“𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕. 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖… 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.” (𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒘 11:28) In many ways, the grief journey is like carrying a backpack and a metaphor for the emotional weight we carry after the …
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God” Excerpt from the prayer “Patient Trust” by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ Earlier this month we concluded another Daytime and Evening cohort of our Parish Bereavement Program and as always, we closed our final session with a beautiful prayer called “Patient Trust” by Pierre Teilhard de …
“𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚. 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚” 𝑳𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆 This photo of my family was taken on Thanksgiving Day in 1971 when I was 16 years old and a junior at Paramus …
𝖠𝗌 𝖺 𝖡𝖾𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗏𝖾𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖢𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗌𝖾𝗅𝗈𝗋 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖢𝗈𝖺𝖼𝗁, 𝖨 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝗈𝗋 𝗈𝖿 𝗌𝗎𝗉𝗉𝗈𝗋𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗇𝖽𝗂𝗏𝗂𝖽𝗎𝖺𝗅𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗏𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗈𝗎𝗌 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗀𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖾𝗆𝗈𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗌𝖾 𝖽𝗎𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝗆𝖺𝗃𝗈𝗋 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾. 𝖳𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗆𝖺𝗒 𝗂𝗇𝖼𝗅𝗎𝖽𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝗌𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝗇𝖾, 𝖺 𝗃𝗈𝖻, 𝖺 𝗍𝗋𝗈𝗎𝖻𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝗋𝖾𝗅𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌𝗁𝗂𝗉, 𝗈𝗋 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝖺𝖽𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝖺 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝖾𝗇𝗏𝗂𝗋𝗈𝗇𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗄𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝖿 𝖺 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 …
“𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 … 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚” 𝑬𝒄𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝟯:(𝟭-𝟴) I had a great hike last week with Cali, one of our three Golden Retrievers, celebrating all the beauty of the new autumn season now upon us. And, as …
Some days you just have to say thank you Lord for all the blessings of nature He has bestowed to all of us. I often drive along Ocean Avenue here in Spring Lake, NJ on my way to Mass in the morning on purpose so I can peer out of my car window to take …
As I began my 20 minute drive to the Princeton Junction train station from my home in Pennington, NJ on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful blue sky on what I thought would be just another busy Tuesday in my typical work week. It was a welcome change from my …
“𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏.” 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝑬𝒙𝒊𝒕 Job loss can often trigger a range of emotions …
“Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42 My Cannonball Moment — Saturday Afternoon July 15, 2017 — Tightness in My Chest It seemed like any other hot July weekend at the Jersey Shore. It was 4pm and I had just finished cutting the lawn …
“𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙.” 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚 “𝙄 𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙈𝙮 𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧”(𝟭𝟵𝟳𝟬) As a Bereavement Counselor and Grief Coach, I often witness how quotations from Scripture, selected prayers, beautiful music, clips from …
