Latest Articles
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The Now and Then of Advent
Advent is a time of waiting, Waiting can be looked at from two ends. The first is from the present end. Now. And the other is from the far end. Then. This is how Advent shows us, if we pay attention to it, how it goes with us. If we are in a good space, the…
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Last Words
Probably for 1,500 years, devout Christians have ended our days with a final prayer before falling asleep. It’s from Psalm 31, the psalm that Jesus prayed to Himself as He hung on the cross. To Himself, that is, until the last lines. Then, Jesus said out loud, as some of the disciples remembered: Jesus called out…
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Vanity and Guilt
Here’s a bit of spiritual direction that helped me fifty years ago. Once, in a saintly passion, I cried with desperate grief, “O God, my soul is black and vile; of sinners, I am chief”. Then stooped my Guardian Angel and whispered from behind: “That’s vanity, my little man, you’re nothing of the kind.” Amen…
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Give God the Glory
We say on Sundays throughout the year, “Glory to God in the highest.” And Psalm 155 famously declares: Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory (Ps.115.55). Well, how? How do we actually give God glory here and now? Here are some thoughts. First, we look into our own…
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Waiting like Jesus
Waiting is one of the most difficult thing for us to do. Even putting it that way draws an underline under difficult, because waiting is not something for us to do—it means we can do nothing just now. That’s hard. We have to wait until an infant emerges from the womb. We have to wait until…
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The First Commandment
Just now in our nation, it is difficult but important to think about how we worry about tomorrow, how we give in to feeling down, discouraged, and hopeless. Recall what we call the First Commandment I am the Lord, your God which clearly tells us that Almighty God has chosen to have an intimate relationship with…
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Easter Coming
America right now seems to be in confusion, looking down blind alleys, walking empty streets. Plenty of us find the head of our national government no help right now. What’s going on seems to be beyond their grasp. This and worse is what it was like for the eleven and the women who stayed with…
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Our Own End Time
Jesus spoke plainly. At some time in the future, the Son of Mary will come back to His earth with angels and saints in glory. When He does, He will come to judge the living and the dead. We do not know—Jesus said He didn’t, either—when that will happen. It could be tomorrow. It could…
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To All Who Are Ill
Pope Francis appeared in St. Peter’s Square today and left a message that comes from his own experience: “Illness is certainly one of the harshest and most difficult of life’s trials, when we experience in our own flesh our common human frailty. It can make us feel like the people in exile, or like the…
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It’s Not So Hard
Sometimes we have to ask: If I am living in Christ and the person I now am will go through the door of death and still be the person I am—how can I tell the difference between my life and others who are not in Christ? In one sense, it is not easy. We are…