Author: Deacon Scott
-
Enter the New Year “Filled with Expectation”
•
“The people were filled with expectation.” (Lk 3:15) This is how yesterday’s gospel reading for the Sunday celebration of The Baptism of the Lord began. It seems like a foreign phrase, “filled with expectation.” If someone were to ask me, “How are you feeling?” I doubt I would respond, “I’m filled…
-
One dark night, kindled in love with yearnings
•
I like to pray outside. It’s been a challenge when the temperature has been in the twenties, and the ‘feels like’ is 14 degrees! I’ve been starting a fire. Since my feet were the only thing getting warm, it’s been my “dark night of the sole”. In all seriousness, “One…
-
Discovering A New Chapel of Ease in 2025
•
Jesus said, “When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” (Mt 6:6) I wonder. As Jesus and his disciples traveled through the Judean countryside, where were they going to find this room? It’s not a stretch to think that the inner…
-
Christmas is God’s way of saying, “Excuse me!”
•
If one ordinary child can change the community in the plane, think about how the birth of the son of God can change the human family. Christmas is our celebration of the God of the universe breaking into our world of selfishness, loneliness, sadness, and pain and saying, “Excuse me!”
-
Focus on the Now, not the Next
•
When my son was in fifth grade, I joined his class on a field trip to the Biltmore House. It’s a mansion in Asheville with over two hundred rooms. In the months before Christmas, they elaborately decorate the rooms with poinsettias, Christmas trees, ornaments, and garlands. I was assigned a…
-
Not this way or that, but something much better
•
“I have two possible job offers,” a man sprung on me as we met for spiritual direction. “One has a longer commute. The other requires more travel. Both reduce the time I can pray and spend with my wife.” As his spiritual director, neither sounded appealing to me. After a…
-
Una palabra que sólo se encuentra en el desierto
•
El evangelio dice sencillamente: “Vino la palabra de Dios en el Desierto sobre Juan”. Son palabras de gran esperanza, no solo para la gente de la época de Juan, sino también para ti y para mí. Así como la palabra de Dios vino a Juan, la palabra de Dios puede…
-
A Word Only Found in the Desert
•
“The word of God came to John in the desert.” (Lk 3:1-6) These are words of great hope, not only for the people of John’s time but also for you and me. Just as the word of God came to John, the word of God can come to Scott. The…
-
Advent: A Time to See the Incredible in the Ordinary
•
Advent is a time to lose our skepticism and see ‘incredible things’ every day.
-
How to change regular waiting into holy waiting
•
I volunteer as a case manager at a Strong Life Rescue Mission one day a week. The non-profit assists the homeless with their basic needs. One of my assignments is to help them acquire proper identification and a social security card. These are often the first steps to help a person…