Category: Soul
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I was at the gym on New Year’s Eve and decided to do some step-ups to a box, maybe two feet high. Left leg went well, then on fifth rep on right leg, I felt a twinge in my back. A click-click in my spine. I know it when it happens, which is about every…
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I use the journaling app, Day One, though honestly I’m a very sporadic journaler (and a former journal-ist). One thing D1 does is show you things you wrote on this day in previous years. Here’s an entry from nine years ago, April 2, 2015, where I responded to the following prompt: What stories, images, and/or…
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Something from a few years back, getting out of my own tiny head … — When she thought about it, she realized she was a reaction to and reflection of her mom, in separate and unequal ways, that she was in many ways a series of responses to where she came from and how. And…
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I turned 57 yesterday. It was fun. Virginia made a big deal of it. So did Facebook, longtime friends and work colleagues. And I’m uncomfortable with it. It’s not about the number, or the years past or the years ahead. Or what I’ve done or haven’t done. Instead, I’m a bit unsettled by the “me-ness”…
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This is a crazy week end, with two of my favorite UU ministers delivering their final messages to their congregations today. Another favorite is retiring as well. And I’m aware of another who I don’t know as well but respect greatly who is hanging up her robes. There’s a larger question — Why now? —…
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A year ago, the pandemic was upon us, states were declaring lockdowns and church services (along with most everything else) went online. It was a scary moment for anyone who loves their religious community, with lots of questions: Would people find online church services satisfying? Would they attend? Would they take part in church life…
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Virginia and I were in DC Monday at the White House. We joined a group of local Catholics, from lay people to bishops, Franciscan monks to priests, who peacefully affirmed that Black Lives Matter. Behind the speakers was a security fence, erected to keep citizens off the White House grounds but turned into a shrine…
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50 days in. It’s only when you silence your own thoughts that you can hear the grief for what was and what, in my heart, I know isn’t coming back anytime soon: the casualness of friendship; the intimacy of the chance meeting; the mindlessness of getting lost in a crowd; the pleasure of a good…
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When Greg Boyle, S.J., spoke Wednesday at the Chapel of Saint Joseph, most of the attendees knew the Jesuit priest and his ministry Homeboy Industries, the largest rehabilitation and re-entry program for gang members in the world, from his TED Talk or a report on 60 Minutes. Many members of the Saint Joseph’s community have…
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I’m no expert on Haiti. I’ve been there twice in the past four years, for a total of two weeks. But two weeks is more than most folks, and it’s enough to form an impression. And enough to refute our president. Because when President Trump reportedly called Haiti, El Salvador and most of Africa “shithole…
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I. The truth, it’s said, is that boxers Don’t know when to quit. That they refuse to leave the ring until they are hollow shells Of themselves, shuffling ghosts Chasing ghosts chasing them— Except there’s a deeper truth, that you and I are boxers, too, called from our short stool by a bell: That we…
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This week, Rev. Lee Paczulla at my church was talking about a popular development metaphor: that people need roots and wings. It refers to our need to be both grounded and aflight. “A wise woman once said to me that there are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of…
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