Tag: forgiveness
I am both
As I monitor how I live up to my own beliefs, my many failures, starting over again and again; it is hard for me to be shocked, though I am often saddened, and yes angered by evils committed by others. For I can find excuses for my own weaknesses, often playing down the harm I… Read More ›
Thank God for Purgatory
I knew it was going to be one of those conversations. Maybe it was the way he eagerly, yet nonchalantly, edged over to the conversation as I was explaining to some teenagers on the Metro what a Dominican was. Maybe it was the subtle sort of smile that implied recognition of, not an oddity or… Read More ›
No illusions
I had the honor of visiting a prison here in Atlanta, in order to give an informal talk. Marco, both a friend and a mentor was the go between. It was through him that I had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. John Smith, who was the one who extended the invitation. I met Marco… Read More ›
Swallowed
Its all me, that is the hard learned lesson slowly coming to light, my reactions and sufferings are my own, the world I live in flows from my deep subjectivity making my desire to be objective impossible though it is not a fool’s errand to try. I am often swallowed, devoured like Jonah, the belly… Read More ›
As We Enter the Season of Lent
In this Catechesis, I would like to reflect briefly upon the season of Lent which begins today with the Ash Wednesday Liturgy. It is a 40-day journey that will bring us to the Easter Triduum — the memorial of the Lord’s Passion, death and Resurrection, the heart of the mystery of our salvation. In the first centuries… Read More ›
Psalm 49(48):1-13: In his riches, man lacks wisdom!
1. Our meditation on Psalm 49[48] will be divided into two parts, just as it is proposed on two separate occasions by the Liturgy of Vespers. We will now comment in detail on the first part in which it is hardship that inspires reflection, as in Psalm 72[71]. The just man must face “evil days”… Read More ›
God’s Holiness Makes Us Uncomfortable
There is a third human reaction to God’s holiness. It is an evil reaction; it rises from man’s contradictory nature and consists of a feeling of discomfort, irritation, and rebelliousness. A strange manifestation! One is inclined to ask how this can come about if God is the moving Spirit and essence of the universe, and… Read More ›
Stretch
Some of the most frequently said prayers of Christians are said for the collective whole, yet on the other hand we are often quick to send the vast majority of people to hell. The older I get, the less this makes sense to me and perhaps I am not alone in this, well I know… Read More ›
Our elders
They are everywhere, these very old people, each a call to meditate on our own mortality, something most would like to put off until tomorrow, yet we only have today, tomorrow does not yet exist, will never in fact, well as an idea, for there is only this day where our potential can be lived out…. Read More ›
God has forgiven you
It was said of a certain Abba Apollo of Scetis, that he had been a shepherd and was very uncouth. He had seen a pregnant woman in the field one day and being urged by the devil, he had said, ‘I should like to see how the child lies in her womb.’ So he ripped… Read More ›