A few years ago, I visited the town in Ireland where my father’s ancestors lived. The cathedral there was built in the 1950s, so it’s unlikely that any of my relatives were part of its construction. Yet, when I went in, I felt immediately rooted. It was as if I could somehow feel a bunch […]
As a preface to his declaration about the Incarnation in Philippians, St. Paul said, “The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had.” Wisdom is making peace with the unchangeable. We have the freedom to face the unavoidable with dignity, to understand the transformational value that attitude works on suffering. Viktor Frankl […]
I am a djembefola (one who plays djembe drums). I learned to play these drums (also known as talking drums) at the age of ten. An older man who lived in my neighborhood in the South Bronx had studied African drumming, and he was kind enough to hand down all that he knew about this […]
Recently I read a column in a Catholic publication that was about an important and controversial topic. Yet it was so full of invective and nasty ad hominem attacks that I had to stop reading it. The readers’ comments online were even worse. The depth of their rage and bitterness overwhelmed me. There was no […]
“Why, God? Why?” I sit at the funeral of a friend who died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Alive one day, gone the next. “Why, God? Why?” Tornadoes flatten neighborhoods in the time a speeding train passes through a station. Lives turn to rubble. “Why, God? Why?” Another day begins for an exhausted parent living […]
I maintain that God—out of the abundance of divine relational life, not any need for us—desires humans into existence for the sake of friendship. This thesis may sound strange, because it runs counter to much teaching about God. To be honest, I questioned it myself when I first began to think it through… But over […]
There are so many ways to love, and to love better. Let’s concentrate on five for today. 1. Focus on one good quality. Especially when you’re feeling critical and grumpy, ask yourself, What is one characteristic of this person that is wonderful and that I should not overlook? Focusing on a quality you appreciate can […]
In a recent dotMagis article, Eric Clayton referred to the Presupposition as the “Ignatian plus sign.” Explore that idea more deeply with Michele C. Murray, in her essay, “Suppose we all presupposed? Applying the Ignatian plus-sign in everyday life.” She writes: The Presupposition requires that we sidestep the conventions of persuasion and declaration in favor […]
