And now Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your being, to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes that I charge…[read more]
When he was campaigning for President in 2000, George W. Bush issued a values critique of the Clinton administration by saying: “Our generation has a chance to reclaim some essential values, to show we have grown up before we grow old.” Politics aside, as a member of Bush’s generation I found myself pondering his words.…[read more]
The Xaverian Fundamental Principles remind us that the heart of discipleship, of the call of Jesus to each of us, is to recognize that all is gift. The “secret” of life, from the Christian perspective is that our very life is a gift to us, and, because it is a gift, it is given to us that we might give it away.…[read more]
Jesus declares that this woman, who knows nothing of the tradition which forms Jesus and his own self-understanding, has great faith. She is able to recognize the truth of Jesus that so many others who have been raised and formed in the same tradition as Jesus cannot begin to really grasp.…[read more]
As I video-chatted with my friend last evening, I could see that he looked as young as he had when we first met in our very early 30’s. With but the little rest he needed to restore his physical strength, he was ready to serve the possibility that he saw in so many of the young people he had spent the past weeks with, and he longed to discern how best to serve that possibility.…[read more]
Particularly as Euro-American culture has become more and more work-fixated and product and finance-oriented, much of our work lives have become more and more burdensome and debilitating. This is true not only in the secular sphere but even in the so-called religious one.…[read more]
What is our greatest obstacle to change, reformation, and transformation in both our personal and shared lives? One of the ways we navigate the mystery of life is by an arrogant presumption that we know and understand. This is most at work in us in the most familiar settings of our lives.…[read more]
And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And Moses could not come into the Tent of Meeting, for the cloud abode upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And when the cloud went up from over the Tabernacle, the Israelites would…[read more]
Over time I’ve discovered that one of the most difficult questions for us to answer is “What do you really want?” We have plenty of wants, and, like the merchant in the parable, we search the world seeking to satisfy them. The very engine of our economy runs on our having wants, and often what we even feel as needs, that we’ll pay to fulfill.…[read more]
Our formation is sourced from multiple directions. It is, perhaps, most largely influenced by our early formation situations in our families and local situations. There, the values by which we are to live are communicated to us through almost every aspect of our lives.…[read more]
And now Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your being, to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes that I charge…[read more]
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