Somewhere between fifteen and twenty years ago I was praying to God, or I was having a conversation with myself, or rather I can’t say exactly what I was doing as the whole ordeal was a bit confusing, and yet a bit of enlightenment came in the midst of the chaos. The conversation arose out […]

Generally speaking, disorder in your environment is an expression of disorder in your soul. On the other hand, order in your environment can be a cover for the disorder of your soul. Furthermore, disorder in your environment can be an indication that you are bringing order to your soul. As far as me personally, my […]

A few years ago I spent a semester reading the works of T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, and Robert Frost. Of all that I enjoyed that semester, I was most deeply touched by Eliot’s “Ash Wednesday.” It must be that his neurosis and mine are very similar. What I particularly like about “Ash Wednesday” is Eliot’s […]

An angel comes to Mary and announces that she is favored of God, because she has been chosen to bear the messiah, to be the medium through which the Son of God would become one of us. Mary deserves honor, but she won’t get it, at least not immediately, and not among her own, because […]

I am sitting in my office, and I hear the heater, and I feel stress: to wrap up this semester, to plan and prepare for the new history class I will be teaching, to keep up with my reading of scriptures, of trying to be a good husband, of trying to be a good dad, […]

Last week I started a program of which the title, “Through The Bible In 90 Days,” says it all. Yes, it is a bit daunting as it requires a little more than half an hour of reading a day, and some of the books of the Bible are less than gripping. On the other hand, […]

I just finished watching a couple of short videos about Thomas Merton, and it stirred this recurring conviction about my need to meditate, my need to seek solitude and become a contemplative. This is something I have been attracted to my entire adult life, but I have not done much about it because of fear. […]

Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon […]

Currently, I am seeing that God freely gives, and that none of what he gives is in the least contingent upon who we are or what we do. I am also seeing that what God most earnestly desires to give is his very own life. However, I also see that we cannot receive what he […]

I feel driven to do things to validate my existence, as if my accomplishments will establish my identity and self worth. As a result I find myself subject to the many voices in our culture that compete for space in my head and a place in my heart. I feel this drive so deeply at […]