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Monday, December 24, 2018

Going to Midnight Mass?

And then this at Christmas time:
More than 500 priests accused of sexual abuse . . . public list of Chicago-area priests with credible allegation of abuse to grow . . .
Chicago Tribune

Monday, December 10, 2018

Lost Here ~

In the search for God one is always alone. And we hardly know who we are looking for, or where to look.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Laudation ~


Hail, Stalwart Souls who stand up against the Powers That Be to stop it from eating into the fabric of our lives.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Thursday, November 08, 2018

From Whence Cometh Our Strength? ~

What disturbs the monk is the fact that it is the Church People who lend such massive support.

Thursday, November 01, 2018

Memories ~

All the mistakes you made in your lifetime come back, with clarity, to haunt you.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Monday, October 01, 2018

Daylight Savings Time Debate ~

We can turn back the clocks, but we can't stop the months from coming on . . . October, November . . .

Sunday, September 30, 2018

An Autumn Morning ~

This morning at 7:30 there was a congregation of birds on the highest branches of the trees looking out over the hill to catch the magnificent red sunrise.

Sunday, September 02, 2018

Sacred Spaces ~

As a child I had my holy places where it was quiet and filled with meaning: the church on McKean Street, the Capuchin monastery not far from town . . . It was the feeling of being enveloped in a mysterious, meaningful space.

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Notes of a Young Seminarian ~ 1947

12
You said things to us in silence
that fell into deep furrows
of understanding.
So changed were we
that only on reading
about Francis
did we begin to fathom
what had happened to us.


Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Notes of a Young Seminarian ~ 1947

13
You said things to us
in silence
that fell into deep furrows
of understanding.
So changed were we
that only on reading
about Francis
did we begin to fathom
what had happened to us

 

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Thomas Merton ~


This is the church at the Abbey of Gethsemani that Thomas Merton knew when he entered the monastery in 1941. 

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Notes of a Young Seminarian ~ 1947


39
Who ever counted 
our myriad passages
through silent confines
of corridors and halls
in ordered rhythmic traffic
on porous yellow tiles?

Sunday, July 01, 2018

                                                   

45
And all during those years
minutes were being measured
diligently
by the onlooking clock
in low swinging arcs
there on that wall
where all our corridors met.


Thursday, June 28, 2018

Weighty Distractions ~

American monks cannot keep their thoughts on things spiritual nowadays because their minds are distracted by the plaguing question so many are asking: What kind of a country are we becoming?

Tuesday, June 05, 2018

Notes of a Young Seminarian ~ 1947


85
We had all the order
of the Parthenon
within those walls,
for You hewed
into our dimensions
the pillars
of Your presence.
How could we have ever seen
that our poor yellow bricks
were crumbling?

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Words Written on a Dilapidated House ~

Yipee! Wir sind am Ziel unserer Träume.
Translation:
Yipee! We have reached the goal of our dreams.

Monday, March 26, 2018

Reacting ~

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students in Parkland.
We thank you.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Cardinal Karl Lehmann ~ Bishop of Mainz, Germany

† March 11, 2017
In an interview with SWRadio this extraordinary, fearless bishop stated that when all is said and done he would believe neither in the Church nor in Christianity, but in God alone. For God will always exist -- the Church, on the other hand, perhaps not.

Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Revving Up~

When will he be advocating that pastors and priests start toting a pistol?

Monday, February 05, 2018

A Measure of Power ~

. . . and none of the players kneeled or remained on the bench during the National Anthem at the Super Bowl . . .

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Winter Morning at Sunrise ~

I look out over the wide field covered with snow and imagine it will one day be green with grass, or brown with wheat swaying in the breeze. Ah--I must be dreaming.

Friday, January 12, 2018

A Measure of Power ~

. . . when in the presence of six senators he could say "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" . . . and no one reacts.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

They All Do It ~

Here in Germany the Volkswagen bosses are breathing a sigh of relief and gleefully clapping their hands on hearing that Ford USA has been caught cheating with diesel emissions.