If we harm someone intentionally, we need to ask that person for forgiveness. But in trying to clear up harms and possible harms, we often find ourselves powerless. Sometimes, I give advice that I think will be quite fruitful, only to realize at 3:00 in the morning that I might have really blown it. At […]
Make good come out of whatever harm I might have caused Read More »
When I was in the novitiate, I slipped into the habit of not quite believing that God had forgiven me for my sins. I had a sneaking hunch that He was saying, “I wish I could forgive you, but you have far to go before you are perfect enough to be forgiven.” This was the
Lord, I accept your forgiveness… Read More »
That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by
“Good evening,” said the little prince courteously. “Good evening,” said the snake. “What planet is this on which I have come down?” asked the little prince. “This is the Earth; this is Africa,” the snake answered. “Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth?” “This is the desert. There are no people in the
it is also lonely among men … Read More »
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid. —T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Christopher Hitchens writes about the loss of his voice in his continuing journey with esophageal cancer … “In
hitchens loses his (physical) voice … Read More »
… how nourishing it can be to sit with a person in their 80s and listen to the stories of their life. What’s refreshing about a person of this age is that pride and vanity have largely fallen away from their faces and they gaze on the world in a less defensive, more open, more childlike way.
honoring & following … the elderly … Read More »
The play ‘Wit’ will be performed today and this weekend at Bethel College. “Unless we are prepared to deal with these issues of dignity and forgiveness in our own lives, we will not be able to deal with issues of dignity and forgiveness in the lives of those we serve. We share Vivian Bearing’s [the
Wit … and forgiveness … Read More »
In the Middle Ages, the figure of the sick man identifies the poor, the outcast and the man in need. Disease is the feature of a particular social class and therapy coincides with assistance to the poor, and with the charitable care of poverty. Poverty itself is defined “morborum genitrix (the mother of diseases)” and the sick man is
One who truly discovers and lives the experience of powerlessness and solitude does not remain alone. Only one who has experienced powerlessness to its depths,and hence personal solitude, feels close to others and is easily drawn to them. Like someone lost, without shelter in a storm, he or she feels his or her cry at
only one who discovers & lives their need … Read More »
… Benedict XVI in a recent television interview answers a mother’s question about the state of her comatose son’s soul … … Certainly his soul is still present in his body. The situation, perhaps, is like that of a guitar whose strings have been broken and therefore can no longer play. The instrument of the
