For many years the joy of Easter Sunday’s resurrection observance has been contested by the continuing powers of death. Easter’s portable feast (due to its lunar calculation) means it typically falls in the vicinity of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s execution by the…
Our president’s desperate gambit in attacking Iran
Under cover of sham “negotiations,” in an attempted denial of political gravity, likely setting the stage for triggering the 1976 National Emergency Act for an electoral takeover leading up to November’s midterm elections and the threat of being found culpable…
Remembering St. Brigit’s Feast Day and the Greensboro sit-in
Sunday, the first of February, was the Feast Day of St. Brigit (aka Brigid) of Kildare. It brought to mind one of my favorite prayers, which I designed as a piece of art. As it happens, Sunday also was the…
¡Silencio! When and when not to keep silence
The principal strength from which the forces of despotism operate comes not from their accomplices in infamy but from the silence of those who turn a blind eye, who have been cowed into silence, saved (they think) by means of…
The stilling power of Advent‘s drama
The photo below is not an award-winner, like those of so many highly publicized contests. But it will from this day forward shape my Advent imagination. This photo features Wanda Hernández Murga, coordinator of the Kairos Center, a ministry of…
Advent mnemonics
I don’t remember when I picked up this handy mental trick. Sixth grade, maybe seventh? My first recollection of using it came during a world geography class. The teacher asked us to memorize the names of European countries’ capitals, many…
Seven commendations for resisting counterfeit faith
Night owl that I am, these thoughts began composing in my mind at the stroke of midnight, just as the U.S. government closed (many of) its doors. I began imagining the anxiety, even panic, hundreds of thousands of federal employees…
Anger and the animating presence of God: Where do you put the anger?
Given the state of public affairs in these riven United States, I too frequently find myself in a foaming-at-the-mouth froth of anger. Utter disgust, flinging foul imprecations and anathemas — mostly under my breath. I catch myself, with James and…
A critical assessment of the president’s ‘big beautiful bill’
Just days before President Donal Trump left office at the conclusion of his first term in office, a “1776 Commission” he created in 2020 issued its report, calling for “patriotic education” designed to counter what he claimed was a “twisted…
While I’ll fight: ‘This is a fundamental matter of faith’
Truth be told, we as a nation, in our rage against immigrants, no longer trust in the great “I AM,” the Lord God who sponsored the Hebrews’ extrication from Pharaoh’s Egyptian servitude. We as a nation have become inhabited by…
Commentary on Baptism of the Lord Sunday
Invocation “Wade in the Water” Blind Boys of Alabama § §. § §. § For those who track the annual lectionary journey, yesterday’s focus was the “Baptism of the Lord.” It’s a topic near and dear to my heart, since…
What to do with electoral disconsolation
Invocation. “Come Ye Disconsolate,” Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway § § § § Today, in the United States (and selected outposts of our nation’s allies and opponents), there is a gluttony of emotive expression prompted by our nation’s electoral conclusions. As…