“May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.” — The Irish Blessing I love celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. …
“𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑… 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜 — 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒.” — Mary Oliver, The Journey That line above from the great Mary Oliver lands …
“𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛𝙛, 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢; 𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢.” 𝙇𝙪𝙠𝙚 𝟏𝟓:𝟐𝟎 I don’t really remember when I first heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but it captivates me every time. …
“𝑺𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.”, 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑱𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓, “𝑨 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆: 𝑾𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎”, 𝒃𝒚 𝑹𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒊 𝑺𝒚𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒏 𝑲𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒊 𝑱𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑹𝒊𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓 (𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟖) As Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself spending more time reflecting on the growing number …
“There are good ships, there are wood ships, there are ships that sail the sea. But the best ships are friendships and may that always be.” An old Irish proverb Do you remember what you were doing when you were 29 years old? Well for me it was in early April 1984. I had just …
𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐌𝐭. 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 “𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒙𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒐𝒅.” (𝑷𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝟒:𝟔–𝟕) Last week I had the great experience of climbing Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It’s been on my bucket list and something I …
“𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚.” 𝑳𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚, 𝑫𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆 (𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐) Can you remember the experience of sitting at the kitchen or dining room table growing up? At first glance you might say, “What’s so memorable about that oak table?” After all, …
“𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒏-𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒔𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆.” 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒆𝒍𝒉𝒐, 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒍𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 One of the joys of living here at the Jersey Shore is heading out …
“𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜.” 𝟭 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝟯:𝟭𝟬 This past weekend, I was deeply humbled and grateful to be honored by St. Catharine–St. Margaret Parish in Spring Lake, NJ, for my contributions as Trustee, Pastoral Council President, Finance Council member, and for leading our Bereavement Ministry. In reflecting on this chapter of my …
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 …
