I put everything that interests me to use, one way or the other: martyrs, cults, women’s tennis, Scottish otter keepers, heroin-addicted jazz singers, cloistered nuns, serial murderers.
THE TRAGICOMEDY OF THE CROSS
WASTEBASKET NOT, WANT NOT
Still, there was the matter of the old trash can, which technically still had quite a bit of life in it.
THE LAST HOUR
I think many stop short at the brokenness, fallenness and failure of the Church (and how could it be otherwise, as the Church is comprised of us?) to live out the Gospel message. But I don’t see how anyone could go to Christ–to his heart, his life, teachings, death; the parables with their inexhaustible levels of meaning, and fail to be electrified.
SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN
Am I the only one who gets ever-so-slightly OCD over string lights this time of year?
THE MODERN CONSCIOUSNESS
“I think that the Church is the only thing that is going to make this horrible world we are coming to endurable; the only thing that makes the Church endurable is that somehow she is the body of Christ and that on this we are fed.”
–Flannery O’Connor
THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER
Well that’s good news, because left to my own devices, I can work up zero love for the vast number of people who annoy, frighten or perplex me. But we have to bring our body, one way or another, to this supernatural kind of love.
THE GUARDIANS OF MY DESK
Christ had a soft spot for people who stepped out from the crowd: the one leper out of ten who said thank you, the blind man who cried “Have pity on me!”, Zacchaeus in his sycamore tree.
NOODLE UP!
The massage guy, Viktor, I’ll call him, was nice enough. His studio rocked the usual dim lighting (provided by a row of plug-in “candles”), tuneless faux-sitar Muzak, and a chemical floral-musk scent.
All typical, and so far so good. He asked what I wanted and I laughed, “Can you just fix my entire being?”
WHERE, LORD?
“Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding male together; one will be taken, the other left.” The said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures gather.”
GOD’S SENSE OF HUMOR
I doubled over laughing at this, my favorite passage. Because at the end of the day, this is kind of how it goes. We never know whether we’re “progressing” or whether we’ve been treading water for decades. Lately, I find I don’t much care. Whatever is happening, I’m alive, observant, and grateful.
HONEST AND DISHONEST WEALTH
“Most people put every ounce of effort into getting ahead or making more money. Some people use great intelligence in deceiving others and taking advantage of people. But what if we used our intelligence and effort to do everything possible to become holy and to help our neighbor?”
WE FALL DOWN AND WE GET UP
A Desert Father was once asked: What do monks do all day?
The monk answered: “We fall down and we get up. We fall and we get up”…
A KITCHEN GUEST
I thought I would have a heart attack and emitted a shriek just like in the movies. The head disappeared and I went to bed with a blanket stuffed around my bedroom door in case the thing crept up on me in the night and tried to eat me.