Posts in Spirituality

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.”

It takes a couple miracles to be officially named a saint. Facing up to the doubt we sometimes feel, Joe Simmons wonders if these healing are verdicts in search of evidence or something more.

In a counter-review, Brendan Busse counters his friend and brother Perry Petrich’s claim that “People are always hungry, cold and full of desire.”

I had a fool-proof plan for what would happen when I shared the passage with my prayer group: it was going to be a miracle. A salty tears, angelic choruses, cataracts falling from eyes, miracle.

“I gently tugged the fortune loose from the cookie’s gnarled grasp. It’s sacred parchment was half translucent from sesame oil where the cookie had pinched the paper. And before eating I read silently, expectantly, to myself…”

“Muscles don’t grow unless they’re stretched; wounds don’t heal unless their cleaned and tended to. …Babies are not born without considerable pain. Nor are they raised without pain…”

“I should have trusted her… but instead I was like a nervous disciple in a storm tossed ship; and she was graceful, calming the storm of my fear; her gentle eyes telling me: be not afraid…”