Only birth can conquer death—the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new. Within the soul, within the body social, there must be—if we are to experience long survival—a continuous “recurrence of birth” (palingenesia) to nullify the unremitting...
03522 – Little by Little
Parents don't come full bloom at the birth of their first baby. In fact, parenting is about growing. It's about our own growing as much as our children's growing, and that kind of growing happens little by little.
02283 – Christmas Paradox
Christmas is built upon this beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.
02270 – The Christ-Child is Here, Waiting
The reality of Advent isn't that we are waiting for the birth of the Christ-Child. The Christ-Child is here and is waiting for us to come. He is crying out to us from the border. He is calling to us from the voices of the poor. He is shouting out to us from prison.
02210 – Using Gender-Inclusive Language
As the father of two girls (now also grandfather of three), I have cringed listening to some preachers and teachers in the church make perfectly good points while using solely male pronouns during their exposition... There are, indeed, “hidden figures” in our...
01669 – Responding to the Divine Presence
This is another trait common to God-bearers or Jesus-types--it isn't that God has preordained them to serve a special function. They have simply developed their ability and willingness to respond to the Divine Presence to a degree that enables them to be particularly...
01276 – How Much of God Do I Want?
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of...
00397 – Conversion is Primarily an Unselfing
Conversion is primarily an unselfing. The first birth of the individual is into his own little world. He is controlled by the deep-seated instincts of self-preservation and self-enlargement—instincts which are, doubtless, a direct inheritance from his brute ancestry....
00329 – Giving Birth
What help is it to me that Mary is full of grace, if I am not also full of grace? And what help is it to me that the Father gives birth to his Son unless I, too, give birth to him? It is for this reason that God gives birth to his Son and lies in the maternity bed so...