Category: Reflections
The Gift of Advent: To Build the Peaceable Kingdom by Dorothy Yeomans
In Advent we refocus: Here we are once again, Lord, to renew our covenant commitment with you and to ask you to use us in accordance with your will. We want only to bring your love and mercy to those most in need of your redeeming embrace.
The Depths of Nonduality by Ed Burns
From the Christian point of view, authentic married life has a salvific character based on the bedrock biblical teaching that we are not created for isolation but for relatedness and communion with each other.
Hope in the Midst of Near Chaos by Gene Ciarlo
Spiritual life, by my definition, is the best in humanity pushed and honed to perfection, to fine points that penetrate the hardest hearts, the deepest sorrow, and the densest mindsets to touch finally at the core of what makes us human.
Hope Lies in Seeing Clearly by Fran Salone-Pelletier
Slowly, over the years, the song has become more than a hummed tune. It is now a call and command to receive and accept clearer vision.
The Month of the Holy Souls by Jane M. Bailey
In thinking about the saints, we can’t help but wonder how we stack up. That wonder just might help us to become more loving and trusting human beings.
On Presence: The Commonplace We Can No Longer Remember by Wally Swist
By sheer application of being conscious in the moment, we defy the odds and realize our birthright, which is the experience of finding the numinous in the commonplace.
Songs in the Key of Life by Fran Salone-Pelletier
Silence reigns while a bumper-sticker mentality speaks loudly and persistently. Is there an alternate path to take? Might there be a way to honor life without entombing it?
Flesh of My Flesh and Bone of My Bone by Ed Burns
We are flesh of each other’s flesh and bones of each other’s bones. If we fail to recognize and act upon this truth of Genesis, we risk jeopardizing our very existence as human beings.
The Signs of the Times by Gene Ciarlo
Right and wrong, good and evil do not undergo radical changes as the centuries advance; they undergo circumstantial and time-honed changes. In every aspect of life, we have had to adjust to the way society is developing and its changing values.
Offer It Up by Nancy Enright
Wearing a mask is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and difficult. It can also be a form of sacrifice, a way of "offering up" to God.
Awakening to God at the Beach by Fran Salone-Pelletier
As I walk, I mimic the cry of the gulls, the hasty pace of the sanderlings, the egrets’ mincing walk, the crabs’ sideways crawl. I find joy in the obvious diversity. I crane my neck to see pelicans glide with prehistoric grace across the tops of the waves.
Constantly Renewed Gifts: On Inner Prayer by Wally Swist
Especially in times of stress and even those stretches of chaos, through lean times and during periods of dread, I and those around me have benefitted by my practice of inner prayer.
Violence and Contemplation by Ed Burns
Genuine faith will help us to get at the root of the things that we struggle with and wonder about in our daily lives, including matters such as violence.
Gifts in the Midst of Chaos by Anne Kerrigan
When I realized I was alive, it took time to process what had happened. The story of Lazarus became my story. The image of Lazarus stumbling forth out of the grave while shedding his burial cloths became my own image.