Interestingly, I’m always way more comfortable writing for free than for money. For whatever that’s worth, which is maybe nothing.
EXISTENTIAL CRISES
HALLOW: A PRAYER APP(!)
Here’s the fun part: depending on the content, for the voice you can choose Francis (Deliberate and Calm), Abby (Casual and Warm), or Jonathan (Heartfelt and Engaging) Roumie, who actually played Jesus in the TV series “The Chosen.”
To me, they all sound like vaguely sedated bots. But let’s face it, a “personality” is the last thing you want in a prayer companion.
THE SAINT WITH THE ASH BLOND WIG
The day of my appointment, I found a seat and looked around at the ten or so others, perched stiffly on the edges of their chairs. “They know what it’s like to lie staring at the ceiling all night;” I thought; “they could die, too.”
YOU WHO ARE THIRSTY, COME TO THE WATER
Every so often, I get a definite, very clear feeling that Jesus likes having me around. He likes going places with me. He likes the way we travel together.
CRUCIFY HIM!
Interestingly, the scapegoat had to be internally robust and strong, in order to be worthy to bear, or capable of bearing, the collective shadow. So often it’s the family “empath”—the most sensitive, giving and spiritually evolved; the most “different” in some way—who is scapegoated.
EVERYONE’S WAY OF THE CROSS
I once prayed the Stations at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on a shaded allée leading down to the ocean, got bitten by a tick, and contracted Lyme Disease.
THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT
And he kneels before the whole complicated mess, saves her from being stoned to death, and gives her the blueprint for new life.
CARYLL HOUSELANDER’S GUILT
The book contains passages on the mental suffering, among others, of serial killer Peter Kürten (“The Monster of Düsseldorf”), Hans Christian Andersen, the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
THE ROOTS OF LIFE
It’s kind of been all Thérèse of Lisieux, all the time, these past couple of weeks. I just finished re-reading The Hidden Face by Ida Friederike Görres: HIGHLY recommended. She starts out by saying basically: Who has ever first read The Story of a Soul (Thérèse’s autobiography) and not been deeply disappointed? “To be sure,” […]
THE SPRING IS NOT FOR ME
Bernadette wants nothing more than to take a job as a housemaid and live in anonymity. “Can you imagine yourself as a nun some day?” the kindly Father Peyramale inquires. “Dear God, no,” she replies. “That’s far above me.”
BUT BEAUTIFUL: ALTO SAXOPHONIST ART PEPPER
How did someone who seemed so seemingly morally weak and narcissistically disordered produce such sublime music?
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION
Speaking about prayer, I asked John Eudes a question that seemed very basic and a little naïve: ‘When I pray, to whom do I pray? When I say ‘Lord,’ what do I mean?’ ”
THE TASSEL OF HIS CLOAK
Here’s a little something to listen to if you’ve a mind: a February 5, 2022 “Almost Good Catholics” podcast with Krzysztof (Chris) Odyniec and I entitled “Divine Intoxication.”
LET’S NOT DIE UNTIL WE DIE
True activism, true resistance, consists precisely in an insistence upon life: a yes to life—for the benefit of every person on earth—that, like Mary’s yes, plunges us into the perilous but exhilarating unknown.