Immersive Prayer

Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr  David mourning over Jonathon says “more precious have I held love for you than love for women” because he had saved David from certain death. The Psalms beg the Lord to save them. Jesus’s relatives consider him insane because he did not bother to eat, they wish to [...]

Metaphorically, there are yesterdays that are days of uplifting glory. There are also days where life’s distractions are so overwhelming I must withdraw in prayer to let its calming love, its sustenance refill my emptiness. Yet, I am in the world; all my normal duties must still be attended. I do not reject the weight [...]

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbott Hebrew Scripture has transformed (duped) me; today Jesus sees as God, straight into the hearts of man just as Solomon observed when God tells him to anoint the young David. There can be no doubt we are being called to be “David’s”, with our own warts and blemishes. It sure seems Jesus [...]

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time  Aren’t we the leper in some way? I’m a short man with dysgraphia battling internal medical conditions and yet Jesus touches me because I come halfway. Likewise, I am an Israelite, God sometimes seems far away, the Ark doesn’t help (my Rosary) and receiving Eucharist does not [...]

Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr I have felt the closeness of physical death often in my life; I suspect morning prayers saved me each time. At 50, I looked directly into the reflection of my worldliness, experiencing a different kind of death.  My nine lives may now be up, but I have nothing [...]

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time To be a Christian means that in the participation of “stuff” happens, the response is a smile. It is in these forever moments that my humanity is strengthened by an unshakable foundation of faith, which wells up into gratefulness. No doubt, in the buffeting I know it is faith’s [...]

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious Since youth, whenever life comes at me from all sides, I seek the quiet of the woods, where unpaved roads gracefully invite rocks and roots to cross my path. Often this is not enough, I must blaze a new trail, deeper, traceless and beyond my control.  Am I escaping or entering holy [...]

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity As I started to reflect on tomorrows Gospel, St. John of the Cross’s thoughts on Trinity came to mind. His description of God’s love trumps whatever I might have said.  “The Blessed Trinity inhabits the soul by divinely illumining its intellect with the wisdom of the Son, delighting [...]

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Years ago, Fr. Joe enlightened me with “on earth as it is in heaven”.  I now smile when I hear anyone speak of rapture. For me heaven is already “partially” here, but not fully revealed. Am I not in heaven when I sense God’s presence in prayer, [...]

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time A haunting verse from the U2 song Grace – “Grace makes beauty out of ugly things” has personal meaning for me. The truth is many ugly things of my heart and mind have been changed by wisps of undeserved Grace; generosity far beyond my ability to humbly [...]