I am Lazarus, come from the dead
What are you doing for Lent?
The Second Temptation
Breaking the God Box
The Grace of God Has Appeared
Feast Days
Do You Love Me?
Dust that Sings
I was sitting, or kneeling, during an Ash Wednesday service. The congregants of the church recited a prayer of confession–in unison, we professed our impurities, our shortcomings, our evil desires. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart,” our voices sang. And as my joints began to ache and my arms tingled from lost circulation induced by holding prayer hands for too long, I thought–Should I be feeling mournful right now?
Surpassing Understanding
In higher education circles, intellect and reason are seen as the primary approaches to understanding. Yet, in glorifying our ability to reason and reach some perceived understanding, we may diminish the important role of faith in our lives and fall prey to hubris.
Going Analog
The History of Lent
The Lord wants to know us. He wants to bless us. However, He will not settle for a distant transactional relationship. I believe that sometimes He allows hardships to draw us back to Himself. He knows that what we truly long for is His love.
I give a little, it means nothing
Image: St. Francis of Assisi
The Fatal Flaw and the King of the Hill
If there is such a thing as a fatal flaw, it is not the loud crack that splits a life in two. It is the quiet insistence that one’s limits are mistakes rather than instructions. The belief that pressure alone can justify itself. That desire, if sincere enough, deserves exemption from proportion.
Waiting
But a creeping feeling begins to pervade. It’s a feeling characterized by a painful revelation that something inside you is broken, and you can’t do anything at all to fix it. You can certainly act in accordance with the goal of healing: physical therapy or dieting might help the cause in small ways, but it will not reconstruct an ACL or kill fast-replicating cancer cells. You need a surgeon.
Image: “Christ the Healer,” Resurrection Catholic Parish
That’s It, I’m Going Fishing!
What distinguishes fishing from other sports and outdoor recreation is the practice of slowness that mirrors living. The real art of the movements, the instruments, and the disposition of the fisherman or fisherwoman allows it to offer keen reflections on the good life. And there are few greater philosophers of the good life than Hank Hill.
Patterns, His Language
For Peter, it was the sea. For me, it was a special retreat center. Perhaps for you it is your room at home, a small chapel on your campus, or the outdoors. Maybe it is the very fact we are once again journeying through the Lenten season. A piece of art, a certain phrase, a particular style of architecture, a song, the sunset—whatever those patterns are for you, remember God in them.