Two weeks ago, my review of The Third Inkling, a biography of Charles Williams, was published in the online edition of Notre Dame Magazine. For those of you who don’t know, Charles Williams was a member of the legendary writers group known as the Inklings whose members included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve written about Charles and his importance to me on Sick Pilgrim, but I wanted to share an excerpt of the review: Williams was a complex,... Read more
I’ve heard it for as long as I can remember, how it’s our job to carry our crosses. The subtext, that in doing so we imitate Christ, is a cornerstone of Christian faith. And I have believed it, but too often I have believed it wrongly, I think. I imagined that true Christians, the really holy ones, somehow pulled up under the weight of their crosses and kept themselves together. Perhaps the weight digs into their shoulders and splinters pierce their... Read more
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17) “Heaven must be messy.” –Eric Elnes, Gifts of the Dark Wood Last week I wrote about Eric Elnes’s Gifts of the Dark Wood, but there’s something more I want to share. Something so central to the mission of Sick Pilgrim that it merits its own post. Elnes calls it “The Gift of Misfits.” To recap my last post: The Dark Wood is an ancient metaphor for emotional, psychological, and spiritual distress. Nobody chooses to enter the Dark... Read more
Click here for the complete Mass readings for the First Sunday of Lent 2016. A reading from the Gospel According to Luke. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus faces three tests that all believers face. Satan tempts Him with immediate needs (turn this bread into stones), the desire for power/popularity (all... Read more
Click for the complete Mass readings for Ash Wednesday 2016. Psalm 51: 12 Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me. Last Ash Wednesday, my brother sent a text asking what my spiritual goals were. I wrote back, “stay alive.” I was lying in my best friend’s bed in Chicago, so depressed I could barely move my fingers, but I vividly remember answering his text, then scrolling through the weather app on my phone... Read more
I’m not ashamed to say the new Star Wars movie made me cry. But it wasn’t for my lost childhood or because I once traded away my original Millennium Falcon (now worth thousands of dollars) for a dented baseball bat. *Spoiler alert if you’re one of the few people who hasn’t seen the movie* In the film’s climax, Han Solo confronts his son, the evil Kylo Ren, and tries to get him to come back to the light. At... Read more
Click here for the complete mass readings for Sunday, February 7, 2016. I’m drifting in deep waters Alone with my self doubting again I try not to struggle this time For I will weather the storm I gotta remember Don’t fight it Even if I Don’t like it Somehow turn me around No matter how far I drift Deep waters won’t scare me tonight ~Portishead, Deep Water A Reading from the Gospel According to Saint Luke While the crowd was pressing... Read more
To be from Southern Louisiana and endure the winters of Northern Michigan is to understand that hell is certainly cold and monochromatic and not a lake of fire. Can you point me in the direction of a lake of fire? Because I’d gladly dive in right about now. A friend of mine sent me a link to this post at Modern Mrs. Darcy in a cautious effort to cheer me up (she knows how I feel about facile self-help—especially cheap gratitude). But it’s February... Read more
Sixteen years ago, I was driving across the Texas desert in the middle of the night. My friend was asleep in the passenger seat, continuing to renege on his promise to share in the driving. We’d decided to drive to Phoenix for the wedding of a college buddy so that we could see the west by the open road. It had been a great idea until I was driving at two in the morning, fighting to stay awake. Somewhere in the west... Read more
A few years go, I was having dinner with the editor of my first two books (3 Gates of the Dead and Dark Bride) and friend, Betsy Mitchell, in Columbus, Ohio, where she was speaking at conference. What I love about Betsy is that even though she’s edited some of the biggest names in the business (Michael Chabon, Dean Koontz, Octavia Butler and Terry Brooks), she is willing to hang for a few hours with a struggling writer like myself. Plus,... Read more
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