“Fear Not!”
(3/16/23) [“(M)ay no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that,...
Monthly Archive: June 2023
Transition Prep
(3/4/23) O Lover, In recent months my wife and I, now co-residents of octogenaria, have been responding to our parish’s invitation to submit written guidance for our respective funeral Masses. Amid this rich dialogical...
The Decisive Turn
(2/22/23) [“And I fear God no more; I go forward to wander forever / in a wilderness made of His infinite mercy alone” (Jessica Powers, OCDS, SPJP, 1).] O Lover, Over the years I...
Petitions for a “Lost One”
(2/9/23) [“Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide. We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have...
“Hymn to the Creator of Light”
(1/25/23) O Lover, On the overcast and sleeting 3rd Sunday of ordinary time, “in the bleak mid-winter,” I was preparing myself for Mass as I do weekly by listening to the “Sing for Joy”...
Magi as Models
(1/8/23) O Lover, We recently celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, the self-manifestation (“showcasing”) of Your Euangélion (“Good News”) to all the nations. The gospel reading was from Matthew (2:1-12) tracing the trek of...
Synesthesia as Sacrament?
O Lover, Recently I have been becoming aware of another of Your startling and exquisite gifts: synesthesia (syn[“together”] + esthésia [“perception”]). Synesthetes experience one or more of the senses through eitheryet another sense and/or...
Music as Muse
(12/17/22) O Lover, In mid-Advent my wife and I attended a concert in the Basilica of Your Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame featuring faculty and graduate students in...
Of Carols & Capaciousness
(12/17/22) [“And all flesh shall see it together” (from Handel’s “And the Glory of the Lord,” Messiah [Is 40:5]).] O Lover, Having finally arrived in Christmastide, I acknowledge yet again how profoundly paradoxical is...
Kintsugi & Advent
(12/11/22) O Lover, Within forty-eight hours last week I had my first and second encounters with the Japanese art of kintsugi: the repair of damaged pottery via the application of gold lacquer to the...