Am I the only one who gets ever-so-slightly OCD over string lights this time of year?
THE TRAGICOMEDY OF THE CROSS
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.
A USELESS BIT OF BROKEN POTTERY
It’s a good in and of itself to commit, for however few minutes a day, to learning something new.
STANDING STILL
“So, could you not watch with me for one hour?” asked Christ of Peter in the Garden at Gethsemane. It’s one of the most poignant lines in the Gospels.
OUT EAST, BACK WEST
So I tracked the guy down outside, hobbling on my injured leg, and literally brayed, “Do you have a COFFEE MAKER!!??” And when he said No, I brayed even louder, “Well then, do you have a CONE????” LIterally like a crazed banshee. Like I even wanted or needed coffee right that minute, or obviously, ever.