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A Good Waiter is Hard to Find

6/8/2021

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Theologian James Alison
How often do you come across a theologian who is as funny and mischievous as he is smart? I’m no scholar, but I know a good thinker when I see one, and the first time I read a sample section of James Alison’s catechetical course online I laughed out loud, and then I immediately read it again—twice. His analogy of the Church as a restaurant is so perfect, so true, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. More...
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A Four-minute Experiment

7/13/2016

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I’ve been traveling recently, from Canada to Paraguay and places in between. Meeting people from different countries and circumstances, I am struck by how quickly we humans connect if we willingly give each other our full attention, even if we do not share a common language....Later, I chanced upon this short video from the Polish chapter of Amnesty International: "Look Beyond Borders."​ Read more...

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If Trees Could Talk

4/13/2016

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German forester Peter Wohllenben
Every once in a while, I chance upon a person, place or idea that jolts me and shifts my world on its axis. That’s how I felt recently when I stumbled upon a newspaper review of the German book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate. The book’s author, 52-year-old forester Peter Wohllenben, describes his personal and professional relationship with trees and the transformations they’ve wrought in his life. I hasten to add that we’re not talking about easy transformations or storybook endings here. This is a man who has been ridiculed and misunderstood, who quit his longtime job as a civil servant in order to put his ecological ideals into practice (not knowing how he’d provide for his family), and who suffered panic attacks and depression—all thanks to his love affair with trees. More here...
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Please, don't rush to Cuba just yet

3/31/2016

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Reading this article by Frances Robles in the New York Times about Americans rushing to Cuba, I’m reminded of a heartbreaking moment when I returned to Cuba nearly fifty years after immigrating to the U.S.

My government-approved trip began with a few nights' stay at the iconic Habana Libre hotel. At breakfast the first morning, I poured myself a cup of coffee but could not find milk on the buffet table or anywhere in the grand dining hall. I eventually realized a single waitress was making the rounds, pouring milk from a pitcher for guests who requested it. When she reached my table, I held out my cup. She smiled and poured out a scant teaspoon of milk. I looked up, thinking she was teasing me; but she'd already turned away and was moving on to another table. Cup in hand, I was about to slip out of my chair to follow her when my breakfast companion, a frequent traveler to Cuba, clamped a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t,” she whispered. “You don’t know what it cost her to pour you that much.” She explained that this woman, who appeared to be in her late twenties, likely did not have enough milk at home for her young children due to acute shortages in Cuba.

So when I read in the New York Times that the crush of tourists is "wiping out the stores" Cubans rely on to fill their pantries — not to mention their children's bellies — I can't help but recall this moment and other troubling moments from my own trip to Cuba. I won't visit Cuba again until there's enough food for tourists and for ordinary Cubans.

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Come, Wallow with Me

11/21/2014

 
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I don’t always say it out loud, but I think it every once in a while. “Why me? What did I do to deserve __________ ?” You can fill in the blank with your own particular burden. Funny thing: even though it looks like a question, it’s not really a question. It’s a lament, an existential moan. I don’t expect an answer. What I want is sympathy; someone to wallow with me in my gushing well of self-pity.

Imagine my shock, then, when shortly after I’d muttered these words one day, a total stranger looks me in the eye and says, “Seriously? Get over yourself, Alicia.” More here...


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The Missing Gospel

10/28/2014

 
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Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn’t write a gospel of his own? He could read, he probably could write—or he could have dictated his thoughts to a trusty scribe. I’ve puzzled over this for years.

A quote by the English mystic Caryll Houselander shed some light on things for me. She wrote, “We tend to use arguments like a sledgehammer with which we deal blow upon blow on the head of the unfortunate victim of our apostolic zeal, as if we could stun him into belief or convert him by concussion.” She’s right. Our religious arguments are endless and ineffectual, and they are often fueled by words, words, and more words. More here...

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The Good Doctor

9/17/2014

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He was a Caucasian man in his mid-50s, working in one of the nation’s top psychiatric hospitals here in the Midwest....“You know, last summer I treated this guy around my age,” he said. “He was a Mexican guy dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues. He spoke very little English, so we had an interpreter with us. I don’t like to admit this, but one of the things we health professionals are trained to do is size up people quickly. When I walked in and shook hands with this guy, the first words that popped into my head were, ‘Illegal. Uneducated. Poor.’” More here....

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A Plea and a Prayer

7/16/2014

 
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After my mind-blowing encounter with Palestinians and Israelis on a 2010 trip to the Holy Land, I have kept abreast of news from the region. Never has it been so painful as it is now. Sparked by the brutal murders of one Palestinian teen and three Israeli teens, the conflict seems to intensify every hour. 

I study photographs of the boys—Mohammed, Naftali, Gilad, and Eyal—all gangly growth and goofy smiles, smooth cheeks and pimply foreheads, then fix my gaze on their beautiful, blameless eyes. I want to scream. Why, God? Why? More here...

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Hello

6/17/2014

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Sometimes, you know what you have to do before you know why you should do it, before you have thoughts or words. For several months, I’ve been thinking about how to relate to my 38-year-old former pastor. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison this year, after admitting that he had child pornography on his computer and cellphone. Before he was arrested, I had a warm relationship with my pastor. He had done much good for the parish. We were on the school board together. We chatted after Mass. He has sent me letters from prison, but I have not responded; not yet. I don’t know what to say. More here...


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A Brave and Beautiful Act of Faith

5/20/2014

 
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Jim Olson, a pediatric oncologist, was interviewed on National Public Radio earlier this year. The program was about science, not religion, which only makes his story more striking.

Dr. Olsen explained on the program, “A child who is going to die from their cancer isn't mourning the high school prom that they're not going to get to go to. They're not mourning the fact that they won't drive their first car. For a child, it's about, Am I happy? Are my parents happy? Is a cute dog going to come in and visit me at 2 o'clock in the afternoon? It's all about that moment, that day.” More here...



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Revisiting Mary

4/15/2014

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Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about Mary. This is surprising, because I’ve never been “into” Mary. Or rather, I’m just not into traditional Marian piety. The Marian virtues hailed throughout my childhood annoyed me, and she looks so weak and pasty in most of those old holy cards. Even the celebrated paintings of Mary, weeping and fainting at the foot of the cross, fail to move me. I feel sorry for Mary, yes; but I never cottoned to her like I did to Jesus.
Then, last week, I read a passage in Fr. Ron Rolheiser’s new book, Sacred Fire, that forced me to revise my image of Mary. Rolheiser tells us that many great artists got the crucifixion scene wrong. The gospel writers clearly tell us that Mary “stood” close to the cross, indicating a position of strength and power. They never describe Mary as prostrate or keening. More here...


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The Ah Antiphons

3/18/2014

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I’ve always loved the poetic “O Antiphons” we say each year to close the Advent season. I can’t seem to get enough of them, and I’ve occasionally created a few extras to pray on my own. 

Just before Lent this year, while reading the Billy Collins poem “Aimless Love,” it occurred to me that I could start a parallel Lenten tradition. This Lent, I am creating and praying my very own “Ah” Antiphons; that is, verses that mark a moment of insight, awe, or appreciation. I’m also doing the traditional Lenten things, like fasting and service, but I have a feeling that writing an Ah Antiphon each day might end up being the practice with the most punch. More here...


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In the Beginning

2/18/2014

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I have never visited Africa, but a friend lived there for many years, teaching school children, and a story she told me twenty years ago thrums in memory.

One summer, Sister Anne Marie said, a team of biblical scholars and linguists came to her remote village. It was not their first visit. They were working with the tribe’s members to prepare a new translation of the gospels in the local language. Matthew, Mark and Luke were nearly finished, but the Gospel of John had proved daunting. Over and over, the experts tried to translate the first verse, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Each time they ran their translations by the village elders, the elders frowned or politely shook their heads, “No.” The translators were losing heart. More here...


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Still

1/21/2014

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How would you fill in the blank in the sentence below?

“_______________ has been my salvation.”

I asked myself this question today after watching an eleven-minute film called, “Still.” The mesmerizing film features 72-year-old Hawaiian free-diver Carlos Eyles floating through coral reefs, frolicking with dolphins, and stroking giant sea turtles.

Carlos Eyles is lucky, and he knows it. A childhood experience opened his eyes to the beauty and wonder of the ocean, and he never looked back. Everything in his life—his marriage, his career, his philosophical musings—reflect his unwavering passion. More here...

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December 17th, 2013

12/17/2013

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This month, a refresher on the Guadalupe story as Pope Francis prepares to visit her shrine in Mexico.

Many scientists and scholars believe that the image of the Blessed Virgin as she appeared almost 500 years ago in Mexico to Juan Diego is a miraculous image — not something any human artist could have painted. But the miracle is not only that God’s mother appeared in the New World; it's that she appeared as a dark-skinned Aztec princess instead of as a light-skinned European Madonna.
And she spoke to Juan Diego in his native language, Nahuatl, not in the language of the Spanish conquerors and missionaries. The message of the Lady was immediately understood by even the simplest person: God and his Mother were close to ordinary people and poor people, and God and his Mother would protect them and care for them.
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