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Dark Devotional

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April 2019

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...

August 2018

August 03, 2018

Dark Devotional: No Grumbling for the Grumleys

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

June 2018

June 22, 2018

Dark Devotional: Prayers for the Faithful

Art by the devout and confiscated Brian Jocks. O God, who raised up Saint...

April 2018

April 27, 2018

Dark Devotional: Love in the Kingdom of Heaven

I don’t care for the Bible terribly well. Probably because it was held up like...

December 2017

December 28, 2017

Dark Devotional: Blessed Are _____________

I have always struggled with the Beatitudes. “Blessed are _______ for they will ______.”...

December 25, 2017

Christmas: It’s Complicated

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

October 2017

October 06, 2017

Dark Devotional: In Praise of the Wild Grapes

It’s hard to write when you’re hugely distracted by really entertaining friends. The type of...

September 2017

September 14, 2017

Dark Devotional: That’s the Wrong Baby

How do I forgive someone from my heart, when my heart still stings and I...

August 2017

August 04, 2017

Dark Devotional: Hold Fast and Light Your Lamps

My Friends, I’m tired of living. I don’t mean this is a suicidal...

July 2017

July 28, 2017

Dark Devotional: Creating From the Wound

I live in Los Angeles, the epicenter of self-defining artists. And, like most people in...

May 2017

May 26, 2017

Dark Devotional: Go and Make a Mess of Things

Could it be that our weakness is exactly what the power of the Gospel needs...

May 06, 2017

Dark Devotional: Fulton Sheen at Heaven’s Gate

My mind makes that leaping turn again into the memory of myself as boy, his...

April 2017

April 28, 2017

Dark Devotional: About All the Things

Ostensibly, I created all my social media accounts to keep in touch with friends and...

March 2017

March 08, 2017

Blog of the Year

When I told my fellow pilgrims that we'd received an award for faith-based blog of...

November 2016

November 10, 2016

Dark Devotional: Life. Death. Time.

My receding hairline gets slightly more pronounced as I look in the mirror day after...