Aligning with Grace

"A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just." ~ Pope Francis Yesterday, after I finished reading the Sunday papers, I noticed I was very sad. Practically everything I read was depressing. The despair felt contagious. I was overwhelmed by the state of affairs in the world. How did we get this way? I thought to myself, we need more mercy and compassion... It so happens that I have been reading the book "Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy," by Anne Lamott, a very timely little tome indeed! I quoted this book in my last entry, but now I am knee deep in it. Ironically, on page 51 (Psalm 51 is the Miserere, one of my favorite and most recited, I could not help but note), Lamott offers this explanation: "Misericordia is Latin for 'mercy,' from misericors, 'merciful,' which is 'to pity,' and cor, 'heart.' Mercy means compassion, empathy, a heart for someone's troubles. It's not something ...

"Be who you are, and be that well." ~ Francis de Sales And truly, how can we be anything but who we are? As a child, I was once asked by a nun who was also my teacher, what I wished to be when I grew up. And I simply responded, "A saint." Of course, I had no idea what that meant, but somehow I felt enamored by the lives of the many martyrs I read about. Today, I ask myself, "What was I thinking?" But what I really think I meant, was that I was seeking a life of wholeness. I wanted to be the best person that I could possibly be, and in my childish understanding, I thought those people were saints - people who truly became the best human beings possible. Implicit in my understanding was a sort of perfection, that of course, I know now - does not exist. "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." ~ Matthew 5:48 Even so, we strive for something that at times seems elusive. Can it really be attained?  James Martin, SJ, in h...

Sometimes, all we need to do in our lives is to change the narrative... It sounds very simple, yet this is incredibly hard to do... There are moments when things are not quite working in our lives. Our thought patterns hold us captive and our future possibilities lie scattered all around us, truncated at best... Sometimes, we just have to entertain a different way of looking at things, and recently I was reminded of this not once, not twice, but three times... I reflect on the journey of Pope Francis to a land sacred to three faiths, always in strife, gripped in endless drama and bloodshed, where its inhabitants were all recognized at various junctures by this Pope - to the dismay of the others, each one jockeying for sole attention. All of Israel and Palestine's factions were each encouraged to find solutions for peace by making hard choices and sacrifices. Not one group was praised or faulted over the other, because they all must change their perspectives if the...

Sometimes, we are surprised in life... We may be surprised by gifts... Or, by the visit of a loved one we have not seen in a while... Sometimes we are surprised by the turn of events... And sometimes, we are surprised by joy... We might not see it coming... Sometimes we pray for something, perhaps not really imagining that we will receive it - to which I admonish - be careful what you pray for! On March 17th, the Feast of St. Patrick, I prayed for a change of heart - and for a clean heart... I asked to be rid of all that does not serve, like the mythological snakes that were driven out of Ireland... In the cleansing many things were released, and the process still continues... Space was created for other things to be received... And for other things to be... A new place of indwelling was created within a cleansed heart... An invitation was sent out - and everything began to be seen and experienced with new eyes, and yes, through a new heart... This week, a g...

We have begun our journey into Holy Week with its sacred themes of surrender and unconditional love among so many others - and the commemoration of another sacred journey - that of Passover, which begins this evening... Spiritual traditions converge once again, dancing into each other, as they have for centuries, offering us an opportunity to reflect on all that unites us - rather than that which may separate us... I surround myself with meditations and reflections from various sources, and have spent Lent reviewing and immersing myself in entries posted during this sacred season in recent years, finding gems and kernels of wisdom interspersed here and there, that once more touch my heart profoundly and manage to speak again so deeply... Perhaps nothing is truly ever new under the sun... The same struggles surface again and again in my own seemingly small and insignificant life. But once more I re-learn and am reminded - that there is nothing truly small and insignificant in any li...

Yesterday, on March 13th (3-13-13), a new Pope was elected to shepherd and lead the more than one billion Catholics on this planet - no small feat indeed! This pope is the 7th one of my lifetime, beginning with Pius XII, a very controversial figure, beatified, even though widely and I believe rightfully criticized for failing to save our Jewish brothers and sisters in Rome during World War II. My favorite pope is the first one I can remember, John XXIII, who was elected as a compromise and "caretaker" choice. He was not expected to live long - which he didn't - but in the few years he was pope, he threw open the windows of the Church (aggiornamento) and ushered in the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, known as Vatican II, which instituted the first major changes in the Church since the Reformation and the Council of Trent. I was just in grade school at the time that John XXIII lived, and he endeared himself to many. As a child I read his personal journal, Jour...