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April 2026

April 26, 2026

The Mulch of the Spirit

A few days ago as I walked onto campus I was struck by a distinctive...

July 2025

July 20, 2025

Anna’s Promise and the Power of Love

In spite of my love of and occasional success with flowers and plants, I have...

June 2024

June 13, 2024

The Fruit of the Spirit

A shorter version of this essay from Fall 2021 will be the entry for the...

May 2024

May 23, 2024

Consider the Lilies . . .

I am working my way through my book A Year of Faith and Philosophy making revisions,...

May 09, 2024

The Smell of Mulch in the Morning

Here's an essay from late April 2015 that celebrates all things spring--flowers, trees, and mulch--with...

April 2023

April 11, 2023

A Very Reluctant Rose

A few days ago on campus I detected a familiar, seasonal odor wafting on the...

April 12, 2022

Jewish Holy Man Kills Innocent Fig Tree In a Fit of Temper

A bit over a decade ago, I spent spent the early months of the year...

September 2021

September 14, 2021

Is Happiness Overrated?

It is the happy life that asks more of us than we realize we have...

April 2020

April 18, 2020

9/11, the Coronavirus, and Becoming a Better Person

Everyone beyond a certain age can remember clearly what they were doing eighteen-and-a-half years ago...

May 2019

May 30, 2019

Happiness is Overrated, but Learning to Live Well is Not

It is the happy life that asks more of us than we realize we have...

June 2018

June 17, 2018

When to Be Skeptical, and When to Believe

Once upon a time two explorers came upon a clearing in the jungle. In the...

October 2017

October 15, 2017

We Can Do Better Than Righteous Anger

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Ephesians 4:26 I confessed on this...

September 2017

September 29, 2017

What Happiness Really Amounts To

It is the happy life that asks more of us than we realize we have...

April 2017

April 11, 2017

Flowering Trees

At the beginning of the first Holy Week, Jesus killed a fig tree for no...

January 2017

January 16, 2017

Gentle Drizzle

In the interdisciplinary program I teach in and used to direct, the first semester faculty...

November 2016

November 30, 2016

What Goes Down Must Come Up

Sunday's Psalm invited us to go to the mountain of the Lord--which reminded me of...

September 2016

September 16, 2016

The Fruit of the Blackberry

A few years ago, Jeanne returned from a weekend with a friend in Vermont with...

June 2016

June 24, 2016

A Reluctant Rose

In spite of my love of and occasional success with flowers and plants, I have...

April 2016

April 22, 2016

April is the Coolest Month

I am enjoying reading Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache mystery series these days; the third book...

April 07, 2016

Adepto Ex Meus Visio

Jeanne and I are headed to Florida this evening to spend a week with family...

April 29, 2015

Mulch in the Morning

It is the next-to-last day of April, and I think it is finally safe to...

July 2014

July 09, 2014

Tell Me a Big Story

A retreat at a Benedictine hermitage means the opportunity to plug into the daily cycle...

November 2013

November 20, 2013

Holy Manure

Last weekend I (hopefully) finished getting the yard ready for winter--raking leaves, cutting back various...

June 2013

June 07, 2013

Oaks of Righteousness

There are times when I just cannot believe what I get myself into. Latest example:...

May 2013

May 12, 2013

The Dawn From On High

It has been a beautiful spring in Rhode Island (so far). After more than a...

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