roger Lipsey’s biography of Dag Hammarskjold. These chapters deal with the very complicated role of the United Nations, and so of Hammarskjold himself, in the struggle for independence of the Congo. In the course of that most difficult time in Hammarskjold’s life and work, a work that would ultimately cost him his life, he gave a brief statement on the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights.[read more]

Being Pruned by the Word

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.  He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.  You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.  Remain in me, as I remain[read more]

Leadership and Accountability

In the current issue of The Atlantic, the cover story is by James Carroll who boldly asserts that the only future for the Roman Catholic Church is the abolishing of the priesthood. In this he echoes an argument made several years ago by the historian Garry Wills in his book Why Priests. While he would, probably not come to the same conclusions, Pope Francis himself has stated that clericalism is the foundational cause of what we call today the sexual abuse crisis in the Church.[read more]

Enjoy Your Life

The above words of Paul are evoked by the attempt of the people of Lystra, after a man crippled from birth has been healed by the words of Paul and Barnabas, to worship them as gods. "They called Barnabas ‘Zeus’ and Paul ‘Hermes’." Immediately Paul attempts to return them to what is, “rains from heaven and fruitful seasons.” The “living God,” says Paul, is the one “who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.” In today’s gospel, Jesus teaches likewise: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we[read more]