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December 2021

December 19, 2021

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Two Out of Three

The Scriptures sacred to Christians say “These three abide: faith, hope and love;...

December 12, 2021

The Third Sunday of Advent: Love is Coming

Well, this week has gotten away from me. It was a seemingly endless stream of...

December 06, 2021

Things Keeping Us Going: Santa Barf Edition

Thanksgiving was bittersweet. Traditionally, it is the holiday we celebrate with my Personal Chef’s clan...

December 03, 2021

Second Sunday in Advent: Let Me Love You Right Now

What are you waiting for? Kristen challenged me with this question on the first day...

November 2021

November 28, 2021

First Sunday of Advent: What Are You Waiting For?

Another advent season has begun, the second one in this Covid-19 pandemic. It snuck up...

December 2018

December 24, 2018

Three Paradoxes of Christmas

When I read the Christmas stories in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, I’m often...

December 25, 2017

“What Child Is This?” was written by a severely depressed man. And we love it.

In December, in the year 2000, I was 21 years old and four months...

December 25, 2017

Christmas: It’s Complicated

Christmas is complicated. On one hand, the music is familiar, the smells are sweet, the...

December 22, 2017

Christmas at War: A Dark Devotional

As I read and meditated on this Sunday's readings, I couldn't get a question out...

December 15, 2017

The Great Pumpkin of Advent, a Dark Devotional

For the past two weeks, I’ve been troubled by Jesus’ admonition to stay awake and...

December 14, 2017

I See a Darkness (St. John of the Cross Feast Day Dark Devotional)

Here I am at 11pm, in the final hour of the Feast of Our Lady...

December 13, 2017

Approaching Mystery: Rebecca Bratten Weiss’s “The Oil Never Runs Out”

When I was nineteen, I returned from a summer of working on an organic wheat...

December 12, 2017

The Shadow Side of Advent

Yesterday—the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent—I read a poem by Nikki Giovanni, and...

December 07, 2017

Your 2017 Catholic-ish Gift Guide

Sick Pilgrim goes Christmas shopping for the Catholic-conflicted and Catholic-attracted in your life. Jessica Mesman...

December 07, 2017

Dark Devotional: Desert Breath

Where does spirit come from? From God ultimately, of course, but I mean, in the...

December 03, 2017

Write the Vision: God’s Kingdom Come

One of the things Sick Pilgrim has done, and does well, is to open space...

December 01, 2017

Dark Devotional: Strange Mercy

The first reading for the First Sunday of Advent (Is 63: 16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7) begins...

December 28, 2016

The Dark Side of Christmas: The Murder of Innocents

“They said there’ll be snow at Christmas. They said there’ll be peace on Earth. But...

December 20, 2016

We Wish You a Haunted Christmas

It's that time of year when I don’t know who to be more frustrated with:...

December 19, 2016

Advent: The Catholic Church IS the Rebellion

A few days ago, I was talking about the new Star Wars movie, Rogue One...

December 19, 2016

Jesus Frankenstein: Mary’s Baby and Mary Shelley’s Hideous Progeny

“I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion to be spurned at, and kicked,...

December 16, 2016

Dark Devotional: Fourth Sunday in Advent: Listen to the Misfits

A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 56:1-3A, 6-8 I’m a misfit, especially as...

December 12, 2016

Advent, the Apocalypse: A Constant Uncovering of the Eyes

I grew up in the Baptist tradition, and though we celebrated Advent, I didn't know...

December 08, 2016

Mothers, Artists, and Pain: Moon River and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

My maternal grandfather was born on December 8, 1912, on the Feast of the Immaculate...

December 04, 2016

Feast of St. Nicholas: Slap a Heretic Day. Or Why Are We Hitting Ourselves?

Tuesday is the feast day of St. Nicholas and as usual, the story of him...

December 01, 2016

Dark Devotional: Tourists vs. Pilgrims

An archeologist writes about the empty tomb. He says, “Pilgrims come to touch Golgotha and...

December 01, 2016

Advent: A Brief History of Time

The first Sunday of Advent begins the Catholic Church's New Year, and in his homily, our...

November 2016

November 30, 2016

Secret Krampus This Way Comes

This Advent, to thank all of our readers and contributors from the bottom of our...

November 28, 2016

Advent: Kicking your Darkness

Since I first heard the song in college, I've meditated on a lyric by Canadian...