Posts in Spirituality

The next day, Fr. Yan and I returned to the bamboo hut. Inside we found a muslin blanket covering a tiny body that had been moving, wheezing, living, just hours before. The weight of it settled on me…

“I’m deeply aware that in the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas we live between two questions: ‘What do you want?’ and ‘What did you get’? …”

“Amidst a national tragedy, and the pressures surrounding Christmas, an innocent child tugs at our jacket…”

“In the end, I suppose thinking of God as a DJ isn’t the worst metaphor out there. Imagine him bent over a mixing board holding one headphone to his eternal ear, taking the tracks of history and mixing them up…”

“Whatever madness, or rage, or illness, or who knows what was the cause of this, damn it, God. Literally, God: damn it. Declare it accursed. Banish it. Abolish it.”

Just when the cold and dark arrives Advent steps in and says: don’t despair. New life is coming. Make space for it by moving the furniture a bit, and wait attentively.

“We don’t listen enough. We tweet. We post. We like. We share. We recommend. We promote. We rave. We rant. …Connected we may be, but attentive we are not. This is not good.”

And now, bless the God of all, / who has done wondrous things on earth; / Who fosters people’s growth from their mother’s womb, / and fashions them according to his will! / May he grant you joy of heart / and may peace abide among you.

This is my psalm of lament: “God, damn it” (Psalms of Brendan – Book 1, verse 1). Is it too much? Or is it prayer?

But this was a wedding weekend, which means that the conversation inevitably and rightly turned to the couple. And everybody said it; I said it: “You two are so good together. You seem so happy.”