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Is there room for fun in the spiritual life?
I’m spending a week away on vacation with my family – three adult children, their spouses and partners, and two grandchildren. I can’t help but focus my attention on these two boys, ages…
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Hearing God in a New Season
Last week, my wife and I traveled to Maine. Visiting Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park, and Portland had been on our bucket list for a long time. So had eating a lobster roll…
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Learning to hear the whispering sound in the noise
Homily for the 19th Sunday After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak. 1 Kings 19:13 Where do you hear the…
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A New Way to Pray When the Words Don’t Come
A New Way to Pray When Words Don’t Come Most of last week, my prayer felt like moving through fog. I showed up at the usual times, but felt nothing. I wasn’t upset…
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The slow arrival of the soul on vacation
My body arrives on vacation long before my soul does. This week, my wife and I are vacationing at Hilton Head Island. Like most vacations, our first day was filled with unpacking, grocery…
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Pouring out a thousand graces…
What do you do when the grace runs low? When my son called from Phoenix, he asked, “How was your Father’s Day?” I told him the truth: I took a long walk in…
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A New Image of the Father
A year ago, I was walking the beach at sunrise. The sky was glowing orange, the waves brushing the sand, the birds gliding overhead. Then I saw something that stayed with me: a…
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How God answers prayers in surprising ways
Some days God answers prayers in ways I would never choose. Driving to the homeless shelter recently, I prayed an unusual but heartfelt prayer: “Lord, please let there be no police officers…
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Finding God in the Liturgical Dissonance
I returned to a beautiful little church in the Blue Ridge mountains after nearly a decade away, and felt a quiet disappointment. The church itself remains as striking as I remembered—perched on a…
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When quiet fails, discover God in the noise
I planned to write last week about Saint Teresa of Ávila’s “Prayer of Quiet.” Instead, at 8:30 a.m., the Terminix truck pulled up, someone arrived to install skylights, and a crew of carpenters…
