I Didn't Want to Forgive
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Seeing Like Jesus
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We can see like Jesus by knowing him. How can we see as he does if we do not spend time with him?
Read MorePre-Order My Brian Doyle Biography!
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I am OVERJOYED to share that my biography on writer Brian Doyle is now on the Liturgical Press website for pre-order! I look forward to sharing this book with you virtually and in person as we learn to look for God in the ordinary through Brian's eyes.
Read MoreA Letter to Say ‘Thanks’ to the Workers Building Skyscrapers
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I see you bouncing up and down the hill in packs of three or four or six, with your yellow hard hats and your weighty shoes and your igloo coolers with lunches large enough to sustain a teenage athlete or a member of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery or … a construction worker.
Read MoreUwen Akpan's "Say You're One of Them"
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Each opening sentence of Uwem Akpan's short stories in his debut collection "Say You're One of Them" pull the reader into the story:
"Selling your child or nephew could be more difficult than selling other kids."
Or "Now that my eldest sister, Maisha, was 12, none of us knew how to relate to her anymore."
Each of these five short stories is told from the perspective of a child, and with the first sentence, Akpan demands your attention.
Grace at Rock Bottom
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"When a person is at rock bottom, one is humbled. He or she finds him- or herself in a place where all one can do is depend on the grace of God."
Read MoreCalled to be Holy
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I don’t want to be afraid of looking different or of being made fun of anymore.
It’s time — for our sense of community, our sense of justice, and our Church to look completely different.
Read MoreNew Substack Undaunted Joy Launched
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Joy is the present tense, with the whole emphasis on the present. -Soren Kierkegaard
Welcome to Undaunted Joy!
The world seems to suffocate joy—but joy is not an indulgence; it is a way of life! Undaunted Joy offers the gift of bliss and wonder in weekly brief but glorious prose. I’ll share an unrestrained and delightful lens to view both the ordinary and mysterious, and I hope you will seek to see the world through this lens too.
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Joy Can Follow Suffering
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Fear attached itself to our ability to experience happiness, as did a sense of guilt. Who am I to be happy when people are dying? When others are unhappy?
But who are you not to be?
Read MoreA Study of "Christ in Limbo"
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Benvenuto di Giovanni’s painting “Christ in Limbo” captures the split second before these faces realize who is standing before them. Who has come to save them.
Read MoreGuard Your Heart and Mind
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I’ve been spinning. Reacting. Getting caught up in things that are not important.
Maybe you have been too.
Read MoreCome Thou Fount of Every Blessing
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“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,/ prone to leave the God I love.”
This line from the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” rings true to me.
Read MoreWhen Your Life is in Ruins, Simple Companionship is Such a Gift
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Shemaiah’s world fell apart when her fiancée left unexpectedly. The next day, she crossed paths with a work acquaintance who had the vision to see that she was in distress. His simple gesture was enough to help her return from the margins of grief.
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Ice Cube's 'Good Day' taught me how to pray the Examen
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When Catholicism and Ice Cube meet. My reflection on an iconic song. Come for the Fatburger, stay for the memento mori and finding the sacred in the ordinary.
My first publication with National Catholic Reporter.
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Wrap Each Other in Courage
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In the New Testament, encouragement is always spoken of as a community event. We don’t need help being discouraged but we do need help being encouraged. We need each other. We cannot do it alone. It happens in community. We are to envelop, enfold, wrap each other in courage.
Read MoreRelationships and the Examen
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I’ve been lonely lately.
This time has taken a toll on my relationships. I know I am not alone. I know many are feeling this pulling and pressing on their communities and relationships.
Read my reflection for Ignatian Spirituality
Read MoreBook Review: The Defiant Middle
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Jane Goodall once said, “It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.” Author and writing professor at the University of California, Berkeley Kaya Oakes would agree and has written a new book, The Defiant Middle: How Women Claim Life’s In-Betweens to Remake the World, to tackle this very issue.
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I always come to this prayer time with auspicious expectations. I know God is going to show up. I just don’t know how. I am always surprised how he does.