At Christmastime, we celebrate an event that is so incredible, it is almost hard to grasp. What God has done is almost incomprehensible; the mystery so big and so deep that its meaning and significance is lost on us. We do sort of have an excuse, with all the frenzy of shopping, decorating, baking- all…
All posts in V3 N4 2015
Christmas Trees
There are many stories and folklore surrounding the history of Christmas trees. It is said that religious reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) while walking home from his church on Christmas Eve, paused to pray in the beauty of the winter’s moonlight. Looking skyward he was in awe of how the moonlight glistened on the snow dusted…
For the Misunderstood
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive…
The Gift of Flowers
(From the book in progress, “Where Flowers Grow” – All Rights Reserved) Being the typical active child growing up in sparsely populated Dana Point, California, I scampered through the boondocks at the end of our street at every possible moment, often ignoring any danger and seldom thinking how my actions might impact the area around…
Purgatory
Purgatory. There I’ve said it. Perhaps the most often misunderstood concept in all of Catholicism. It gets a lot of bad press. From outside the Catholic church, as well as from within. Many Catholics grew up with an image of Purgatory as a dark scary place, filled with constant screams for help and naked tortured…
The Temple Scroll and the Reign of God
The drama of the cosmic temple liturgy the purpose of which has not been understood by most Christian communities. Since temple scroll was originally was originally published in the Dead Sea Scrolls collection found in 1947. These liturgical texts often use dates and cosmic time sequences to show the action of Yahweh in His Temple…
The Shell
This empty shell sits alone in silence wondering, “Who Am I,” but discovers only silence enveloping a once symphonic presence. “Who Am I?” again surfaces, balancing moments of deep introspection with moments of complete emptiness. In the mirror stands the seeker, ever asking, “Who Am I?” but never responding – just watching and waiting for…
Faith, Light, Hope, Joy and Love
The spiritual joy that marks the Christian faith is that we are waiting for the coming of the Lord, and our entry into a life of eternal communion with God as well as our willingness to bear our share of the Christian work-load, to do our bit, in our time, to realize the goals of…
Checkpoint
This brand new year of 2015 had barely time to develop the ability to totter around, when the United States, for better or worse, woke up one morning to discover that yet again the chaos of modern Presidential electioneering was about to descend upon the population. By suggestion, I was recommended Mel White’s 1994 autobiography,…
The Book Corner
A Review of Maurice Monette’s Confessions of a Gay Married Priest. This is the time in salvation history when faith and spirituality are beginning to reign over religiosity. Our society is experiencing a renewed spiritual awakening, a kairos, not only for those groups of people who have been marginalized and ostracized by institutionalized religion, but…