The winter solstice dawned bright and cold. I woke up on the darkest day of the year, to the sparkling of snow on the ground and the sidewalk puddles frozen over. I’d wanted to drive out to the waterfall to see if there were any icicles, but I was so tired, I stayed home. Adrienne was done with school until January. We watched silly Christmas movies and chatted while we cleaned up my room. The second darkest day of the... Read more
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew: This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,... Read more
I think it’s been a good Advent. There’s little to write about my life just now, because so little drama has been going on. How often has that been the case? I can’t tell you a silly story about how everything went wrong, because things are going reasonably well. Adrienne has a few more days of public school, which she loves, and then there will be three weeks of break, which she also enjoys. Adrienne is at peace and growing... Read more
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke: The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?” He said to them in reply, “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” Soldiers also asked him, “And what is it that... Read more
Winter is a bleak time, but did you know it’s also lavish? We are one week out from the darkest time of year, but it’s been so wonderfully bright. On Thursday, I went out to the mineral spring, where I often go to pray, and the sun was not only brilliant overhead but also brilliant on all sides where the light caught the snow. It was brilliant all the way uphill, where the leafless trees didn’t filter out any... Read more
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke: The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said... Read more
Winter is not astronomical, as many have observed before me. It’s not to do with the sun disappearing and coming back. Winter is meteorological. It isn’t winter until we get a good snow. Last year it was barely winter at all: we didn’t get a proper snow until January. This year, we’ve so far had a reprieve from the relentless lukewarm gray of the warming climate. Last week there was ice, and today it snowed. It started as I was... Read more
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the... Read more
I went down to Jefferson Lake, to see the ice. We’ve had two very warm winters in a row– worrying winters, winters so mild the maple sap didn’t flow in February the way maple is supposed to. Winters that make you remember that the world is burning to death. But this year, just after Thanksgiving, it got cold and stayed cold for a week. There was rain and blowing snow, not enough snow to make the world beautifully clean,... Read more
Killing is wrong. There can be no question about that. Killing is sin. It’s a grave sin to directly kill someone and in the best circumstances it’s also a crime; I think most of us can agree to that principle, whether we’re Catholic or not. A just society would be one that assessed a grave penalty for every form of killing, and also gave people every opportunity to make their living and do all they had to do without ever... Read more
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