As human beings we are primarily relational, social, beings but I hope that you also welcome and treasure time alone. And though being alone can sometimes be lonely, I hope you realize that, in God, you are never truly alone. The late Dutch psychiatrist, J. H. van den Berg, once stated: “Loneliness is the nucleus […]
It seems that the number one indicator for success in relationships is good communication. Furthermore, the number one indicator of good communication is problem-solving skills. And, taking it one step beyond, I believe that those who are the best problem-solvers are those who understand and manage their defense mechanisms or coping skills. Though it might […]
Rabbi Harold Kushner, in his recent book, Nine Essential Things I Have Learned About Life, passes along wisdom from his advanced place near the sunset of his human life. He writes: “My theology is less and less about who God is or what God does, and more and more about who we are and what […]
The Pogues, an Irish band, titled one of their albums “If I Should Fall from Grace with God” while Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar, titled one of his books Falling Upward. Both—their music and his writings—are incredibly spiritual art-forms that bring listeners and readers to deeper places within the human condition and deeper places […]
In His Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” In another version, Luke’s Gospel, in what is sometimes called The Sermon on the Plain, Jesus says: “Be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful.” Is it any wonder that Pope Francis chose his […]
I have recently been blessed with the opportunity of providing spiritual guidance to people in a beautiful facility at Saint Charles Parish in Kansas City’s northland. Though I have a degree in psychology and am fascinated by human behavior, through my years of priesthood my mind and heart shifted me to become more interested in […]
Approaching the thirtieth anniversary of my ordination, I find it to be an appropriate moment in time to reflect, confess, and recommit: reflect on God’s call, confess my response—and sometimes lack thereof, and recommit to what I’m doing. “Vocation” comes from the Latin “vocare” meaning to call. In religious vernacular, it means a way of […]
