Pilgrims on the Camino del Norte, Spain (Wikimedia Commons) After my first round of chemotherapy Tuesday at Southern Illinois University's Simmons Cancer Center, I was asked how it went. I think my answer surprised us both (I know it did me), and the conversation went a little bit like this. "I liked it," I blurted … Continue reading Pilgrims: Reading about a pilgrimage on Spain’s Camino de Santiago as I set out on my chemotherapy journey
Does Senator Warnock’s re-election testify to the transformative power and witness of the Black church? I think it does
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-oS1ycq9RM Segment on the 'Morning Joe' program, Dec. 7, 2022 Growing up down South in civil rights days, I was able to watch the transformative witness of the Black church in action. I watched it from a safe distance -- my home town was middle class and lily-white -- but when the high school in … Continue reading Does Senator Warnock’s re-election testify to the transformative power and witness of the Black church? I think it does
Ringing in the new (church) year on St. Andrew’s Day with the daily prayer and meditation on an Irish Jesuit website
Pietro da Cortona, 'Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew,' ca. 1626-30 (Wikimedia Commons) One of the few things I remember clearly from my confirmation classes 50-plus years ago in an Episcopal church is the date of St. Andrew's Day. Somehow it lodged in my preadolescent brain, when I wasn't wisecracking about the wives of … Continue reading Ringing in the new (church) year on St. Andrew’s Day with the daily prayer and meditation on an Irish Jesuit website
Money changers in the temple? Justice Alito’s leaks show dangers of too-cozy relationships between church, state
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN_TcmU1-k4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN_TcmU1-k4 [Roger] Williams described the true church as a magnificent garden, unsullied and pure, resonant of Eden. The world he described as “the Wilderness,” a word with personal resonance for him. Then he used for the first time a phrase he would use again, a phrase that although not commonly attributed to him has … Continue reading Money changers in the temple? Justice Alito’s leaks show dangers of too-cozy relationships between church, state
Practical ways on a Jesuit website in Ireland to ‘face into the storm’ of cancer diagnosis and treatment
Peter Paul Rubens, Miracle of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Wikimedia Commons) There's a story I really like in James Martin's Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life. An editor-at-large of America magazine who has written several New York Times best-sellers, Martin sets it up the by saying the Jesuits pride themselves on … Continue reading Practical ways on a Jesuit website in Ireland to ‘face into the storm’ of cancer diagnosis and treatment
Richard Marius: Notes & quotes
d r a f t More information on Martin Luther biographer Richard Marius, whom I knew at UT-Knoxville and mentioned in passing in my Nov. 11 post on Martin Luther's concept of the indwelling of Christ. I'm rereading his 1973 biography Luther and wrote: One of my professors at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Richard … Continue reading Richard Marius: Notes & quotes
‘I want Jesus to walk with me’
d r a f t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL7rLD1H3g0 Sharon Irving and Anders Nordstrom of Pocket Radio (www.fb.com/PocketRadioChicago) xxx The singer According to the About Page on her website, Sharon Irving of Chicago is a singer-songwriter, actress, worship leader and self-described "Spreader of Holy Mischief." The song The Hymnary.org website says it is an African-American spiritual in the … Continue reading ‘I want Jesus to walk with me’
How a young adult novelist and a punk rocker-turned Orthodox rabbi guide my prayer life lately: ‘Are you there God, it’s me … (and help me get out of this foxhole)!’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7iqdBBYl40 Jim Martin, SJ, editor-in-chief, America, explains centering prayer. Editor's note. Short takes on the twists and turns in my spiritual life since I was diagnosed with bladder cancer Oct. 25. I had pretty much expected the diagnosis since the tumor was removed Oct. 17, but it still threw me for a loop. So in … Continue reading How a young adult novelist and a punk rocker-turned Orthodox rabbi guide my prayer life lately: ‘Are you there God, it’s me … (and help me get out of this foxhole)!’
What’s the right way to do centering prayer? ‘Pray as you can’: A stripped-down Trappist spiritual practice for today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IKpFHfNdnE Editor's note (Oct. 17). I started this a couple of days before I had a tumor removed from my bladder. But I ran out of time, and I was in no mood last night to stay up late journaling before a 5:30 a.m. check-in time today. The procedure went off as scheduled; I'm home … Continue reading What’s the right way to do centering prayer? ‘Pray as you can’: A stripped-down Trappist spiritual practice for today
My soul doth magnify my Anglican/ Lutheran heritage: Growing up with the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNYxujthUA Festival of Lessons and Carols, St. John's Episcopal Church, Ithaca N.Y., Dec. 23, 2018 Maybe it's serendipity. Or maybe it's because God has a wry sense of humor. But I've spent the past week reconnecting with the Anglican tradition in which I grew up. Not because of any discernment or intention on my part, … Continue reading My soul doth magnify my Anglican/ Lutheran heritage: Growing up with the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ordinary Time 