Palm Sunday and Holy Week are not my favorite liturgical season. I endure them in anticipation of Easter. And so, this year I’ve frittered away the final days of Lent and Holy Week binge-watching The Heart Guy, an Australian television series. I have a soft spot for Australia, and Australian television programs give me theContinue reading “An Australian Parable of the Return of the Prodigal Son”
Category Archives: Spirituality
Sinking into Silence
Each year I try to spend a week in silent retreat. With my travel schedule, that can be a challenge. However, if I attach the retreat to other travel, so that I’m already away from the temptations of the office and the “to do” lists of home, I can sometimes swing it.
And yet…
I try not to regret much in life. God knows I have no cause for regret. I’ve been abundantly blessed from birth. Just about any white male born in the developed world starts life on at least second, if not third, base in the baseball game of life compared to the rest of humanity. SoContinue reading “And yet…”
Fog Over the Promised Land
Last Thursday afternoon, just before heading home to New York, I stood on Mount Nebo in Jordan and looked west to the Promised Land. Mount Nebo is where Moses stood at the end of his life, having led the Israelites in the desert for forty years, and died. Today there is a modern Catholic churchContinue reading “Fog Over the Promised Land”
Abir and Smadar
A good pilgrimage leaves one with more questions than answers and this one has not disappointed. Several evenings we were blessed to have guests come and talk with us about the current situation here in the Holy Land. It’s hard not to be discouraged. How does one get to a just peace? What does thatContinue reading “Abir and Smadar”
“Do not be afraid…”
Today I find myself in the Holy Land—on a pilgrimage. This is not my first pilgrimage, nor, do I suspect, will it be my last. Moreover, this is my 5th or 6th time visiting many of the sites on this trip. Yet, each visit is a little different. Each visit challenges and rewards me inContinue reading ““Do not be afraid…””
What kind of person does God want me to become in 2018?
Christmas decorations tend to linger around our house until Ash Wednesday. I’m always reluctant to sweep them away too quickly after December 25th. After all, there are twelve days of Christmas—it’s a season not a day. Certainly any decorations associated with the Three Kings have their place in our home through Epiphany. Those whoContinue reading “What kind of person does God want me to become in 2018?”
Fanfare for the Common Man
For the last several years my wife and I have marked the passing of one year into the next with a quiet dinner, sometimes with friends, sometimes just the two of us, followed by an 11 p.m. organ concert at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church here in New York City. The program for the concert variesContinue reading “Fanfare for the Common Man”
God Laughs
I’m a planner. Some of that is by necessity. But, I confess, a good bit of it is by nature. And what does God do when you make plans? God laughs.
Twenty characteristics that make a genius
In keeping with my desire to observe Advent by seeking out beauty (see my November 28th post) and my fascination with Salvator Mundi (see my November 14th post), I just finished reading Walter Isaacson’s masterful and insightful biography of Leonardo Da Vinci. Isaacson concludes his book by identifying twenty characteristics that make a genius.Continue reading “Twenty characteristics that make a genius”
Rob's Reflections 