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Personal Reflection

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Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

March 2018

March 29, 2018

Saint Death and Easter

I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. The voice was low, lifeless....

March 28, 2018

Versed by Jesus Christ Superstar

Holy Week, if I’m being completely honest, was never more than a blip on my...

March 27, 2018

Training the Ear of My Heart

I don’t live a very active life, though observers might deduce that I am always...

March 22, 2018

Halos and Other Important Things

In second grade my mom put me in an art class taught by a fluffy-haired...

March 21, 2018

Adventures in Praying with Scripture

How did I first hear of lectio divina? It must have been from the monks...

March 20, 2018

Occasions of Grace

My old friend Gina, one of the loveliest ladies I know, lived for years with...

March 19, 2018

Trafficking in Fear

I am chatting with a woman in a clothing store as our conversation moves from...

March 15, 2018

Haunted by Phantom Limbs

One such patient, under my care, describes how he must “wake up” his phantom in...

March 14, 2018

I Will Sing Your Praise

For a few years in the late 1990s, early 2000s, I brought a book of...

March 13, 2018

Tyler Childers’s Purgatory and Trump Country

From Chris Stapleton’s rootsy repurposing of Nashville pop-country to Sturgill Simpson’s “metamodern” new-Outlaw nihilism, the...

March 12, 2018

Love Hurts in Phantom Thread

My favorite film from last year is a farce. Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread functions...

March 08, 2018

In Praise of Albuquerque

The sun was high in the sky. Midday, late July. The light was washed out....

March 07, 2018

The Gutenberg Imagination

In twenty years (maybe fewer?) will people still be reading what we’ve come to call...

March 06, 2018

As I Lay (Nearly) Dying

At first I didn’t know that I was dying. I’d been rushed to the hospital...

March 05, 2018

Holy Snow

When we first decided to move to Minnesota, there were plenty of opinions. “You know...

March 01, 2018

The Spirituality of Sestinas

Several months ago, I found myself struggling with my hair—namely, snapping off my split ends...

February 2018

February 28, 2018

I Promise My Kid’s Not Racist

The waiting room was filled with the kinds of people one sees in my town:...

February 22, 2018

The Rhythm of Not Sleeping

I often rock my baby to sleep at the witching hour. These can be the...

February 21, 2018

Dissolving the Borders Between Self and Other

The Buddhists have four stations of the heart: Metta (kindness), Mudita (compassion), Karuna (joy in...

February 15, 2018

Grace and The Good Place

In my first church job, I rarely had to serve communion so, every month I’d...

February 14, 2018

Suffering and Ash Wednesday

Suffering is the most dissociative word in the Christian lexicon. Raised Catholic, I was taught...

February 13, 2018

The Liturgy of the Stars: Part 2

The 1960s were the years of the Gemini and Apollo missions. I doubt I missed...

February 12, 2018

The Liturgy of the Stars: Part 1

Growing up as I did amidst the dazzling lights of New York City, it is...

February 08, 2018

In a Funk

You’re not sorry you’re alive, just embarrassed. Aware of the burden of your body. How...

February 02, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Prodigal”

Jones’ poem “Prodigal” welcomes us into an inviting family scene. We can easily visualize the...

February 01, 2018

My Frankenstein

My Frankenstein is first and foremost a novel. A custard-colored Pound Classic published by Penguin...

January 2018

January 31, 2018

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Hidden Identity

My annual family Christmas letter swelled from a single paragraph into a sixteen-page spread before...

January 30, 2018

We Want Something Just Like This

“Something Just Like This” was one of the biggest hits of 2017. It reached number...

January 29, 2018

Phantom Thread : A Union of Psyche and Eros

Anyone blessed enough to receive a good classical education is somewhere along the way warned...

January 25, 2018

Pearl of Hope: Personal Shopper and the New Year

Near the end of 2017, I rewatched Oliver Assayas’s ghost story film Personal Shopper not...