“Say, what is this, Father?  Here I am dying, and you want to run me all the way through the catechism?”

Sometimes history knocks at the most ordinary door to see if anyone is at home. Sometimes someone is.

When the going gets tough may I remember that I’m not alone. May I be kind.

It’s not prayer practices that make people Christian; the disciples cannot stay awake;

it’s not a profession of faith that makes people Christian; Peter denies Christ;

it’s not fervent zeal that transforms—Christ sternly orders a sword to be put back into it’s sheath.

What makes people Christians is, Jesus.

It’s literally walking, not in his shoes. But seeking what he sought.

I wrote the following reflection April 2, 2020—three weeks into a pandemic that was redefining the way we interact with one another. I share it two years later…because we’re still learning how to be with one another. This might be a matter of faith more than it is a matter of fact.

You will not abandon me to the grave

“It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools - friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty - and said 'do the best you can with these, they will have to do'. And mostly, against all odds, they do.”

― Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

May we at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies’ sake.

“It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive…”

Your faith is invited to use more music, kisses, life, champagne and joy; so that religious words and actions are used in the spirit of love and peace they were intended, Behold your on. Behold, your mother.