Reflections from Rick Lord on Leadership, Transformation, and Things That Keep Human Life Distinctively Human
Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here. [...]
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Where are you? It’s a question I’ve whispered in my heart numerous times since death robbed me of the warmth and physical presence of my father nearly two years ago. I thought of him during our slow procession through the Stations of the Cross yesterday. The impermanence of human life is one of those “hard [...]
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Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, [...]
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Abbot Hugh Gilbert says this about reading in Benedictine practice: Reading is the food of prayer. Or perhaps one can say that reading is fuel for the fire. Prayer is the flame, but you won’t have fire if you don’t have fuel. If the monk is not feeding himself with the word of God, if [...]
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Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins, offers a fresh introduction to an age-old theological debate of how to reconcile Jesus’ description of God’s incredible even incomprehensible love with the notion of God’s judging and condemning souls to eternal torment. Bell asserts that what we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes [...]
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“Realizing that you will die greatly clarifies your vision of life, and stimulates opportunities for making the vision real. To take anything for granted is to de-energize it. If you can’t feel your own miraculousness, you are missing the quintessential experience of life.” –Ed Buryn, Vagabonding in the USA (1980)
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“We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time. God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events. The only thing is we don’t see it. I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. [...]
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I love the season of Advent, and I am sympathetic with those who try to make room in their busy lives to give this short season some semblance of recognition and practice. Advent has become something of a “Cinderella” season. It gets squeezed out of contemporary life by the big sisters of commercial and social [...]
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Tomorrow, we will gather once again, with family and friends to give thanks to God for the many blessings bestowed on us at the turning of another year. We will remember the gift of freedom we enjoy in this great land. We will recognize the ways our lives have been supported and blessed by the [...]
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As the days shorten and the beautiful autumn colors begin to fade, the church reminds us of both the splendor and frailty of human life. The Feast of All Saints, which the parish I serve celebrates this weekend, has survived thousands of years for a reason and it seems to have everything to do with [...]
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