I've learned, over many years, that church isn't about order or quiet or even ritual so much as it is about showing up. For yourself, for God, and for the people around you who need to feel--just as you do--that the blessings and burdens of being a human are not...
That I go to church does not mean I think that Jesus is only to be found there. It just means that he has promised to show up there in a manner that can help us discern how he shows up in other places.
Too few people ever truly fall in love, which makes me sad. I think it could be because they are forever looking for the perfect partner who will finally rescue them and make them happy. They don't realize that no one can "make you" happy. A person can wait their...
Those of us who are warm and dry and safe and well-fed must show up for those who are cold and wet and endangered and hungry. That's a rule of life. Every ethical and religious and spiritual tradition in the world agrees on that rule.
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.
(Father Mychal Judge's last homily with NYFD on Sept 10, 2001:) That's the way it is. Good days. And bad days. Up days. Down days. Sad days. Happy days. But never a boring day on this job. You do what God has called you to do. You show up. You put one foot in front of...
I think midlife is when the universe gently places her hands upon your shoulders, pulls you close, and whispers in your ear: “I’m not screwing around. It’s time. All of this pretending and performing—these coping mechanisms that you’ve developed to protect yourself...