Category: Reflections
A New Covenant and a New Way of Forgiving by Ed Burns
The kind of forgiveness that Jesus brings into our lives is rooted in the belief and recognition that all creation is good, and it takes into account the fundamental worth of each person.
Reflections on Two Hundred Years of Herman Melville: Part III: Into the Vortex by Leonard Engel
The third and final installment of an in-depth look at the spiritual, metaphysical, and moral questions of Melville's masterpiece.
The Compassion of Jesus Is Our Greatness by Gene Ciarlo
How different would our relationship to Jesus, to God, and to one another be if we lived not to be saved from the clutches of evil and eternal death but to give our lives in service to one another?
Striking Rock-Hard Stubbornness to Find Refreshing Grace by Fran Salone-Pelletier
Wells are everywhere. In every desert place, for every desert person, we are oases witnessing to the Lord’s strength.
The Holy Family by Paul Nyklicek
There is no human being anywhere on this planet that isn’t our brother or sister. There is no animal or plant that isn’t a relative. The land, the water, and the air are members of the same family to which we all belong.
The Forgotten Work of Mercy by Hank Mattimore
The aim of prison ministry is not to admonish others for what they have done but to enter into relationship, provide compassion, and, above all, to listen.
Writer’s Statement: On Beauty by Wally Swist
There are times when we seem to have an overview of our lives, when we view them as a tapestry that has been woven together of apparently disparate events but which we can now see as exhibiting a pattern.
Reflections on Two Hundred Years of Herman Melville: Part II: Questing Souls at Sea by Leonard Engel
"[W]henever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."
Praying Is More Than Saying Words by Fran Salone-Pelletier
It takes a lot of living and dying before one begins to understand the depth of prayerfulness. It means allowing God to be the up-lifter of what we think and carry deep within us.
Christ the King by Fr. Ryan Lerner
The concern for the environment is about the creation that God has entrusted to us as stewards on behalf of others, on behalf of the entire human family with whom we share this world today and the unborn many who will one day live in it.
Rosary Catholics and a New Church by Hank Mattimore
Relearning to pray the rosary, one bead at a time.
We Live in a Safe Universe in Spite of Everything by Ed Burns
Jesus knew that we were—and are—capable of betrayal and abandonment and treachery and cruelty. But he opted to stay with us anyway, to the point where he was willing to endure the mystery of evil itself.
A Poem by Walker Storz
". . . I was / talking to his shadow / splayed / across the world . . ."
Two Poems by Walker Storz
"There are songs that / come from within ice, / there are long seasons / that sing to the body . . ."