At times, poetry speaks more eloquently than any other form of speech. Mary Oliver's poem - Of The Empire - is an example: "We will be known as a culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. We will […]
What really separates us from God? Is it sin, or something else? I have been pondering this question lately. Listen to this: "Our misdeeds are not the real root of the problem. They are just what the tradition called actual sins. There is a much more serious problem, what the tradition called original sin. It […]
How do you walk with someone experiencing the very deepest kind of grief? We are often tempted to think we need to say something … something deep, something that will comfort, will heal … something profoundly spiritual. But what if the most important thing we can do is to simply show up, and be still? […]
"Heaven and earth," the Celtic saying goes, "are only three feet apart, but in thin places that distance is even shorter." The Camino felt like a very thin place. The air heavy with the weight of centuries of pilgrims. The soil itself felt holy. I barely have words to explain it. But I do have […]
The brilliant American writer and activist James Baldwin wrote, “Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity.” James Baldwin - A Letter to My Nephew Hate crimes against our Black neighbors are not new […]
I have written in the past about my penchant for homesick feelings. Of course, I feel them most often when I am away from home. One of my biggest fears about walking the Camino was that I would feel alone, sick for home; a dark melancholy familiar to my heart. I shared this with my […]
