Things look dark for the poet John Donne. The year is 1623, and he's on his deathbed with a fever. Like a good poet, he uses the opportunity of his own demise as material for his writing – writers are strange people – in a poem called, "Hymn to God, my God, in my sickness."…
The problem with being a “pretty good person”
During Lent, the Church strips away all the extras. The organ plays a little bit less. The chant is more simple. The flowers in the sanctuary disappear. Even our Gospel reading this morning is lean and spare – three sentences. Each sentence is propelled forward by active verbs – The Spirit drove Our Lord to…
Go to the limits of your longing
In 1905, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke publishes The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God. He's a young man in his mid-20s and has recently visited Russia, where he met Leo Tolstoy and learned about monasticism, how it is that monks live and pray. Their prayers come from the ancient Book of Hours, also…
The tragedy of physical and spiritual isolation
Growing up, I was homeschooled along with my two brothers. Almost a full ten percent of children are now homeschooled but back in the 1980s it was a fringe group. This is why I am the way I am. I blame my parents. I ended up attending a public high school and was totally unprepared…
The mystery of St. Peter’s Mother-in-law
Our reading from Job brings out all my existential angst, so I'm going to leave it alone...you all don't need to hear me go on and on (again) like Monty Python on the meaning of life. I thought it might be more fun to focus on the greatest gift that God has given to us,…
