Last week I woke up worrying about some potential health issues that were suggested months ago in a routine blood test. At worst the possibilities (still undiagnosed) included a hereditary disorder that was manageable (unless the disease process had gone too far.) At best the situation was a major irritant in that every doctor’s visit …
We’re all the same. Or are we?
I told someone the other day that we humans are basically the same—that we share the same basic needs; want the same things. This person indulged in a good long sigh and said, “Man, that’s a good theory, but it’s awfully hard to believe it when you see how hard we fight each other in defense …
Religion does not contain God
Sometimes I think we’ve got it backwards. We think religion—yours, mine and ours—contains God, when in fact it’s the reverse. God is infinitely larger than any religion could ever be, no matter how dogmatic or grandiose. God is the infinite structure within which every religion is contained. Within which life itself is contained. If we …
Can’t stop thinking about the Gulf
My friend, Leslie, and I are sipping morning coffee on a bench near my patio overlooking the Hudson River. We are high-up in the woods of the Palisades, looking down. It is a spectacular scene. The river is straddled by the city on its east bank and the mighty Palisades on the western, Jersey side. …
What is your position on population control?
I would probably have had a different answer to that question had I not just read a stunning article in the June issue of Mother Jones Magazine The cover reads: WHO’S TO BLAME FOR THE POPULATION CRISIS? A) THE VATICAN; B) WASHINGTON; C) YOU. The answer of course is all of the above plus plenty …
What is your abundance?
In my novel, The Sublime Transformation of Vera Wright, the main character, Vera, is told by God to serve a dinner of loaves & fishes to her faithful followers. “Bring me five loaves and two fishes,” God tells her, “and I will bring you a miracle.” Though the idea of this new sacramental ritual occurred …
The spiritual gifts of motherhood
I am well-schooled in the academic sense, but my true teachers in life have not been books or professors. My true teachers have been two wide-eyed children, now two young men, one twenty-five-years-old, the other twenty-one. Since they were born, I have (had to) learn, re-learn, (practice, practice, practice), and finally, MASTER the exquisitely painful …
Breaking through the stained glass ceiling…the ordination of Roman Catholic Womenpriests
God is good! While we’ve been busy fending off the blows from decades of rampant priest abuses, God has been quietly calling and preparing women for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. (What?!) And, in spite of persistent threats (and official decrees) of excommunication from Rome, these courageous and inspiring women have been answering …
The meaning of Easter
To Christians of every sect, Easter is a real and sacred event—the miraculous triumph over death and the promise of a new and transcendent life. Although it is without question the defining moment of the Christian faith, Christians aren’t the only ones who need Easter. People of all beliefs, including atheists and agnostics, have much …
The “Secret”, part one…
Have you read the book, THE SECRET? Seen the movie? If so, you may have wondered over the years why it hasn’t worked as advertised, or if it has, why it hasn’t worked every time. Though the premise of the book is valid, much of how and why “The Secret” works (or doesn’t work) in …
