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Dark Devotional

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June 2019

June 25, 2019

Dark Devotional: The Intimacy of Communion

As Catholics, we take it for granted that the One, the Be All, End...

June 07, 2019

Dark Devotional: A Pentecost Meditation for the Anxious, the Pregnant, and the Judgy

I do not feel filled with the Holy Spirit right now, I’ll admit. I’m...

May 2019

May 24, 2019

Dark Devotional: A Prayer for Peace

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the...

May 17, 2019

Dark Devotional: By This Shall All Men Know You

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if...

May 10, 2019

Dark Devotional: What the Good Shepherd Teaches Us about Parables

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I...

May 04, 2019

Dark Devotional: Jesus and Awkward Questions about Intimacy

Post-Resurrection, Jesus shows up in some unexpected ways. He takes a stroll with his disciples...

April 2019

April 26, 2019

Dark Devotional: Sitting on the Porch of Catholicism

The first reading today mentions a gathering on Solomon’s porch. I love porches....

April 19, 2019

Dark Devotional: Easter Thoughts from the Outside In

As a kid, I spent a lot of time inside museums. My sisters and...

April 12, 2019

Dark Devotional: Second Hand Son, Brother of Jesus

John 18:1 to 19:42 The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to John...

April 05, 2019

Dark Devotional: Begging to Pray with the Psalms

I’m listening carefully to the Psalm this weekend, wondering if I can respond to...

March 2019

March 29, 2019

Dark Devotional: Fruit Grown from Ashes

I had a profound fear as a child that I would be found wanting,...

March 20, 2019

Dark Devotional: Squandering Our Inheritance

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Several years ago,...

March 15, 2019

Dark Devotional: Un-Irished and Un-Catholiced on St. Patrick’s Day

I like digging holes, hiding things inside them. When I grow old I hope...

March 08, 2019

Dark Devotional: Of Grand Temptations and Ordinary Doubt

“Father, will you listen to me? Are you still there? Will you listen to...

March 01, 2019

Dark Devotional: Where, O Death, Is Your Sting?

In the second reading, Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Death is swallowed up in...

February 2019

February 22, 2019

Dark Devotional: There Is a Way

Looking for Home - Things are meant There are signs The heart speaks There...

February 15, 2019

Dark Devotional: A Middle Way?

“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take...

February 08, 2019

Dark Devotional: The Imperfect Conversion of St. Paul, Friend to the M(asses)

We can almost see Paul talking himself down sometimes, can’t we? Like in this weekend’s...

February 01, 2019

Dark Devotional: A More Excellent Way

I first memorized the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 13 when I was a freshman...

January 2019

January 21, 2019

Dark Devotional: Sunday in the Chapel of Split Ends and Hangnails

Body Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely...

January 06, 2019

Dark Devotional: Epiphany

January always makes me think of stars. It begins with an artificial star - the...

November 2018

November 02, 2018

Dark Devotional: Getting Naked

The trees are getting naked around here. The trees: companions in my neighborhood, definers of...

October 2018

October 05, 2018

One Body: A Mother Reads the Creation Narrative

The last time I sat down to write a Dark Devotional, a meditation on the...

September 2018

September 19, 2018

Dark Devotional: Learning to Listen

“He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first...

September 13, 2018

Dark Devotional: Our Lady of Sorrows and Me

“Bruised. Derided. Cursed. Defiled. She beheld her tender child…” Many Catholics I know are wondering,...

August 2018

August 16, 2018

Dark Devotional: The Case of the True Presence, and the Hoarding of the Manna- A Eucharistic Tale

I found myself inside an Episcopal church one Sunday morning last fall, partly an...

August 09, 2018

Dark Devotional: Going it Alone

Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He...

August 03, 2018

Dark Devotional: No Grumbling for the Grumleys

“Hello, I am calling to speak to Mrs. or Mr. Grumbley?” Growing up, when...

July 2018

July 26, 2018

Dark Devotional: The Traps of Desires

For me, one of the most difficult lessons to learn is the one expressed in...

July 20, 2018

Dark Devotional: Bigger Than Holy Dirt

Original art by the sparkly and crystalline Brian Jocks. "There is nothing so secular it...