Several Sundays ago, at a church picnic, I noticed a woman sitting by herself, eating at a picnic table. I’d seen her before, at services, always alone and forlorn-looking. We’d just heard a.....
Of the fifty or sixty Jesus movies made since the invention of cinema, The Passion of the Christ may well be the best, or the worst, depending on your point of view. But...
Each fall, thousands of people gather in New York City at the Verrazano Bridge, which runs from Staten Island into Manhattan. Five hours later, most of them complete the New York City Marathon. ...
Blessed are the . . . Matt. 5:3–11 ...
Jesus withdrew from his disciples about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done." Then an...
Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. ...
You know how grey days in Lent can be, as if replaying in Nature the events leading up to the Crucifixion. On just such a day, I was standing in an empty hospital...
I grew up with a traditional definition of grace as God’s unmerited favor. With time, my definition had to flip-flop and expand. What if grace were better defined as unfavored merit—as God’s... ...
Ever had a friend who keeps having the same problems over and over? Or found yourself facing similar dilemmas in your own life, time after time? How could you not? By that I...
At first, I couldn’t understand the loss I felt when I heard Fred Schweg had died. ...
Unfinished work with our parents or siblings will haunt us and continually erode other relationships if we do not give it our careful, prayerful attention. ...
Gail was in her 40s when her mother died suddenly. The loss was a blow. Her father had died years before, and Gail had not married. She'd expected to enjoy her mother for...
Once a month, I visit a friend who lives about an hour away. Bob is always eager to see visitors. He is, in a manner of speaking, homebound, living in a 10-by-13 foot...
Recently, I led a retreat at Pecos Abbey in New Mexico with Glandion Carney. Both Glandion and I are members of the Renovaré Ministry Team, a Christian Renewal Movement that leads retreats and...
When a stranger spit on me because my skin color was different from hers, I wondered how anyone could hate another person just because of pigment differences. ...
And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him...
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ...
On July the fourth, 1939, Lou Gehrig stood before 60,000 fans in Yankee Stadium to bid farewell to the game he loved. Two years later, he died of the disease that now bears his name. Every...
“Life is difficult.” With those three words, Scott Peck launched what soon became a publishing phenomenon—The Road Less Traveled, which remained on...
For me, one of the most powerful insights into the mind and heart of a true hero is in an almost offhand remark of St. Paul’s. He writes from prison in Rome to...
