This is the eleventh installment of A Deacon’s Diary. In the tenth installment, Steve wondered if God made him eccentric. I. The checkerboard squares of the stone floor were cold. And uncomfortable as they pressed into my ribs. It was Good Friday and after...
Receiving ashes this year was different for me than in years past. Instead of attending an Ash Wednesday service at a church, I attended Ash Wednesday Mass in a chapel at the hospital where I typically volunteer on Sundays. That Wednesday at the hospital, I was...
I met Javier – aka Zoom-Zoom – at Otisville State Penitentiary, 80 miles north of New York City. I was there coordinating a retreat for Thrive For Life Prison Project. Javier spoke perfect Spanglish and stood five-foot-nothing, though I soon noticed his outsized...
At the beginning of Lent, we focus on…our death?! Jeff Ryan Miraflor, SJ, and Eric Immel, SJ, reflect on death, Lent, and the greater meaning of life. Jeff: Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return Eric: Wait. I’m going to die? AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!...
“And your Father who sees in secret will repay you… your Father who sees in secret will repay you… your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” Mk 6:1-6, 16-18 What are we to do with the hypocrisy of this day? I mean it’s the only day that Jesus gives us the...
