Sometimes God can feel far away, silent, like a package we ordered but somehow got lost en route. Christopher Alt recalls how two empty tummies and a Persian poet reminds him that the gift of God’s presence can also be found in God’s absence.
All posts by Christopher Alt, SJ
Christopher is a Jesuit scholastic from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He has enjoyed coastal living on either side of the United States, studying theology, philosophy, and music at the University of San Diego and receiving a Master of Divinity from Boston College and a Master of Social Work from Loyola University Chicago. After several years of being a hospital chaplain and theme-park entertainer, he finally surrendered to a 25+ year priesthood “approach-avoidance conflict” by joining the Society of Jesus in 2016. He is grateful for the opportunity to love God and God’s people for the rest of his life as a Jesuit. Christopher is currently a school counselor at Christ the King Jesuit College Prep on Chicago's West Side.
Joined in 2019 20 posts caltsj@thejesuitpost.org
The Freedom to Change | One-Minute Homily
Change – even good change – is often difficult and unsettling.
An Easter Parable: Jesus’ Alligator Story | One-Minute Homily
Jesus is Risen! Alleluia! Today we celebrate the triumph of the resurrection over sin and death.
The Annunciation: Praying with Botticelli’s Mary | One-Minute Homily
We all have a calling from God – a vocation. On this Feast of the Annunciation, Christopher Alt, SJ, explores Mary’s own vocation story through Botticelli’s art.
Thou Shall Not…Miss the Point | One-Minute Homily
Why does Jesus get upset with people in the Temple? They keep missing the point.
First Day Out of Prison: A Modern-Day Parable on Coming Out of the Pandemic and Into Lent
“This whole year has felt like a Lenten penance in the desert, so I’m not thinking about what to give up. Instead, I enter this season replaying images of that day with Javier.” Christopher Alt, SJ, recounts the story of his friend’s first day out of prison and considers what lessons it has for us as we see promises of the end of the pandemic and move into Lent.
Two Lessons from Job and Jesus | One-Minute Homily
Everything happens for a reason…right?
Epiphany of the Lord: What’s the secret of life? | One-Minute Homily
Today we celebrate the Epiphany, when the wise men visited the child Jesus. They were willing to follow a star to a distant land to find the Lord. How far are we willing to go?
About Family Therapy, the Christmas Creche, and Being Molded Deeply Into God’s Divine Embrace
Imagine it’s Christmas morning again. You reach into your stocking and pull out a hefty lump of clay with directions attached. You’re to make clay figures of the most important people in your life and arrange them in a way that represents each person’s personality and role in the group dynamic. What does the scene reveal? Christopher Alt reflects on a family therapy technique, the Nativity, and allowing ourselves to be molded more deeply into God’s divine embrace.